2022 Spring roll event

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Mequon's Virmond Park was the starting point for the joint Austin Healey / MG3 "Spring Roll Event".  A hearty group of British Car aficionados assembled for a day of great roads and greater company.  The weather was a bit brisk but thankfully free of rain.  In all, 18 cars started the drive to Elkhart Lake.  Included were 5 big Healeys, 1 Sprite, 7 MG's, 1 Sunbeam Minx, 1 Ford Falcon, and a Mini.  We later picked up an additional Big Healey and an SUV.  Our route concluded in Elkhart Lake where we drove part of the historic street race circuit.

Lunch was held at Quit Qui OC golf club where we were treated to a presentation by John Calhoun from the Elkhart Lake Historic Race Circuit Preservation Society.  John is a wealth of knowledge and a great story teller.  He gave us a brief history of the beginnings of racing in Elkhart Lake that took place on the roads around the town before Road America was constructed.

Did you know that there were actually two seperate circuits that were used for sports car racing?  1950 featured a 3.3 mile circuit.  This was expanded to 6.5 miles for the 1951 & 1952 running of the race.  After 1952, the race was deemed too dangerous due to the increased crowds that gathered to watch the racing.  You can also feel free to visit the HRC Preservation Society website at www.HistoricRaceCircuits.com for more great information about how road racing was started in Elkhart Lake.

After lunch, some of our group went on to The Throttlestop to check out all of the cars and vintage motorcycles.  The rest of us made a stop at Road America to take in the spring vintage event at the track.

Special thanks go out to Walker Young for organizing a great event.  To our presenter John Calhoun for sharing his knowledge and teaching us all a thing or two about the history of how racing got started on Elkhart Lake.  Also, to Todd and Rachel from Quit Qui OC for being such gracious hosts the providing a great lunch for our group.  And lastly to Mother Nature for behaving herself and not raining on our day.

Walker made available commemorative decals for the event and there are still a few remaining.  These are removable cling decals and not a sticker.  If you did not already procure one of these limited edition collectables, you can do so by contacting Walker with a very reasonable $11.

For the first time in 2 years, we finally scheduled our Winter Dinner!

We had 22 club members attend this year, which was held at the Western Racquet Club in Elm Grove.  We even welcomed a few new faces!  

This year we were honored to present an award to Fourintune, thanking Tom, Kaye and their team of experts for their outstanding service to our club over the years.  

The evening was a great success, the dinner accommodations and staff were great, the food was delicious, and we raised over $500 from the Silent Auction!  Thank you to everyone who donated items although they couldn't attend.  

Hope to meet up with everyone again at the next Winter Dinner!

How better to spend a spectacular Fall day and your wedding anniversary than by inviting your Healey friends over to the house for coffee, donuts, and Healey adjustments? That is how Walker and Susan Young, of the Wisconsin Chapter, decided to spend their special day! 

It all started when Walker sent out an email asking for advice on keeping the doors open and referring to the Door Check Assembly (see Download PDF below).  Most of the replies were entertaining – but not useful. Walker researched the problem on his own and ordered the parts needed to get his doors working again. Then he shared this wisdom with the club. Within a week or so there was enough interest by other members to plan a low-tech, tech session for anyone interested in eliminating the shin damage caused by the door slamming on their leg instead of staying open as Donald Healey had intended. Most of us had no idea what this mechanism was for – much less how to adjust it. 

Walker ordered the parts for everyone and provided both instructions and tools as needed. Pat Douglas brought donuts. Bernie Evans forgot to bring his Healey – but did supply the coffee. Jim Swernoff, Fred Fleischmann, and Fred Thomas rounded out the group of expert mechanics. We had at least one of Walker’s neighbors ready to buy a Healey, but none were for sale. 

After the Door Check Assemblies were brought back to factory specs the group headed out on a Fall Color Tour through Lake Country. The event ended with lunch overlooking the lake. 

We are thinking that future tech sessions might focus on one or two hands-on things we could do as a group to maintain our Little British Cars. 

Watch this space for updates.