Nissan Link THE MONTHLY MAG KEEPING YOU LINKED IN WITH NCCA INC.
Meet the NCCA team!
Lynn Cuttle President
Rhiannon PhilpotHale
Vicki Curry Secretary
Vice President
Gordon Ledwidge
Mason Peart
Aiden Peart
Treasurer
Editor
Membership / Club Permit
Meet the NCCA team!
Callum Wright
Russell Seabrook
Lucas Thorpe
Racing
Autocross
Motorkhana
Stuart Stevenson
John Patterson
Motorkhana
Rally
Information PHOTOGRAPHS ALL PHOTOS USED IN THIS MAGAZINE HAVE BEEN USED WITH PERMISSION, EITHER FROM THE ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHER OR UNDER CREATIVE COMMONS LAW.
MEETINGS MEETINGS ARE HELD ON THE SECOND FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH AT 1 THOMPSONS ROAD, BULLEEN 3105 DURING NON COVID TIMES.
CONTRIBUTIONS / MEDIA RELATIONS FOR ALL CONTRIBUTIONS AND MEDIA RELATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT THE EDITOR VIA HIS EMAIL (ENQUIRIES@MASONPEARTMEDIA.COM.AU).
ADVERTISING FOR ALL ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT THE EDITOR VIA HIS EMAIL (ENQUIRIES@MASONPEARTMEDIA.COM.AU).
LIABILITY DISCLAIMER ALL MATERIAL IN THIS MAGAZINE REPRESENTS THE OPINION OF THE AUTHORS AND DOES NOT CARRY ENDORESMENT BY THE EDITOR OR COMMITTEE. NISSAN CAR CLUB AUSTRALIA HAS NO OFFICIAL CONNECTION WITH ANY PUBLIC OR COMMERCIAL ORGANISATION AND DOES NOT PROVIDE ANY PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS. NAMES OF ANY COMMERICAL PRODUCTS IN THIS MAGAZINE ARE REGISTERED NAMES AND TRADEMARKS OF THEIR OWNERS.
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER ANY PART OF THIS MAGAZINE (EXCLUDING IMAGES) MAY BE REPRODUCED WITH WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE EDITOR. WRITTEN PERMISSION CAN BE OBTAINED VIA HIS EMAIL.
Mason Peart Editor
Welcome. Welcome to the Nissan Link! I hope you like it. Remember that feedback is always appreciated. You can submit it here (enquiries@masonpeartmedia.com.au) A massive thankyou to Michael Finger from nishimachi.com.au for the photos on Pages 2, 3, 12, 13, 14 and 15 and another massive thanks to John Doutch for all other photos.
President Welcome to December 2020, Normally I would have asked where has the year gone BUT this year cannot go fast enough for most people. We just had our 1st rally in Victoria since the beginning of the year. We have run the NCCA G5 round of the K’hana championship. Sprints have been slowly coming back and I have heard that a few random autocrosses are also happening. I would like to thank each, and every team member who have put these events together. Whether you are from NCCA or other clubs, without your dedication motorsport at club level would collapse. We as a committee have decided not to pursue having a Christmas party this year due to what restrictions were still in place at the last committee meeting and the predicted restrictions that could still be in place being that it is held on private land etc. So instead we plan on starting next year with a January get together in Bundoora for lunch on the 16th. See the ad and article from Rhiannon elsewhere. We would love to see as many people as possible attend, just for catching up and chatting, less hectic timing being in Jan and hopefully less restrictions. I would love to wish each and every one of you a wonderful, relaxing, restful and above all a safe Christmas time and I hope that Santa drops those Turbo’s, Tyres, Tune up kits and “SOLD” sticker into your Santa (Garage) Sacks or if you are waiting for the standard Jocks and Socks then I hope you can get them as well. Planning for next year is well underway. If you have any events you would like to see calendared, please let us know so it can hopefully be scheduled. I would like to have an outdoor meeting one night next year with a ‘bring your special vehicle’ even if it is on the trailer, photo’s of rebuilds that have happened over the last few years or photos of projects still to happen (we have a few of these on the go atm) like our 1600 wagon that we have had for more than 30 years and is still a rolling shell. Well that is me for now, have a wonderful break, keep building those dreams, stay safe and see you all next year out and about in motorsport.
https://join.skype.com/XX1uQSoyhLKa.
