Its Finally Here!

[RAP1D]

Nice drive mate, you dont mess around do ya!

[Cro]

lol

It actually did have a bit of a drink.. As I took my foot off the brake to reverse back it rolled forward right into the river.. The lower bumper got a good wash

Tabitha, I was lucky that 4WD was there to tow me out of the snow.. The road I was on was restricted to Snowy Hydro Staff only. Did make for a good picture though

The whole trip was about 2000kms, and it was 14 hours a day driving due to all the side tracks and windy roads I went on. Stopping only for fuel, food and sleep

Heading up north to Grafton this week, we'll see what pics there are to take on the way

[Cro]

I’ve now got a touch over 6000kms after another overnight drive, this time up to North East NSW.

The route on the first day took me up Putty Road, through Singleton over to Dungog, Stroud, via The Buckets Way, Thunderbolts Way, Gloucestor, Walcha via Oxley Hwy, Wauchope, Kempsey, Bellingen and my overnight accommodation in Dorrigo via Waterfall Way. The next day I went up to Grafton via Tyringham and down to Dorrigo via Ulong then back down The Waterfall way, south on Macksville Road and Pacific Hwy to Port Macquarie. I was meant to go home at this point, but I couldn’t resist a 1.5 hour detour up and down the Oxley Hwy again. Once back on the Pacific Hwy the only fun I had on the looong boring drive home was through the Old Pacific Hwy Buladelah bypass.

I have to say that I’ve never had this much fun ever, Putty road was a good warm up for what would be some of the best cornering roads I’ve ever been on. The only downfall was that some of the roads (till Walcha) seemed to have been sealed over 10 years ago and every pothole since was just a patch job. This made the ride a bit rough, and every un-patched pothole I hit caused a very loud bang type noise from the suspension. No doubt the sound of it hitting the bump stops. I’m amazed at how composed and strong the car is on these sorts of roads. A good way to gauge how good your wheel balance is to keep an eye on your passenger seat vibrating on smooth hwy roads(with no passenger in it). When I picked up the car it was vibrating all over the place, and once I got the Michelin PS2’s + a Balance it didn’t vibrate anymore. After hitting at least 50 potholes, and running 150kms on dirt/gravel roads it still doesn’t vibrate. This is one solid car, wheels and all :D

The Buckets Way and Thunderbolts Way is a great cornering road, with a lot of 55km/h+ corners and long open straights towards Walcha. It would be a great road if it was re-sealed. Oxley Hwy down to Port Macquarie has to be my favourite road I’ve ever been on, so much so I did it 3 times in two days!! It is a perfectly sealed road, with very few imperfections and two marked lanes all the way down. I didn’t measure how long the twisty part was, but there was a 45km twisty sign, followed by a 20km twisty sign half way down. This road has never ending low speed corners, 45 45 45 45 45 55 55 35 35 35 25 35 25 45 45 55 it just keeps going on and on and on. Hands down the most fun you can have with your pants down :D The Waterfall way to Dorrigo is just the same, just not as long.

The road from Dorrigo to Grafton via Tyringham is a bit bumpier and is only 1.5 lanes with no centre line but isn’t littered with patch jobs. This road provides from memory 75km of very tight and twisty corners mostly consisting of 25, 35, 45, 55 corners. The road back down to Dorrigo via Ulong is great for the first 50kms, very similar to the previous road but becomes a dirt road for 25kms. It is very unfortunate as it would be probably the best road ever if it was sealed. The same can be said for the road from Bellingen to Macsville, 50% sealed 50% gravel..Such a shame.

I’ve noticed that this car prefers going uphill, it is just so much easier to throw it into a corner with confidence when most of the weight is shifted to the rear. It means that you have to take it just that tiny bit easier going downhill than you would when going uphill, very similar to most other cars out there.

Anyway, I don’t have as many pics as last time but here they are.

Near Dungog

http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events/roadt...img?action=page

At Stroud

http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events/roadt...img?action=page

Near Gloucestor on The Buckets Way

http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events/roadt...img?action=page

Heaven (Oxley Hwy)

http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events/roadt...img?action=page

Didn’t these use to mean Unlimited a few decades ago? Lots of them around here

http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events/roadt...img?action=page

Macksville

http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events/roadt...img?action=page

http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events/roadt...img?action=page

Bit too close for comfort

http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events/roadt...img?action=page

All the others are here:

http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events/roadt...0-%20July%2008/

[lukus]

Awesome car mate, I especially love the interior and sounds like an amazing drive especially the way you describe the power output from a car with that sized motor.

Cheers,

Lukus

[RHR]

Ivan are you trying to get a job at wheels or something

[R-SPEC]

I kept looking past this thread, glad I looked! That car is gorgeous mate. I really want to test drive one of these to see what they feel like

[t6xr]

Congrates on your new toy, looks mint and the photos are great-well done.

The write ups are very detailed and makes me want to jump into one and have

a test drive, I dare say it would be very different to my '58 beetle..lol

Once again well done