New Members

Boxster/Cayman Register

Run to Bacchus Marsh Golf Club

Storyn & Photos: Mark Behan Sunday 29th May

New Members Jennifer and Peter Howard and Michelle and Neil Lyon

In summary, a very civilized run. That said, let’s fill in some detail.

Like all Boxster / Cayman runs of late the enterprise was well subscribed to. With a luxurious start time of 10.30 the 21 cars gathered at the road services centre in Rockbank. For those of us there early (in my case only 15 minutes up the road) there was time for coffee and a chat before the briefing. We were joined by the PCV President Mark Horton Andrews and his wife Caroline, who were not actually doing the run but stopped by to catch up and wish us well.

Ken Anson who had organised the run (no doubt with help from Harriet) then ran the briefing in the car park. My wife volunteered me to write the article (which is why you are having to read my scratchings) and she assures me it had nothing to do with the bottle of Shiraz offered as a reward! Ken of course is an experienced man at this sort of thing, so briefing was short but precise and after the obligatory reminder that we were representing the Porsche Club of Victoria we retired to our cars, set the odometer to zero, and headed for the highway.

Our first turn was only 0.7 kilometres up the road and we all managed that without incident. Of course, the notes were up to Ken’s usual standard, which is to say excellent, but in today’s case were even better. Scattered amongst the precise instructions were cautions (stuff like speed limits that might be overlooked, ways to get back on track if you make a mistake, descriptions of road signs etc. to help identify a particular corner, and even mini tour notes such as at one turn “you can go straight ahead here, but you probably will end up in some farmers sheep shed”). I know I found them to be really comprehensive and very helpful notes!

I’ll mention the weather here because it too made the day a really pleasurable experience. Bright sunshine was the order of the day with a brisk outside temperature but still pleasant enough that several cars had their rooves (I’m an English teacher so can’t bring myself to say roofs) down. Sylvia and I did discuss it, but it was so warm and comfortable with it up… we must be getting old! Mind you, as we approached Woodend the sunshine disappeared and 10 minutes later as we climbed Mt Macedon we drove into the cloud bank and the temperature dropped to less than 8 degrees. However, by the time that we drove down the other side of the mountain the sunshine returned and we were once again driving in perfect conditions.

The roads over the mountain were really Porsche friendly driving, tight curves, hair pin bends and a constant steep climb. Indeed, the entire run was on great roads with interesting corners and curves and in some cases, such as over the “Razor Back” (the Gisborne to Bacchus Marsh road) fantastic views. Yes, this section is definitely my “backyard” but on a sunny day in a Porsche in the company of other Porsche drivers it took on a newly appreciated buzz. That I guess is the whole point of these runs. Great roads, great cars and fantastic company and today it certainly was.

At the Golf Club we all ordered our own meals from the menu. The food was, from what I could see, excellent and was served in a timely manner to an appreciative (if loud) two tables. After the food was all served Ken introduced new members on their first run, Peter and Jennifer Howard in their silver 987 Boxster, and also Neil and Michelle Lyons in their black 987 Boxster.

Then it was time to run the obligatory raffle and a bottle of wine was each won by David Turner, Marian Johnson, Nick Yates and Frank Deak. And so the day ended and thanks must go to Ken and Harriet of course for organising it but also every participant who made it a safe enjoyable run in good company.

Nick Yates Marian Johnson

Mid 911 Register

Run to Macedon

Story: Brett Varga Photos: Paul Sbrissa & Andrew Clarke Sunday 16th April 2022

This was my first Mid 911 Run in many years and it was an absolute delight to be back out for a Sunday drive with a bunch of Air cooled 911’s and a few other Stuttgart classics.

A few of us met on Beach Rd and cruised to the McDonlads Gisborne carpark to meet the rest of the cars and drivers. I cant recall the last time I saw so many G series 911’s together. After some chit chat and the briefing, we were off on leg one to Mount Macedon. We had google maps links emailed to us and waypoints made navigation a breeze. Much easier than trying to follow a paper print out.

The sky was clear and the air was fresh as we headed to the summit of Mount Macedon. The temperature was noticeably lower at the Tea Rooms at the top of Mount Macedon. Caffeine levels were restored and we were soon heading down the mountain and onto a big loop through Trentham, Kyneton and Tylden.

Most cars followed the designated route, taking the left towards Trentham and enjoying mostly right turns before heading off the loop towards lunch. A few drivers knew the area and did the loop in reverse, taking a right and then lots of lefts. It was great seeing a few cars going in the opposite direction. The roads were pretty empty. Maybe being Easter Saturday people were hiding eggs for the Sunday Easter Egg Hunts. We made steady progress to lunch to the Wine Collective where everyone enjoyed a nice lunch and some great views.

Hopefully the new members had as much fun as I did. New/first time register members were Tracey, Dan and Ian and Matthew and Alexander, as well as Andrew who sat as my navigator for the day while his IROC 911 awaits completion.

Break time, The quiet Lancefield town about 70kms out of Melbourne welcomed the drivers and cars with plenty of options for facilities, food, coffee and easy main street parking for all participants. After drivers found their finest choices we were soon congregating on the café bakery stretch providing all participants to talk Porsche while looking at the array of our main street idle masterpieces providing the sleepy town with a great stretch of colours and engineering artistry during our driving recess.

Leg 2, took us further north looping around the old Cobb and Co regional roads to Pyalong and Tooborac back to Lancefield town centre for a drive through on our way across to the northern side of Mt Macedon. This provided any early leavers easy access to the Calder Freeway to head home whilst most remained on the back road to bring us along the winding roads and over the top of Mt Macedon towards Gisborne.

Lunch, was at Gisborne Golf club with plenty of bitumen parking available to line up the team of Porsches again. Lunch was a reserved set of tables providing a view of the golf course.

To summarise, great weather, 30+ car solid attendance on a long weekend, excellent parking available at every stop, fast paced and fun winding roads with little traffic and facilities and food options were plentiful! An excellent Porsche drive region around the Northern and North Eastern roads all of which is not far outside of Melbourne!