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May the Fourth be with you: Modern 911 Run to Trawool.

Story by:James Borg

Photos by:Garry Saber and Brett Stevens

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The 4th of May (combined International Star Wars Day & Modern 911 Run to Trawool) had begun with persistent drizzle and a slight chill. Attendees rolled up fairly promptly at McDonalds in Bundoora – replete with, scarves, coats and the odd beanie…… A troop of 13 in 7 cars, consisting of a 993 Cab, a 996 Cab (roof up being order of the day), a pair of 997s, a Cayman, a Cayenne and an Audi Q7 (Brent and Ann wisely leaving Mr Turbo at home on this wet day).

With the coffee ordered, Geoffrey bid all welcome and he and Brett gave a quick outline of what to expect on the day’s run to Trawool. As the navigational instructions were handed out, I sensed that now familiar awkwardness of all the drivers firmly gripping their car-keys and appearing distracted in unison. None of the navigators needed to worry though as the instructions were meticulously prepared by Geoff and Barbara.

Then, with odometers zeroed, and cars revving…. no-one made for the exit. Cars at the ready in what is becoming PCV’s own version of the Mexican stand off i.e. all drivers cheerily waving others to take the lead. Most Porsche drivers would gladly leave a cloud of dust in their wake, but when it comes to leaving the McDonalds car park on a run, first-car-out seems a poisoned chalice. With full confidence in my navigator and Barbara’s instructions we made for the exit with Steve and Ingrid (993) in close pursuit. We were off to Kilmore for morning tea.

The convoy of cars was staggered at first due to the frequency of traffic lights, but by the time we were into Mill Park, all were in sight. We travelled through Yan Yean, Whittlesea and Wallan taking particular care of the “bumpy railway track” at the 42.6km mark (as I said, meticulous instructions). Kilmore is a great country town so it’s always fun to visit. Today the Ferguson-Plaire Bakery was on the agenda, and most welcome. Anyone interested in an old-school Tiddly-Oggy (pastie) should make this bakery a priority.

After a good catch-up with friends old and new, a hot drink and a cake (Tiddly-Oggys being strictly lunch-time fare), the convoy set-off on the second leg to Trawool. The roads through Broadford and Flowerdale were fun to drive. The countryside became quite hilly providing excellent views. Lovely winding roads and some dramatic descents kept driving interest high.

Trawool Resort was prepared for our arrival with a roaring log-fire at the entrance, and a bar with no queues - perfect. A few huddles quickly formed to discuss, over a drink, the roads and sights of the drive so far. We were invited to be seated and presented with trays of that great culinary equalizer – Garlic Bread (As long as you know the person next to you has indulged, you can rest assured). Our host Michael welcomed us and introduced himself as the ‘barman / barista / waiter’ for the afternoon.

Meals of fish & roasted vegetables or chicken (free-range for Lois) & roasted vegetables alternated, with all most pleased with the quality of the food and the heartiness of the servings. The ‘door-prize’ was called with everyone present asked to look at the back of their seat. Fortunately for me, Garry had earlier asked me to move along one seat to consolidate the group. As a result I had actually moved into the ‘lucky’ chair. A fine bottle of wine accompanied us back to Melbourne. Desserts of apple & rhubarb crumble and pear & berry cakes alternated, each with grand serves of custard or cream & ice-cream.

Conversation buzzed throughout the afternoon, with chat about travel, work, excursions to Haunted Hills, excursions ‘at’ Haunted Hills, lap-times, Sandown, Winton, Geoffrey’s desire for a new car (to Barbara’s horror) and a brief master-class in the operation of the multi-manoeuvrable light switch in my wife’s car was presented by Brett…

At a little after 2.30pm, with dessert over, roads beckoned the teams for the trip home. It was a very safe trip to Trawool, and I trust all had a safe trip home. A big thank-you to Geoffrey & Barbara Mould, and Brett Stevens for their organisation and efforts.

 

PCV Modern 911 Register – Lunch with “Chris” in Apollo Bay Sunday 16th February 2014

Story Title: Modern 911 Run the long way to Apollo Bay

Story by: Ian Pitcher

Photos by: Damian Cruickshank, Kaitlyn O’Neill and Brett Stevens

McDonalds must love the Porsche Club members as the contingent from the Modern 911 register spent their hard earned on a first coffee for the morning at our meeting place in McDonalds Derrimut on the Western Ring Road. On what threatened to be a cold wet day the weather was kind to our team of Porsche enthusiasts and stayed mostly dry. Seven members of the register headed out from Derrimut to the first meeting point at Moriac on route to Apollo Bay. Numbers were down by one as unfortunately Kon Gogos was a late scratching on the Sunday morning.