Vice President
Hey NCCA Team, Well what a year its been, its almost Christmas and Yarra Valley Stages has been run and won by Darren Windus and NCCA member Joe Brick. Well done guys, and congratulations to all teams who took part. A big congratulations and well done to Craig Jarvie and all of his amazing organising team (there are so many to name but you all know who you are!) who have worked harder than ever to make sure that we got to visit the forest at least once this year. Running a rally is challenging at the best of times but in 2020 to get a Rally off the ground and have it run successfully is a new achievement. Well done team! This year due to the nature of restrictions and the general COVID situation, we have decided to postpone the Xmas BBQ to Jan 2021 and welcome in the new year as a club with a few drinks, lots of food and some good old fashion friendly chats and laughter. Please look through the magazine for all the current details. Due to this we will also not be having a presentation night in 2021, but may pull out a few fun awards at the New Year BBQ for a few giggles! but you must be there to find out!
Secretary Hi All, Well, here we are at the end of the year, and sadly, no Christmas BBQ. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 restrictions have foiled our usual event. So, instead we are planning a BBQ for the 16th January 2021. KEEP THE DATE OPEN FOR THIS GET TOGETHER. There will be further details about this later in the magazine. On Sunday, I went to the first rally for the year. WHAT AN EVENT!!! Well done to Craig and his team. Well done to Denise for organising all the officials. As far as I am concerned it was an extremely good event. The fun thing was that seeing as it is the end of November, we all thought it would be a hot and dusty event. How wrong we were. The rain started late Saturday and continued well into Sunday. It was great to get out and about for the day. Thanks everyone for a great day. Lastly, I would like to wish everyone and Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and keep safe and healthy!
Treasurer No report.
Editor Work has wrapped up for Valley Stages at last, so magazine time! Massive congratulations to Craig, Aidan, Denise and Greg and everyone else who helped out with Valley Stages, it was a truly mega event and you all did a fantastic job getting it to happen. Well done.
That’s pretty much it! Have a good x-mas and we’ll see you on the other side!! Here is a Christmas related photo for you to enjoy
Membership Hi All, In the last month or so we’ve had some new members join the club. Welcome Lucas Stasi, Shane Jacobsen, Lina Ferraro, Maurice Venning, Glen Antonio and Yunes Elleissy. I hope to catch up with you at a club meeting at some stage, or on the Friday night Skype link https://join.skype.com/ XX1uQSoyhLKa The Western Crane Trucks Yarra Valley Stages ran on November 29th. It was great to see so many NCCA members out and about. I was there as part of the MPM team. This meant the mighty Z didn’t come out to play in one of my favourite events (maybe next year). Mason had seven of us out there and now has over 275gig to sift through and put together some great shows for the event and sponsors. The club currently has 297 members. That’s it from me. Name
Expiry Month
Name
Expiry Month
KRIS FLANAGAN
NOVEMBER
DOMENIC BARRESE
NOVEMBER
CAMERON MOSLEY
NOVEMBER
JAMES BEST
NOVEMBER
CHRIS POLA
NOVEMBER
ALISTER BOOTH
NOVEMBER
ROB UPSTILL
NOVEMBER
DARREN BROWN
NOVEMBER
LAURIE WHITE
NOVEMBER
GARY ELLIS
NOVEMBER
COLIN MCCRAE
NOVEMBER
CHARLI MILLAR
NOVEMBER
HARRISON MILLAR
NOVEMBER
KELLIE MILLAR
NOVEMBER
MARK MILLAR
NOVEMBER
GERARD MONAGHAN
NOVEMBER
ROCHELLE PITTS
NOVEMBER
PHIL RANDALL
NOVEMBER
RORY SAMSON
NOVEMBER
COLIN SEABROOK
NOVEMBER
GAIL WERW
NOVEMBER
Rally ** Kim O’Halloran words and photo** There were a lot of people out there who thought it would never happen! With COVID outbreaks and Dan’s lockdowns and rules there was certainly reason to think this, but the team behind Western Victorian Crane Trucks Valley Stages (WVCTVS) kept positive and made the event happen with probably the last roll of the dice (after having been re-scheduled twice). Only 4 weeks before the team for the event wasn’t even allowed into the forest where it was to run to check the roads and clear all the trees which had fallen over a particularly wild winter. Having groups of people was a big no-no. The team was waiting for the call from Mr Andrews to see if there was any hope of relaxing the rules by the 29th of November. Thankfully all of Victoria’s hard work and doing the right thing paid off and rules were eased at just the right time for us to get out and do what needed to be done. It was a huge effort by a very small team which allowed the event to go ahead. Craig Jarvie was the illustrious leader coming up with ideas, organising what needed to be organised and filling the team with enthusiasm. While the stuff out on the road didn’t need much