This year the Sprite Nationals were held at Goulburn in NSW and hosted by the Sprite Club of Australia. From our Club the following attended : Helen King, Sue, Grant and Helen Stephenson, Clive Spreadbury and his son Jason , Miles and Bev Jackson, Peter Dineen, Don & Elaine Cardone and David & Di Low. The Spreadbuy’s, the Low’s, and the Jacksons all took their Sprites and competed on the track. Peter Dineen and Don Cardone took their cars , but did not compete on the track. Peter however drove his Sprite to Goulburn and back. Goulburn is over 1200k’s from Adelaide, so no mean feat.
Driving over took two full days plus about 2 hours. So we arrived about 10:30am on the 21st and were expecting to be the first to arrive, only to be beaten by a couple of Queenslanders that had been there for two days already. That night was given over to a ‘Meet and Greet’ in the grounds of our motel, after the cars had been unloaded and the trailers parked. Our Motel was booked right out and every vehicle had a parking spot , but not one extra. An arrival that created great interest was the ‘Austin Healey Frite‘ that Colin Dodds from NSW brought along. Would believe a Sprite fitted a Jaguar 3.5 litre engine of about 350 HP, a Jaguar gearbox and rear end held up by a Lotus rear suspension, all built way back in 1963 and now full restored by Colin. The rest of the group were at another motel with extra parking provided by a business next door. The food that night was a sausage sizzle with plenty of drinks provided. (Beer, Red wine, white wine and soft drinks)
DAY 1 Good Friday 25th March 2016.
The Friday morning the 38 track competitors had to be at the Marulan track by 7:00am for 7:30am scrutineering. So we left the Motel at 6:30am. As we were doing the paperwork and the Scrutineering it started to rain, yes rain. We were then called up for a drivers meeting, and it decided all drivers should walk the track. Not sure whether that helped . Miles Jackson and I were together, you could call us the’ Pensioners Racing Team’. We were placed in to small groups or 4 or 5 cars according to your class. Miles went out first and seemed to manage OK, nobody was going very hard.
Then it was my turn and rain was now quite heavy. So I had a few problems, my visor fogged up, so did my mirrors. I did not realise I was holding up a car behind me, he tried passing me on the straight but I kept him at bay. Next time I let him go in front of me along with all the others. The second run of 4 laps was still wet, but from the third run on it had dried out. From here I tried to work out how to improve. I certainly went faster, but so did every body else, but I had enormous fun. Miles was unfortunate as his car was ok some of the time, then playing at other times. He thought he had blown a head gasket, but the usual symptoms were not showing up on the Friday, but did later in the weekend and his suspicions were confirmed. I got in 5 runs and car was running perfectly all day.
That night was Rocker Cover Racing night at the Soldiers Club. Here we had a large room to ourselves, with a bar and a stage. The food was served here and was really good. The various teams from each state lined up. We had 4 entrants and was later given one extra from Qld. The Racers were called up 2 at a time, with one from each State. This continued to all were eliminated. So we were left with Fay Brock’s ‘Quilted Lady’ piloted by Don Cardone against a very high tech Racer from NSW. The NSW Racer just pipped ours. The Rocker Racer technology has moved forward in 2 years. The Quilted finished 3rd.
Day 2 Saturday 26th March 2016
This was the morning of the Concourse. It was a sunny day and we arrived the Goulburn Historic Waterworks, which was next to a lake, a really beautiful venue. We arrived at 8:30am and judging started at 9:30am. 8 judges from each state worked to come up with scores for each car entered. Not all cars entered. A great morning tea and lunch was provided by the local Rotary Club. A Sprite that competed at Le Mans was there along with a ‘ Sprinzel’ Replica.
Then the judges started their work, checking all aspects of each car. Results were held over to the last night when all prizes were given out. Finally a SA entrant had success. Don Cardon’s beautiful Bugeye was awarded the best Bugeye prize and then also the best overall Sprite. Well done Don. Now we cannot wipe the smile off Don’s face.
After lunch we assembled at a service station for an economy run to Bungendore about 68k’s, and then return to refill and hand in your fuel docket with the litres used. Some tried really hard to win,others just went for a drive.
That night off to the Goulburn Soldiers Club for dinner and a quiz night. Also we were asked to provide an early photo of ourselves. Our task was to identify the person in the photo. Later several photos were put up on the big screen and the owners were asked to stand up. So you saw what a 65 year old looked like at 20. Also there were covered boxes with a sprite part in a cotton bag. The idea was you had to by feel the object and work out what the part was and write it down. Great fun!
DAY 3
Sunday 27th March 2016
This was the final day and we found ourselves ready for an observation run of about 280k’s. It was divided in to 3 sections. The first section ran us around the Goulburn City. We had to find our way using the provided instructions and answer questions and observe the special signs nailed to trees. To confuse us different instructions were issued for different cars, so following somebody, may or may not be wise. Finally we wound up back at the start for morning tea.
Next was section 2 which was to finish at Gunning for lunch. So normally it is a straight drive down the Hume Highway to Gunning. Well we took a very alternative route which tested of navigation and observing skills. At Gunning we checked in our score papers and then had a BBQ lunch, put on by the local Lyons Club. After lunch we received our route instructions for the run home. There were a lot of confused Sprite drivers and navigators parked in the street working out what to do next. The return route was quite different, but finally we all got back to the Motel by about 4:30.
On this night, the final night the presentations of trophies would take place and all were encouraged to dress up in fancy dress , the theme being ‘Hollywood Movies’. So plenty of scope, and some took full advantage. There were some really clever outfits. So now it was time to farewell new and old friends.
It is very necessary to thank the organising Committee for a really great Sprite National. These events take a lot of hard work and thought to produce a good result. The attention to detail was fantastic, most of the time this goes unnoticed, but if it is missing it is noticed. It was obvious that Greg and Leah Holden put many hours in to this event, and it great to see they had good support from their team of helpers.
So if did not go, please make the effort to go the next Sprite National to be held by the Sprite Drivers Club of Victoria. Put in on your ‘Bucket List’. Make a holiday out of it, but please don’t dismiss it as too hard, it’s not too hard, just takes a bit of organisation like any other holiday. You owe it to yourselves. Remember your Sprite was designed to be Driven.
Please remember our Club objective is to PROMOTE, FOSTER AND PRESERVE AUSTIN HEALY SPRITES AND MG MIDGETS.