South Australian Branch Technical Day

South Australian Branch Technical Day

I was so excited to be invited on another South Australian Branch outing and to have a chance to once again catch up with some of their members. Andrew Christopherson had offered to drive me to a technical presentation day at Ian and Marylyn Bell's house which also gave me the opportunity to take a stroll through their absolutely splendid garden.

We were greeted with a beautiful, fine Autumn day and my expectations were high as I eagerly set forth in one of Andrew's many Armstrong Siddeley cars (if only my failing memory could recall which one it was).

The day had been organised by Ian ( a mechanic of over 50 years experience) to discuss the braking system used on the 16/18 hp cars. He had prepared well for the day stripping an 18 hp master cylinder in order to show to the assembled masses the different components within. He had also obtained copies of workshop manual pages identifying the master cylinder components and the layout of the entire brake system.

John Colebrook's Lancaster (see my photo opposite) was up on the ramps and Ian pointed out the salient aspects of the front and back brake components. Thanks to Ian, those in attendance now have a much better understanding of how the brake system works.

I would like to thank the Colebrook's for so prominately acknowledging my name on their numberplate.

Whilst this was taking place, others less interested in matters-technical wandered through the garden and sat under the Bell's new pergola and chatted, proving that technical and social matters can occur hand-in-hand at the one outing. At one stage both groups met under the pergola to pursue the common interest of eating.

The presentation was recorded by Matthew Colebrook and Garth Pennington has kindly offered to edit the tape to create a technical-help film. I can't wait to see the finished product - especially if I appear in it!

This is the first time an event of this type has been held during Andrew's time with the SA Branch - and what a success it was! An innovative idea that I would like to see programmed more often by our Branches.

My thanks to Ian & Marylyn Bell, John & Matthew Colebrook, Garth Pennington and (of course) Andrew Christopherson for taking such good care of me.

I'm now eargerly looking forward to my exclusive interview with our Club President that's scheduled for next month.