Breakfast 7th February 2021

Breakfast at Stanleys Bar - Gold Coast Car Museum

Well what a great roll up we had today!  18 Cobras and over 60 members!  By 8.30am we already had 10 Cobras lined up on the grass.  

The Gold Coast Car Museum and Stanley’s Bar & Restaurant were also hosting the HSV and Corvette car clubs too.  The HSV club were there early and already viewing the cars on show in the purpose built shed.  

The kitchen area is quite small so to enable to get all the breakfasts out together we split up in to 2 groups, one group going to the view the cars whilst the other settled in for some top nosh.

Carl, one of the owners, recently (January) replaced the chefs after a number of false starts in the kitchen.  I’m pleased to say that was a great decision. All the food was excellent and everyone that commented only had good words to say.  On a personal note, I also enjoyed the coffee, it was “most excellent” to quote Bill and Ted.

Whilst we were having brekky and viewing the cars, the two Corvette clubs rolled in with over 50 corvettes ranging from a beautiful red C1 through to a 2019 C7.

All in all a great roll up, some great cars, fantastic friends and lovely food.  A right result !

Cobra Nationals 2018

Christmas Party Dec. 2020 Kooralbyn Valley Resort

Christmas Party 2020 at Kooralbyn Valley Resort

What a Scorcher! The weekend started off hot and kept getting hotter.  In fact it was so hot that the planned extended run had to be cancelled,  About a dozen of us met up at in Beaudesert at the old historic museum.  We had about 8 Cobras and a number of hard tops including Ronnie’s rather nice little red Porker. Paul noticed a rather severe knock / rattle develop in  his Pace 427 Cobra as he neared the Beaudesert meeting place.  After taking a good look at the suspension and all its joints, nothing loose could be found.  But just as Paul was closing up the boot he noticed the latch that holds it closed had come loose, so loose in fact that once he touched it, the whole mechanism came off. 

It turned out to be a simple fix, two M4 nuts had worked loose, the catch was reattached and the nuts attached and tightened – problem fixed.  Well almost.   
Paul, is not the luckiest guy in the world and when he went to start the car, the battery in the immobiliser had decided to pick that exact moment to give up.  Another couple minutes spent changing the  battery.  All fixed.

The bulk of us  drove the shortest route to the resort whilst a couple of others decided to have early lunch in Beaudesert or fill up with fuel first.  Arrival check  in was smooth if not a little slow, but it was nice to be in the air conditioned lobby.

After checking in and dumping gear off at the rooms a number of us took the walk to the tavern.  We learned that the Kooralbyn colloquial ‘Just over there at the end of the  building’ actually means a 10 minute walk across fields dodging  multiple wallabies and iguanas in sauna like temperatures with no shade.  Still, I suppose if you’re using Kooralbyn to Beaudesert as a reference point, just over there it is.

The first couple of coldies slipped down a treat, as did more that followed, however, I do need to work on my accent,  I asked for a Corona and asked what was on tap, the poor girl staring blankly at the fridge replied, only what we have in here, gesturing to the fridge.  I tried again, “what do you have on draft?”  same response.  I changed tack, and pointed at the beer taps and said, what do you have in those?  That worked.

As more members arrived we slotted more tables together until we had almost half the tables in the room joined in to a single row. The drinks and the chat flowed with equal enjoyment until it was time to go and ready ourselves for the main event.

As we sauntered back across the heat soaked fields from ‘just over there’  we noticed that the kind ladies at the resort had decided to give us an extra hour of drinks and nibbles time.  Originally we had been offered the kangaroo – Buggy tour, but due to a golf booking of 120 golfers, they took all the buggies!  so the resorts events coordinator, Crystal gave us an upgraded drinks and nibbles package and took it upon herself to start it an hour earlier at 5pm, which was an excellent idea as there was already a number of members congregating.

The nibbles consisted of a couple of very large platters of hot finger food and a really well stocked cheese platter, and they served beer and wine, Ball Realty shouted a few bottles of bubbles for girls as well as paying for the band.  The club tipped in $400 bucks towards the bar, which meant we had an open bar right up until 10pm.

We took our seats for dinner at about 7pm ish with the band welcoming us with a little number that they use to do a sound check.  The band couldn’t have picked better songs to play.  They really hit the spot for the demographic they were playing for, they were all brilliant and very talented.

They brought out our starters, a beautiful Morton bay bug, Scallops, Oysters and a king prawn on a bed of salad garnish, fresh, succulent and full of flavour.