We all commenced our journey with very comprehensive route notes that left little chance of misinterpretation. However, it only took two turns before Brent Howard in his black 964 Turbo missed the turnoff to Greig’s Road and saw a little more of the western plains of Melbourne than others. Not wanting to be left behind for a second time Brent tested his wheels with a dare devil crossing in front of a Jeep Cherokee. Just as well the turbo kicked in!

Our journey to Moraic took us to the south of Melton and via Balliang, Anakie, Gheringhap and Barrabool. From the stark flatness of the western plains rises the Brisbane Ranges which were picturesque on the horizon as we travelled past. The roads were nice and open which provided the opportunity to blow any residual cobwebs from our engines in this first leg of our journey.

In reaching Moriac we congregated at the Moriac General Store for our break. We were there well in advance of our schedule giving us all time to have a good chat. The General Store looked much the same as it always had from the outside but had obviously had a makeover within including the addition of a modern espresso machine – very nice. In Moriac we were joined by 3 additional cars growing the team to 10. Of note one of those joining us was potential member Noel Ackerman in a brand new 991 C4S cabriolet. This was a very smart set of wheels, white with custom red leather and a red convertible roof all arranged to match Noel’s small white dog with its red collar. Very impressive.

The second half of our journey brought some more challenging terrain, which brought the best out in everyone. Our route took us via Birregurra, Barwon Downs, Forrest and then through the Great Otway National Park to Skenes Creek. We were all a little cautious navigating our way through Barwon Downs as the locals had given us a warning that the local constabulary were not very forgiving. The drive through the Otway Ranges would have been even better if it had not been for a very cautious white ute that headed the queue of Porsches behind. Not all that many places to overtake in this country.

We finally arrived at Chris's Beacon Point Restaurant and Villas, not quite in Apollo Bay but with awesome views across Bass Straight and down onto the Apollo Bay township. At the restaurant the final member of our party joined us having left Portland at about 8am that morning and spent at least half an hour scouring Apollo Bay for the restaurant. Greg, it’s just as well Tania has a good sense of direction. Our meal here was wonderful and we’d highly recommend a visit for anyone looking to relax in a holiday hideaway. The villas here have the same spectacular views.

We all made our way back home via a range of routes with some taking on the Great Ocean Road along with many a tourist. Overall it was a really great outing and many thanks go to the register captains (Brett Stevens on the day) for their efforts in planning a great run.

PS … and congratulations to our author Ian for winning the lucky door prize (unrelated to agreeing to write the article of course!)

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Modern 911 Register and Boxster/Cayman Register – Flynn’s Wines run 25th August 2013

Story: Brett Stevens

Photos: Geoffrey Mould

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Sunday morning at McDonalds, it must be another PCV run. The McDonalds Doncaster East carpark quickly filled with 7 Boxsters, 6 assorted 997s, including Alvaro and Maria Del Gallo's gorgeous white 997 GT3, and James and Tracey Sanderson's immaculate light blue 964 (with James carefully avoiding the speed bumps!). Baz Park messaged a late withdrawal as he was not well, we hope he's recovering. We were joined by David O'Dwyer in his Boxster for the run, unfortunately David couldn't join us for lunch but he made up the numbers for a 14 vehicle convoy.

I noticed that a couple of grumpy mums at McDonalds were not too happy that our group of big kids had taken over the kids play room, I can only assume they hadn’t had their morning coffee. The weather looked OK, cloudy and quite warm, no rain expected, so some of Boxsters went top down.

We headed off down Blackburn Road, through Warrandyte, Research, Kangaroo Ground, Panton Hill, St Andrews and up the tight windy road towards Kinglake Central, navigating around some bicycle riders, to our coffee stop. Having filled up with McDonald’s coffee only an hour earlier, many of us just browsed through the Rotary farmers’ market instead, picking up some tasty snacks and farm fresh fruit and vegetable. We were lucky with the timing as the market is only held on the last Sunday morning of every month.

The outside temperature thermometer showed 10 degrees as we reset trip meters and headed off through Kinglake West, Hazeldene, Flowerdale, Strath Creek, up the short hill climb, to Broadford, then towards Pyalong on some lovely sweeping country roads, finally turning right to head north up the Northern Highway through Tooborac and Heathcote to Flynn’s Wines.

