By “NOS”

Another race has gone by, with hardly a whimper, I am glad the race was not longer, as was first intended. At least putting the inspired Veron at the back of the field added some excitement to the race. As did Alan’s drive through the field in race 2, unfortunately a lap back however! 

I would like to join the chorus of protests about not flag watching. In my humble opinion it is a worse offence than corner cutting. The only way that a driver can be communicated with is through the ancient method of semaphore. In days of yore battles were won and lost using “flag communication” and ships have for many centuries flown flags to indicate their intentions. Today in the imperiously modern art of motor racing we still use this proven method of communication, other than in F1. Can you imagine what would have happened to most of our drivers if they were lookouts on the sailing ships of Captain Cook? The poor man, and his crew, would have been easy prey to the pirates, roaming the high seas, flying their “Skull & Cross Bones!” The good captain and his crew would have been captured and killed before setting foot on the lands of New Zealand, thereby, mind you of causing us to win the Tri Nations this year! I am shocked that it has taken so long for electronic “flagging” to have come into being in this most technologically advanced of all sports. I wonder when it will trickle down to the minor leagues, as transponders eventually did. 

New rules are in and despite all the bickering by competitors between races there are NO meaningful changes! Seeing there was no material input would like to suggest that we discuss more pleasant things at Noggins in the future, they really need to be FUN Events! Oh where is the video of the race? Why don’t we delay the meeting a week so that we have the race available for us all to see? 

It seems that we are moving forward slowly with the creation of a new body and gearbox mods. I trust that by the end of September it will all be finalised or there will be no chance of implementation for the beginning of next year. 

The next bleat is to all members. Being a non-paid member of a committee such as ours is a thankless task. The elected officials are there because they love, in this instance, Shelby Canam racers, the ethos of the class and the people in the class. They give of their time for free. They were put there by YOU. Don’t you think that once you have put them there you should support them? Surely they were not elected to be used as target practice? This class has survived through torrid external pressures, and survived because of the single minded approach of the members and the committee. The time has come to support your committee. It is a difficult job. We have always believed that we do not air our differences in public. This is not negotiable! This association is the envy of all others for the ethos it eschews lets keep it that way! 

SUPPORT YOUR COMMITTEE

For those of you who enjoy a good read, please do yourselves a favour and read Jeremy Clarkson’s “I Know you got soul.” Written in the usual Clarkson manner it is none the less thought provoking and interesting. It moved me to such a degree that I did some more research into the Blackbird, SR71, it was/still is a technological marvel, so very far ahead of it’s time, conceived and designed by the Rory Burn of aircraft, Kelly Johnson. Also of note is that one of the few pilots of this fabulous bird was a Terry Pappas; he has to be a relative of our own Kamikaze Pappas!