The band played as we tucked in and we had a photo slideshow projected on to the big screen behind them.  Over a thousand photographs taken over the last 18 months of breakfast meetups and the 2018 Cooma Car run.  It was fun trying to eat and watch the screen to see when your car came up.

 

Dinner was a selection of various meats, one I’m told was Pork, that looked like Turkey and tasted like chicken and various vegetables, all of which were cooked perfectly (in my humble opinion).

The band played on and the wine and the beer flowed and I had to endure lots of comments: “did I dress myself” and “why are you wearing your Christmas pyjamas?” , I’m not sure what was going on with that.

By the time dessert was served the band had won the hearts of pretty much everyone in the room and soon after the dance floor started to fill.  We have a couple of good dancers in the club, you know who you are!

The band played its last song at about 10.15pm and I got dragged up for a slow dance, as did many of the men folk. We hate it externally, but if we were to be honest we all wished our better halves would do it sooner and not take our feeble excuses as real.  

Don’t tell anyone, but I actually adore my woman more than these words could ever convey.

Lake View Mountain Run

Lakeview Restaurant - Clear View Mountain 8th Nov 2020

We had a great day today and managed to avoid getting rained on.   The skys looked like they were going to drop bucket loads, but, no, they didn’t, phew!

We met up at the Loganholme Maccas at a leisurely 10.30 am with ample time to grab a coffee before setting off up the highway to the Shell Servo at Nudgee where we Met up with Grant Young in the second Cobra.

The run up to Lakeview was a nice easy drive, although I think we had every red light between Nudgee and the Restaurant!

After we parked up at the Restaurant we all had the customary chit chat and I must say, the 56 Corvette is just absolutely stunning!  a real credit to the painstaking amount of work that’s gone in to restoring it. The photos really do not do it justice.

Once up in the restaurant the view outside was well worth the wait.  Even with the overcast sky it still looked good.  If you;re looking to for destination then this place is worth a visit.

November Breakfast – Historic River Mill

Nov 1st 2020 - Breakfast at the Historic River Mill

This months breakfast was really well attended with 17 Cobra’s and 1  Z06 Cobra (Mario’s new toy).  After the storms and massive hail of the previous day, the sky was the most amazing clear blue, not a single cloud and perfect Cobra weather.

The line up looked fantastic and with the Sun hitting the cars it made for a spectacular site ,just take a look at Grant’s car in full sun (the green one at the top of the page) to see how these cars come to life in the limelight (no pun intended)

Grant Young our raffles coordinator has been doing a sterling job and we had an influx of donated prizes this month, most of which have been held over for December and January raffles. Tony Stark Won a new garage shelf unit, donated by Bill Ryan, “Just what I need” Tony said, you can never have enough shelves …
Rob P ((GT40) won a tool kit donated by Bill Ryan (also), and then won the next prize of a digital Vernier Caliper, so he donated the tool kit back to be redrawn.  It was won by Samantha Hampson, now she can help Scotty in the workshop.  The last draw was for a first aid kit, donated by Warren and Jo Boylan and  was won by Dagmar.

We’ve been running the show and shine a little bit differently this year, making it a best of three and  with four categories. Well the first set of three was completed this month we announced the winners.
Trevor and Helen Dixon took out two categories with their maroon and cream V8CBRA cobra winning Best Paint Job AND Best Interior.  Trevor stepped up to take the trophy for Best Paint which came with a bottle of Bowdens super gloss wax shine, whilst Helen accepted the trophy for Best Interior which came with a bottle of Bowdens Leather Care.  Their car had 50% more votes than the second place cars.
Paul Gillis won the category for Best Engine Bay with his Cobra VGT40 which came with a set of special microfibre engine detailing clothes .  People really liked the custom polished stainless Steel engine covers that really make engine bay stand out from the other entries.  Paul won with a margin of 6 votes.
Craig Marsh took out the Peoples Choice  trophy for best driven car which came with a cool beanie with a built n light and set of bluetooth speakers.  However, as Craig was at the track helping a mate as part of the pit crew, his father Don Marsh stepped up and accepted the prize on Craig’s behalf.

Paul Gillies happy with to win best engine bay (left) and Don Marsh accepting Peoples Choice on behalf of his son Craig Marsh.

