Sunday gave us cooler weather with overcast skies. Early arrivals again gave the gate marshals the hurry up! As last year, we were able to place 90% of vehicles on the oval. We almost made a full circle....

As predicted, the day was warm and somewhat windy. A good range of cars arrived, starting from 7:30am! The overall day went smoothly with all events well patronised.

Only a few days away now..... Theo's Run 2011 is (99.99% chance) going to be blessed with good warm weather again, although hopefully a tad cooler than the high 30's we had last year!

Last weekend was a busy one for the Club. The show at Bencubbin was very well received by everyone - us included - as members had a great time enjoying the BBQ, fireworks, music and company. Plus, individual members won awards for their cars and bikes!

Typically an event laden weekend in April.... concurrently with the Bencubbin/Nungarrin excursion, other members of the Club attended the annual Northam Flying 50. Great weather, great cars. Many fellow enthusiasts were keen to hear about this year's Theos Run too.

 This weekend members of the Club visited Bencubbin where they camped overnight, following attending the annual show there. Following this, a trip to Nungarrin followed.

Once again Dowerin hosted the Automotive Events Management Dirt Superkhana. Thankfully for the organisers, the predicted rain held off, the overcast skies provided cool temperatures and the wind blew in the right direction (again).

Club members will be attending the AEM Superkhana on the 6th. Midvale Speed dome being the venue.

DCC members attended the grand opening of the eagerly awaited Koorda Motor Museum last weekend. Thankfully, members reported that no harm was done when the freak storm passed over the area.

Note on your calendar -  FEBRUARY 20th - Dowerin Dirt Superkhana

Today saw Club members descend upon our new Club House at the Field Day site.

Tonight at our monthly meeting, the Club will be, for the first time, using the new premises offered to it. The Board of the DEM kindly allowed the 'LJ Metcalf' pavillion to be used 51 weeks of the year by the DCC.

It been a long time between posts. After the success of the 2010 Theo's Run everyone was in need of a long break. The Club has had time to digest things and we have made alterations to our general operations and had decided to work with Dowerin Events Management in future Theo's Runs to the extent that DEM will do all the background graft, leaving the DCC to do more direct car type things.

Following our next meeting (due 21st) there will be a full report on Theo's Run on the website.

A great day here in Dowerin. A casual start to the day, with our guest, Allan Moffat, talking to many fans throughout the day. He visited the Wheatbelt Motorplex site as part of his 'Dowerin Tour'.

The evening saw a great turn-out at the Gala Dinner. Allan gave us all a great insight to his career and followed this up with answering questions from the guests. The current No.1 country singer in Australia, Dianna Corcoran, took the stage a little later and provided a musical background to the evening.

Everyone retired for the night happy.

The eve of Theo's Run....   Allan Moffat has arrived in Dowerin following a day of sponsor visits in and around Perth.

Preparation of the showgrounds for this weekend have been underway this week. We have identified a bad outbreak of calthrop weed an area we planned to use. Thanks to the Shire, we have secured use of the town oval as a replacement. Caltrop is easily spread, so we're glad to be able to avoid this particular piece of ground.

This late move has not seriously altered any on the programme. The only changes you'll notice on arrival are a switch of entry gate (a few metres from the planned one) and an increrase in the number of marshals to direct you to a display area or the replacement spectators parking area.

Allan Moffat was interviews, live, this afternoon on the ABC Regional Drive programme. He spoke of his eagerness to be here and find out about Dowerin and experience Theo's Run. He was also asked about his racing history, particularly his famous duels wit hthe late Peter Brock.

Fine tuning of the plan for this weekend's event was achived at tonights meeting. There are a couple of items that require a little more input, but overall it's all GO GO GO. The weather looks like being almost perfect, with Sunday forecast to be around 30 degs and mostly sunny.

Recent enquiries received show that we're likely to see entrants from as far away as Geraldton to Esperance.

A big day for promotional activites. Three radio interviews hit the airwaves this morning thanks to RadioWest. Dave Bird was on the breakfast show on 6MD, Merredin, Philip Metcalf was on Vin Dawes' Northam show and our guest performer for Saturday's Gala dinner, Dianna Corcoran, was interviewed, again on Northam's breakfast show.