change, with social distancing and COVID in the front of people’s awareness, new procedures needed to be developed for many aspects of the event. For an event which was simplified (due to time constraints and uncertainty) it was certainly innovative! Minimal hard-copy paperwork was a must and secretary Meaghan Hollole handled the 80-odd entries electronically and even contacted each crew individually via video call to check documentation. We introduced an electronic sign-in system using QR codes to track who was where over the course of the event (including pre-event setup and recce days). Competitors used a specially developed portal for all documentation where organisers could track who had read and also accepted important documents prior to competition. These systems were all developed by Aidan O’Halloran who was also doing much of the course preparation and other jobs. With the months leading up to the event being snowy, windy and wet it wasn’t clear what condition the roads would be in until we could get into the bush. Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as it had been in previous years, but it still took a couple of weekends for Aidan, Craig, Brian Portz, Greg Chenhall and Aiden Peart to chainsaw their way through quite a few fallen trees in order to clear the way. Greg and his wife Denise Chenhall were also very busy organising the many volunteers who wanted to get a view of the action. With no spectating allowed at this year’s event, there were more volunteer officials than there were places to put them! Denise has been the officials coordinator for all of NCCA’s rallies for quite some time and does the job so well – it is a role that is arguably larger than any other for a rally and without her the event would not happen. Melbourne turned on a sample of its weather on the weekend of the event. Thursday was when we set up the Yarra Glen Racecourse. The weather was perfect to mark out the bays where would be separating crews into distinct groups of no more than 50 people. Thankfully the racecourse was dry underfoot so there was plenty of room to spread things out. A drive-through check-in was set up via the gates at the top of the carpark so entry could be controlled and the minimal paperwork could be collected and distributed. Funnily enough, it was only Motorsport Australia who required us to accept paper copies of any forms (a dual-occupancy “I don’t have symptoms” form for driver and co-driver). Perhaps they need us on their payroll to streamline things and make them COVID friendly?
Rally ** Kim O’Halloran words and photo** Friday was course set-up day and Melbourne decided to melt us and put on 30+ deg weather. Aidan and Brian were avoiding tiger snakes as one set-up crew and Greg and Denise were chauffeuring Kim O’Halloran as the other. Craig and Neil Schey spent the time on their tractors clearing an overgrown road. A quick tally of equipment out in the forest for the 5 stages is: •
200 metal dropper posts hammered into ground
•
20 single caution boards erected
•
4 double caution boards erected
•
2 SOS boards erected
•
1 Q board erected
•
1 end-Q board erected
•
15 tulip number boards erected
•
5 start control board sets erected
•
5 finish control board sets erected
•
70 arrows put out and angled to suit
•
A few speed limit and service location boards
•
At least 80 lengths of bunting (average 20m each = 1.6km – probably more!)
•
At least 100m of parawebbing and it’s associated star pickets
•
Road closed roadwork signs and bollards
Crews enjoyed their first event recce for the year on Saturday. This is a long day for driver and codriver but all came back to the racecourse happy with what they had seen out there. It was many of the competitors first experience with the new electronic check-in procedure and it seemed to go well. The test would be the following day when there was a small window to get 300-400 people with cars, trailers and rally cars through the gates in a very short time. Melbourne thought it would help (not) and it rained and rained during this window on Sunday morning. Crews (only 4 per team; driver, navigator and two service crew) weren’t kept waiting too long to be pushed through and 99% of them understood that only 4 passes per crew would be admitted. Prior to starting the event, the competitors had their temperature checked, and checks that all documentation was complete on the portal and then they were good to go. From all reports, the event was most enjoyable. The poor weather didn’t impact the roads in any major way (except for one which called for one of the stages to be only passed once). We hear the leeches were the main spectators out there which was good considering we were unable to accommodate the human kind. 73 cars started the event, and NCCA members had some very good results. Club members Darren Windus and Joe Brick took out a clean sweep of all stages to win the event outright. They were almost 3 minutes quicker than the next car!
