Saturday Evening Run & Drive-in Movie

The October drive day is a Saturday night ‘contest’ run starting with a BBQ dinner at Jells Park, Wheelers Hill and finishing with a movie at the Coburg Drive-in.

There will be two competitions / games on the drive, which will take 2 – 2-1/2 hours (1-3/4hr actual drive time).

One is a ‘regularity’ style timed driving between three check-points – contestants will score points according to how far from a target time (more or less) each contestant arrives at the  check-point. Lowest final points wins.  P-plate drivers get a discount of 1/3 off their time difference and Learner drivers get a discount of 1/2 off to level up the playing field.  It takes about 35 – 40 mins between check-points.

Between consecutive check-points, there will be two marker points where contestants will be required to take a photo to show they passed through the point.  Vehicles will depart at 1 min intervals.  Drivers will have instructions with all the points given but the route between points will be of their choosing.

The second game is a card game with Renault models on cards instead of normal playing cards.  At the start and each check-point players will get cards and may swap cards for different ones.  Contestants covertly trading or selling cards among themselves is unlikely to be detected.

Obviously the driving contest is per vehicle, the card game is per person. Prizes will be awarded.

The BBQ will start at 4:30 and run for an hour.  For catering purposes please advise your intention to attend by 19th October to

The Jells Park ‘Oaks and Ashes’ picnic area is in Wheelers Hill, entrance is off Ferntree Gully Rd just down from the Eastlink Fwy (see https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Oaks+and+Ashes+Picnic+Areas+-+Jells+Park/@-37.9072242,145.1901405,15.03z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x6ad63e22feaae70d:0xc251efee5327d4a2!8m2!3d-37.9054915!4d145.2024472)

The Good Folk* of Gisborne came out to welcome the cavalcade of Renaults as the club came to town for market day.  RCCV members and friends spent a nice part of the morning of May 7th having a wander through the 250+ stalls on the social drive day.  The Gisborne market is great and not just because it is part of GREAT – Gisborne Region Events, Activities and Tourism. The market connoisseurs among us pronounced it ‘one of the great markets’ and ‘well worth going to the far / near (delete as appropriate) side of Melbourne to get to’.

* Jackie and Charlie Stewart

Having had our fill of the market and coffee from the fine coffee dispensing places, Paul led us off to Lancefield for lunch. 15 Renaults might have tripled the car population of Lancefield but it didn’t stop the pub serving up some very classy nosh.

An iconic vehicle – one of the few remaining factory R8 Gordinis – had made its way into the hands of club member Dave Cavanagh recently and he queried the lunch crowd if we’d like to check it out. An offer we couldn’t refuse so it was off to Romsey we went to check out Dave’s new project, and his others while we were at it.

That R8 is certainly a great get, but I have to say his Dacia 4-wheel drive utility is too. What a very strange sight: the front of an R12 and the back of a very different creature indeed! I don’t know when Dave’s going to find time to restore the R8 but I’m looking forward to it.

It must have been a strange experience for Dave’s place – more going Renaults in attendance at one time than non-going ones!  And if you look closely at the picture, centre just above Ken’s shoulder, you can see a signature piece of garden art – Dave’s father’s 750.

A strange artifact of the panorama shot – one of the Knights Who Say Ni snuck in.

The next leg of the drive promised to be exciting with some hilly twisty bits of road heading up to Mt Macedon Memorial Cross. After brief regroup while Paul let the feistier members (you know who you are) go first, it was into the fun bit – but just for a bit. Nothing like a slow FORD to suck all the joy out of a good skein of road.

And good it was. I can’t recall the last time I saw a hairpin with a mere 10kph advisory and I’ve been around Tassie recently.  Paul did what he could, allowing a gap to build and then having a bit of a run but the Ford was just too damn slow.  I did get to hear the sweet note of his R17 Gordini off and on though.

Anyway, we gets to the top to find it absolutely ram packed tight with other folk up there. Even the overflow carpark overflowed! Clearly we weren’t the only ones to think Macedon in Autumn would be a sight to see.  Didn’t stop us from enjoying a coffee and the spectacular view.

A run down the hill through Macedon via the autumn leaves of the spectacular Avenue of Honour and it was off home after another enjoyable RCCV drive day. Our thanks to Paul Stewart for organising the run.

Twenty intrepid members braved the cold and rain at Bunnings Keysborough as we met up for April’s drive day. Fortunately the skies cleared as we headed south down the Mornington Peninsula.

Taking the roads less travelled, our first stop was the village of Mt Eliza for coffee at the Cafe on the Mount. It constantly surprises me how you can live around Melbourne for most of your life and still find yourself standing in delightful little corners that you  never knew about. I mean, I knew about Mt Eliza, just not how sweet the ‘village’ is.

More roads less travelled saw us wend our way down past Balnarring and Shoreham to Flinders where clear skies and a chill wind awaited us.

See, even on an overcast day a line of Renaults is a pretty site. And in case you were try to figure out what model Renault the fourth from left is you can stop. It’s not one, it’s an interloper from another marque trying to bask in our glory as we enjoy the view from above Flinders.

Back into the cars before we froze and up the spine of the peninsular to to Arthurs Seat.  That new chair lift looks pretty swish but unfortunately we didn’t have time on the day for a ride as lunch awaited us at Dee’s Kitchen in Dromana.

We took the Arthurs Seat Road down to Dromana of course. Now there’s a fun road, spoiled a little by having to be responsible and obey the speed limits and watching out for other traffic!  Would be a fine spot for a hill-climb event!

Dee’s Kitchen was a lovely pick by run organiser Mike – one of those modest little eateries with really great food and good friendly service. And not your standard menu, Dee was clearly charting her own course, and with some considerable success.

After lunch it was back to wending, this time for our way home after another enjoyable club drive day.