GWN have been broadcasting our TV promotional advert this week, with it being shown at prime-time this evening during the news broadcast.

This coming Thursday we'll hear Allan Moffat interviews 'live' on the ABC radio Statewide 'Regional Drive' programme. Allan is due to be on at around 3:20pm.

A long but fruitful day for our members. We travelled to Waroona and attended the 7th All Australian Car Day. As expected, the cars and crowds were in abundance!

The guys at the Koorda Motor Museum (and fellow Club members) are pulling out all the stops for Theo's Run. We can now expect to see 9 of their cars on display!!

This weekend will see members of the Club journey south to attend the All Australian Car Day at Waroona.

Our stock of 'Theo's Run' hats has arrived. We have cap and bucket styles. The caps are 'one size fits all' and the buckets are small/medium and large/extra large sizes.

Matching our existing Club shirts and jackets, the hats are black with gold trim. Unlike the clothing however, the hats are embroidered with the official 'Theo's Run' logo.

Caps are just $10 and the buckets are $15.

Yes, it's done!   Yesterday saw the top surface laid on our new Theo's Run circuit. The final tidy up will be done next week with brushing any loose bluemetal off the surface.

Overall the circuit is approximately 2/3 ashphalt, 1/3 bitumen. the 'back straight' consists of an ashphalt center section with wide bitumen edges. The tougher ashphalt sections are ideal for our mini competitions and 'energetic' acceleration on our display laps.

Allan Moffat, our special guest for Theo's Run 2010, will have his radio interview aired on Vin Dawes' radio programme tomorrow morning. Expect to hear him around 9:20 to 10:00am.

With Theo's Run less than 2 weeks away we're seeing an increase in enquiries from those wanting to attend - particularly traders and stall holders.

So far some of the things we have lined up ....  books, model cars, DVDs, automobilia, massage equipment, giftware, badges, patches, lollies and sweets.

We also have a wide variety of food and drinks available....  traditional chips and burgers, Thai cuisine, kebabs, icecream, tea, coffee and cool drinks.

Only two weeks to Theo's Run!

Yes, if you keep an eye on GWN, you'll soon see Theo's Run adverts.

Today saw the running of the Flying 50 street race/demonstrations in Northam. The Club attended and had a great time.

Neville Frearson took the Field Day car out on the circuit for the demonstration laps whilst the rest of the members were kept honest by answering questions on Theo's Run and the Wheatbelt Motorplex.

Club member Les Eather had the important job of commentating for the event over the PA system. Les promoted motorsports hels in thr Wheatbelt region in general and interviews Dave Bird on the subjext of Theo's Run.

There are a several photos of the day on the Gallery page.

Today saw RadioWest broadcast an interview with Club President David Bird. This was on Vin Dawes' Rural Focus show. The interview covered most aspects of Theo's Run and the history behind the Dowerin Car Club and the attendance of Allan Moffat. Listen out for further interviews from Dave, Jenna, Philip and Allan Moffat!

The Dowerin Car Club is not restricted to car and car owners. We are open to all sorts of mechanised powered transport. We'd very much like to develop a branch of the Club catering for motorbikes. This follows our Constitution and requests from 'bike enthusiasts to get more involved with the Club and Theo's Run.

To help kick-start this branch, we are happy to announce a section of this year's Theo's Run open to motorbikes. Running parallel with our planned show, we can announce a motorbike 'Show n Shine' component for 2010. As in the car section, it's winner takes all, with a cash prize of $300 and a trophy. Also inline with other entrants, those wanting to enter the Show have the entry fee at $10 per vehicle/bike. This is to cover costs.

The Club will be attending the 2010 Northam Flying 50 on Sunday the 28th of March. Joining the club display will be Stef Brayley from the Special Interest Vehicle Association, and his wonderful Alpine A110 - a rare example of a French sports car.

A depleted but enthusiastic group of Club members attended this year's show at Whiteman Park. We had the same spot as last year - nice and shady, close to the entrance/exit. Many members had prior sporting commitments today.

