28th October 2015 (Oct 28, 2015)

Paul Seymour

At the time of publication, no President's message has reached your Editor.

Snippets of last week's meeting 21st October 2015

Posted by Franz Huber on Oct 17, 2015

Tony Bird was at the door (for Geoff Croad), Darrell Brown was Chairman and Andy Bell was Sergeant.

We had apologies from Mitch Brown, Geoff Croad, Mario Fairlie, Peter Morgan and Ray Higgs.

President Paul Seymour welcomed all members and our guests: from Frankston Rotary Club: Ross Augustine, from Bankstown Rotary Club: Chris Anderson, our former member Evan Mita and his manager, John Duthie, and of course our charming Youth Exchange Student from Italy, Martina Missarelli. Paul ensured that all members are aware of the meeting of 28th October (e.g. this week's) will be held at the Paradox Cafe, not at the Yacht Club. He also confirmed that we have been allocated to host the GSE Team from Pensylvannia from 11th to 15th May 2016.

Now, it is a bit rich to face the Sergeant first up and early (see report under separate segment), whilst one is still busily chewing ones bacon and slurping one's scrambled eggs... But why not? If the menu doesn't vary, one might at least vary the meeting's agenda a little bit... ☺

But then, talking about varying the agenda: Surfers Sunrise had another absolute Rotary "first": our member Julian Price (also known as "Long Black" ☺) entertained us with a solo performance of 'Unchained Melody'! Howzat!! Click on this link to hear it [ok, not by the Righteous Brothers... Have you ever heard of Sam Cooke before? Ah... you must be in my age group then!]

Fundraising Director Doug Lipp reported on the results of the Race Day fundraiser which resulted in well over $4,000, including the kind donation of Mario Fairlie.

Des La Rance reported of a film he saw on Monday night by the TTM Mission people about their projects in Zambia. Surfers Sunrise Wheelchairs everywhere! Their next project is to get a 40' container transported there: because it is land locked, it is more expensive than normal: budget is $18,000.

Gerald East briefly commented on the previous Monday night's Polio Plus movie 'Bridge of Spies' by Steven Spielberg: 7 people from our club attended (one couple forgot it was on...!) Everyone agreed: it was very good indeed - and totally different to what was expected!

Graeme Isaacson is organizing the Melbourne Cup Luncheon to be held at the usual venue, Sensa Nome on Tedder Avenue.

Wheelchair Trust Chairman Daryl Sanderson is still getting results from the ABC News exposure: Rotary Clubs of Redland, Kipparing and Glen Innes are getting involved!

Last week's Guest Speaker 211015: Steve Hallam

Posted by Franz Huber on Oct 25, 2015

I can't help the feeling that, without some gentle persuasion by our resident Clerk of the Course Ian Mayberry, we may not have got anywhere near to hear this man speak. The archetypal engineer, Steve would have to be the quietest man in the (car racing engineering) background. Linked-in reveals nothing. The company's website www.Tekno.com.au talks about cars, drivers, history... The only entry one can find on the big world wide web is an obscure mention in the Tekno company's Facebook page, going back some 18 months to February 2014.

Considering that Steve (above right, with DGN Darrell Brown) has been immersed in high-octane fumes for the past 34 years, he appears to be in remarkably good health! His career encompasses some 27 years in Formula 1 racing, where he worked with some 10 teams and 4 manufacturers. He was Ayrton Senna's race engineer at John Player Lotus in the early 80's, then moved on to McLaren where, as Head of Race Engineering for some 20 years, he again worked with Ayrton Senna. He was heavily involved with Ayrton's three World Driver Championships and later on Mika Hakkinen's two championship trophies. He worked with David Coulthard and "The Iceman" Kimi Raikkonen.

From an ignorant TV spectactor's (such as your Editor's) point of view, Formula 1 consists of ridiculously powerful cars being driven by men with cooling fluid rather than blood in their veins. So, when Steve stated that they are running on a 1.6 litre engine... What?? 1.6 litres?!? But that is where the similarity to a Hyundai Getz or a Holden Barina ends.

