Monday 16/08/10 - Working Bee 14^th/15^th August 2010

With the MMC fast approaching, it was all possible hands on deck at the weekend to get everything finished or as near as possible, leaving only the minor details for Friday.

Saturday saw Emma and Meg help out with the washing down on the hut, Timmy the Tool man was once again ordered about by Wilson (who was running around like a chook with its head cut off), Grahame disappeared into the wilderness to sign post the course, returning in the late afternoon with only the return part of the farm flats left to post. Timmy has made our new sight hut/ Event Central really nice and all were very impressed on Sunday when they saw it. Kristy and Meg cleared the short course of debris and we generally cleared up the area of fallen branches etc.

Saturday also saw the removal of our bus, it has now gone to a new home on the Central Coast.

Sunday saw us return with a lot more on board, the George boys did the fencing, Robert, Derek and Rachel did some clearing around Animal Leap, Kristy did wood work, Timmy the Tool man put the finishing touches to the hut and then had a new side kick in Errol the Firey who helped put the roof on the Commentators platform, Chris (from Hedweld) did his thing with the welder, Meg, Emma, Lorraine, Jan and Wendy worked well together cleaning, re-organising the headquarters area, we now have a medical room, plus everything else in between,  Pete worked on the ablution block all day and hopefully the plumber will turn up today to fix the rest. Tony and Grahame started the Long Course clearing, then after lunch Tony washed the side of the Hut ably assisted by Michael who drove Daughter of Dorothy, while we girls gave advice on how to do it. Rikki delivered the passes and Ian was on the track doing the finishing touches. Michael and Mark set fixed up the re – fuelling bay and sign posting and Scott put out the garbage bins.

Hopefully we will have nice weather next weekend and good racing. If anyone would like to help out as an Official, please contact us.

 

Friday 13/08/10 - COAL & ALLIED CHARITY WEEKEND

WELL, what can one say of all our wonderful members who turned up on the weekend for the Coal & Allied Come & Try and Charity Fun Day, to all the drivers who brought your cars, and gave rides on the Saturday then fronted again Sunday to give the children, mums and dads from Camp Quality and the clients from Witmore Enterprise a ride in your buggies and to the Club Members and helper who assisted with putting the passengers in the cars, you were fantastic..

Thank you to Gary & Wendy and friends for bringing out the remote control cars, the drivers from the Motorkhana and Rally you all helped to make Sunday very memorable for those who attended and to Errol Smith who was in charge of the very popular hay ride. Thanks to our major sponsor Coal & Allied who financial support makes it possible for us to provide a great day for the families of Camp Quality and Witmore Enterprises, also Cox’s Bakery and Trunks Gourmet Meats for helping us out with the buns and sausages and a big thanks to Warren Irons and Hogs Breath Cafe who kindly donated $250.00 each to the Charity Day kitty.

Some of those attending are very timid at first and then after their first ride I think they become “rev heads”, one in particular, Herbie took a little convincing to get in the Buggy, once in all was fine, next it was a motorkhana car where he thought the driver was quite smart at what he did, and a lunch time when the recovery took the families around the track in their 4WDs, Grahame asked the driver to take it easy as Herbie was a bit nervous. When the ride was over Herbie was asked, “how was that”? His reply was “that’s the slowest ride I’ve had all day”. This gave us all a good laugh when we heard it.

Thank you to all our helpers some of whom got new names on the day, from Gertrude to B1 & B2, (to find out the later you will have to ask Murray) (head of recovery), the cooks, the cake makers, Emma and Meg whose help was greatly appreciated, Emma from Beneficial Safety,  what can one say, she saved the day, the water truck driver Brian, there are just too many to mention you all.

I have been asked to pass on there thanks from several families who attended the weekend, and we hope to have some photos up soon. So THANK YOU Guys and Gals for making it a wonderful experience for all who attended.

Proceeds from the weekend will be divided between Camp Quality and Witmore Enterprises. A raffle still had to be drawn at Milbrodale on Sunday afternoon, If you would like to sell some tickets or purchase any please give me a call and I will arrange it.

1^st Prize; 2 X tickets on the Moonshadow, Whale Watch Cruise

2^nd  Prize  One set of Driving Lights  Kindly donated by Mikes Auto Parts

3^rd Prize Mystery Prize.