Bill Coote took his Ford Galaxie LTD on it's first outing to a Perth based event. Resplendent in it's black paintjob, it drew quite a number of admirers. Bill was determined to get there, even though a few gremlins took hold of the gearbox on the trip down.

Neville Frearson and his wife also joined in the display with their Ford XR8 ute. The Field Day Falcon XR6 Turbo made up the remainder... all Fords this year. However, Gary van Emmerloot was there in his Corvette, but his wife Bobi was taken to hospital suddenly, so he had to leave just as he was parking his car. Best wishes to Bobi.

As we had a spare slot, a fellow enthusiast, Craig, asked to put his Charger R/T with us, as he was a bit of a club orphan on the day. His car drew plenty of looks, rivalling Bills!

Theo's Run flyer 's were in the 1000 showbags available, plus Club members toured the display's drumming up interest. The organisers also made many PA system announcements, promoting Theo's Run and Allan Moffat's attendance.

Overall, a productive day. Photo's on the Gallery page.

This weekend see's the Club attending the annual Classic Car Show. Held at Whiteman Park, Perth, this is Western Australia's biggest gathering of classic motoring enthusiasts. The Club will display a variety of vehicles and a good time is expected for all.

Naturally, this event is a great way to promote our own Theo's Run, so many people will be spoken to and questions answered about this.

See you there!

We've had a couple of reports that the Theo's Run Programme pdf won't download. The page has been modified and the link recreated. Test show it works. If, however, you can't get it to download, let us kniow via the contacts, and a copy will be emailed to you.

Ever closer, Theo's Run is gathering pace. We're now seeing the list of makes and models of cars joining Theo's Run grow.

So far we have (leaving with us from Midland), cars from the following marques:
Alfa Romeo, Holden, Citroen, Ford, Mazda....  various models too (eg Mustang, Falcon, MX, CX, 2CV...)

Can you add your car make of model to the list?

Can we get 100 cars in the convoy?

Our friends at McInerney Ford, Morley, are assisting the Club over the Theo's Run event. They are promoting Theo's Run within their dealership to all the Ford fans. Additionally we have the use of one of their Falcon FPV cars to ferry VIPs. Most generous and very welcome.

The Morning show on ABC radio 720 today interviewed Greg Ross regarding the Wheatbelt Motorplex project. This seems to have stemmed from a small piece on the same subject in today's West Australian newspaper.

Overall the interview was positive and the feedback, again, was all good. Dave Bird, Club President, rang the show and was given a chance to promote Theo's Run, live, on air. Special mention was made of the bus trips from Theo's Run to the Motorplex site. In addition the appearance of Allan Moffat was mentioned.

Paul Blank at AEM has posted a report, results and some great photos from Sunday's event....

http://www.classicrally.com.au/Speed%20Dome%20Day.htm

Follow the link and scroll down a little.

Yes, we've started advertising Theo's Run in the mainstream media. We have placed a classified column advert in the motoring section of Saturday's West Australian. So far we've had a jump in new website hits and Jenna at DEM has fielded a number of phone enquiries and taken bookings for the Gala Dinner.

Sunday saw Auto Events Management hold the first Dowerin Dirt Superkhana at the Field Day venue. A number of competitors arrived in town on saturday - keen!

Once everyone was assembled and briefings done everyone had a chance to do a practice run on the loose surface. Following this each driver had six timed runs. Great plumes of dust ensued, easily coped with thanks to the strong easterly breeze. Eveyone's run was spectacular, with drivers returning to the pits with beaming smiles and heaps of enthusiam.

The DCC provided a welcome lunch for all whilst cars and drivers rested.

Paul Blank of AEM then set up his second course of the day. This incorporated 90% of our near future Theo's Run circuit. This pleased all! Currently this comprises of 2/3 sealed surface and 1/3 dirt. All drivers were mightily pleased and many 'how to..' conversations were overheard.

Sadly, however, one car and driver combo had a mishap. This resulted in the car coming off 2nd best with a tree and the driver taken to Northam hospital for a check up. Later reports told us the driver was a little sore but OK.


