The Broken Spoke – September 2024

The Broken Spoke
(Digital)
September 2024

pdf version

Happy Autumn, everyone! You’d think race events would be winding down now that summer is almost over, but no. September is one of the busiest months. Could be because of the excellent weather and folks are not travelling to lakes, cabins, and campgrounds as much. So, appreciate the many choices, get on out there with your car, and enjoy something!

Disclaimer: Hey there! The Calgary Sports Car Club does not currently have an official Broken
Spoke editor. Instead, in the interest of getting club news out somehow, someway, it’s me. I don’t
mind this task, if I have not a lot else to do … but I DO have a lot else to do. So, if being the
editor of the Broken Spoke sounds interesting to you, why not give it a try! E-mail me:
jamie.gray@cscc.ab.ca. The Broken Spoke goes out in a pdf version of a Word document, and
the format is pretty much set up already. Easy peasy.

In this issue you’ll find:

  • RECAP: CLUB REUNION AND 70-YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
  • COMING UP: KANANASKIS RALLY AND TEST DAY INFO
  • RECAP: LOOP TSD RALLY
  • COMING UP: LOON SNARK TSD RALLY INFO
  • AUTOX INFO
  • FROM THE ARCHIVES
  • CSCC AGM MEETING / BOARD MEETING
  • CHRISTMAS PARTY
  • WHAT’S ON YOUR WISH LIST? QUESTIONS FOR YOU!
  • WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
  • UPCOMING EVENTS THAT MAY INTEREST YOU
  • ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES

 

RECAP: CLUB REUNION AND 70-YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
Well, our September board meeting doubled as our reunion, and it was a party to remember.
THANK YOU to everyone who came out, some with historic memorabilia in hand, to eat and
drink things, and to share great memories of past motorsport events with each other. An extra
special thanks goes to our clubhouse colleagues, the Calgary Amateur Radio Association, who
trucked in their Comms Trailer (mobile radio unit) to display and talk about it, and who opened
up their lower-floor club station for us to see and understand better how radio works in
conjunction with rally racing. It was so interesting.
Our first 70 years is successfully behind us. Now on to the next! Please enjoy photos from the
party (most by Shawn Bishop, a few by me). I’m avoiding putting names on these in case I mix
up some folks, but you’ll likely be familiar with the epic history-makers you’re looking at.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


COMING UP: KANANASKIS RALLY AND TEST DAY INFO
The Kananaskis Rally will run on Saturday, November 9 (recce) and Sunday, November 10 (race). A test day is set up for September 22 at Jumping Pound Loop. Volunteers are always needed (guaranteed best seat in the house!) and spectators are welcome. Please contact Rob
Jackett at rob.jackett@cscc.ab.ca for more info. You can also find info on the CSCC website
here: https://www.cscc.ab.ca/kananaskis/.


RECAP: LOOP TSD RALLY
The Loop TSD Rally is run and done, and what a fun and challenging day it was! I drove and
David navigated, and I think it’s fair to say: I HAD NO IDEA. The roads were challenging
(good lord … the rocks and potholes: skills were developed!) and the 12 hours of driving was
physically trying for 60+ year-old bodies. But the scenery of southern Alberta was unmatched
and the weather was glorious.
THANK YOU, Pete Chadwick and team, for putting together this rally and making it go. We
look forward to the next one.


COMING UP: LOON SNARK TSD RALLY
From the Edmonton Rally Club Facebook page:
“TSD Rally fans!!!! The LOON SNARK Rally is coming soon!!!!
The ERC, in conjunction with the CSCC, heard you! You want, and we’ll deliver!
November 22nd/23rd
TSD rallies (Time, Speed, and Distance) are run on public roads and a driver and a navigator
have to follow the precise route the organizers have laid out and maintain precise timing so that
the rally team is always at a specific place at a specific time. The object of the event is to follow
the organizers’ directions and timing instructions and while this seems easy, sometimes the
directions are not so easy to follow dependent on the nature of the instructions.
The speeds set are always below the posted limits, and all rules of the road are expected to be
obeyed at all times.
Scoring for TSD events usually is determined by arrival times at the very cleverly hidden
checkpoints the organizer has along the route. A TSD rally is NOT a speed event, and early
arrivals at checkpoints result in a higher score than being similarly late. Navigational rallies are
run in rural or less populated areas and provide challenges to both the driver and navigator.
Interpretive abilities and team work are the skills needed to succeed. This is an inexpensive way
to get involved in rallying, and you can do it in your grocery getter!
Save the Dates! More to come!”


