Vintage Metal for May hit the members’ mail boxes on time in spite of being produced on the other side of the world. Maintaining the record 32 pages as I prepared it on the dining table of our holiday cottage in Dundee, Scotland, the May issue was full of interest for members.

A brief history of the first 30 years of the VSCC was supplied by foundation member John Keenan, with a photograph of the founding committee at the meeting that

started the whole process.

A gallery of photographs of action at the Northam Motor Sport Festival, including shots from the Lindsay Monk Hillclimb and Northam Flying Fifty, was supplied by Graeme Howie of Sport Pixx Sport Photography (www.sportpixx.com.au) and club member and keen snapper Ken Langdale. Results of the hillclimb and of the Minson Motorkhana were also featured.

Book reviews were The A-Series Engine: Its First Sixty Years by Graham

Robson and (from the VSCC library) Jack Brabham’s Motor Racing Book.

The regular features also appeared plus a progress report on the club’s project to preserve the old Caversham Race Circuit and a provisional calendar of events to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the club’s founding.

The April 2016 isue of Vintage Metal set a new record size for issues that do not contain eight pages of Standing Regulations (see the February issues for the past couple of years).

Filling it out is a press release from the Federal Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development about the reform of the Motor Vehicle Standards Act triggered by the impending cessation of motor vehicle manufacture in Australia. The reforms have major connotations for classic car collectors, not least the abolition of the $12,000 special duty on imported used vehicles which will apply from 2018.

“Normal” articles include a description of the Lonsdale Special racing car, a brief description of the new cars that entered F1 in 1954 and reviews of two books. The first review is of Leader of the Pack: Barry Sheene’s Own Story, a book from the VSCC library. The second is of Out in Front: The Leslie Ballamy Story, which is a book from my own collection and a great read for anyone interested in the modifications available to British enthusiasts from the late 1930s to the early 1960s.

There are advertisements for upcoming classic and historic car events across Australia, including the Northam Motor Sport Festival held over the weekend of April 2 and 3. A sad note is struck by the farewell article for VSCC member Graham Lloyd.

All in all I am very pleased with how the April 2016 issue turned out. Now for the May issue, which I shall be producing from my holiday accommodation in Broughty Ferry, Scotland.

I’m running a bit late with this one, but the March 2016 issue of Vintage Metal was well received by members. The feature article was Mark Duder’s story of how he rescued his Alpine A110 from oblivion. Thecar had obviously led a hard life, having been used in competition and suffered a lot of damage over the years, much of which had been very poorly repaired.

The engine in the car was a shell, with no internal parts. After a comprehensive rebuild the engine was ready to install, but it didn’t fit! In the course of various bodged repairs, the rear bodywork had been remoulded to a lower profile that didn’t leave room for the stock downdraught carburettor! The whole back of the car had to be removed so that it could be rebuilt to the correct shape.

Mark’s now immaculate Alpine is a regular competitor on VSCC of WA events and Mark uses it as much as he can on the road. The enormous amount of work needed to retore the car is worth it for the enjoyment Mark gets out of driving his beautiful little car.

The book review in this issue describes John Surtees’ autobiography,

My Incredible Life on Two and Four Wheels. His story is told in a series of about 300 photographs from baby shots to recent photographs. There is also a chapter telling the story of John’s son Henry, who was killed in a freak racing accident. It is a book that enthusiast’s will find hard to put down, I know I did.

There is also the first in a regular series of From the Library articles, reviewing boks from the VSCC of WA library. In this issue the book is Brockbank’s

Grand Prix, a selection of hilarious cartoons from the pen of the irrepressible Russell Brockbank. I became addicted to Brockbank as a schoolboy and this book, with text by the late Henry Manney III, was a real treat for me.

Photographs of the trophy presentations at the VSCC’s February general meeting, an article explaining the situation regarding child restraints and classic cars, CAMS social media policy and the announcement of the VSCC’s involvement with the Rare Spares Loyalty Programme helped to fill out this 28-page issue.

The February 2016 issue of Vintage Metal is winging its way to VSCCWA members with reports on happenings around the club

over the past two months (no January issue).

