Monte Pre Story and Cars

Hello Members

The time is drawing near for the club Monte Run to Bathurst. How this event came about was that we realised it was 60 years since the mighty Mini Cooper S won the great race, Gallaher 500 as it was known in 1966, and not only did the Mini win outright but filled the first 9 places, a feat that has never been achieved by any other car manufacturer since. In 1966 the cars were a standard production car which meant you could buy one of the showroom floors and race it at Bathurst, no modifications allowed. After realising this, Maggi and I decided to celebrate that historic chapter in the life of the mighty Mini in Australia by doing a run to Bathurst and driving around that famous track.

So, after idea came to us and along with the blessing of the Mini Owners Club committee, we said let’s do it, so the organising of the event started, both Maggi and I began finding routes to take, motels to stay, things to do on the way and in Bathurst which included driving around the track. Lots to do, also to find enough interested people who would join us on the adventure. We worked out that we would drive no more than 5 hours per day, that’s enough time in a classic, with regular breaks for stretching bathroom and coffee, so that meant 2 nights to get there and 3 nights in Bathurst, 2 nights to get home.

The journey to Bathurst takes us through some spectacular countryside and one fantastic hill climb along Spring Creek Road getting us to Queen Mary Falls for smoko, then onto Stanthorpe for lunch and eventually overnighting in Tenterfield.

Next day it is a straight drive down the New England Highway passing through Armidale and stopping in Tamworth for lunch, hoping to get a great photo of the Mini’s in front of the Golden Guitar. Then onto Quirindi for our second overnight stop.

Then it is on into Bathurst where will stay for 3 nights. During this time, we will visit and drive the Mt Panorama circuit, the historic motor museum and catch with the Bathurst Light Car Club whose club house is at the track. Next day we will be driving to a little town named Clarence, not far from Lithgow, where we will do a journey on the historic Zig Zag Railway pulled by an authentic steam engine. During the time in Bathurst there will be time for people to wander off and do their own thing.

On leaving Bathurst we travel via Coolah, a very simple straight drive, to overnight in Tamworth. Next day we leave Tamworth and we travel on the New England Highway passing through Uralla, where we have a smoko break. Then it is onto the Waterfall Way Road stopping at Ebor Falls for lunch. Continuing along the Waterfall Way after lunch we get to Grafton and then getting onto the Pacific Highway. We stop at New Italy, south  of Ballina, for a stretch and coffee before finishing the day in Ballina. The evening meal is at the Asian Green Chinese Restaurant located at the Ballina Golf Club which is one of the best Chinese meals I have had. We discovered this restaurant on last years Monte event to Ballina. During the evening, we will be presenting the winner of the trivia questions which were handed out during the journey, winner of the best/most disgusting/original tie. Ties must be worn to the restaurant. The last trophy will be for the person who received the most fines over the journey and all monies will go to the Charity Care Kits for Kids based in Brisbane.

This week-long adventure is based on having fun, enjoyment of driving these magnificent cars, reliving the year 1966.

I want to thank Maggi for the work she has put into this event and also the people who are joining us and they are a fabulous lot, so lots of fun and laughter is guaranteed.

These are the cars that are taking on the adventure.

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Hopefully there will be updates on our facebook page and a good story in our next magazine.

Cheers

Dave