AUTOX INFO
The Calgary Sports Car Club is not currently organizing any autoX events outside of Ice Dice in
the winter, and the reason for this is nothing short of excellent. There are three other clubs in
southern Alberta that do a fantastic job organizing stellar autoX events: the Red Deer Sports Car
Club, the Southern Alberta Solosport Club, and the Lethbridge Sports Car Club. We encourage
you to join us at their events. They’re well-organized, accessible, and affordable. All of them are
listed on the race events schedule on pages 10-11 of this newsletter. Check it out! We’ll see you
there.
Red Deer Sports Car Club (https://rdscc.ca/Schedule.aspx)
Southern Alberta Solosport Club
(https://www.motorsportreg.com/calendar/?country=CA&q=sasc&radius=300&lat=51.02&lng=-
114.07&loc=Calgary%2C+AB)
Lethbridge Sports Car Club
(https://www.facebook.com/lethbridgesportscarclub/posts/pfbid0nZRKmAJACNBu1hFRjTYWjdWfWsCnisL9xW8
8dkz1c9tj7X616eoGquyDKrNF3GJ1l)

 


FROM THE ARCHIVES
At the reunion a couple of weeks ago, Robert Brink handed me a bound folder. It was a birthday
gift to him from his friend, Fritz Kiessling, who sought out and printed newspaper articles he
found that listed aspects of Robert’s motorsport career within them. I have chosen one of the
articles for this month’s FTA, typed out for ease of readability below the scanned image. It is
from The Calgary Herald’s “In The Driver’s Seat” by Pete Matthews.

“Ice racing is an obvious step beyond ice dicing – dicing being against the clock with only one car on the track at a time and racing being what you might expect, against other cars. It hasn’t caught on in this area yet, perhaps because of the chance of body damage, but near Edmonton
the sport is firmly established. There’s a five-race series running at Lake Eden resort and last Sunday saw the second such event. Four Calgary drivers made the long journey (there’s $700 in prize money for the series) and didn’t do too badly. Rob Brink managed to grab two wins, two seconds and a fast trip off the track in five races and
has made something of a reputation as a man to pass. It should be explained that the lakesurface circuit is ploughed out of some heavy snow cover and is very twisty and narrow with few
straights or other chances to pass. But it is exciting to run and also to watch. Chris Dyer and Tom Griffiths of Import Tire took their Porsche Speedster up and managed a first, second, third, fourth and fifth in the races with Dyer putting on one dazzling (or frightening, depending on your viewpoint) display when starting from the back of the grid and
moving from fourteenth to third in only ten laps. Boris Ganchev, the Calgary Sports Car Club’s rally chairman, skipped the Winter Rally in favor of the ice racing thrill but didn’t manage too much on this first outing in his Fiat 128. Many of the road racers who battle the Edmonton
circuit in summer use these races to keep in shape, by the way.
It sounds interesting and it’s my betting the sport could be tried around Calgary by next winter.”


CSCC AGM MEETING / BOARD MEETING
Our next board meeting is our AGM, at which we hold votes for positions on the board of
directors. That would ordinarily happen on Thursday, October 3, but because I am going to be
out of town for a couple of weeks, we will be meeting on Thursday, October 17. Time and
place are the same: 7:30pm at 4215 – 80 Avenue NE. If you’ve been thinking of standing for a
position, please come on out and join us. All are welcome!


CHRISTMAS PARTY
Thanks to Eric and Chris, we are going to have a Christmas party this year! Cheers, guys. Both the board meeting and Christmas party supper will be held on Monday, December 2, starting at 6:30pm with a very short board meeting. Stay tuned for more info (eg. ticket cost and how to register) as things get fine-tuned over the next couple months. Our meetings are usually on the
first Thursday of each month, but December 5 is a travel day for folks heading to Big White Winter Rally. Please SAVE THE DATE and plan to join us.