Social Notes described the club Sundowner held on the afternoon and evening of November 15 at the clubrooms at Caversham and the December General Meeting, which was a social affair with members and partners assembling at the Doubleview Bowling Club for twilight bowls and a light Christmas dinner.

The Dad’s Army boys travelled to Jurien to view Ian Boyd’s fantastic collection of

Vincent motorcycles. The collection also includes speedway bikes, a Douglas flat twin and some four-wheelers including a Cooper-Vincent, an Offenhauser powered speedcar and an E-type Jaguar. There was even a Vincent aero-engine!

A three-page photo-gallery showed a selection of the many competitors at the VSCC’s Vintage Stampede at Barbagallo Raceway. The excellent photographs were supplied by Graeme Howie of Sport Pixx Sport Photography

(www.sportpixx.com.au).

The remainder of the magazine included reviews of two books from the club library, the 2016 club calendar and the club’s Standing Regulations for 2016.

As I write, the December 2015 issue of Vintage Metal is scheduled for printing and from the imag it looks good (click on the name above, the image or the caption to see the imag).

The minutes of the AGM as well as the November general meeting are included, with photographs from the AGM showing the new president and the unusual sight of five past presidents with the new man, which also provided the cover picture.

The December meeting of the club is always a partners’ night and this year it is being held at the Doubleview Bowling Club. A full report will be in the February 2016 issue (there is no January issue).

Feature articles include one about cheating by manufacturers. In earlier times the cheating was not illegal as the recent efforts by the Volkswagen Group have turned out to be, but manufacturers have always looked for what the late Mark Donohue called an “unfair advantage”. The early cheat described in the article is that of MG, who supplied a breathed upon version of the M-type Midget to various publications for road test. That backfired on MG because enthusiastic owners were determined to match the performance described in the published road tests, resulting in many warranty claims from owners who had blown up their MG engines.

The book reviews are of Raymond Mays’ Magnificent Obsession by Bryan Apps (by the editor) and Aussie Grit by Mark Webber (by contributor Bill Buys). Both books would make great Christmas presents for the family petrolhead, although they are very different from each other.

Bryan Apps’ book is illustrated in the main by reproductions of the author’s brilliant watercolour paintings of cars and drivers. Much of the content is based on the author’s correspondence with Mays, co-founder of both ERA and BRM racing car manufacturers. He first wrote to Mays as a 15 years old schoolboy in 1952. Mays’ reply forms the foreword of the book. Apps admits that Mays’ obsession became his and from this, eventually, came this excellent book.

Mark Webber’s book is about a very different period of Formula One racing, when there was much more money floating about and top drivers had become obsessed with winning, sometimes at any cost. It provides a great insight into the workings of a modern Formula One team. It is hard to imagine Mays fitting into the modern world of racing.

Local racing history also features, with images from the programme of the Air Force Association Speed Carnival at the Caversham airstrip circuit in March 1948. The circuit, which was leased by the WA Sporting Car Club from 1956 until 1968 was WA’s main road racing venue from 1946 until the Department of Defence took the site back at the end of 1968.

Click here to look at the imag of the December 2015 issue of Vintage Metal.

The November 2015 issue of Vintage Metal is a fun issue. It has a great story by Jack Del Borello about his “show and tell” visit to Applecross Primary School. the kids were working on a project about the history of Applecross and had come across reference to a motor race run through the streets of Applecross in 1940 to raise funds for the war effort.

Jack owns one of the cars that competed at the “Patriotic Grand Prix” in Applecross, the Ford 10

special called the “White Mouse”. He had a great time telling the students about the race and his car and found them very receptive. The examined the car enthusiastically and told Jack that their next project would be to create a scale model of the car using a 3D printer.

The Dad’s Army report was also fun, with photographs taken by me of various activities at September’s Dad’s Army Tuesday. I also had fun with the captions.

“Slideways is Fun” is a story I put together some time ago as a filler. I dug out some of my photographs of  historic racing at Wanneroo in the 1980s and used them to illustrate the story.  I’m going to create a blog about the same subject, so enough said.

The book review in this issue describes First Principles – The Official Biography of Keith Duckworth OBE by Norman Burr. It tells the story of the man who was the “Worth” of Cosworth. It is a great story and well told by Burr.