Overall, thought the event was cancelled late in the day due to the accident, all concerned agreed the day was a huge success. We are all eagerly awaiting Paul's next Dowerin event.

Check out the Dirt Superkhana page!

Our good friend and Theo's Run sponsor Tony Pernechele has been featured, with his Ford museum, in this weekends West Australian newspaper. Tony is also a main feature on the West TV section of the newspapers website.

Yes, We've finalised our prize categories for Theo's Run. We are very pleased to announce the following...

Saturday Mini Events:

Go to Whoa.... Trophy
Spear A Spud.... Trophy

Sunday Categories:

Shannon's Show N Shine....  $800 cash and a Trophy [sponsored by SHANNON'S INSURANCE]
Best Club Display....  $500 cash and a Trophy [sponsored by BAILUP FORD FARM]
Allan's Pick of the Day....  $250 cash and a Trophy [sponsored by the DOWERIN CAR CLUB]
Peoples Choice....  GPS system and a Trophy [sponsored by the DOWERIN CAR CLUB]

The Committee has been working hard on Theo's Run, particulary with organising the mini events for the Saturday and the show categories for the Sunday.
For Saturday we'll be running the 'Go to Whoa' and 'Spear A Spud' competitions. A trophy will be awarded to the respective winners.
On Sunday, there will be 'Show n Shine', 'Best Club Display' and 'Allan Moffat's Pick of the Day'. These categories will, again, attract a winners trophy and a CASH prize. The prize amounts will be announced very soon.
Additionally, we will also be running a raffle on Sunday.

Our friends at the Koorda Motor Museum are now planning to display up to 8 vehicles at Theo's Run. This is a massive effort, requiring a fair amount of shuttle driving. Tony and his team are to be commended for their commitment!

Today saw Club President Dave Bird interviewed by Glen Barndon of ABC radio. The live broadcast over the Midwest and Wheatbelt regions covered the pending arrival of Allan Moffat at Theo's Run this April, The format of the Run and the history event and of the DCC.

The community bus is to run on an 'as needed' basis from Theo's Run, on both days, to the site of the Wheatbelt Motorplex. Visitors interested in visiting the site will be advised of the times on the day.

February the 14th... Dave Bird and Geoff Miller set of early in the morning for the inaugural CAMS Expo. This was held at the Perth Motorplex in Kwinana. A few hours drive and a quick set up saw the Field Day car and our gazebo info bay ready for action. Quite a few motorsports enthusiasts came over for a chat and some good contacts were established. Fickle winds late in the morning saw our gazebo fall victim and a broken frame resulted. Nothing too bad. We packed it all away and decided to motor over to Midvale and catch the begining of AEMs Open Superkhana.

Midvale was a little warmer, being inland a little, and not so breezy! No sooner had we set up our display than we were happlily answeing questions on Theo's Run and the Wheatbelt Motorplex. We recruited an new member for the Club, so welcome John O'Neill and your HSV!
We saw some great driving, as usual, and a number of cars we hadn't seen previously. Some of the competitors present told us they are attending AEMs 'Dirt Superkhana' in Dowerin on the 28th. All are very enthusiastic about the new venue.

At last night's General Meeting, we were pleased to have Ray Long, representing Roadwise as a visitor. Ray gave us an overview of his role within Roadwise and the aims for the organisation. The Club resolved to form a Dowerin Roadwise/Road Safety committee.

The evening saw discussion on Theo's Run preparations along with other business, including the acceptance of two new members.

The first Club Raffle was also held, raising $24. The prize of a Car Care book was won by Gary van Emmerloot.

Today saw Wayne Stoner, Peter Crippen and Dave Bird representing the club at AEM's All Italian Superkhana at Midvale. Wayne and Peter took Wayne's Falcon GT along and Dave the Field Day car.

Quite a number of cars were entered, from Abarth's, Fiat 124s to Ferrari's and Maserati. Italian numbers were a little lacking so the spare places were made up with a couple of Lotus, MGB, Suzuki GTi and a few others.

