Star Torque Issue 244 Winter 2016

National Rally 2016
by Club reporters
Photo s: C.Rankin
G.Timothy
Introduction
The Mercedes-Benz Clubs of Australia, National Rallies,
are a tradition that had its official start in 1976. Held
every two years and rotated from state to state, NSW has
the privilege and responsibility to put on the rally every
10 years and 2016 was the 40th anniversary.
Sometime early in 2013 Vince Thompson, then Club
President, received a call from Barry Bow (past Club
President, and Silver Star winner) asking him “What
have you done about the 2016 Rally?” Vince responded
saying he hadn’t even been to the 2014 rally yet! But
nonetheless, Vince and Barry made a time to catch up
and Barry provided a rundown on what was needed; the
main points being: get a committee, appoint a President,
appoint a Treasurer and get a venue!
And so preparations began for the 2016 Rally which
was held from Friday March 11 to Monday March 14,
based at the Novotel, Brighton Le Sands. The feedback
we had from all attendees was tremendous, paying back
handsomely the time and effort expended by NSW Club
members, over nearly 3 years. Here’s a small sample:
“ ....Just wanted to say a big thank you for all the hard
work you and the team put into this year’s rally. It really
paid off! ... felt it went like clockwork.”
“..... would like to take this opportunity to say thanks for
all your effort and hospitality in Sydney. We had a great
time and as usual Sydney did an exceptional professional
job in flying the flag. I hope we can stay in touch and would
value your input in assisting in our rally in 2020....”
“(Lothar Freischlade, German Consul General) ....I indeed
enjoyed very much being with you last Friday and sharing
a wonderful event with the Mercedes Benz Clubs.....”
The people
total of 267 people registered for the Rally and the
events. Numbers included:
A
Victoria 38 Queensland 33
South Australia 24 Western Australia 6
ACT 10 NSW 109
New Zealand 8 USA 2
Sponsors 27 Policians 5
Others 5
There were some non-attendance due to illness, but we
were in the fortunate position of being able to refund
monies not spent to all those members.
Event attendance numbers closely matched our budget
estimates but because the event was city based, most NSW
members did not stay in-house. As a result, the room
numbers totalled 68 rather than our estimated 103.
We were especially pleased that our US and NZ based
friends made the journey. Vince had promoted
the Rally at the Stuttgart based Club President’s meeting
and there was some dialogue with the UK Club (who had
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