Author Archives: Geoff Rasmussen

Australian Alpines at Euroa Show and Shine
October 2019

We were invited by the Euroa Show and Shine Show as guests to be featured at the show. There were over 800 cars and the overflow had to park in the streets.  The town’s population is 3000, but expands to 10,000 on the weekend.

19th July 2019

We all started the run with breakfast and coffee at Daughters Hall in Hall, a little village on the edge of Canberra at around 10am. From there we all proceeded to Coppins Crossing and then Uriarra Crossing. It was a cold start with some fog but the weather turned sunny later on to allow us to view some beautiful countryside on the outskirts of Canberra.

After a short drivers’ briefing in the car park at Uriarra Crossing, we all headed up Fairlight Road and then Mountain Creek Road to Wee Jasper and return. The road had some fast flat stages along with some tight turns that really suited the Alpines. We all gathered for a photo shoot in the park west of Wee Jasper and then on the bridge over the Goodradigbee River which feeds into Burrinjuck Dam. Fortunately, no one encountered any roos or livestock on the run. However, speedy Matthew did miss the turnoff back to Uriarra Crossing and found himself heading towards Yass.

From Uriarra Crossing we all headed to the Cotter along Uriarra and Brindabella Roads and then Paddys River Road towards Tinbinbilla. Again, some missed the turnoff on to Brindabella Road and there were late arrivals for lunch at the Moon Rock Cafe at the Tinbinbilla Space Tracking Station. Not surprise that the cafe was packed with tourists for the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing. The slow service for lunch allowed time for the late arrivals to catch up and then some were running low on fuel requiring one new Alpine to drive for fuel to Tharwa (no name mentioned!). Then it was a fast run along Discovery Drive (the access road to/from the Space Station) onto Paddys River Road to Corin Dam Road to reach Corin Dam. Apart from some slow moving tourist vehicles, this run was fast and offered up some incredible scenery. We witnessed a stray cow on the right hand side on the return journey but thankfully it stayed off the road. I did come close to hitting a small wallaby.

Next stop was the National Arboretum for a photo shoot against a setting sun. We lost some new Alpines along the way but four did arrive for the shoot and we all braced ourselves against a very cold westerly wind. 

We finished the day with dinner at the 1882 Bar and Grill in Hall for a few beers, wine and food as well as having a good chat about our runs and Alpines generally.

Big Thank you Barry for organising and providing the above commentary

in ten minutes, by Ferrari 275 GTB

In August 1978, 43 years ago, the French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyroscope camera in the front of a Ferrari 275 GTB, and invited a friend, a professional Formula 1 driver to make a journey in the heart of Paris at the greatest possible speed before the break of day.

The film was to last 10 minutes and the route would go from Porte Dauphine through the Louvre to the SacreCoeur basilica. Lelouch did not get permission to close any streets on the dangerous journey. The driver completed the circuit in less than 9 minutes, reaching up to 260 km per hour at times.

The film shows him passing through red lights, dodging pedestrians, scaring pigeons, and driving one-way streets at dawn.

The Round-Up for 2021 has been rescheduled to February 21^st, from the originally planned 14^th of Feb.

The venue has changed to be Mornington Park – originally booked to be at Caribbean Gardens again.

The Caribbean Gardens has sadly fallen victim to the Coronavirus and has closed permanently. Our car show, as with many others, has had to find a new venue.

The Mornington Parks looks to be a very pleasant location in close proximity to numerous shops, eateries and facilities. Plenty for the family to do as well as looking at a heap of gorgeous (or otherwise) Renaults.

Naturally, in these pandemic days, Round-Up plans are subject to change without necessarily much notice. While we hope and anticipate restrictions will be eased by next year, the virus will of course be still around (cures, vaccines, treatments likely still yet to arrive / roll-out) and it’ll depend on how well controlled we have it.