 


WHAT’S ON YOUR WISH LIST? QUESTIONS FOR YOU!
We continue our quest to draw members back to the clubhouse for fun, get-togethers, and
education. But we need your input! So, please let us know what YOU’d like to see happening at
the clubhouse. It’s a great space. We already do monthly meetings and the occasional in-house
event. Would you like to see more movies? Ladies’ events? Televised international race
viewings? Educational stuff? Wine tastings? (I don’t know … maybe wine is what gets people
coming out to stuff …) Please let us know!

 


WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
The Broken Spoke is currently just me yakking away. Blah blah blah. I’m sure you’d be
interested in hearing from others. Such as your own good self! Send some of your own
wordcrafts! Write an article. Debrief an event. Send photos. Have you taken an interesting road
trip? Purchased a new car? Would you like to review a car? How about getting a debate going:
manual vs. automatic? electric vs. not? any other incendiary topic? Bring it! Your submissions
are welcome and they don’t have to be grammar- or word-perfect. I’ll fix everything right up.

 


UPCOMING EVENTS THAT MAY INTEREST YOU
We’re getting close to the end of “clear road” race season. The following is what’s happening
that we’re aware of from now until the end of December, including events happening from Fort
Saskatchewan south to the border. If you have any questions, fire ‘em our way: info@cscc.ab.ca.
Friday, September 20 Rocky Mountain Motorsports, Public Track Day
Friday, September 20 Track Junkies
Saturday, September 21 Edmonton International Raceway, NASCAR Racing
Saturday, September 21 Northern Alberta Sports Car Club, LA1K Enduro
Saturday, September 21 Red Deer Sports Car Club, Event #12
Sunday, September 22 Red Deer Sports Car Club, Event #13
Sunday, September 22 Calgary Sports Car Club, Rally Test Day
Friday, September 27 Calgary Exotic Auto Guild, LeMans Night
Saturday, September 28 Rocky Mountain Motorsports, New Drivers Skills Clinic
Saturday, September 28 Calgary Exotic Auto Guild, Strawberry Creek backwards
Sunday, September 29 Red Deer Sports Car Club, Event #14
Sunday, September 29 Track Junkies
Sunday, September 29 Southern Alberta Solosport Club, YYC Parking Lot, Event
#12
Friday, October 4 Rocky Mountain Motorsports, Public Track Day
Saturday, October 5 Lethbridge Sports Car Club, Autocross #8
Saturday, October 5 Rocky Mountain Motorsports, Members Race Series
Sunday, October 6 Southern Alberta Solosport Club, Fort Macleod, Event #13
Friday, October 11 Rocky Mountain Motorsports, High Performance Driving
School
Saturday, October 12 Red Deer Sports Car Club, Event #16
Sunday, October 13 Red Deer Sports Car Club, Event #17
Sunday, October 13 Edmonton Rally Club, Rallycross Championship #11
Thursday, October 17 Calgary Sports Car Club, Monthly Meeting (AGM), 7:30pm
Saturday, October 26 Red Deer Sports Car Club, Event #18
Thursday, November 7 Calgary Sports Car Club, Monthly Meeting, 6:30/7:30pm
November 9-10 RallyWest/Calgary Sports Car Club, Kananaskis Rally
(recce on the 9th, race on the 10th)
Sunday, November 10 Edmonton Rally Club, Rallycross Championship #12
Monday, December 2 Calgary Sports Car Club, Monthly Meeting followed by
Christmas party, 6:30/7:30pm
December 6-8 RallyBC/WCRA, Big White Winter Rally
December 7-8 Edmonton Rally Club, Year End Double Header Rallycross
Championship


ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES
Would you like to see your product or service featured in The Broken Spoke? Selling ad space
used to be the done thing when we were trying to cover the cost of paper, printing, and postage.
These days, we use funds to cover events. You can help out the club by advertising, and we can
help you by promoting your business (the digital version of the Broken Spoke goes out to almost
700 people). A full-page layout will run $50/issue. Contact us anytime.


That’s all for now! Enjoy the last of the sunny days and get out there for a run or two somewhere
before the snow flies. Ice Dice and winter autoX is coming!

Jamie
President, Calgary Sports Car Club
Fill-In/Part-Time Editor, The Broken Spoke
jamie.gray@cscc.ab.ca

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