At time of writing the treasurer is still tallying up the total.

 

 

Monday 09/08/10 - ELECTION VOTING

 

To avoid long delays at Milbrodale's voting centre please organise to vote prior to race weekend (21st-22nd August) as Milbrodale only has a small voting centre, which is normally very busy. Early voting has commenced for voters unable to vote on election day. For more information on how to register an early vote please go to http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Media_releases/e2010/02-08.htm or alternatively apply for a postal vote at any Australian Post Outlet, on the AEC Website or click here for a PDF application form.

 

Monday 01/08/10 - HVORRA WORKING BEE 1^st August 2010

What a wonderful turn out to our working bee on Sunday with some new faces coming to give us a hand.

Timmy the tool man was on hand again, this time he was flying solo as Al was sign posting the Short Course and Wilson was painting and toilet cleaning etc. Timmy has the control tower looking great, there is still some finishing touches to be done, but he promises it will be right on the weekend.

Hedweld’s Chris and son Brendan arrived and we told them how impressed we were with the walkway and railings that they had put in place the weekend before. ( we were very excited when we saw what had been accomplished while we were away at Griffith.)

 Robert and Derek did some great fencing for us, I was thinking I should become his manager and hire them out, Grahame and Ian spent the day preparing sections of the track, the Guys gang arrived and got to work, the young ones went with Pete to do the sign posting and they said afterwards, they didn’t realise how much time it took and how particular you have to be when doing this job, Justin said he still hasn’t seen any of the signs when racing, he was told “don’t drive with your eyes shut”. Tony and Mrs Guy walked the fence line rectifying problems and taking down old speaker wire, at one stage there was a call for a camera shot from Mrs Guy as she saw Tony with a shovel in his hand. Cotto was busy with the ute and then fixed a couple of the toilets that need repairs. Jan, Rachel and Emma helped with the painting and then some shrub clearing, we gave up on this at dark after daughter of Dorothy got bogged, and could not be retrieved, mum did not have the power to pull her out. Oh well, we will get her out ASAP.

If any member can give a hand on the Milbrodale weekend, please get in touch. We do need helpers, if you can help out with man power, water trucks, tip truck, water truck drivers, start marshals etc. It does take a lot of people to run this event and the more we get to help the easier it is on those that are doing jobs as they can be relieved.

 

Monday 26/07/10 - Milbrodale Mountain Classic Posters 2010

Milbrodale Mountain Classic Posters are now available here. The more promotion for Milbrodale the better! So if you have somewhere to pin up a poster it would be much appreciated!

 

Friday 23/07/10 - Charity Fun day

Can those who are planning on coming to give a hand either with cars or physical help please let us know, so we are aware of what we are going to be able to do.

 

Friday 23/07/10 - Working Bee Media Release 

A small group of us turned up on Sunday, ( a couple of the regulars had other commitments, Al took his lovely wife and one of his daughters to Melbourne to see the Titanic exhibition and Cotto had to go to School)

Timmy the Tool man was a bit lost without Al, but I think Wilson and Jan more than made up for him, we even got a compliment (well we think it was one, after one of our brilliant suggestion, Timmy actually said “and I thought you were blondes”.

The sight hut ( cannot keep calling it that, we will need to give it an Official name) is coming along nicely, all the walls are in place, some finishing touches need to be done, the decking is going in next weekend, and if time we hope to paint it before the MMC.

Grahame and Ian worked on the track, ( boys with their toys was some ones comments) and Mark couldn’t stop away, he found the fault at the ablution blocks and that has now been rectified.

We will need as many as possible at our next working bee, which will be the weekend after Griffith, as we need to sign post the track, fix up the fences, clear the track of any overhanging branches, rocks etc ready for our Come & Try / Charity day on 7^th 8^th August.

 

Friday 16/07/10 - ROSS BARNES

To All Off Roaders,

It saddens me to advise you that ROSS BARNES formerly Club Seccretary of SORRA club, lost his battle with cancer last night.

For those who  knew this wonderful person please give a thought to his remaining family of their loss.

Rossco will be missed.

