Combined Registers Event
Combined Registers Event In lieu of the cancelled McLaren Vale Vintage Classic and Victor Harbor British Classic Tour.
Sunday, April 27th was the chosen date by the Jaguar Drivers Club of SA for the inaugural Just British Car Club Picnic at the Birdwood Motor Museum. The idea to host the event came about as a result of the cancellation of the popular Victor Harbor and McLaren Vale events by the respective organisers due to a number of reasons. Jag Club member, Steve Weeks proposed the Birdwood event which was approved by his committee and plans were put in place to replicate the 2 abandoned events…with a twist! They wanted a picnic style atmosphere at a picnic style venue and what better place than the National Motor Museum to hold it. The NMM management welcomed the new event to host up to 250 British built cars on its beautifully manicured grounds, giving the organisers the green light to open applications to British Car Clubs throughout South Australia.
Our club was one of the first to embrace the concept and began promoting the Picnic Day to our members, hoping for around 30 entries leading up to the closing date. Steve Weeks reported to us on a weekly basis with entry upgrades from our club members and it became obvious early on that they were on a winner. At closing we had 52 members’ cars entered, with cars coming from as far away as Wallaroo to participate. The online entry format was easy to use with the “extraordinary” entry fee of $5 being able to be paid with the online entry.
We had a great group of club volunteers helping with the setup and dismantling the marquee and also arranging to park the cars in our dedicated area on the lawns of the NMM. Those people were Berry Treffers, Terry Cook. Christine Burns, Adam Kretschmer, John Roach, Callum Marshall and myself. A big thank you to everyone as it made the whole process seamless throughout the day.
Arthurs Ruediger’s MGNB was displayed prominently with the special vehicles and looked resplendent on arrival with his passenger, Laurie Houghton. Both looked very British and very cold in Arthur’s rare car. John and Norma Ross made the trip from Wallaroo in their spectacular, original bright yellow 1980 MGB followed by Ken and Heather Burke in their well known and rare red MG Magnette, freshly back from the MG Nationals in Albury/Wodonga. The Magnette engine rebuild had just been completed and I suspect the NSW trip was just a shake down to ensure the car was ready for the main event at Birdwood! The good news is that it never missed a beat.
I would like to thank Steve Spong and John Roach for shifting their planned breakfast run to Birdwood so that breakfast runners could also enter that event, finishing at the Motor Museum for the British Car Club Picnic Day. The weather was generally fine with a few light showers during the day, but ample shelter was available at the NMM. Onsite and local eateries were popular with unrestricted access to the Museum during the day being a real bonus for our club members.
A special thanks to the Jaguar Drivers Club of SA for developing the concept and for their outstanding communication with participating clubs. The National Motor Museum management and staff were just as efficient in their communication and supervision to ensure that the day was a success. They also made it clear that the NMM grounds are always available to Car Clubs at no cost other than traffic marshals to arrange proper and safe parking.
In closing, a big thank you to our club members for embracing the new event and I hope we can help the Jag Club people with even greater numbers for next year’s Picnic Day
