[AHSDC is the Austin Healy Sprite Driver's Club, in Victoria
Australia. Almost 200 members and 107 spridgets are in the club with
maybe 50 and 25 respective active and regular participants in a
variety of competition and social events.]
AHSDC Annual Economy Run on 30 July 1994
A small gaggle of cars, sprite and associate gathered at about 8:30am
on Sunday morning for the AHSDC annual economy run. There were 2
bugeyes, Rob and Debbie's concours winner and Peter Westcott and
Angela Hervey-Tenneson's beat up all-rounder. Peter Brice, Tim Renn
(with Simon Hughes navigating) Jack and Kay DeBruijne also competed in
their sprites. Owen and Cris Crombie officiated in the blue Midget,
while Simon Romerill and Ranald Young (Corolla), Alan and Evelyn
Potter (Falcon), and yours truly (Prelude - my sprite is a race car,
not a road car!) competed in associate cars. To avoid any
discrepancies in filling, Owen undertook the filling at both the start
and the completion of the event. The winner would be the car that took
the least petrol at fillup.
We started from suburban Doncaster, first heading out through
Warrandyte (via the lovely Old Warrandyte Rd), Coldstream (via Jumping
Creek Rd) and Lilydale on the way to the Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd. Most
of the driving was along picturesque, winding country roads. The Mt
Dandenong Rd is fantastic, with a climbing windy road heading up
towards one of Melbourne's best lookouts. The mountain road itself was
damp, but the grip remained very good. We actually passed by the
Summit, taking side roads (including a dirt/mud section) back down the
hill. We rejoined the tourist road and met at a petrol station in
Mount Dandenong to refuel. Unfortunately, the station was still closed
when we arrived at about 10 so we hopped back in the cars and rolled
all the way downhill to one that was open. In all, we covered about 63
kilometres. The guide sheet (complete with quiz questions to be
completed), was pretty good, though a number of people were caught out
by Owen's tricky questions (i.e. Owen confused them with deliberate
mistakes in the questions!).
Most people were trying pretty hard to be miserly in the consumption
stakes, coasting where possible, holding up traffic by travelling at
low speeds etc etc. I think Simon R takes the trying hardest award by
turning off his ignition and rolling down hills even when his car uses
power steering and power brakes! I certainly wasn't prepared to do
that!! Peter Brice tried being tricky by slip-streaming Rob and Debbie
but to no avail - he still used more fuel than their bugeye. We aren't
sure about Owen's refuelling technique -- he managed to spill a fair
amount of petrol on Rob's bugeye - according to Rob it was at least a
full litre of fuel, while Owen compensated them with a mere 0.03 litre
reduction! The loser of the day was Alan and Evelyn's Falcon (one
mightn't be surprised if one saw their car do a U-turn and head back
in the wrong direction at one point!). Most economical Sprite was
Peter and Angela's bugeye (3rd outright), Simon Romerill's Seca came
in a close second behind the Prelude. It was a very close thing, with
the Seca consuming 4.58 litres to the Prelude's 4.48. Pity that Simon
(Ranald?) made an error and took a wrong turn at one point, ensuring
the Prelude would successfully defend its win in 1993's event.
As soon as the formalities were complete, we adjourned to Kate Kelly's
british pub where there was a very welcome fire (this is winter you
know!) to warm up by. A few largers, bitters and pints of Guinness
were consumed with some excellent potato skins and Nachos before the
main eats. The spicy tomato soup was popular, as was the home made
damper.
As usual, there was lots of sprite talk and general good company
before we leisurely departed for an early return at about 1:30pm.
Overall, it was a real fun event that even the most non-competitive
person would greatly enjoy and a chance for fun socialising
afterwards. I can highly commend the event to everyone and hope that
next year we'll get a better turnout!
Mike Gigante
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