Regards,

Sue McIntosh
Secretary, NSW ORP
0429 919 155

 

Friday 16/07/10 - HVORRA Media Release

Due to a great effort from Mark Cowie and a couple of his sparkie mates Jeff and Scott on Wednesday and Friday we now have all of our electrical equipment operating, much to Mark’s delight. ( I am positive Mark was worried it wouldn’t be completed by Milbrodale) So thank you Guys. Mark and Olivia also were there on Sunday along with Brett, Pete, Cotto and Grahame. Chris and son Matt ( from Hedweld) came and fitted up the walk way, which is being taken away and sand blasted, undercoated and returned to the track in a couple of weeks. (it was interesting to see father and son working together, with son giving dad plenty of suggestions on how the job should be done, but father knows best) Timmy the Tool Man returned and thank you Timmy for turning up, as you were very sick (suppose you wanted to give it to the rest of us) Al (Pete) was on hand to assist and one of us ended up being called Wilson. This week was once again an educational experience, as the purchase of a new hammer was high on Al’s news list, only to be told by Timmy the Tool Man that his hammer wasn’t a very good one and Al would have done better to buy the cheaper one. Timmy did give Al advice on how to select a hammer that was suitable for him. Wilson even got to hammer in some nails BUT only after Timmy watched over to ensure it was being done correctly, Al also was pleased with himself as he actually used his new hammer to put in a noggin. We won’t say too much about Al and Wilson’s measuring and trying to cut out a panel, needless to say Timmy wouldn’t let us use that piece. Wilson also got in trouble for purchasing the wrong size timber, the timber was metric and the panelling, imperial. ( I still think they were having me on as they told me the nails were also wrong as they pointed the wrong way) Al also was not popular when marking a panel for the walls, (not just one clean line, a couple) when Timmy the Tool Man asked Al which line he had to cut along, the reply was “the outside one”. We were not allowed to use the pencil again.

There was some needling between the chippies and the sparkies, The sparkies were getting the return to the pits chute Beeper to work and boy did it work, constantly, driving the chippies mad, they in turn wanted to play with the switch in the hut, turning it on and off so that Mark and Brett would think it was working and get on with another project, it was latter found that a piece of silicon was the cause of the malfunction. When this was rectified, of course it had to be tested, so Mark was requested to run through the beam making the noise of his buggy, then it was suggested by someone who will remain nameless ( hint, he navigates for Mark) that he pretends he is the car being towed in. Well if we didn’t muck around we would go mad.

Cotto and Brett got the Scrutineering light in the Pits erected with help from daughter of Dorothy and Cotto filled in some of the trenches, Grahame busied himself with Dorothy, rectify the damage to parts of the track and wrecking a pair of glasses in the process. Mark, Brett and Olivia also have the new start lights functioning.

We now have a Site hut with three rooms, a commentator’s annexe off the end where Bob and Steve can go out and view the proceedings from a viewing platform, this will have a roof and hand rails etc. the timing room looks great with a big window overlooking the start line, and a steward’s room.

We still have to clean out and transfer the equipment from the old hut to the new containers. In all we have had a very productive couple of weeks.

Thanks to Induspray Australia for kindly donating the paint for the containers and to Cetnaj for donating some of the electrical equipment required. Next weekend should see all finished in the Hut

Working bees are every Sunday, PLEASE NOTE; There will not be a Working Bee on Griffith Weekend.

 

Wednesday 07/07/10 - Progress Report.

A small number of workers turned up to the working be this weekend and accomplished a reasonable amount of work.

Mark had a new TA (name of Pete, who said he found out he wasn’t much of an electrician,) but taking that into account these two managed to get all of the junction boxes fitted to the speaker poles, Mark will be starting in the site hut next weekend and this should be interesting, as it was a highly entertaining area to work in on Sunday.

Timmy the tool man got to work with his first assistant Grahame, these two cut the hole and put in the second window with help from Pete, after lunch and a bit of harassing, the guys got to work on an internal wall, by this time Timmy the tool man had another assistant, namely Pete, and a supervisor. (we just hope Timmy returns next week after all we put him through on Sunday) There were numerous suggestions that Timmy the tool man did not approve of, one in particular was his assistants suggestion that due to one piece of wood being too short to be used as a noggin, the assistant suggest we use the short piece of wood plus a small block of wood and Timmy’s chisel which when all placed together between the uprights stayed in place, said assistants was politely told, that Timmy needed his bleeding chisel for work tomorrow. When thinking back on the way we carried on, I do believe Timmy was enjoying the garbage a couple of us were carrying on with and will return...