For each voting slip completed you get a chance to win the lucky door prize, so if you vote at all three breakfasts you get three chances to win and this time the prize; a lovely gift hamper donated by Ball Realty was won by Robyn

Glenn Braidwood from Horsepower World joined us for the breakfast.  Glenn’s company is now the distributor for Factory Fave products in Qld as well as being a renowned Engine builder and suppler of performance parts for both Ford and Chevy engines, Glenn’s team can also assist with all the build aspects for your Cobra, or supply / build / complete a Factory Five Cobra for you.

here is a link to their online store 
https://www.horsepowerworld.com.au/performance-shop 

Broadwater Parklands to Tambourine Picnic run

Picnic Run Bradwater to Tamborine

What a great morning! Thanks to all that came along. We met up at the Parklands Cafe car park. The first lady was ready early this morning, so we arrived ahead of schedule with only Helen and Trevor there already.
Whilst we waited for the others to arrive we moseid over to the cafe for some starter fuel (Coffee).
 
At departure time we only had 5 out of the 10 cars that booked, with 3 cancellations and 2 no shows.
We left the parkland and made our way down the Smith Street motorway on to the M1 towards Brisbane. We turned off at J57 and headed towards tamborine.
We went straight on at the John Muntz bridge towards Canungra before going on to Lower Beechmont.
 
We were lucky with the traffic and had a great run. The roads are all in good condition and we were able to stay together as a group.
 
Some of the views as you go up and over the hills are amazing, especially on days like today when its clear sky’s, you can see all the way to the horizon.
There were a few other clubs out on the roads and it’s nice to get the friendly waves from the bike and car clubs as we pass in opposite directions. We saw a few classic mustangs and a gaggle of yank tanks, a Harley club and several sports bike clubs.
 
On one of the twisty bits there was a rather quick super motad bike coming the other way, engine on full chat hitting the rev limiter and hanging off the bike as he manhandled it round the bend. It looked and sounded impressive, but maybe behaviour better suited to the race track where you don’t have cars coming the other way, or huge drop off’s if you miss the corner.
 
With the recent rain, the fields and wooded areas are vibrant shades of green, which, a one point along the trip, we saw a heard of goats happily munching on the lush grass next to the road, near an open gate! Slowly past them, we rumbled, but they didn’t even look up, too busy enjoying a naughty feed before they got rounded up and ushered back in to their paddock.
 
At another Junction, waiting for a gap in the traffic so we could pull out ad a single group, an older couple pulled up behind us on a Harley, “what are they? She asks loudly to her beau, “Cobras !, AC Cobras, not real ones though, they’re about half a mill, they’re plastic copies with V8’s, they’re ok though” he replied. They pulled out just behind us, but a small squirt of the right pedal left them in a cloud of fuel vapours. Their two wheeled tractor no match match for a bit of plastic…
 
As we rolled through North Tambourine we had the usual waves and people taking photos that the Cobras always attract, Tina heard one father say to his son, “wow, look at that red one” which goes to show you can have an infinitely better built, newer and higher quality cobra and still the uninitiated judge you on colour and chose the oldest, slowest and cheapest one over yours just because its red!
 
We arrived to an empty car park, and an empty seating area, so we set up under the lovely cover and enjoyed our cut lunches, some of us brought wine and beers, while others brought their very smick espresso maker.
 
After a good old chin wag and nosh up, we packed up said our good byes and headed our different ways.
A fabulous morning run!

QSSS A Series Round 4

What a weekend of PB’s

A group of CCCQ members enter each year in the annual Queensland Super Sprints held at Morgan Park Raceway at Warwick. Normally the championship consists of four rounds held from February through to September with a separate State Championship round in November. Unfortunately, this year, the second round was cancelled due to Covid-19. With the Cobra Nationals also cancelled there is now growing interest in the group attending the QSS State Championship.

The final round for the year was held over the weekend of September 19 and 20 and except for a light shower on Saturday, the weather was perfect for good racing. Congratulations to Matt Allsopp who completed an impeccable round finally overcoming a long history of mechanical issues and showing the benefit of research, perseverance and dedication

Unfortunately, mechanical issues compromised several of the other cobra entrants. Jim Diakos was towed in with broken gearbox, Mick Schipper had overheating and other teething problems with his new race car, Mario Andrado had oil breather issues and Paul Gillis blew a driveline seal in the gearbox on my first and only run on Saturday. Mick Warnock was a non-starter with a broken rocker from last round and Pete Hancock ran his street registered cobra while in the process of rebuilding an engine in his race cobra.