Steve took us on a journey through the early days of F1 racing, from the first race in May 1950, when the Alpha 159 (see picture on right) was the hot car. Italy totally dominated the scene. The evolution process brought us to the 1959 Cooper - Jack Brabham was driving one of them - with the engine at the rear. 1977 saw the first car with wings, the Lotus Type 78. It had an underbody which generated airflow under the car, sort of sucking it to the ground. 1982 saw a major change in materials: Fibre...

Today's cars are taking advantage of just about anything that saves weight, that saves power (electricity generation instead of braking, harnessing energy from heat). They weigh just 700 Kg. [A Holden Commodore weighs more than double that. But then it is designed to carry up to 5 people who, if they conform to average statistics, are somewhat overweight... ;-)]

How many people does it take to put a driver on the track? [No, nothing to do with lightbulbs!] Well, a team has approximately 650 personnel. Plus the engine manufacturer has about 500 people in their team.

Still, at man needs to have a change of scenery sometimes. So Steve switched to Nascars (US based super charged V8's). "There is nothing on the road like them" Steve enthused: They have 40 races every year. The V8 engine develops some 800 Horsepower at 10,000 RPM. The rules constantly change to clip back performance - every season". And it costs about $US 25 Million to run a team.

But ultimately Steve found his new niche with the V8 Supercars in Australia. "Only" 15 events per year, but multiple races in each event. And on the weekend's Gold Coast 600, Steve's team won the first race and came 5th in the second one on Sunday! Congratulations!

Last week's Sergeant - Andy Bell 211015

Posted by Franz Huber on Oct 31, 2015

....it's tough to be South African by birth... President Paul Seymour was picked on for confusing members with his message about meeting at the Paradox Cafe: it is NEXT Wednesday! And what nationality was the referee who robbed Scotland of the win in the Rugby World Cup? [No prizes for guessing!]... Visitors and guests were introduced to Des La Rance as the Pope in Waiting - not George Pell! Angus Miller, can't you afford razor blades? You know, trying that "European Man" look simply doesn't work for you! Now, we seem to have a disturbing trend developing amongst us: are members turning gay? All these guys wearing Brokeback Mountain shirts: visitor Ross Augustine, Mario Fairlie, (and I think Gerald East was in the group too?)... and Mario, you ARE a Medical Marvel! Chris Thurtell's shirt is coordinated with his hair... Reports have it that our Exchange Student Martina was eating the bread crusts at the recent Bunnings Sizzle: John Franich, are you not feeding her properly?? Ian Mayberry, in your capacity of Clerk of the Course: because of your race event, it took me a solid hour to navigate through Surfers! Tony Bird, welcome back!

John Ellemor turned 88 last Wednesday!

Posted by Franz Huber on Oct 25, 2015

Haaaapy Biiirthday tooo yoooouuu!

One of the very few people on this planet with 50 years of Rotary service with a 100% attendance record, John Ellemor turned 88 on Wednesday last week! John's daughter Lynne will bring him along to our meeting this week.

Better start tuning your vocal cords to sing a song for John on Wednesday!

GCCC tip now has a Bicycle collection point

Posted by Franz Huber

Wheelchair guru Des La Rance reports that a sign has now been erected at the Gold Coast City Council tip to highlight a drop-off point for unwanted bicycles, destined to be recycled into wheelchairs. A big thank you to Neil Thurlow and his Accent Press company, which provided the sign at no charge. Well done, Des and Neil!

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Duty Roster

Posted by Franz Huber on Oct 28, 2015

Duty Roster - note: subject to change - please check every week

Date	Chairman	Door

20th January 2016	Simon Brook	Chris Thurtell
27th January 2016	Darrell Brown	Tony Bird
03rd February 2016	Julian Price	John Franich
10th February 2016	Bob Harrison	Adrian Crowe
17th February 2016	Ian Mayberry	Angus Miller
24th February 2016	Larry Murray	Julian Price