As usual we all sopke to interested enthusiasts about Theo's Run and the Wheatbelt Motorplex.

The OFFICIAL PROGRAMME for Theo's Run 2010 is now available as a PDF download from the Theo's Run page of the website.

Theo's Run now has it's own Facebook pages. Thanks to Jenna Freind for her hard work in getting it online. Get there by going to the Theo's Run page and click on the BOLD text in the header... you can't miss it!

A new page covering the Wheatbelt Motorplex has been added to the site. This includes a plan of a proposed circuit layout.

Our friends over at Japanese Nostalgic Car in the US have added Theo's Run to their 'Event Horizon' web pages. JNC not only have a great site, they publish a glossy magazine that's dedicated to all motoring icons from Japan. Whether it's a standard 60's Datsun to a late model drift car it can make it onto the site or into the magazine.... Visit  www.japanesenostalgiccar.com

The Club has been offered the use of a double window in a town shop. We will be creating a Club/Theo's Run/Motorplex style display. It's planned to be on view from mid February to the end of April.

Theo's Run media promotion kicks off next week. Press releases, 'teaser' adverts in newspapers to start with. By the end of the campaign, you'll see full page colour adverts, news articles and more!

Tonight's committee meeting covered a lot of ground. The final draft of the Theo's Run programme for 2010 was finalised. This wil lbe posted on the site within the next few days.

Rex and Dave represented the Club at the Automotive Events Managements inaugural 'All Girl' superkhana held at the Speed Dome in Midvale today.

The majority of the entrants were first timers at any kind of motorsport and all had a great time. In total 31 vehicles competed during the day, following a few hours of instruction by experienced competitors.

Our club members arrived in the Field Day promotional car. The livery attracted many curious looks and prompted quite a few conversations. The car was liberally decorated with Theo's Run and Wheatbelt Motorplex flyers and brochures, many of which were collected by enthusiasts. This display and the resulting contact has generated further interest and commitments to visit Dowerin, enter Theo's Run and to compete in AEMs February 28th first 'Dirt Superkhana' to be held on a section of the Field Day site in Dowerin.

We were also pleased to catch up with Graeme Cocks, author of 'Dowerin Daredevils' and former curator of the Fremantle Motor Museum. Graeme's daughter was having her first go at motorsport on the day!

To round the day off it was suggested to Paul Blank (AEM founder and event manager) that he should give the Field Day car a blast around the circuit. Not needing any second prompting he duly took the car onto the track. All spectators and many competitors made a bee line for the best viewing points. 5 ,4 ,3, 2 ,1 GO.....he was off.... a fraction over 52 seconds later he was at the finish line. A great effort for an unplanned drive! In fact the time he posted would have seen him finish mid field in the competition! We plan to repeat the drive at next week's AEM 'All Italian' superkhana. Will he better his time?

This evening we marked out the Go to Whoa track in preparation for Theo's Run and the mini even to be held on Saturday. A distance of 75m was decided upon. The track was tested by a couple of cars, with good results. Cars touched 70km/h before reaching and stopping at the stop line.

Today we held a small photo shoot in town. The photos are of a number of Club cars and their owners. These will be used for promotional purposes. Thanks go to Jenna Freind for her work on this!

Today we received confirmation that the Dowerin Car Club will be hosting an Auto Events Management 'Dirt Superkhana'. This is to be held on a section of the Field Days site.

Paul Blank of AEM was in Dowerin just prior to Christmas to survey the track and facilities. As a result he is staging his first superkhana here and it's also a first as it's on a 'dirt' surface. The majority of his events are held on sealed surfaces at the Midvale Speed Dome. These attract around 50 entrants per event.

Longer term plans are to utilise the 'to be constructed by Theo's Run' sealed circuit on the Field Days site. This will allow Dowerin to host traditional and dirt superkhanas.

When is it?...... Sunday February 14th at the Ram Shed.

What's it like?..... A superkhana is a timed lap of a circuit. Fasted handicapped time is the victor.

What cars are there?...... A wide variety from older '60's to new releases, 4 6 8 and rotary power.