Cotto spent his day on his hands and knees with a magnet picking up nails out of he fire places, (left by other users of the site) (I don’t think there are many places where this would happen) Cotto has requested that any persons attending the MMC, when bringing their own fire wood, PLEASE MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO NAIL IN THE WOOD. Cotto also became a TA to Mark after Pete’s presence was requested in the hut.

Grahame put daughter of Dorothy to work and she became the working platform for the fitting of the window and replacement of some panels, she was also used in the removal of the Start Lights, where all hands were needed. The old speaker post holes were also filled in, and on the depth of these, the guys who put them in many years ago certainly made sure they were not going to fall over (or maybe they were just younger and more energetic)

The guys from Hedweld (Chris) have made covers for the electrical wires going up the side of the container into the hut, and while Ian was away overseas they cleaned up Hedweld’s yard delivering us enough material for the walk way and hand rails. Next week we hope to have some workers turn up to finish off the walkway, Timmy the tool man will be back to finish the internal walls, and Mark will be wiring the Site Hut, Pete will be back in his comfort zone, making a bench for the equipment that will be housed in the Hut. (start box, PA, and Pit return beeper)

We hope to have soon 80 litres of paint & 20 litres of thinners which are being donated to the Club by Induspray Australia of MT Thorley, when that arrives painting of the containers, huts and toilets can begin.

 

Monday 28/06/10 - HVORRA's 25th Birthday

HVORRA’s 25^th Birthday next year, if you have any suggestions on what we can do to make it an occasion please let us know, come to the meetings or send us an email, we would like to hear from anyone with ideas. That is sensible ideas “No Wet T-Shirt  Competions” Ian.

Meeting Wednesday 30^th June 2010 7.30 Singleton Heights RSC, discussion on 2010 MMC.

 

Monday 28/06/10 - Working Bee

HVORRA’s working bee at the weekend accomplished so much that there were plenty of happy people around. A call for help was answered and boy were they answered, Jan must have thought we were going to have hundreds attend, going on the amount of morning tea she supplied, and our BBQ lunch was a chance to sit down and discuss all sought of things.

Scott and Robert were in charge of the walkway and getting the frame work in place, Mark was assigned three Tradies to help with his electrical work and ended up with five, one of these (Kristy) who was a very efficient tradesman ( I think she really enjoyed bossing Ben around)  The George boys and Derek dug holes for the speaker poles, feed the wires in and cemented the poles in, Hedweld's workers Chris and Deb also lent a hand, Chris has the stairs in place and in between that was welding posts, putting up the commentators platform etc, we girls painted, Grahame was helping in any area required from the stairs, cementing, cutting down the mistletoe that was killing the trees etc.

Mr Robards and Michael have the big doors in the Site Hut and Rikki helped with the window, this was fun to watch and comment on as Mr Robards was scarring us all to death as he when he would hang out the window to attach it and some comments from the peanut gallery (one person in particular,) saw items being thrown from the top floor in her direction, no need to name the person as you can all guess who it was. Pete and Trent fixed up the toilet door so it would shut and this turned out to be a major issue, finally we now have a door that will open and shut without the aid of a crowbar.

 Click here to see photos.

 

Tuesday 08/06/10 - Working Bees

If you do not have anything planned for Sunday of the long weekend, you might like to give us a hand at the working bee. Over the past couple of months we have removed the bus, placed the containers and site hut in position, Mark, Brett & Cotto have put in the underground wires for the speakers and electricity, Cotto and Grahame have worked on the equipment, Robert, Noel and gang have removed and replaced some posts, Ian has been busy making a new section of track, Pete and gang have cleaned up HQ, yesterday Daughter of Dorothy broke down again, bringing work to a halt, painting was started and a smarty asked if the car could be left unpainted ( I might add the car was a good two to three metres away) someone didn't trust the painter.

Mr Robards as kindly offer to do the fitting out of the site hut and the materials are there for the start of that, we need to finish the underground speakers etc, there has been some damage caused by the rain with the dirt being wash away and commence work on the stair way and platform.

If you can make it on Sunday, please give Marion a call on 65 721376

Our Come and Try/Charity Fun Day weekend had to be cancelled due to the weather, and we hope to have fine weather when we hold it on 7th/8th August.

