TWELVE BRIDGES TWILIGHT RUN ? Wednesday 20th January

A rainy morning that brought much needed refreshment to parched gardens and pasture cleared into a perfect evening for a carefree, topless romp around the countryside – the fact that many participants had fixed roofs over their heads mattered little as this first social run of the year, over roads seldom driven, seemed to be enjoyed by all.
About 20 sports and classic cars assembled for a 6:30 departure at the Warragul Shell servo and it was pleasing to see that many participants had printed out their route directions from an earlier email and were ready to roll. Glenn Campbell grabbed the initiative and led off in the red 911 with Ray Youlden in the passenger seat calling directions. A string of cars followed them onto the freeway and as a tail-ender, the view of so many terrific cars snaking along behind the red Porsche looked fantastic. The fact that most of the cars seemed to be red and there wasn?t a Camry in sight, certainly made it an interesting convoy.As with most of our Club?s activities, the collection of cars was quite eclectic. A couple of red Austin-Healeys from the 1950s were the oldest cars on the run, whilst Mark McKibbin?s one-day-old VW Golf GTI in red, was certainly the newest. There was a very tidy, red VW Beetle with wicker picnic hamper strapped to a rack on the bootlid, several red (and not so red) MGs and MX5s, a range of Mercedes, Porsches and BMWs, a pair of mustangs – coupe and convertible, a couple of Minis, a FWD Capri and a Jaguar.
The route began with a small loop south of Darnum that included 4 bridges, one of which was very narrow with only single lane passage. As fate would have it, a local coming in the opposite direction had to wait on one side whilst our convoy ripped across the bridge and up the hill on the other side ? probably more traffic in a single night than this bridge usually sees in a month! We then headed north of the highway at Darnum, then into Yarragon and out the Shady Creek Rd to Araluen Rd which took us northwards to Old Sale Rd. The morning rain had moistened silage spread in the paddocks and when that was combined with occasional decomposing road-kill carcasses; a rich aroma was experienced by those driving alfresco.
The Old Sale Rd is a terrific drive with fast sweeping corners interrupted occasionally by series of tighter bends that wind their way out of gullies or over the steeper ridges. The sight and sound of our convoy passing through these sections was something those in the tail could savour, although it?s pretty hard to hear anything in a Bugeye due to the mechanical commotion in the immediate vicinity. From Buln Buln it was a pretty straight forward run into Warragul except for the confusion created when David and Claire Richard?s Mini ran out fuel on Lillico Rd. Luckily Mal Collins was carrying some extra fuel in his Mini and soon got David and Claire up and running again.
Parking was at a premium in Mason St Warragul, but eventually everybody found a park and made their way to the Newmason Caf? where a couple of long tables had been reserved for our group. Although it didn?t rain during our run, a few drops must have fallen whilst we enjoyed the bonhomie at Newmason?s – guess who had a wet seat for the drive home.

Our next run be on Australia Day (next Tuesday) please check your magazine or emails for details.

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