Allan and Kerry Hines were waiting for us at the winery as we pulled in around 12:30pm, with Kerry's beautiful back Cayman R sitting in the car park. They only live 20 minutes from Heathcote and saw no point driving all the way down to Doncaster and back, and I couldn’t argue with that. The winery car park discussion centred about what speed various 911 and Boxster spoilers go up and down, it was said the 997 spoiler goes up at 115 km/h and down at 80 km/h, while the 964 spoiler goes up at 80 km/h and pretty much stays up, with the Boxster similar to the 997. Of course as we didn’t exceed the 100km/h speed limit at any time no 997 or Boxster spoilers were actually deployed on the run… The GT3 and Cayman R owners were amused, their spoilers are always up!

Greg Flynn the winery owner then led the wine tasting with generous amounts of Verdelho, Viognier, Sangiovese, a light Lewisroad Shiraz, then MC Shiraz passed to the eager members. Greg told us how the winery has been built up over 17 years, and how different periods of time in various new and old French Oak and American Oak barrels is used to impart some flavour into the wine. Over lunch many members purchased a bottle or glass of the James Flynn “Reserve” Shiraz which is normally only available to Flynn’s wine club members, and is not available for tasting. I have to say it was my pick of the wines we tasted, reason enough to join the wine club.

Lunch started with a bread board and marinated olives and olive oil, closely followed by the “Winemaker’s Platter” of sweet crispy pork strips, pancetta quiche, fried white cheese, chilli jam, more olives, cheese spread, biscuits and olive bread to share. Main course was alternate servings of Lamb Shank, Prawn Skewers, and Chicken Pie, and the friendly staff did an excellent job to try and give everyone their preferred choice of the 3 dishes. Talk dropped off dramatically as the meal was served so I can only guess that all the choices were as delicious as my lamb shank. Afterwards 3 choices of desert were offered, a yummy light Sticky Date pudding, a rich Chocolate Brownie cake or a Rhubarb Cake; and again I heard no complaints!

To finish, we were offered our choice of espresso coffee or tea, or another glass of wine for some, and most people left around 4:00pm for the drive home after a thoroughly enjoyable run.

 

Modern 911 Register Run, Sunday 16th June 2013, Rolling Hills to Warburton Story & Photos by Geoffrey Mould

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Rain? Who said it was going to rain? Once again the weather gods smiled down on the Modern 911 Register as we met in bright sunshine in Springvale for a very civilised 10:00am start to the run. Almost everyone had washed their cars, so the efforts were worth it, with only the wet roads putting a slight haze on the shiny 997s, 996s, Boxsters and Cayman, and a Golf GTI. Cheryl Randle had her foot in a moon boot and it was easier for her to hop in and out of the GTI than the Porsche. At the briefing, Roger recommended that we maintain a respectful distance behind the GTI on the run just in case the DSG gearbox decided to shut down.

A first for the register was the inaugural appearance of Neil Drew’s brand new 991 coupe, a gleaming silver 4S no less, only delivered on Friday night at PCM. This is the first 991 we have had on a run, so Neil was given the honour of leading the group out of the McDonald’s carpark onto Wellington Road to start the run. This no doubt came as a shock to Thomas Heberling from PCM, who was cycling past, and called Neil to see if his eyes were playing tricks… the new 991 out on wet roads, surely not! It must be said that most of the 911 cabriolets and Boxsters were open top as we headed off, with Frank Deak and Gloria a notable exception !

Our route took us down the end of Wellington Road to Emerald and Cockatoo, winding southwards down to Pakenham and Nar Nar Goon, then following what was the old road west through the small towns of Tynong, Garfield, Bunyip and on to Longwarry for an optional toilet stop, depending on how many and how large the coffees were at McDonalds.

At this point it was interesting to see how simple instructions like “turn left” can be interpreted so differently by co-drivers. Some drivers actually turned left, while others turned right, and one even turned right followed by an immediate u-turn in the intersection! I think the Longwarry locals wondered how modern Porsche drivers ever get anywhere. Thank goodness for GPS sat nav.

From Longwarry we turned north (i.e. left) to cross the Princes Highway onto a lightly used road named Jackson’s Track towards Labertouche, through Jindivick and on to Neerim South for a coffee stop at the Serigraph Gallery, which has an interesting collection of arts and crafts from local artists and artisans.

Unfortunately, at this point our good luck with the weather ran out, and the heavens opened up as we headed further north on the glorious C425 through Gentle Annie, Powelltown, Gladysdale and Yarra Junction. The good news was that the bad weather and wet roads meant there was very little traffic and no motorcycles which often zip up and down this road.