The October 2015 issue of Vintage Metal features a report on the Coalfields 500 race and regularity meeting held at the Collie Motorplex on September 12th and 13th. The words are by Paul Bartlett, chairman of the Competition Committee and the photographs are coutest of Graeme Howie of Sport Pixx Sport Photography (www.sportpixx.com.au). The cover photograph is also an excellent shot by Graeme of racing in the rain at Collie.

For the second month in a row we farewelled an enthusiastic and

valuable member of the VSCC, committee member John William (JJ) Janssen. JJ was taken from us only a few weeks after he helped the editor produce the obituary of his best mate, Charlie Urwin, for the September issue.

On a brighter note, Dad’s Army News describes the fire extinguisher training day held in August, which was a great success. Photographs were provided by Denny Cunnold, retired panel beater and keen supporter of Dad’s Army. The editor took his camera to the Dad’s Army Tuesday on August 25th and caught a couple of the members at work, including octogenarian Dick Turpin doing his thing with his garden blower to clean out the meeting room.

There is also a “What is it?” story about an unidentified speedcar that Michael Zlatovich has acquired, but he knows nothing of its origins.

In this issue, September 2015, of Vintage Metal there is a review of the latest book from the inimitable Sir Stirling Moss (I seem to have spent most of my life reading his books!), a detailed listing of expenditure on the ‘Caversham’ Car and a farewell to Charlie Urwin, a longstanding and valued member of the VSCC of WA.

The book is Stirling Moss – My Racing Life by Moss with Simon Taylor. It is a high class photo album with chapter headings and very extended captions by Sir Stirling, as told to Simon Taylor. The foreword is by Lewis Hamilton and it is a fascinating book, well worth chasing up at your favourite bookshop.

The Caversham Car is a 1950s fibreglass body on an Austin A40 chassis with A40 mechanicals. The wheels are from a Triumph TR2, which fit the A40 hubs and the steering is rack and pinion. Both of these would have been welcome modifications to my A40 Devon way back when, as would the twin SU carburettors and tubular exhaust, but I was an impecunious university student and such things were the stuff of dreams.

All of the money expended on the car to date is listed and there is also a list of all the people and companies that have sponsored and supported the project.

Charlie Urwin was a major supporter of the Caversham Car project and his expertise with fibreglass was invaluable in preparing the body. He was also unstinting in his support of the club and of two other clubs, the Sports Car Builders Club of WA and the Sports Aircraft Builders Club of WA. He was licensed to build and repair aircraft and was involved in one of WA’s leading speedway teams.

All this and more in spite of being wheelchair-bound since being stricken with Polio at the age of six. He led an active life until shortly before his death at 74, which represented another victory over the naysayers who predicted a life expectancy of less than 50.

The August issue of Vintage Metal has reached VSCC of WA members and the format is still evolving.

Dad’s Army News, a regular feature of Vintage Metal, in this issue describes the Christmas in July trip by the Dad’s Army boys to Cunderdin and Kellerberrin.

There is also another book review, this time of Klemantaski: Master Motorsports Photographer by Paul Parker. I used images of the front cover and three sample photographs from within the book to illustrate the review. It is a wonderful record of motor racing the way it used to be.

New in this issue is Letters to the Editor, which I hope will encourage other members to write in and create a members’ forum. Two of the letters are the result of on-going discussion prompted by the article State of the Sport in the June issue.

The other feature in the August issue is an article about HANS devices that first appeared in a supplement to the May 2015 Octane magazine (with the permission of Octane’s publisher of course). It is aimed very much at the sort of people who are VSCC of WA members, so is a valid comment on the desirability of such devices.

The July 2015 issue of Vintage Metal is on its way to members. Highlights include a photo-montage of the Albany Classic around the houses regularity event and the Mount Clarence Hillclimb held on May 30 and 31.

There is also a tribute to the late Mike Tighe and a follow-up story to the article in the June issue about attracting younger members and competitors. A book review of Tony Brooks’ autobiography, Poetry in Motion 

and a table of the results of the Mount Clarence Hillclimb are additional features.