Words By Alan Benedetti; Photos By Fab, and John McLeod
An early start greeted all who attended this great day out! We gathered at Rippleside Park at 8.00 in preparation for our group’s arrival at the Festival site. We traveled in a convoy led by Chris Q – luckily we were pretty blessed by the traffic light gods and could maintain sight of each other.
Our eclectic group of new and old cars made our way to our designated area – just in front of the food stalls and in the midst of the commercial area! A great location to promote the club! We set up the new club marquee – a great sight to see with the club logo and photos from recent events! We readied our chairs and a table before setting off to explore the extensive display.
The line-up of Australian, European, and Japanese vehicles was certainly eye-catching! 2 Fords, 2 Toyotas, a Countryman, 2 Mercs, a VW, and 2 Citroens and my Volvo drew many an admiring glance and look over! We were all shiny and aligned as neat as a pin.
There was an extensive display of electric vehicles including a classic Range Rover that had been converted to electric – it even retained its manual gearbox and full-spec off-road capabilities. A pre-release GWM Tank300 was on display right next to Ford’s Ranger/Everest display. Porsche was a huge presence with a range of electric and ICE vehicles. A full set of simulators were also available to us punters to have a test drive – I didn’t have a go, but they certainly were popular!
A variety of local clubs were in attendance and had a large range of American, Australian, and Japanese cars on display – from factory standard to wildly customized – all tastes and interests were covered. European vehicles were not as well represented, but it was a nice change – so many events have a distinct “euro-bent” to them.
A tour through the pits was a real eye-opener – there were exotics, local muscle, and so many competition vehicles. From the cheap and cheerful racer to open-wheelers, to electric vehicles, stock and modified – the range was awesome! The “scariest” vehicles were a couple of SUVs – a heavily hotted-up Territory and a Grand Cherokee SRT8 – seeing these family haulers hurtle down the quarter mile in just 10.4 seconds was insane! Seeing a Porsche or a Tesla doing times like this was not a surprise, but the visual contradiction was outrageous!
Unfortunately, the day’s racing was called off shortly before the end of proceedings due to a Tesla having an up-close and personal interaction with a barrier. Only 11 vehicles missed their last trip down the course for the day.
As we were leaving, the predicted weather change was rapidly approaching. We made it to Chris & Matts just before the rain hit. Bravely Matt & Fab cooked the BBQ whilst the rest of us relaxed inside. A great spread was put on and a great evening of discussion ensued!
Most of us headed home at about 8.30 after a long but enjoyable day!
Many thanks to Chris and the Events team for organizing and running the event, and especially to Chris and Matt for their hospitality in providing the BBQ, great food, and great company, at their private residence.
Alan
