GT3/RS Run

Typically, getting up at 4:30am can be a bit of a struggle. In the case of the looming Sunday morning drive, I was already wide awake and strolling into the garage ready to sneak away as quietly as possible. Thankfully my neighbours are pretty sensitised to my PMO’s cold start melodies!!!

5:00am. I roll into the local servo and find Scott & Ken already eager to get onto the road. After a quick top up, we hit the road and head to the meeting spot at Tecoma. The roads at that hour are lovely and quiet with the exception of a few Porsches appearing out of the shadows, all heading to the same place and excited for some seat time on some of the best roads we have locally.

Once everyone is gathered, after an intro and briefing, we all set off on schedule at 6:30 and head for the hills. The drive takes us from Tecoma through to Gembrook on a lovely meander through the Dandenong Ranges. At this point, the sun is starting to come up and shine through the mist & early morning fog. All positive signs that the weather is going to be kind and again only adds to the excitement.

From Gembrook, we take a left and head onto one of my favourite section of road towards Launching Place. The road is a lovely flowing ribbon of tarmac that really builds as you head north. It’s always a joy to drive and has a couple of lovely straights where you can catch a view forwards and behind, of the Porsche convoy in all its glory. At the end of this leg, we take a moment for a quick stop before heading right onto the Warburton Highway and out to Reefton.

After a regroup at Reefton, the group of circa 40 cars then divided itself into smaller groups and set off up the real reason why we all get excited to wake up so early – the Reefton Spur. To my surprise, there were quite a few members on the run who hadn’t ever driven this piece of tarmac so it was lovely to catch up with them at the end and see the size of their grins!

The final rendezvous was at the top of Lake Mountain and this is where we regrouped and decompressed from what is a very ‘busy’ section of driving. By this stage, the sun was hot, the tourists were starting to roll in and Marysville bakery was calling.

A relaxed drive back down the hill had us in Marysville by 9:30. Time then slowed down and I’m pretty sure we were all reflecting on how lucky we are to have these great roads, the lovely weather, great company and best of all, these amazing cars to experience it in. A huge thanks to all of those that attended. I can’t wait to take another drive later in the year, although, this one will be hard to top – happy to give it a try though!