Heavy rain greeted us on the morning of the 15th October.  Although by 9.00 am, the rain had abated, only a handful of members turned up at Hal Far for the announced drive, most of which were committee members.

This lack of response was expected, even though we still made it to Hal Far, as originally planned.  Whilst we were there, waiting for the time to pass, the weather cleared but by then it was pretty obvious that the event would have to be cancelled.

Sharing members eagerness to show off our cars, we agreed to postpone the drive to next Sunday, 22nd October so as to hold the event anyway.  We'll be meeting at the same place at the same time and the drive will be held as planned.  So read through the Original Circular, reproduced below, if you've forgotten the original timetable and route.

See you all at Hal Far on the 22nd October and keep your fingers crossed.

Original Circular

To start off this season the Club is organising a drive on the 15th October 2000.  This will be followed by a day in Gozo where we will be able to meet some of our Gozitan members.  The outcome of this event will largely depend on the weather.  So we’ll be scheduling this visit for early November.  In December, we plan to organise a rally for members, which will involve driving at an average speed around a route, which will be provided by the Club.

But enough about our plans for now.  The October event will be somewhat different from our normal drives as it will take us around the most popular spots in the south of the island.  Members from these parts have been complaining that we never visit these parts, so we’re starting off the season with such a visit.

We’ll be meeting near the Chas Auto Centre at Hal Far at (or should I say starting from) 9.00 am.  Members will have about an hour to chat and compare experiences as at 10.00 am we’ll set off on our drive.  From Hal Far, we’ll proceed to Birzebbugia where we will drive round the sea front.  From here, we’ll go up through Tal Barrani Road up to the Bulebel Industrial Estate traffic lights.  Here, we’ll be turning into the Estate where cars can group up after the drive through the traffic lights.  We will then drive through the Industrial Estate to Hompesch Gate, turning towards Zabbar up to the Marsascala turning.  Here we’ll be able to group up again as we expect the group to separate when turning onto the Bypass.  We’ll be going through the old part of Marsascala turning onto the Sea Front right up to the Jerma Palace hotel.  From here we’ll go round to St Thomas Bay and back out of Marsascala along the bypass.  Passing by Zabbar, we will be able to re group before going past the gate that leads into Cottonera.  Down past St Edwards School and De La Salle College, we will drive along the Cottonera Lines down to Cospicua.  From here we will proceed to Kalkara along the Sea Front, to finally end at Rinella.  Here members can once again chat and discuss their cars over a cold beer at the Movie Park bar.

Although the route seems to be a long one, we should have a good hour or so at Rinella before breaking up for lunch.  It is important that members try to keep close to the cars in front of them to reduce the chances of other cars getting in between.  This will ensure the drive proceeds as smoothly as possible.  Further details about the other events will follow in due course.

See you on the 15th at Hal Far (or join us somewhere along the route if you’d rather not wake up so early).