Jeez, been away from RL for a while so playing catchup reading. Well spotted John!

Planning a few b-road trips and a couple of overseas breaks in 2017. Lost a bit of organising mojo when the January plans had everyone bailing one by one due to various situations. Decided January is a waste of time. John H and I got a couple of Oakura runs in. Main big road trip for 2017 is down to Stewart Island (never been) around Easter including an Otago back road run with Steve and a few of his Central p-car mates. I really hope he can get the Singer along for that.

Need to get down to Wellington on the way and hoping to get a few mates along to get there and back the long way over several weekends. Need to get some possible dates and route plans on the table. Likely late March/early April pre-Easter timeframe.

Welcome home Macca!!

 

Enjoying a lot of Motor Trend content here too.

Roadkill Garage is a personal favourite, Engine Masters is good too. All on Youtube if you don't mind waiting.

Also enjoying After/Drive, it's more car geek intelligent discussion than Top Gear.

Check it out:
Cheers,
Mike

 

Any time where there are competing priorities is always going to be difficult. Summer is family and DIY time for me, whereas Winter is easier to get away e.g, the East Cape trip last year. I don't care if it rains, however I want to make sure Dave is finished painting so there is air cooled company for me at the back of the pack. With a family holiday in Japan in early April I suspect I will have a lean road trip year unless you have a lot more planned after a full start to the year.

 

Only two in my varied and extensive ownership of cars, the sprint QV and the 159. Sprint was great but rusty at 4 years old and the 159 was pretty (black / tan) but was most underwhelming and had a lot of problems due to the GM engine, which I stupidly thought would make it a reliable purchase (two bouts of stretched timing chains) luckily neither of which I had to pay for but resulted in the worst after sales experiences I ever had. (Simms)

 

I will get another Alfa at some stage and that Sud appeals. Good suds / sprints are very rare now and so it will probably pull those dollars eventually. I thought a bit dear but find another one I guess..

 

Thanks Doug. Shame I wasnt here in Jan as Ive been dreaming about those Norhtland Roads for a while! Hopefully next time.

We are developing a nice little group of Central NI drivers for weekend runs. Once I get down there and rustle it all up we should have plenty to keep anyone visiting company for road runs down that way.

Numbers seem a bit thin on the ground for events in general so far in 2017. Feb track day we had a number bail out. Our 5th March day is looking at threat of cancellation due to low numbers, 26th March is fairing a bit better but not by much. Perhaps 2017 will be about smaller groups all doing their thing with just a few larger more broadly organised events such as NITT. I think that would work just fine. I dont mind organizing or participating in more intimate groups. Easier logistics, faster pace etc.

 

It’s a largely thankless task organising these events, a fact probably reflected in the small numbers that step up to do it. Groups naturally form and re-form, priorities and interests change. I think Steve R foresaw that at the start of RSG in 2012/3 when the rest of us were in the first flush of multiple track day months, albeit I remember events where we struggled to get more than 8 for some sessions. There are a lot more Porsche track day drivers now, but some of the ‘original’ RSG members are less active on the track. A natural evolution with some e.g. Doug & Me doing more road trips as an alternative.

What will keep it going for me is the social aspect more than the driving per se. From that point of view it’s not the lack of interest in any event that seems to be the problem, but more so the erratic commitment to attending when interest has been shown and arrangements made. Good luck with herding the cats!

 

The flat four is a special engine and the package looks good. However, in the end it’s an emotional buy. I don’t mind paying a premium for a good car and could see myself using it as a commuting car. The problem here is that I have no idea where the general market is. I don’t want to buy it and find in two or three years that the market was closer to say $8k and this was well overpriced. It would also have to be an outside car. Were they still rusting in the early ‘80s?

 

Macca, i see you are reducing your watch collection. Nice GMT. I'm a Breitling guy and recently picked up a nice new Navi while i was in London over the new year. I'd love a mid '60's 765CP.

 

Noted Macca! I've posted a rough outline on our road trip FB group which includes linking up with the RSG Taupo Whanau on the last leg (Palmy to Auckland over a weekend)... just laiasing with JM over dates (March timeframe) before setting dates and seeing who can join us. Time flies and Easter is just around the corner in mid-April. We need to get this trip out of the way prior to then.

I hadn't forgotten your suggestion of a Northland trip at the end of March. If you still have the time available, once we've sorted dates for our 3 weekend lower North Island exravaganza it may work. Otherwise we're in to May which is a lovely time on the road anyway.

John, autumn - winter is a good time to organise road trips (with little other stuff competing for time) and I agree the camaraderie is a big part of it... eg I'd be pretty uninterested on doing them on my own but a group from 2-5 is ideal.

 

Hi mate. Yes GMT Ceramic for sale here. Discounted price to Porsche brethren. I have not yet owned a Breitling. Truth be told Im at that age now wehre my near vision excludes me from really enjoying intricate dials and multi complications. Im still resisting reading glasses, but the enjoyment of a fine time piece is erroded when you cant actually see the time unless you move you hand 40cm+ from your face LOL!. For this reason I am selling the GMT as the cyclops and shiny hour marker outlines play havoc for easy reading. Its funny as its the cheapest watch in my collection I now enjoy the most as a daily wear - Omega Speedmaster Moon Watch with domed plexi. Large black dial, white hands, no date to clutter. Only downside is hand wind but the movement has a 52hr reserve and Ive worked a routine to wind it every other day with contact lens changes LOL!

 

Hi mate. Good stuff, I saw the FB post and it looks good. I cant plan my movements so well for March as I have three track days and two Auckland trips to squeeze in so a bit unsure of movements although Im bound to join at least one of the legs.

April is busy too with offshore guests a few track days and

For Northland why dont we set a date in May now and bake it in? Ill have the Alfa muscle car by then. Would be fun to test its limits. 6th & 7th could work well? 14th is HD full circuit with PCNZ...

 

Haha. I hear that. I have always had a thing for chronographs and the Navi dials are compressed to say the least. When you have a watch, even at 46mm, that can calculate numerous mathematical formula, a second timezone, stopwatch and tells the time its to be expected.

Don't tease me with the GMT i'm resisting with difficulty I've always preferred the GMT to subbies. Particularly with the ceramic bezel

I've had to quietly purchase a pair of reading glasses so i can cut my baby sons fingernails.

 

:-). You are a way off yet - you need to start worrying when you need those glasses to cut your own fingernails!

 

My sprint was an '85 and I bought it in late 88 I think. There was rust appearing down the roof / rear C pillar seam. Plus the base of the quarter window channel was bubbling on the inside. Rubbish really but I loved the car. Mechanically no probs other than a wheel bearing. Owned it just 9 months because I had a daily commuter as well and so it sat outside with the crap red paint fading before my eyes. Took a bath on that.