The French Car Festival this year is being organised by the Citroen Car Clubs and will be held on October 28 at Markham Reserve, Victory Boulevard, Ashburton (enter opposite number81).
Further details will be posted as they become available.
Category Archives: News
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Alpine Gathering April 21 & 22 Harrietville
Last weekend (April 21 & 22) there was a gathering in the Bright area of Alpine vehicles from across Australia. There were a total of 16 Alpines comprising of eight A110’s, three A310’s, one A610 and four GTA’s.
In addition there was a V6 Clio and our photographer in a Megane RS265. The photographer had to leave his A310 at home due to a slight split in a wheel rim which he did not identify in time to have repairs completed before the weekend.
Renault Australia provided a van for the weekend which towed a trailer as a potential recover vehicle and was also available to carry additional fuel or luggage as required. It turned out advantageous to have the trailer along as no-one broke down. We are sure that, had the trailer not been there, it would have been needed.
The weekend commenced Friday afternoon with c couple of mini convoys to Harrietville for the initial gathering for dinner at the Snowline Hotel in Harrietville.
The main drive commenced at 8.00 am the next morning with a drive to Mt Beauty (via Tawonga Gap) for breakfast. It was then on to Falls Creek and then over the Bogong High Plains Rd to Anglers Rest for lunch.
After lunch we travelled via Omeo to Dinner Plain for afternoon refreshments and back to the Snowline in Harrietville again for dinner. The drive for the day was approx 240 km.
Sunday morning, again at 8.00 am it was back in the cars again for a drive up to Mt Buffalo and back to the Milawa cheese factory for lunch.
Following lunch, some returned to Harrietville for the night whilst the rest headed for home.
Thanks to Steve Kalendarian for organising the weekend. All had great time and there has been much discussion of future events, possibly around Canberra and in South Australia.
Drive Day April 22 – Farmers Arms Hotel, Beeac.
Our drive day this month is to Beeac. The owner of the hotel has a car collection which we hope to view on the day. We have done this one before and it was worth re-visiting.
We will leave from The Avenue, Spotswood (just off Westgate Freeway) and travel to the Service Centre (outbound from Melbourne) for coffee. Some may choose to join us there rather than drive to Spotswood.
Timing – Meet at around 9.30 am for 9.45 departure from Spotswood. Depart from Service Centre after coffee at about 11.15 am for lunch at about 12.30 pm.
We do need to know numbers for catering purposes. RSVP 13/04/2018.
Non members with Renaults welcome (email )
Interclub Hill Climb Challenge – Round 1 – Rob Roy – March 18, 2018
Another year rolls around and the Interclub Hill Climb is on us again. This is always a fun day (weather permitting) and the challenge has been won by the RCCV twice. In 2010 and again last year.
Now we want to be greedy and win it in consecutive years. To do this we need as many competitors as possible. I know a couple of our regulars are not available for this round due to vehicle issues and other commitments.
To be eligible, your car needs to be mechanically sound and fitted with a current fire extinguisher. As a driver, you will need a compliant helmet and be covered from neck to ankles and wrists in non flammable material (cotton or wool). You will also need to be a current club member and hold a current CAMS 2S licence. Licence application can be completed on the day or by prior arrangement with the Membership Secretary.
Renault servicing back in Richmond
Central Renault is here
Members may recall that the long-running business, Melbourne City Renault, went into liquidation last year. City Renault had traded for many years in at the southern end of Church St, Richmond. Taken over by new owners in 2014, the restructured business opened new service and sales facilities in South Melbourne but soon went under.
Near-city Renault owners now have an alternative they can access for service needs. The parent company of Brighton Renault, which also operates Peninsula Renault in Frankston, have opened Central Renault which offers full vehicle servicing workshops at 1-7 Kingston St., Richmond.
Service Manager, Cory Sant, reports that the workshops have a good range of staff, several of whom are French-trained. Cory can be contacted on 9429 7045
Ken Marriott
Geelong Revival – November 25 & 26, 2017
At the Geelong Revival last Saturday we had Graeme Edwards (Clio2 182) competing in the sprints and John Elliott (Alpine GTA Turbo ) in the Hill climb. Ernst Luthi (currently RCCA) and Barry McAdie (ROCC) also competed in the Hill climb in their Alpine A110’s. Graeme won his class in the Clio.
On the Sunday John and Ernst again took on the hill whilst Colin Stark (Dauphine Gordini), Angelo Simonetto (R8 Gordini)and Paul Stewart (R17 Gordini) tackled the sprint. Barry McAdie also joined them in his A110. I believe John won his class in the Hill climb but I have been unable to find out hoe our members placed on Sunday.
Renault Australia were major sponsor and wheeled out the V6 Megane Trophy for demonstration runs on both days driven by Supercar driver Dean Canto.
We had a club display in Shannons Motorshow on the Sunday with 12 Renaults in the line-up.
Drive Day August 20 – Mirboo North (Grand Ridge Brewery)
Due to popular demand, we are going to do this drive day again with a couple of minor changes to get us there a little earlier,
Unchanged from last time is the start from McDonalds Berwick (near Tyrepower North of the freeway). We will again stop for a break at Kellys Bakery in Korumburra before looping south then back to Mirboo North (via Leongatha) for lunch at the brewery.
We need to book for this event so I need to know numbers.
If you would like to come along, please advise by email to “” with details of numbers attending
RSVP – 10 August 2017
I hope to see you there.
Winton Track Day – July 8, 2017
Nine of our members braved the cold and the wet at Winton on Sunday. By all accounts they all enjoyed themselves with some good times being set, albeit hampered by the weather.
Rob Belcourt was trying out his newly acquired RS Megane 225, David Kirsa in the trusty Fuego, Adam Turner in his RS Clio 3 Gordini, David Bertuch in the RS Megane 275 Trophy R and Simon Hopkins in an RS Megane 250/265. Daniel Groszek, James Thomas, and Jason Hopkins were all in RS Clio 2’s. New member Ashey Thomas also joined un in his Ford Fiesta RS.
Whilst there were a couple of oopsys among our members, none came to grief
Myself along with Jeni Sammons and Graeme Edwards went along to have a look and support our members.
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- David Betuch & Simon Hopkins
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- Gaggle
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- Simon Hopkins
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- Daniel Groszek & Simon Hopkins
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- Adam Turner
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- Adam Turner & David Kirsa
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- Rob Belcourt
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- James Thomas
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- David Kirsa
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- David Kirsa & Adam Turner
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- Rob Belcourt
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- Ashley Turner
Portarlington Drive Day 25th June 2017
Our drive day for June is to the Bellarine Peninsula and Portarlington and on to lunch at the Bellarine Estate Winery in Bellarine.
The owner of Bellarine Estate also has a vehicle collection for us to view after lunch (see drive day link below ).
We need to book numbers for lunch and also decide what options we want for lunch. Attached are menus covering function bookings (three options) and an “a la carte” menu. If we have sufficient numbers we will take advantage of the function offer.
Please advise numbers attending and menu option 1, 2, or 3 from the 2017 May Function Package menu link below.
Response is required by 13 June 2017 to “”
CAMS Article on RCCV at the Australian Grand Prix
CAMS have an article on their website about the RCCV display at this years Australian Grand Prix.