What a pleasant surprise to see almost 30 people out for a drive in their sporting and classic cars on such a cold, wet and miserable winter?s day. Ray and Kevin plotted out a 65km scenic route from Warragul to Willow Grove that initially had us all heading in the opposite direction to what one would normally expect. Not far out of Warragul we turned northwards on Lardners Track and wove our way through Drouin West to Labertouche and back to Rokeby before heading out to Neerim South and Neerim East. McDougal Road and the Mizpah Settlement road was a terrific alternative route south that took us back to Shady Creek on the Old Sale Road where we headed east for a while before diverting onto Wilkes Road and Balfours Road which runs parallel to the Latrobe River. Balfours Road is another pleasant little drive that eventually terminates at the Trafalgar-Willow Grove Road just south of Willow Grove, and as far as I know everybody successfully found their way from there to the Duck Inn.
Our convoy was led by Ray and Kevin in Ray?s white RS Focus which from a roadside photographer?s point of view seemed to be in Sport mode with the exhaust crackling and popping on over-run. A couple of Boxsters and 944s made Porsche the best represented marque on this run. There were also a couple of BMWs (if you count the Humphreys? MINI Cooper) and a Merc adding to the German contingent, which outnumbered the Pommy Car Brigade consisting of MGB, Sprite, Lotus and Steve Braha?s recently rejuvenated Triumph Stag, now on Club Plates. It was certainly a day for testing the extent to which an erected soft-top kept its occupants dry and comfortable. The early Sprites were never too good at that, but I?m sure those in soft-top Porsches, the Nissan 350Z, MGB and Triumph Stag had no complaints.
Two large tables were reserved for our members at Willow Grove?s Duck Inn, which if nothing else, provided a warm and friendly place to get out of the weather. Thankyou to all who participated in this event and especially to Ray and Kevin for their organisation and leadership.