After making the decision to postpone,it was a made rush to cancel the food that had been kindly donated by Cox's Bakery and Trunks Gourmet Meats, ring/email everyone that was involved and hope we didn't forget anyone. (The Stewards, ambulance, Recovery, Camp Quality, Witmore the list goes on. Some of the recovery guys left straight from work and headed to the track, only to be greeted by the sign on the gate.)

As stated we postponed the weekend until August, If you are able to give us a hand whether it be in supplying a car to give the families a ride or help out in man power (as there are a lot of things that have to be done on the day) please let us know, it is very difficult organising a thing like this if you do not know who is going to be there on the weekend to assist

 

 

Monday 31/05/10 - Come & Try Day

If there is anyone with Helmets that they can lend us for the day and also car booster seats it would be much appreciated!

 

Monday 17/05/10 - Grahame Baxter Inducted into the 2010 Hunter Region Sporting Hall of Fame

Grahame was born in Singleton in 1952 and has resided in this town for his entire life. He is married with three children, who followed their fathers love for motorsport. Grahame is an active member in the NSW Formula 500 Association, where he held the position of President for several years, and is currently the State Chief Scrutineer and assistant Steward. He has also held the position of President of the Australian Formula 500 Association.

Grahame did not only race speedway; he also raced Off Road and is a member of the Hunter Valley Off Road Racing Association. After Grahame retired from racing he decided to give back to the sport and become a CAMS accredited Official and is a valuable asset to the Association.

Grahame also holds a position of Competitors Representative on the Board of NASR (NSW &ACT)      (National Association Speedway Racing) and is a delegate for the National Council.

Grahame has also been a representative on the NSW State Off Road Advisory Board.

During Grahame’s competitive time he has won numerous Feature races, has won State Speedway and Short Circuit Titles in the Formula 500s plus two (2) Australian Short Circuit Championships. Grahame was introduced to the Formula 500s by Lloyd Thorley in 1980. Both of his sons race Formula 500s, his daughter retire due to having children, his wife Marion is an Official for the Formula 500s.

Grahame was introduce to Off Road Racing by way of working on a locals Off Road car, he purchase a wrecked MQ Nissan, repaired it and went Off Road Racing. During which time Grahame won the Australian Class 7 Championship in 1991, being the only driver to beat Les Siviour in 15 years. The need for speed saw Grahame revamp the MQ and convert it to a Class 8 car where he went on to win 2 Australian Championships in 1995 and 1996. Grahame also won many NSW State Championships in both Classes.

Grahame is still heavily involved in the sport and spends hundreds of hours at the Hunter Valley Off Road track at Milbrodale repairing and preparing the track for the Milbrodale Mountain Classic which is held annually. He is also an official at the Off Road events.

 

Friday 07/05/10 - Wittitrin 200 2010

Just a reminder to all that Wittitrin is on the 29th & 30th May. Wittitrin Entry forms and Supplementary Regulations are available on the Events Page.

 

Friday 07/05/10 - General News

Sponsors for the NSW Premier Long Course Series are:

 

Scotts Hydraulic Services Kempsey  (Wittitrin)

Hedweld Engineering                        (Milbrodale)

Rose & Son Earth Moving                 (Warialda)

 

HVORRA Members wish Bradley Bishop a speedy recovery from the accident last weekend, and hope his is back on the track (racing) again in the near future.

 

Any Club member who has not returned the form sent out in the minutes. RE; Charity Day. Can you please get it back to Marion ASAP as we need to know how many cars will be attending on that weekend. At this stage we have 51 attending from Camp Quality.

 

 

Thursday 25/03/10 - Crookwell 2010

Just a reminder to all that Crookwell is on the 17th & 18th April. Crookwell Entry forms and Supplementary Regulations are available on the Events Page.

 

Friday 12/03/10

NSW Off Road competitors are excited at the prosect of a new/old venue to race at, and from what one hears there is going to be a large contingent of them are going to enter the MTQ Griffith 700.

The Griffith Off Road Racing Club’s organising committee is hard at work finalising the details for their 2010 Round of the Australian Off Road Championship (RD 3), which is incorporating a Round of the NSW Off Road Championship (RD 4) being run on the 24^th/25^th July, after a break of 6 years.