Ashley Bright – driving an ex V8 supercar, with a PB for the track, not only won the round for his class (Sports Sedans over 2,000cc) but also won the A series championship for all categories for 2020.  

John White – drove his street registered RCR GT40 in the Cobra class (Sports Cars over 3000cc), achieved a second place behind Matt Allsopp for the round and won this category for the series and second overall behind Ashley.

Matt Allsopp – achieved a PB and won the cobra category for the round. Looks to have finally sorted the beast.

Michael Verner (the reigning Senior King Cobra) showed how consistency and reliability gets results. He completed every round consistently banking points to end up second behind John in the Cobra category for the year. Well done!

Yve Stocks, the only female entrant in the category, likewise completed every round without a hitch and finished third overall in the category behind John and Michael.

Pete Hancock – drove “Öld Gold” to perfection, although not in the same class as his all-conquering race cobra.

Tony Stark and Ron Ford double entered the “Middys Electrical” NASCAR powered cobra and drove consistently all weekend. Ron certainly had his hands full after limited track time in the past five years and jumping into an 800hp monster.

Wayne Proctor has been the surprise of the series. Driving his street registered Cobra, he has recorded podiums in both rounds he entered with times close to John’s without any mechanical issues. A phenomenal performance from a show class, street registered cobra.  

Mick and Isaac Schipper spent most of the weekend sorting the new race car. It should be a weapon next year and near the top of the pack as it showed glimpses of its potential.

Jim Diakos drove his street registered cobra well (near PB) until gearbox issues restricted his efforts.

Grayson McLeod – a newbie this year. He has quite a go-cart racing pedigree. He drove well having not previously driven on the long circuit. His times improved consistently over the weekend. Once the cobra is fully sorted, and with more track time, he will undoubtedly ruffle the established order.

Mario Andrado – drives a late model Mustang (with probably $50k plus performance improvements) and competes in the category “Improved Production over 5001cc”.  Mario, while achieving a PB, was limited due to oil breathing issues. The car has yet to show its full potential. I can’t wait to see it perform next year.

Ted Trask – as always drove his street registered cobra well all weekend without any mechanical issues or track dramas. 

QSSS A Series Round 4

words by Paul Gillis QSSS A Series Round 4 What a weekend of PB’s A group of CCCQ members enter each year in the annual…

QSSS A Series Round 3

Pictures by Jim Diakos QSSS A Series Round 3 A great weekend of racing.  with Jim Diakos doing a bit of lawn mowing and Chunky…

Sep. 13 2020 Breakfast

Historic River Mill Sept. 13 2020

Highlights

What a great roll up at Historic River Mill.  We had a capacity  crowd and all 34 spots were filled. we even had to break out on to an extra table, thankfully the guys at the River Mill allowed us to snag a reserved table knowing we’d be gone by the time they arrived (we only just made it). with 10 Cobra’s and a couple of  Porsche’s and Don’s beautiful  Austin-Healey 3000 it made for a great display.

The weather looked like it was going to give us a quick shower and a couple of members decided o bring their tin tops just in case,   but it held off (mostly) and by the end of the breakfast the sun was shining..  However, during our morning preamble a certain Mr Magpie took umbrage at us parking too close to his the tree and decided to dive bomb several of our members with such vigor you could almost hear him squawk ‘TORA, TORA, TORA’ as he swooped in at Cobra like speeds !

Raffle prizes this month were donated by:
Trevor and Helen Dixon – A retro esky which was won by Ron and Suz Ford
Denis Stone – A mini pie maker which was won by Tony W
Ken Bruhn – A comprehensive screw driver set  which was won by Bruce McLeod
Tony Wilmot – A wooden wall hanging of a Cobra won by Stuart Maxwell
Scotty & Sam H – A dozen eggs fresh from their hens – won by Warren Boylan

Grant, our long serving and most excellent Raffle Coordinator has reached an impasse with regards to donated prizes in that there aren’t any new prizes being donated.  Raffles, apart from being a bit of fun are the main way we maintain funds for the club and we rely on the members to donate them,  Can I please ask you, if you haven’t donated a prize for the raffle in the last 12 months, could you please find time to donate.

 The guys at the River Mill worked really hard to get all the meals out quickly and I think they did a great job, They’ve been changing up the menu too and more home cooked style elements they are trying hard to keep everybody happy in order to keep customers coming back, which we will be doing for our November breakfast.

Thank you to everyone that attended 

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