Hey guys & girls,

If you have been wanting to join the MCCA for a while now but have delayed NOW is the time to do it, as if you join this month we have a special little gift for you.

Not that you need it as we are all a bunch of great guys & girls but in saying that a little incentive never hurt anyone.

for more details please email me at zokstoj@optusnet.com, or just come to the next meeting with your new membership form filled in (can be found in the "join the mcca" section of the website)

BUT be quick as i dont have to many gifts available.

The secretary

The MCCA are attending the official Summer Slam Cruise up to Heathcote Park Raceway for the summer slam on the 13th of Jan 2007.

Victorian's, for the first time will get a real taste of Sport Compact Drag Racing Action with an annual event to call their own. The Sports Compact group have been looking forward to bringing a Sport Compact event to Victoria for a long time now and are proud to be able to do that in 2007 with the Summer Slam.

Following on from the hugely successful, Round 1 of the Sport Compact Group Drag Racing Series at the 2006 Fast Fours Jamboree, the Summer Slam will play host as Round 2 of the Series.

This event will bring cars & drivers from all around Australia which will make this the biggest event Victoria has seen in years.

The event program is as follows

7.00 am Competitor Gates Open
7.30am - 9.30am Show-N-Shine Registration
7.30am - 2.00pm Drag Racing Registration
8.30am Spectator Gates Open
9.00am - 1.30pm Qualifying - SF, SR, SA, S/SB
10.00am - 3.00pm Show-N-Shine & Club Displays
2.00pm PC, PT & M/SB Qualifying Session 1
2.00pm - 5.00pm Qualifying - ET, AM, FM, ST, SM & EX
3.00pm Show-N-Shine Presentation
3.15pm PC, PT & M/SB Qualifying Session 2
4.30pm PC, PT & M/SB Qualifying Session 3
5.00pm End of Qualifying
5.30pm Drag Racing Eliminations Begin
10.00pm Drag Racing Presentation


The official MCCA meeting point will be at 7.30am with an 8am SHARP departure from the corner of DONNYBROOK & HUME HWY Kalkallo at the SHELL servo.

Premeets have been organised for other areas. Please contact Zoran on 0438883834 for more details if you require them

If we leave at 8am we should be in Heathcote by 9:15-9:30am, just enough time for the guys wanting to go in the show & shine & lots of time for people to register to race.

See you all there!

On Sunday 17th of December the MCCA held the 2nd annual Smith Family “Toy Run”.

The day was a fantastic success with a strong turnout of approximately 30 cars meeting in the city for the event.

After a brief hello and introduction it was time to make the short but fun cruise to the Smith Family collection centre in Footscray.

Just a final reminder about the ‘toy run’ and end of year BBQ organised by Zoran that is happening this Sunday.

We will be donating toys to the Smith Family. Attendees need to bring one toy (only), for age groups 0-12 (preferably 9-12). Please don’t bring second hand toys as they cant be accepted. Also please do not wrap your toys.

Members should be at the meet point no later than 10 (In the Docklands off Bourke st/ Piggot st (big carpark on the pier)) to leave at 10.30 sharp

1 toy per person (please)

We must be at the warehouse at 10.45 sharp (they have opened up a 15 minute block up just for us)

Bring CB’s if you have them.

We will then be proceeding to Cherry Lake in Altona for a BBQ lunch and end of year catchup.

BYO meat and other food for the BBQ.

Members can access more details and maps here… http://www.mazdacarclub.org.au/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=100&forum=1

Cheers and Merry Christmas all.

After much hard work and organisation behind the scenes by the DECA subcommittee, our trip to the Driver Education Centre of Australia in Sheparton has finally arrived!

We will be meeting this Sunday (5/11) at the Shell Servo at Kalkallo on the Hume (corner Hume Hwy and Donnybrook Rd) at 7:30AM for a 7:45AM SHARP departure.

Some of us have elected to being UHF radios to stay in contact during the convoy. If you have them, feel free to bring them.

Also a note about speed on the Hume. The Hume is HEAVILY covered with speed cameras, that not only detect your speed, but also the average speed between points. If you cover the distance between cameras more quickly than you could if you were doing the speed limit you will get a ticket! PLEASE stick to the speed limits while en route.

If you dont make the meet point in time, go directly to DECA to meet up there.

There are BBQ cooking facilities provided at DECA. If you would like a BBQ for lunch, please BYO meat. (Utensil status is not clear at this stage either, so chucking in a pair of tongs wouldnt hurt!)

Drive safely and see you all there!

The Sunday October 22nd Drive Day is on!

Meeting point is at the Alistair Knox Park, corner of Bridge Street and Main Road Eltham (Main Rd side).

The drive will go from Eltham via Kangaroo Ground and St Andrews to Kinglake, across the Melba Hwy to Healesville and then over the Black Spur to Marysville for lunch. After lunch, people can either call it a day, or do an afternoon cruise out over Reefton Spur and down into Warburton if they wish.

There is a $5 attendance fee that covers our insurance for the day.