Rally ** Kim O’Halloran words and photo** Cary Seabrook was the next NCCA member home. This was only the second rally Cary has been driving the new Subaru and he was right up there finishing in 5th outright, and knocking on the door of 4th! This was a great effort. Ivan Register finished 8th outright to be the next NCCA member across the line. Robert Devenish was bringing the red Zed out for a rare run on the dirt. He finished 21st outright. Close behind was Aaron Van Winden with first timer John Stirland co-driving. Their 22nd outright was a brilliant effort. David Lawrance and Darren Davison were next back in in 25th outright. Michaela Jarvie was co-driving and finished in 27th outright. Ashley Smyth and Russell Seabrook were chucking the Excel around and managed a fine 35th outright. Stuart and Daniel Stevenson were also one of the consistent ones and finished 45th outright. The DNF list featured a few Nissan members. Peter Schey and Michelle Canning had engine issues in the WRX and headed home early. Phil Thomas and Daniel Brkic were also forced to end their event early with a mechanical issue. The team managed to pull off a great event under trying circumstances and should be acknowledged for all of their work. It was a huge undertaking! Craig can’t be too unhappy with how things went – he is already thinking of the event for next year! Some of the rest of the team might need a bit of a break before then – but I’m sure will be all be back with their red and black shirts on…
Autocross Hello fellow NCCA friends and family! Something Finally to write about. Sorry for the absence of articles, I bet you’ll were dying to hear about the world of Autocross... naaaatt. The day was the 14th of November, the Autocross gods blessed us with a beautiful sunny 22 degree day. The dust was thick but the wind took care of that. Unfortunately the lunch menu wasn’t quite gourmet with options being sausage in bread or sausage in bread.. but words muttered by Cary “did someone say KFC” made up for it. Zinger box was 10/10, shout out to KFC Baccus marsh. With NCCA taking 1st 2nd 3rd 4th outright you could say a good day was had by NCCA! Cary took 1st, myself in 2nd Joel Scott in 3rd and Glenn Scott in 4th. Anyways, that’s all from me for the day. Until next time! Hopefully I’ll have some dates for 2021 VCAS events next month Cheers
Racing ** No article due to lack of events **
Motorkhana Hey guys hope you are all well and hanging out for Santa. I’m sure that you are aware that there have been 2 motorkhanas/khanacrosses since my last report. The first one was on 15th of November and was our very own round. Running under Covid restrictions made this a bit different to normal but still plenty of fun was had by all competitors. There was a total of 35 competitors, 6 of them from NCCA, other clubs represented were FFCC, VMCI, PAC, TCCA and KCC. There were 4 different tests run throughout the day which ended hot, dusty and windy. NCCA won 4 of the 8 different classes – hooray! The results were Abbi Kenniwell 1st in class L (Ladies) - 31st outright (that included a number of flags), Jarvis Thorpe 1st in class J (junior) - 19th outright (driving the red SSS), Micah Thorpe 1st in class (inexperienced junior) - 28th outright, Stuart Stevenson 3rd in class - 18th outright, Andrew Schultz (driving the Thorpes white SSS) 3rd in class - 12th outright and Lucas Thorpe 1st in class - 4th outright. It was a great day and we must give a huge thankyou to Lea Stevens who helped with timing all day straight off a night shift – possibly aided by Coke or Nescafe The next event was a motorkhana run by HSCCV. There were 28 entries with 5 from NCCA. Abbi won the Ladies class in style - only hitting 2 flags in 8 tests – 25th outright (well done). Jarvis came 2nd in class – 12th outright in a sandwich of Moke and mini. Micah, with a broken arm (due to a mountain bike crash during the week) and some extra assistance pulled off 3rd in class – 23rd outright. Stuart only hit 1 flag in the trusty RWD Subaru to show a chaser and a Commodore how it’s done coming second in class - 18th outright behind a Falcon and I only managed 3rd in class behind some more skilful drivers - 15th outright. Jarvis will most likely be sending out his new address shortly after getting kicked out of home. There was one notable absence in Andrew Schultz who was not able to make it after having a hair dressers appointment that he had been waiting all of covid for and refusing to let motorsport get in the way of a good haircut (those who know will know). See you soon Lucas
Nissan Car Club BBQ Save The Date
Come join all your NCCA friends and family in the New Year to celebrate the end of 2020 and help to welcome in a new and fun filled 2021.
DATE: Saturday 16th January LOCATION: Greenwood Reserve and Gresswell Forest, Greenwood Drive Bundoora TIME: To be confirmed close to date WHAT TO BRING: Your friends and family, a chair and drinks. Food provided. Please let Jan Woods or Rhiannon Philpot-Hale know if you are able to attend or if you have any questions. Look forward to seeing you all there.
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