Russ Meehan, organised this great rally as a combined Vintage Sports Car Club / Australian Lancia Register event. Being April the weather should have behaved itself but instead decided to throw us a few challenges.
The day started very early for the drive to Warrandyte with the side curtains up, the travelling rug tucked in around the legs..very cosy. On arrival most entrants were already ensconced in the cafe knocking back a coffee or three and wondering if it was such a good move bringing an open car after all. At 9:30ish the rain didn’t look like it would abate so off we went, I unwisely removed my side curtain as we unwittingly motored into a hail storm but at least we did have a roof.
After a short drive we arrived at Killara Park Estate Winery, the participants tried to separate their clothes from the water that now lived within them by huddling around the open fires, if water ingress was a competitive event the Greens won hands down. More coffee and a very nice lemon slice and we were off, some of us took the unsealed route while the others took the seemingly less challenging tarmac. As it happened the tarmac people had an extra challenge …snow! The mud pluggers just had some corrugations however I did hear the aforementioned damp Andrew Green lament the lack of snow on our stage, those Alvis drivers really do need a hare hair shirt to make them truly happy.
Finally the sun came out (as promised by Russell) and we reached the Marysville Golf Club where not too many salads were ordered. Thanks to Russ for a great rally.
