Club Cruise to
First Annual Daylesford Motorfest
17th February 2019
First Annual Daylesford Motorfest
17th February 2019
Our first Club Cruise for 2019 was to the first Annual Motorfest held in Daylesford. And also the first time we have had to meet somewhere else other than our Clubhouse for several years due to on-going round-a-bout upgrades. It was once again a sunny day, but a little cool as we fired up the rotor and headed over to the BCF carpark for a 9.30am departure. The Mazda had some lovin’ during the week with a new exhaust system (the old one was circa 1988), some new caster and stabilizer bar bushes, and a couple of tack welds on a loose dust plate covering the pinion bearing at the front of the diff. Which had been the source for all sorts of intermittent scraping noises coming from under the car as sometimes it would spin randomly with the tailshaft and other times not. And it was looser when the diff was warm. Like the sound of barbed wire wrapped around the tailshaft. The RX4 was now just like a brand new one.
From pulling up at BCF it was obvious there would be more than a normal turnout for this run. It was still early and cars were rolling in thick and fast. Eventually we would have 29 on the run. It was great to see a variety of different vehicles – from Marc with his mates driving the “Hipwell Kustoms” cars, Dave, Wayne and the girls in the 2 door XR - may have been a while since you guys have had a couple of hot chicks in the back seat, Greg driving the V8 Stag – all set up with "for sale" signs and really hoping today was gonna to be the day. And it turned out to be a good day – he ended up selling it to a guy in Queensland. Nice work. To everyone else - there was some first-timers and there were so many other members that we haven't see for ages - thanks for the effort, you made this the biggest cruise ever.
I’d been asked to be lead driver today and was pretty happy about the Rotor being out in front of the convoy to Daylesford. As we pulled out of the BCF carpark and onto the highway, Wilma in the HK Monaro slotted in close behind – a move she probably regretted due to excessive noise and the distinct aroma of caster oil premix fumes. The new exhaust system had changed the sound of the Rotor too - a little quieter at low revs, but much louder from 6 through to 9 grand. Oddly, drivability had also improved with the “forever been there” flat spot just off idle now gone. It was a really enjoyable cruise along the Calder, then through Castlemaine where we passed Deano who was parked on the side of the road in his Statesman waiting for us. He’d been doing some bike racing duty with his girls and had already been in Castlemaine. What a wonderful sight it was as 29 classics pulled over to re-group in Campbells Creek. And I imagine - to the on-looker – an even better sound. Why would you be anywhere else. This was awesome.
Back on the Midland Highway we soon caught up to a three annoying slow vehicles heading the same way as us, but for whatever reason varying their speed between 80 and 110, which was annoying, for us at the front, but probably more so for anyone further behind in our convoy as the caterpillar effect was experienced. I’d heard a couple days earlier that there was the potential for the car show today to be huge as they had invited car clubs from all over Victoria and looking at the Google map satellite image of the venue, it was gonna be packed. The gates had been open since 7am and we were arriving around 10.30 so it was fair to expect the worst. I was correct. Bumper to bumper traffic coming past the market and into the main street of town. Followed by chaos all the way through town, past the lake and up the hill towards the venue. I turned the Rotors electric cooling fans on as a precaution and hoped no-one was experiencing any over-heating issues. Our convoy had been broken up somewhat through town, but we all made it in to the venue and we were shown where to park. The grounds were busy and full. A huge success for the organisers and I’d imagine this won’t be the last Annual Daylesford Motorfest. It was a hot day by now, but there were food and drink stalls, trade stands, a band playing and plenty of shady trees. I sometimes think car shows can be too big - think Hanging Rock - and this one might have suffered a little from there being too many cars. Way too much to see. By the time we’d walked around and talked to the two other rotary owners there, it was 2.30. We were surprised to see most members had already left. Maybe they didn’t like the smell of caster fumes as much as they’d said.
We said our goodbyes to Daylesford and not wanting the day to end, took the scenic route through Trentham, Kyneton, Malmsbury, then through Bendigo and arriving home around 4pm.
It had been a good one and I hope everyone had as much fun as we did. Thanks Events Guys, lookin’ forward to another great year. See ya all next time!
From pulling up at BCF it was obvious there would be more than a normal turnout for this run. It was still early and cars were rolling in thick and fast. Eventually we would have 29 on the run. It was great to see a variety of different vehicles – from Marc with his mates driving the “Hipwell Kustoms” cars, Dave, Wayne and the girls in the 2 door XR - may have been a while since you guys have had a couple of hot chicks in the back seat, Greg driving the V8 Stag – all set up with "for sale" signs and really hoping today was gonna to be the day. And it turned out to be a good day – he ended up selling it to a guy in Queensland. Nice work. To everyone else - there was some first-timers and there were so many other members that we haven't see for ages - thanks for the effort, you made this the biggest cruise ever.
I’d been asked to be lead driver today and was pretty happy about the Rotor being out in front of the convoy to Daylesford. As we pulled out of the BCF carpark and onto the highway, Wilma in the HK Monaro slotted in close behind – a move she probably regretted due to excessive noise and the distinct aroma of caster oil premix fumes. The new exhaust system had changed the sound of the Rotor too - a little quieter at low revs, but much louder from 6 through to 9 grand. Oddly, drivability had also improved with the “forever been there” flat spot just off idle now gone. It was a really enjoyable cruise along the Calder, then through Castlemaine where we passed Deano who was parked on the side of the road in his Statesman waiting for us. He’d been doing some bike racing duty with his girls and had already been in Castlemaine. What a wonderful sight it was as 29 classics pulled over to re-group in Campbells Creek. And I imagine - to the on-looker – an even better sound. Why would you be anywhere else. This was awesome.
Back on the Midland Highway we soon caught up to a three annoying slow vehicles heading the same way as us, but for whatever reason varying their speed between 80 and 110, which was annoying, for us at the front, but probably more so for anyone further behind in our convoy as the caterpillar effect was experienced. I’d heard a couple days earlier that there was the potential for the car show today to be huge as they had invited car clubs from all over Victoria and looking at the Google map satellite image of the venue, it was gonna be packed. The gates had been open since 7am and we were arriving around 10.30 so it was fair to expect the worst. I was correct. Bumper to bumper traffic coming past the market and into the main street of town. Followed by chaos all the way through town, past the lake and up the hill towards the venue. I turned the Rotors electric cooling fans on as a precaution and hoped no-one was experiencing any over-heating issues. Our convoy had been broken up somewhat through town, but we all made it in to the venue and we were shown where to park. The grounds were busy and full. A huge success for the organisers and I’d imagine this won’t be the last Annual Daylesford Motorfest. It was a hot day by now, but there were food and drink stalls, trade stands, a band playing and plenty of shady trees. I sometimes think car shows can be too big - think Hanging Rock - and this one might have suffered a little from there being too many cars. Way too much to see. By the time we’d walked around and talked to the two other rotary owners there, it was 2.30. We were surprised to see most members had already left. Maybe they didn’t like the smell of caster fumes as much as they’d said.
We said our goodbyes to Daylesford and not wanting the day to end, took the scenic route through Trentham, Kyneton, Malmsbury, then through Bendigo and arriving home around 4pm.
It had been a good one and I hope everyone had as much fun as we did. Thanks Events Guys, lookin’ forward to another great year. See ya all next time!
Who said caster oil fumes are a sedative?
We'll see you on a cruise somewhere!
