Words: Steven Murphy ■ Photos: Margie Cusack, Keith & June Teeuw, Bronwyn & Geoff Roche ■ Organisers: Katrina & John Palmer
Before presenting this report, I must confess, to my everlasting shame, that I totally misunderstood what ‘tops down at twilight’ meant!
Moving on!
Our run to Arthurs Seat commenced in Somerville in bright sunshine when 35 cars arrived. It is always good to get to a run early so that you can catch up with friends and have a look at the array of MX-5s the Club has.
All of the cars looked in immaculate condition. Two cars in particular looked fantastic … Chris’s new red ND, complete with a new windscreen, and a beautiful midnight blue NC.
During the briefing John introduced some new members, and some others who may become members. Welcome to Leanne and Anthony Tunbridge, Michelle and Derek Bruitzman, Harry and Stephen Dirs and Mr and Mrs Ching. Apologies if anyone was left out.
A wise decision was made to split into two groups which were ably led by John and Katrina and Geoff and Bronwyn. Tailenders were Bob and Marg and Luke and partner. Thanks for the good run notes and clear radio messages.
The route took us down the once-notorious Coolart Road, now made considerably safer with the addition of a number of roundabouts and some interesting slow points. Our parade lap through Hastings turned a few heads, with lots of waves and smiles. We arrived at Balnarring beach for a quick pit stop and walk on the beach. The wind was getting up and was quite cool so no-one went for a paddle … most of us headed back to the car park for more “catch up time”.
Back on the road the run took us on some nice MX-5 roads with broad sweeping bends on one of the few places on the Mornington Peninsula that we can now do 100kmh. The sun was going down as we went through Point Leo, Red Hill and Dromana and, as the area is well known for kangaroos, we backed off a bit and kept a good look out. The run up Arthurs Seat is always fun – accelerating out of some of the bends in second gear makes up for the 60kmh speed limit.
On reaching the summit car park our MX-5s had the company of Toyota 86s, and Mitsubishi Lancers with very loud exhausts; I think we held our own though!
After a quick debrief from John and a (belated) rendition of Happy Birthday for Katrina, we headed off home after another well run and relaxed outing.
More photos of the run can be found here.
This Page Last Updated on 28-08-2020 by Bruce Gray
