2014 CENTO MIGLIA CLASSIC CAR ECONOMY RUN, Sunday 19th January

The sixth running of the annual Cento Miglia was held in perfect summer motoring?conditions and attracted a field of 20 vehicles. The route?took our competitors?north from Warragul out through Neerim South to Nayook and on to Poweltown amid the lush National Park forests. From Poweltown the crews headed for Yarra Junction where they joined the Warburton Highway and headed further?west eventually turning north at Seville out through the vinyards towards Coldstream. Now in the outer suburbs of Melbourne the pace slowed a little as they wended their way south to Mt Evelyn and up a very narrow one-way road to the Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd for a run through the Dandenongs, terminating at Ferntree Gully for the all-important refuel.

Despite a few sightings of competitors heading off in the wrong direction, all teams?made it to the refuel?well within the allocated time. There were stories of slipstreaming, ultra-high tyre pressures, leaned out carby settings and cursing of slow drivers for touching brakes on downhill sections. Several drivers opted to run without navigators which can be advantageous in regard to weight and therefore fuel consumption, but the drivers?found following the twists and turns of the route directions quite taxing, especially in the latter stage of the event.

After the refuel everybody headed off for a picnic / BBQ lunch at the Tim Neville Arboretum in Dorset Rd where the reults were anounced and trophies presented. The outright?competition this year was a closely fought affair between Ian Maud in the supercharged Toyota MR2 and Mal Collins in the 1300cc Mini Deluxe. Both drivers managed over 50 mpg which is a tremendous result, however on this occasion Ian’s frugal driving technique returned the more economical result. At the other end of the scale, Ron and Trish Brooks in the LPG-fuelled V8 Cobra were awarded the Stone Motherless Last trophy for the third year in succession with a result of 15 mpg. There were?three vehicles contesting the Modern category and?all achieved excellent results, but depite the 25+ year advance in technology, they?still couldn’t knock the classics out of the top three placings.

Malcolm and Anne Irwin were unable to compete this year, but offered to help out by taking photos at the Devil’s Elbow, a very tight corner on the route running down into Ferntree Gully. See below for a selection of their shots.

Photos by Malcolm and Anne Irwin (and a few service station shots?from your editor)

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