Good grief, June already and nearly two months since the last post, apologies! Funny how time gets away from you.

As per usual for this time of year, plenty of automotive-related opportunities here locally now: “The Zoo” at Faith Church on Gravois/MO 30, first Friday of each month; gatherings every Friday at the Sonic in Kirkwood, off Big Bend (tends towards American muscle cars and rods, ‘Vettes and the like but periodically we of the British persuasion make regular appearances); both autocross series – Boeing and SCCA – are well underway; Cars & Coffee will make its debut this coming Saturday at Amp Up on Manchester, having vacated Westport due to construction; AND, a lot of clubs are doing drives, cruises, shows and the like. Great time of year and not incredibly hot yet…

On 15 May, a group of the Triumph faithful executed an outstanding 60-or-so mile drive to Maifest at Donau Park, southwest of St Louis off MO 21. Great turnout of Triumphs, along with a few non-TR standouts, including a late 60’s Porsche 912 (I do believe this is the first time we’ve had a Porsche join one of our excursions). Prior to the drive, we lined up all of the Triumphs and the one MG Midget and got photos adjacent to the historic Sandy Creek covered bridge. What an opportunity! Fine day, all around.

Coming up next? Several events to choose from. As always, monitor www.sltoa.org for the dates and details and by all means, come on out and join us!

And then, there’s the other side of the auto hobby, about as far away from LBCs as one can get. Still pretty impressive…The car’s a ’49 Chrysler, seen in the lot of a local Dierberg’s.

Two, actually, at today’s St Louis Region/Southern Illinois Region SCCA Majors races at World Wide Technology Raceway: Steve Sargis, Frankfort, Illinois, with his F Production Spitfire, and Jack Schulz of Monett, MO, with his ’70 HP Midget. Steve took his eighth national championship at last October’s SCCA Runoffs at Road America, winning the HP event.

Not a lot of cars on the track this year, but still the racing (and the cars…and several of the drivers) proved highly entertaining.

Which did NOT take place on 17 March, a Wednesday; we went for a quick drive followed by lunch on Sunday, 20 March. Good turnout of TRs and a couple of other cars, appropriately we had a green TR6 and TR8 lead the pack.

The route took us from the PNC bank at US 44 and MO 141 through Lone Elk Park on the north side of the interstate. Yes, we saw elk and yes, we saw bison and no, no very large, furry (and typically cranky) animals came anywhere near the lineup of cars.

The event ended with lunch at Helen Fitzgerald’s Irish Grill & Pub on South Lindbergh. All-in-all, a fine short excursion, with excellent weather.

It’s a jungle out there.

Perfect weather (okay, okay, a little chilly) and a total of 60 cars, which is undoubtedly a record for this annual event. The drive, which traditionally serves as the first road event for SLTOA, dates to the formation of the club in 1982. As always, all drivers/cars were welcome, which resulted in a number of reps from the Gateway Miata Club, multiple MGs and even a ’66 Chevy Impala, quite impressive.

If you’re in the St Louis area and are looking for more drive opportunities, check the SLTOA calendar, available on the web page at www.sltoa.org. If you’re looking for something to do this coming weekend, on Sunday 20 March there are two drives scheduled: SLTOA’s St Patricks Run and the MG Club of St Louis’ annual Terry Fanning Rally. Check out the club web pages for details, including starting location and time,

The club’s annual Polar Bear Run, the traditional first drive of the season, is coming on Sunday 20 February, one week after Super Bowl. Meet at the BP station at Chesterfield Airport Road and Olive Street Road, west end of Chesterfield, at 11 AM. Grab a snack and some hot coffee prior to the 1130 departure on a 28-mile drive, winding up at the Big Chief Roadhouse for lunch. Y’all come!

The weather cooperated (yes, at this time of year, it is fair cool in the morning), lots of sunshine and a darn fine route developed by two members of SLTOA. We had 23 people/15 cars participate this year, launching from our starting point at Sunset Overlook, west of Columbia on Bluff Road, for a river crossing and drive through historic Ste Genevieve to Chaumette Winery.

The portion of the route from Sunset Overlook to the Modoc-Ste Genevieve Ferry was all in the flats and incorporated the standard stop at Fort De Chartres. Once we crossed the river and cleared downtown Ste Genevieve and I-55, the terrain picked up quite a bit…let’s just say the drive to the winery was energetic and quite scenic. Afterwards, the majority of the participants enjoyed a good meal and undoubtedly some vino.

Details on the drive will appear in the December issue of Exhaust Notes. Our thanks to all who came out and contributed to this year’s vet’s support organization, the Gary Sinise Foundation.

Okay, okay, it’s a commercial ferry so it’s not exactly “haze gray” and the underway portion lasted about 10 minutes, with the crossing of the Mississippi from the Modoc, Illinois, landing over to Ste Genevieve, Missouri.

Anyway, if you’re inclined to join the St Louis Triumph Owners Association and reps from a number of other local car clubs this coming Sunday for the annual Vets Run, this is a view of one of the components of the route that you’ll get to enjoy. The second photo shows the end point: Chaumette Winery, down by Ste Genevieve.

We’re meeting at Sunset Overlook on Bluff Rd (west of Columbia and south of the “Red Roof” Shell station) at 10:30 AM, with a planned 11:00 AM departure. The drive should take about two or so hours and we’ll finish up with lunch at Chaumette. If you wish to join us, please do; you will need $15 in cash or check for the ferry crossing. Y’all come out!