Arriving at Oscars On The Yarra just before Warburton with just over 169kms on the trip meter, for those of us who didn’t make any wrong turns, the cars lined both sides of the driveway for a spectacular photo shoot that may one day make it into the resort’s brochure. Some of the staff even came out for photos with the 13 still-shiny Porsches.

Oscars On The Yarra is owned by PCV members Michael and Belinda Loccisano, and some of you may know that Michael is also a Carrera Cup elite class driver, in his white number #10 Hallmarc car, with a sister car the red #9 car of business partner Marc Cini.

Resident chef Mark served up a wonderful 3 course meal, starting with his interpretation of a “ravioli” floating in delicious Tom Yum soup, followed by alternate serves of chicken or beef main course, and ending with a dessert of either mint chocolate mousse or crème brulee infused with lemongrass, demonstrating the influences of his time in Bangkok as a head chef. There were no complaints about the generous serves or delicious flavours in the food. We were well looked after by manager Carl and his team.

The lucky seat prize was once again won by a register co-captain, this time it was Brett, to resounding cries of “Rigged!” from around the table, who dutifully handed the prize over to the nearest couple. This turned out to be Greg and Lynne Myers who had travelled down all the way from Mansfield for the run in their white 1979 SC, which has been “retrofitted” to be a 1972 911R look-alike, but complete with SC mod cons like air conditioning. Not exactly a modern 911 but everyone is always welcome on the runs. Hopefully their very early morning start and long drive was made even more enjoyable by the bottle of wine.

A few people lingered over coffee and tea enjoying the views of the Yarra River just outside the restaurant, while others headed off back towards Melbourne, or Mansfield, some via the direct highway route, while others took another look at the winding C roads back to the edge of the city. Judging by the comments over lunch, a thoroughly enjoyable day was had by all. We plan to return to this venue in the summer months to enjoy lunch on the deck overlooking the river, stay tuned for details

 

Combined Modern 911/Turbo Register Run to McClelland Sculpture Park & Willow Creek Winery on the 10th February

Story by: Geoffrey Mould

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Sunday 10th February proved to be perfect weather for our run and commenced with all meeting at the McDonalds Springvale for an early 9:00am start. We welcomed new members David and Soo McClure and their daughter Millie. David bought his 997 coupe only 2 weeks ago and is already joining in PCV activities.

The hard work that had been done washing and waxing the cars was not wasted as the showers held off and the morning clouds turned into sunshine. We had a large number of black cars on the run that were gleaming in the sunlight.

Our drive took us around Cardinia Reservoir and on through Emerald, Upper Beaconsfield and Berwick to Langwarrin with our first stop of the morning at the McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park. The McClelland Sculpture Park has a permanent collection by prominent Australian sculptors set in a natural bushland setting of 16 hectares. Also on show was a series of photographs by John Gollings of the aftermath of bush fires from a few years ago that were taken from a helicopter and from the ground. The time spent at the McClelland Sculpture Park only gave us just sufficient time to appreciate the artwork and wet our enthusiasm for a return trip to spend more time there to discover the whole park. The coffee was good though their system of taking orders and delivering them to our tables could do with some German process improvement.

We spent a pleasant hour and a half wandering the grounds when it was arranged to muster at 11:30am for our next leg of the journey on to the Willow Creek Winery and their Salix Restaurant. The run to Willow Creek was down the centre of the Mornington Peninsula along Coolart Road to Balnarring with short sideways deviation to the winery. Some “spirited” driving through the numerous roundabouts was curtailed by a cruising yellow Highway Patrol car that showed great interest in the 17 shiny 911s seeing who could corner flattest.

Willow Creek Winery is famous for their Pinot Noir as are many of the local vineyards. Many a glass was consumed over our fine luncheon of main course and dessert; there were plenty of meal options to please all. A few cartons of their famous wines were also taken home to add to the cellar.

18 Modern 911s and Turbo cars and 37 people were registered for the run. We ended up with 5 Turbos and 12 Modern 911s, plus an Audi Q7 looking a little out of place. Unfortunately Brent Howard had experienced an issue with his 964 Turbo just a couple of kms from home, so he arrived in his backup vehicle and was still able to join us to enjoy the artwork at the Sculpture Park and lunch that overlooked the picturesque vineyard. At least Brent’s problem occurred early and not in the middle of the run.

The way home was via the new Mornington “Peninsula Link” Freeway, which was evident that 2 lanes each way was insufficient and short sighted by the government even at this stage of it just opening. And the yellow Highway Patrol car was still cruising around watching us.