What I can tell you is that the Event is going to be run over 8 laps of 87 kilometres and those competitors who wish to compete as the State Championship level will be required to complete 4 laps.

Scrutineering for State Championship competitors only you will be able to be scrutineered regionally.

Reconnaissance is being held on Saturday morning in road cars only.

 The Pits will be at the Blue Dot Speedway and racing will be starting from the Speedway, negotiations are still underway regarding camping at the track.

Due to the length of the race and the amount of fuel that each vehicle will require to complete the distance, the committee is trying to organise a fuel truck at the site, if this eventuates, competitors who would like to purchase their fuel at the track (thus saving carting it with them) will be required to fill in an Fuel Purchase Order form which will be sent out with the entries.

Presentation Dinner venue is yet to be confirmed with the Presentation starting at 7.30PM on Sunday night.

 

 

Friday 26/02/10 - WARIALDA 200 DVD

 

The 2009 Warialda 200 DVD is now available for purchase at the following link. The DVD runs for 54min and includes the Friday night Parade, Driver interviews with Jodie & Rusty Bell and of course plenty of track action.

http://www.webbvideo.com.au/offroad/index.html

 

 

Wednesday 24/02/10 - MMC CLOCK

Starting this website has created a lot of interest and some are becoming quite nostalgic about Milbrodale; following is one such nostalgic moment; if you have one or two maybe you would like to let us know.

"Just thought I'd let you know the clock still keeps perfect time 12 years on. But I'm not sure what happened to the number 9. The clock was first prize in a raffle in 1998 in which I think I bought around $20 worth of tickets, (because it had a pink baja on it), then you pointed out it might be cheaper for me to buy it from who-ever wins it. Then as the raffle was about to be drawn, you announced to everyone that I would be happy to buy it off the winner for at least $50, but luckily I was the winner, otherwise who knows how much it would have cost me. And without sounding sucky, every time I look at it reminds me how much fun Milbrodale is." Warren Irons

 

Tuesday 19/02/10 - 2010 NSW CAMS PRESENTATION

The 2010 NSW CAMS Presentation is being held on the 27th November 2010 at Waterview, Sydney Olympic Park ( Doreen (CAMS NSW) fell in love with this Venue and booked it for the 2010 Dinner last year.

The Dinner recognises the winners in the different facets of CAMS Motorsport in NSW and it would be nice to see all the recipients of the OFF Road Championship Awards make an attempt to attend. Those attending in previous years have enjoyed the experience. (you have had plenty of notice of the date so keep it free incase you are a Class Winner)

CAMS (NSW) is making plans for 2010, now that the State has a new Regional Manager, John Bruning, they anticipate being able to spend more time focussing on Club Development. They hope to make contact with every club a few times throughout the year and run them through a "Club Health Check " This Health check will hopefully establish what clubs need - be it help with their fund raising or putting on events, through to defining exactly what each committee member should be doing within the club or help identifying venues for competitions. They also hope to get Clubs a little more active within CAMS and they are trying to implement a NSW Club of the Year Award ( or something similar) to recognise those Clubs that are flying along and getting things done.

If you have any suggestions on how CAMS can help Clubs, please let us know so that we can forward any suggestions, (pleeaasse !! only sensible suggestions to them)

 

Tuesday 16/02/10 - CHANGING OF TIMES

A group of enthusiastic members turned up for the working bee on Sunday, where old faithful  (the double decker bus) was removed and two containers placed in position ready for the site hut to be placed on them.

Mark Cowie cut the umbilical cord on the bus prior to the move. It was hilarious watching the bus being pulled out as Robert Pagan was in the drivers seat steering, (not being able to see where he was going, and the girls, standing around with cameras screaming because he didn't turn sharp enough and got the front bumper hooked on a speaker pole. Robert defended himself by saying the power steering wasn't working.

Prior to the removal of the bus the guys had to remove all the wiring around the commentators stand which will be placed trackside for the girls lap scoring.

The number of cameras going, one would have thought you were on a movie set, (some of the things that happened could have made a good movie). The next working bee, the guys will level up the huts in preparation for the placement of the site hut. A discussion was had on the divisions to be made in the hut and Mr Robards has kindly offered to help with the partitioning. Mark Cowie has obtained sponsorship from Cetnaj who will assist us by supplying materials for the huts, lighting, wiring, etc which will be a great saving for the Club, Thanks to Mark for getting us their support.