This is an official club event, so club registered cars are welcome!

Meeting time is at 9:30am for a 10am start. Dont be late!

Its on again! The last Group 5 sprint of the year is scheduled for the 11th and 12th of November at the glorious Phillip Island GP circuit.

As per normal, the Saturday is set aside as a circuit familiarisation day, where novice and competitor alike can take to the best race track in Australia, and enjoy exploring the limits of their car and their driving ability in a safe and friendly environment.

Sessions on the day are divided up into vehicle/driver capability classes, so dont fear if you are a newcomer, you wont be put on the track with any V8 supercars.

Entry is open to any CAMS affiliated club member (That means MCCA members!). Several club members will be attending the event on the Saturday, so if you are interested in attending, there will be familiar faces around to show you the ropes!

All that is required is a CAMS 2S licence (you can get the license application form here) , a fire extinguisher mounted in the car, a helmet and of course the desire to put your car on a race track!

The Supplementary Regulations and entry form for the day can be found here. Note that early entries receive a discount, so get in early!

If you have any questions regarding the day, please feel free to drop a post in the forum!

Hope to see some of you there!

After such a great turnout last month at our inaugural third Thursday of the month cruise, we thought we would do it again! That makes it this Thursday - the 19th of October!

Amongst the turnout last month were some old faces and some new - it was great to catch up with everyone and have a gasbag, a bite to eat and a bit of a cruise through the city on a nice warm September night.

Thanks again to Charleen for taking photos! Hopefully she's got the camera out again this time! See her previous efforts in the gallery here (dont blame her for the captions! That was yours truly trying to fill in the gaps!)

Meeting point is the same as last time (See the forum post here for details!)

See you all there!

Hi guys! It's nearly that time of year again for another driver training day at the Driver Education Centre of Australia (DECA), in Shepparton, Victoria. The date for this year's event is Sunday the 5th of November.

For those of you that have not experienced an MCCA DECA day, fun, excitement and thrill; your time has come!

Located just outside of Shepparton, is a large concrete skid pan, where the Mazda Car Club of Australia sets up various auto-cross style activities throughout the day in the interests of enjoyment and driver training.

The cost for the day is $75 for members only (reduced price club membership is available for non-members wishing to participate).

So imagine a polished concrete football-sized oval/rectangle. Add some water on the course, a few witches hats, and the fun is endless. The day is all about fun and discovering the things that your car can and can't do in a safe and friendly environment.

So what's stopping you? Come and bring your car and test your driving skills out! We guarantee that you won't regret it.

There are only a few spots left, so if you would like to join us, act quickly! Contact Richard on 0407 818 502 or Zoran on 0438 883 834.

(Posted on behalf of Richard Thompson).

Winton Funday. (By Ron Young.)

On Sunday 16th July, a rather wet and somewhat miserable looking day, Club members Nick Bradford and Ron Young set off on the ‘1 hour too long’ drive to Winton Raceway to join in a Winton Funday. Although we had both been to Winton several times before, this was to be our first involvement in a Winton Funday – many thanks to Matt Corish for making everyone aware of this day. Matt’s brother Shane was also there, apparently he is a regular who ‘wouldn’t miss it for quids’.

In spite of the distance (a 2 hour plus drive from Melb), and the inclement weather, there were lots of participants on the day; estimated at about 80 to 90 cars in total.

The concept of the day is a fairly loosely structured chance to get you and your car on the track in a safe environment to-do-only-what-you-feel-comfortable-doing arrangement, where about 30 cars at a time are randomly chosen and allowed on the track at closely spaced intervals.

Racing is not permitted, and safety is promoted and enforced; overtaking only if waved through and /or if safe.

A very wide variety of cars/performance and driver/skills existed and some ‘awareness’ of your car and its’ surroundings is required – especially on day where it was raining continually, albeit lightly, all day.

Each ‘run’ seemed to be very generous, allowing about 7 or 7 laps in total, and alternate runs allowed both a driver and passenger in the car. The range of cars varied from ‘serious’ race cars (including a few open wheelers), hot Commodore V8’s, and many seriously modified street and track cars, to a few apparently standard street cars (but all seemingly driven with much enthusiasm and gusto).

You are supposed to drive to only 80% of your driving and your cars’ capabilities; obviously some people (me included) are not too good at maths and the adrenelin soon takes over. However there were no serious incidents during the day until the very last lap before we were due to leave when a Monaro inexplicably veered across the track at right angles in the middle of the back straight and hit a retaining wall.

OUCH! A close observer of the incident seemed pretty sure that
some kind of mechanical failure is the only possible explanation. The driver was shaken (and not stirred!) but otherwise not seriously hurt, and is OK; which is more than I can say for his near new Monaro’s front end.

Stephen Yang an AusRotary member, attended the Funday with us in his 2002 Spirit R Series 8 RX7.

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable day, and terrific value at only $25 per entrant/passenger (apparently these days are held up to 4 times a year).

Recommended!!!

A couple of mildly biased photos can be found
here and here