Frank Porter Article in December C&S

Started by aggie57, December 13, 2013, 08:16:00 AM

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aggie57

Just wanted to say it was great to see some memories from Frank in this months C&S.  Quite apart from his success on the track over many years, Frank and his wife Joan were for a long time very active and very popular club members.

Through his business at Alfa City, Frank was a great supporter of the club which I think has been mentioned before but is worthy of repeating.  At a time when Alfa was largely ambivalent to the club, we got real and in kind support across a whole range of activities.  Plus they had a really good parts team who were more than happy to track down odd parts for you; the nose panel on my 105 was one of the last new ones available in Australia but they found it and sold it to me for....$212.  That's an easy number to remember!

I recall at a Winton 300 where Frank ran his white Sud in partnership with son Derrim, he had a set of 6 Yokohama A001R tyres.  You were only allowed 6 for the event.  Of course they wore out very quickly so we were reduced to putting the least worn ones back onto the car.  But those pesky officials wouldn't let us put on anything where the steel belts (:))) were showing unless the tyres on the car were actually flat. 

So Steve Wise, one of the team and also a long time Sud guy and club member, produced a large knife, shoved it through the sidewall, and asked "well - is that flat?".  Frank and Derrim finished the race, driving very slowly through the corners. 

Great memories so g'day Frank and good to hear from you again.
Alister
14 Alfa's since 1977. 
Currently 1973 GTV 2000, 2020 911 C2S MT, 2021 Mercedes GLE350, 2023 Polestar 2 LRDM
Gone......far too many to list

Victor Lee

It was also great to see Frank and Joan at the recent Spettacolo dinner. 

At that dinner, John Emery and David Wright MC'd a never before seen panel of guest speakers:  Frank Porter, Ray Gulson, Brian Foley, Fred and Christine Gibson.  It was truly fantastic to hear about their racing experiences.  The banter between them was just as entertaining!

A night to remember!
Current Alfas:  Alfa 159 3.2lt Q4; Alfetta GTV6; ES30 SZ (all V6s!);  2015 4C LE.
Past Alfas:      '02 156 2.0lt JTS; '84 Alfetta GTV6; '82 Alfetta GTV 2.0; '85 Alfa 33 1.5 GCL single carb

aggie57

Quote from: Victor Lee on December 13, 2013, 02:02:36 PM
It was also great to see Frank and Joan at the recent Spettacolo dinner. 

At that dinner, John Emery and David Wright MC'd a never before seen panel of guest speakers:  Frank Porter, Ray Gulson, Brian Foley, Fred and Christine Gibson.  It was truly fantastic to hear about their racing experiences.  The banter between them was just as entertaining!

A night to remember!

Damn!
Alister
14 Alfa's since 1977. 
Currently 1973 GTV 2000, 2020 911 C2S MT, 2021 Mercedes GLE350, 2023 Polestar 2 LRDM
Gone......far too many to list