All in all it was a very eventful day without too many incidents, except for the snake on the BBQ,

 

Tuesday 16/02/10 - GRAHAME BAXTER INDUCTED INTO THE HUNTER REGION SPORTING HALL OF FAME

Grahame Baxter is to be inducted into the Hunter Region Sporting Hall of Fame on the 16th May 2010 at South Newcastle Leagues Club.

Grahame was nominated by the Hunter Valley Off Road Racing Association for his achievements in the sport having won the 1991 Class 7  Australian Off Road Championship, Grahame being the only driver to beat Les Siviour in 15 years. He then revamped the MQ and converted it to a Class 8 car where he went on to win 2 Australian Championships, in 1995 and 1996. Grahame also won numerous State Championships.

Congratulations Grahame on the upcoming induction.

 

Tuesday 09/02/10 - SIDE INTRUSION BARS (IMPORTANT!)

Bulletin No B09/87 covering the implementation of side intrusion bars on Off Road vehicles, came into force on 01/01/10 and is included in the Clause GR9 of the Off Road General Requirements in the 2010 1st Quarter CAMS Manual.

However paragraph 7 (implementation) of Clause GR9 exempts vehicles which log booked prior to January 1998 from these requirements and there are some competitors who are claiming this exemption at scrutineering.(confirmation on this issue was requested, answer following)

The Australian Off Road Commission has looked at this over the weekend and certainly it is intended that this apply to all vehicles including pre 1998 and that has been the nature of all communication to competitors on the topic to date. To ensure there is no misinterpretation regarding applicability, some revised wording will be released shortly.

For more information see the 2010 CAMS General Requirements for Off Road Vehicles.

 

 

Monday 08/02/10 - COME AND TRY DAY

What can one say? Our gals and guys love to play in the mud. Poor weather conditions did not deter the group of enthusiastic drivers, their crews, families and those who just wanted a ride in a buggy.

As can be seen in the photos there was a bit of water around and yes a little bit of mud, but as the day progressed, the track did dry out a little, leaving half a dozen wet spots and one reasonable size wet spot. In all everyone had a great day.

Thanks to our Hunter Valley Off Road Recovery Crew lead by Murray Slana, the 13 recovery vehicles would have seen some action that the rest of us didn’t, what with the cars sliding, and spinning out in the wet conditions at the start of the day, and as stated before, they ALL came back with big smiles on their very muddy faces.

To the BBQ gang of Jenny Webster, Beven Michel, Mrs Lada and Mrs Slana for helping out and selling the cakes, you were a great crew, thank you.

The day raised just over one thousand dollars which will be added to the money raised from our Charity Dayon 6^th June ( so keep that in mind as we will need some cars again to give the Children and their families a ride).

Finally a BIG THANK YOU to the car owners/drivers who offered to help out on the day. Jeff Cripps, Laurence Cripps, Scott McNeil, Jeremy Robards, and  Lesley Webster. As I write this, I can still see the smiles on these guys as they came back into the Pit area to get rid of that passenger and get a new one in.(mind you in most cases it was a very muddy smile)

For those who didn’t know, this day was held by the Hunter Valley Off Road Racing Association at Ringwood Park, Raymond Terrace, this was the old track run by the Newcastle Motor Racing Club and has been in existence for over 30 years, but due to the demise of the Club, through lack of help at working bees etc, long time member/worker Lindsay Chaff, gave up the organising of meetings several years ago andthusan event has not been held for a considerable time.

The Track has/or is in the process of being sold to a developer/motor sport enthusiast, who plans to build a tar circuit and this was the last chance for an Off Road vehicle to have a run on the track.

Thanks also must go to the Stewards on the day Greg Dickinson and Ken Short and to Bill Pearson who put in many hours getting the track up to scratch and for the photos he supplied for the website, Mr Pearson asked to pass on the message that  anyone is welcome to using his photos. Thanks to M&K Plant Hire for supplying the excavator and bobcat, Bill Standing and Grahame Baxter for fixing the bog hole. Thanks to all the Club Members who assisted on the day, Event Director, Start Line, Pit Entry Etc.

All one can say is WHAT A DAY AND A GREAT TIME WAS HAD BY ALL..

