SFOS 2013- Photos/Videos from Ruapuna/Levels/Teretonga

[John McKechnie]

It will be interesting to see what the fields and mix of cars are like for the invitation only meeting at Cromwell next weekend

[Kwaussie]

I am sure that you & kiwiboss will find something to moan about even though you have not entered or been invited.
This often happened at the Country Gents meetings at Wigram when we had many calls from NI racers wondering why they had not received an invite & offer of starting money to attend.
Nothing has changed!

[jim short]

I was in Brammells office with Dave thirty years ago when some Poser who had not entered ,on seeing how many good cars had entered he decided he would enter his new Lambo? srry you are to late ,,but its a Lambo sorry not able to print yhe rest or Amco will growl me ,they took no prisners at the Country Gents in those days ,But what a Hui it was Jazz band ,hot meals all sorts. real champne,now my eyes are worn out,But well organized for real

[Kwaussie]

Classic meetings were born at Wigram.
I could not belive that all who came to the big party in the tent were greeted with a bottle of Champange.
Think I got back to the office about Tuesday!

[AMCO72]

Yes Jim I'm sure those Wigram Country Gents meetings were a HOOT. They were started by a couple of private school lads who between them owned half of Banks Peninsular and knew how to operate. They of course wanted to 'exercise' their type 35 Bugatti and Aston Martin DB3S cars legally, and of course the whole thing grew from there. They could AFFORD to be fussy. They couldnt have cared less if only they turned up. As you say, you are quite happy just being out doing skids by yourself, and so were they. Hiring the air-base was no problem as some of them had direct connections to the place.

But this has usually been the case in Motoracing.......it is the preserve of the well-to-do......usually. [bang bang.....me being shot down]

And dont talk to me about the 'After Match Function'. The feed we got served up at Teretonga was something else......real food, real southern hospitality, and they didnt try to fill you up on bloody bread rolls!!!!!!

[Dave Silcock]

Amco, I suggest you keep quiet about stuff of which you know nothing. The Country Gents movement was actually the brain child of one Harland Baker who at the time owned Huka Lodge. The first meeting was a sprint held on the road into the lodge. Harland and Allan Bramwell were mates and Bramwell decided this was a good thing as at that time the was nowhere you could run a classic or motor cycle or even a Porsche or Ferrari other than the odd one make club meetings. The Club was made up of friends of Bramwell's and the two gentlmen you mentioned were but just two of many. To give you some idea of the make up ; the two Bain brothers, Ewen Sarggison, Leon Witty, Bill Clark, Willis Brown, myself and a few more. A fair mix I would say and certainly not silver spoon as you are trying to infer. The first meeting in mid 1970's I think, was held at Ruapuna and a proper rental was paid. When this was denied to us by the actions of MSNZ, or whatever it was then, we were invited to Wigram. The Air force provided the man power and took the gate takings, which they then donated to charity. We ,the club never advertised the event as we had no interest in wether people came to watch or not the Air Force did all that. The events were fully financed by the competitors entry fees. It was so easy to do, estimate the likely numbers, get quotes for the marque and the catering, alcohol etc and divde that figure by the number of entries and that was the fee. We ran these hugely popular events untill 1995 despite MSNZ best efforts to shut us down. After this Bramwell decided to retire and there did not seem to be the will to carry on. I resigned some time after this as for no particular reason nothing was happening. And no it had nothing to do with the fatality we had.

[AMCO72]

Thanks Dave......I knew I would get shot down by someone who was there and would set the record straight.