Visit www.classicrally.com.au and have a look at past events.

The Koorda Motor Museum is planning to set up a display of vehicles at Theo's Run.

Theo's Run is ever closer. Today has seen the Club book Allan Moffat's travel from Melbourne. This was confirmed verbally with Allan.

With the 2010 W.A. motoring events calendar being published on www.classicrally.com The Club is working out ways of attending as many shows and event as possible for the coming year.

Paul has already updated this calendar by including the apperance of Allan Moffat within the listing.

The general meeting was held as usual at the Bowling Club. It was good to see a fair turn-out of members so close to Christmas and during harvest time.

Jason Pickering formally resigned his position as President. Jason has held the position for 18 months. His other commitments within the community and his never ending work schedule forced him to take stock. The club thanks Jason for his efforts during his tenure. A vote was held to elect a new President and David Bird was duly elected. David adds the Presidency to his Promotions Manager and Webmaster roles.

Further discussions were held on organising Theo's Run, plus other matters of General Business were delt with, as per normal.

Confirmation of the CAMS Expo was received, with the Club agreeing to jointly attend with Dowerin Events Management, to promote Theo's Run and the Wheatbelt Motorplex. The event is to be held on the 14th of February, 2010.

Today we received some good news. Roadwise has allocated some funding in support of Theo's Run. Confimation will follow.

With it being the 'Last Blast' superkhana event for 2009 today, the DCC attended with the official Dowerin Events Management/Field Days promo car - a Ford XR6 Turbo. Paul Blank of Auto Events Management (organiser of these superkhanas) is very helpful and keen to support motoring shows around W.A. Thanks Paul for the access!

Looking good in it's psudo-race car livery, the car drew much attention, even though it was only on static display. Throughout the proceedings superkhana competitors and spectators constantly came over to have a closer look. The majority of these enthusiasts asked: A) When can we used the Wheatbelt Motorplex,  B) Theo's Run is a blast, I'm going again and  C) Theo's Run? Tell me more. Many flyers and info packs were taken.

Quite a number of people interested in Theo's Run intimated that they would be arriving in Dowerin on either Friday evening or Saturday morning. The most common question following  such statements was "Where can I stay?". All were advised of accommodation and urged to book soon. In addition, the prospect of Saturday mini-events was well received. The appearance of Allan Moffat for the whole weekend being taken as the cherry on top of the icing!

The DCC will certainly attend many of next year's Superkhanas - maybe event having some members competing.

The Committee meeting began on a sad note. Due to work commitments, Jason Pickering has unfortunately had to resign as our President. Our Vice-President will take the reigns until a formal vote can be held to elect a new President. This is planned to occur at the next general meeting on Wednesday the 9th of December.

It was also decided to postpone the Quiz Night for now. The date of Saturday thr 6th of February 2010 has been put forward.

Planning for Theo's Run had advanced. Mapping of the new site has begun, with areas being allocated to various parts of the show. Detailed plans for management were laid for traffic and people movements, demonstration and mini events.

It is pleasing to see that the proposed Theo's Run 'closed road track' has been approved. The layout has been agreed and the earthworks and bitumin laying are pencilled in for completion by late February 2010.

There will be a committee meeting on Monday 30th November. As usual, it's at the Bowling Club, 7pm.

Due to a clash of dates with other events in Dowerin, the planned quiz night will now be held on Saturday the 5th of December.

Alan Rose of Toodyay Classic Cars has kindly lent his support to the 2010 Theo's Run. Alan will open his doors for the Sunday morning Run's arrival at about 9:30am. His business will be the rallying point in Toodyay.

Theo's Run for 2010 will see Shannons, the insurance company, attend for the first time.

This weekend has been busy for our members. A number of whom took a trip down to Bassendean oval and the biennial All Ford Day show.

Saturday has been a busy one for Club activities. With members busy preparing cars for the All Ford Day in Bassendean (Ford owning members, of course!) and others attending local events... The Ambo Bash navigation rally in Koorda and the Wongan Drags at Wongan Hills airstrip.

Not being happy with the Blog, it's been updated.