The sixth annual OzRenaultsport National meet was held from September 14-17 in Benalla and Winton Raceway, Victoria. This year’s event was the biggest yet, with over forty Renaultsport Clios and Meganes gathered from Victoria, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Queensland for a weekend amongst like-minded French car aficionados.
Friday saw the arrival of the majority of the participants, with the Canberra convoy joining the Sydney crew, the Melbournians cruising up the Hume and two dedicated members from Adelaide coasting along the Hay Plain. The afternoon was spent unpacking, washing bugs of cars, drinking beers and generally talking **** about cars.
Yours truly made the bold move of leaving from the Sydney CBD at 5pm, only to be faced with an M5 motorway car park. A decision was made to head south via the Illawarra Highway but not before the traffic at Loftus persuaded me into a cheeky Natio (Royal National Park) run before rejoining the freeway. I peeled off at Albion Park for a jolt up Macquarie Pass and then continued through Mossvale and out to the Hume. The petrol light had been on for a good hour when I decided a quick fuel stop and McFeed was on the cards, before setting off again: destination Victoria.
My 172 all packed up and ready to go:
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After cruising past Goulburn at 9pm and doing the ETA sums in my head – 2am at Benalla – I opted to pull in at Gundagai at around 11pm for a shower and sleep before an early rise and arrival at the group accommodation. I arrived at the Executive Hideaway in Goulburn after a total of 9 hours on the road…
Saturday was the official Unofficial Drive Day, beginning with a handing out of event showbags (shirts, stickers etc) and a stern pre-drive lecture from Moosolini about being sensible and respectful representatives of our fine forum. Everyone heeded the message as we made our way to our steeds for the day. .Iin my case I was riding shotgun with my Dad in his Megane R26, resigned to photographer and videographer duties after the epic drive down.
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The huge group of thirty-five plus cars was split into 3 groups and sent off at five minute intervals.
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After a short cruise up the highway, the first destination was Beechworth and a much needed caffeine injection…
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… before heading northwest towards Yackandandah and then southeast towards Tawonga with Mt Bogong rising gracefully to the east.
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A right turn onto Tawonga Gap Road saw the road start to tighten dramatically and some serious elevation changes begin.
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TBC