 

 

Monday 08/02/10 - 2009 NSW OFF ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTATION DINNER

Raymond Terrace Bowling Club - 6^th February 2010

Over one hundred people attended the NSW Off Road Presentation Dinner which also included the presentations for the East Coast Tri- Challenge which is contested between the Rounds of the NSW Championship held at Dondingalong, Milbrodale and Nabiac, and the NSW Premier Long Course Series which is contested over the Rounds of the Championship held at Wittitrin, Milbrodale and Warialda (representatives from these three Clubs/ Associations presented the trophies). Special thanks to the Round Sponsors for this Series, Wittitrin, Scott’s Hydraulics, Milbrodale Hedweld Engineering, Warialda Hunter Rivmasta. For without their support there would not be a series.

It’s also very pleasing to see the competitors attend from far and wide, some of these guys and gals travelled for nearly six hours (depending on who does the driving) to attend. You then realise these Presentations/ Awards do mean a lot to them.

Emcee for the night was Steve Maher, guest Bob Stansfield and Bruce Garland ( the latter just back from the gruelling Dakar Race in South America) had guests laughing at the stories these two were spinning. From comments made on the night, those attending had a good time.

Maurie and Robyn Fuller were unable to attend the Presentation as they had a family function to attend which was organised early in 2009, Maurie wrote; “This will be the first time we have missed this very important gathering of Off Roaders since it began. Sadly the other function that we are going to was organised very early in 2009. We would like to congratulate all of the competitors who raced in the State in 2009. Without them there would be no winners and no need for a presentation dinner. We would also like to congratulate the previous NSW Chairman, Jeff Cripps on a job well done and applaud Mick Latimore for stepping forward to fill this position. We look forward to seeing you all in 2010”. Maurie & Robyn Fuller

Thanks to Jenny Webster for supplying a DVD of photos she had taken over the year to play, and the 2009 Milbrodale DVD was shown, (picked up on Friday) for those who were not at the dinner, yours will be in the mail on Monday, so keep an eye out for the postman, Thanks to Simon and Leanne Webb for producing the DVD.

HVORRA has extra DVD’s for sale, at $30.00 plus postage. If anyone would like a DVD please contact us.

David Hartwig invited all to attend Warialda’s 20^th Birthday Party in September, and knowing the way these boys can party, it should be one hell of a party.

A SPECIAL THANKS goes to the Business’s who did not hesitate to donate a prize for the Raffle. Boyd Motorsport $150.00 Gift Voucher (Scott McNeil), Hedweld Multi Tool Kit (Karen Page) Skaza’s Automotive $100.00 Gift Voucher (Timmy Zikman), Hunter Rivmasta $100.00 Gift Voucher (Derek Rose)

THANKS to Club Member Bill Standing for obtaining the Lucky Door prizes for us. (Shame Scott McNeil forgot and left his bottle on the table, he hopes whoever found it enjoyed it or a suggestion from me, if you haven’t opened it you might like to invite Scott & Michelle over for a drink)

 

 

Tuesday 02/02/10 - Are you interested in Off Road Racing?

 

HVORRA are holding a 'Come and Try Day' on Sunday 7th February at Ringwood Park (Raymond Terrace), for all those keen to ride in an off road racing vehicle. The event will commence at 10am and all entries will be processed at the track on the race day. Entry Fees and Passenger Rides will be a donation of $25.00 which will ALL go towards the money donated to HVORRA's Charity's, Camp Quality and Witmore Enterprises Inc.

 

Please note, passengers must have the correct race wear/helmet etc. Passengers MUST be over 12 years of age and have proof of age eg; drivers licence/birth certificate/RTA card.

 

The Club will be having a sausage sizzle/cold drinks on the day for lunch and all profits will go towards the donations made to charities at our Charity Day at Milbrodale.

 

If anyone is interested in attending the day or can help out as officials/cooks etc can you please contact Marion Baxter on 65721376 or g.mbaxter@bigpond.com

 

Meeting

Next HVORRA meeting will be held on 27th January 2010 and we will be discussing the next Milbrodale Mountain Classic event and charity day.

 

NSW off Road Presentation Dinner 6th February

So far 8 tickets have been sold, if you are going to the dinner PLEASE get your tickets now, as the club needs numbers by 1st February.