Cobra Car Club of Victoria

Club News

Bellarine Peninsula Club Cruise - February 2016

ADDED BY:Webmaster, Wednesday February 10 2016 at 9:09:43 PM
EDITED BY:Webmaster, Wednesday February 10 2016 at 9:10:08 PM

Perfect weather for driving a Cobra along the coast was promised by the weather experts for Sunday 7th February for the inaugural Bellarine Peninsula Cruise.

On the day, conditions were near perfect as 20 Cobras (one disguised as a red E type Jag) assembled at the outbound Westgate freeway service centre for first leg of the journey which took us to Little Creatures Brewery in Geelong. We picked up two extra Cobras along the way and stopped for morning coffee (and a chat about the latest engine upgrades) with a few Cobra club friends and family joining us in the spectacular former wooden mills complex which has been converted to a modern day brewery and cafe.

We made our way to the Bellarine Highway to join a very long queue of cars heading to Queenscliff for the classic car and hot rod show. A long mostly slow, bumper to bumper drive spent observing some Harley's cutting in along the service lane finally led us to the turn off to Port Arlington and a fantastic coastal road through the villages of Indented Heads and St Leonard's. Blue skies and blue water flanked the picturesque coast road until we headed inland to connect to Ocean Grove and the even busier village of Barwon Heads, where we were booked to have lunch at " On the Heads ".

Private dining and a sensational view of the river and ocean allowed club members and partners to enjoy a relaxing lunch. There were plenty of home journey options for Cobras including visiting friends nearby, exploring the local roads back to Geelong or heading to Queenscliff and taking the ferry to Sorrento for the coast road back towards Melbourne.

Despite the traffic challenges of a very busy summers day it was a fantastic day out for all.

Thanks to Dale for the idea of a Bellarine run. The first one was great.

Andrew

Geelong Revival 2015

ADDED BY:Webmaster, Sunday December 6 2015 at 9:52:59 PM
EDITED BY:Webmaster, Sunday December 6 2015 at 9:56:46 PM

The Geelong Revival is in its third year under the new name Revival. For as many years as I can remember, the event was called the Geelong Speed Trials.

Under the entrepreneurial guidance of the then event organizer Gary Grant the event had gained international recognition and significance attracting Australia's best touring car drivers - Brock, Lownes Whincup etc along with then unknown F1 drivers including Herbert and Hakkinen to name a few of the celebrity drivers in the early speed trial events.

Regulars to the Geelong Speed Trials over the years included Australian icons of past years including, Jane, Beechey, Moffat, Skaife, Johnson, Bowe again to name a few.

During the early 2000 years Council altered the Ritchie Boulevard course adding gardens, car park and road closures. These changes along with a few objections from local residents saw the Geelong Speedtrials come to an abrupt end. Early speed trial events saw over 20,000 spectators on the raised lawn areas and in the pit areas.

The event in its day attracted thousands of spectators along with hundreds of participants.

A push some five years ago saw Council capitulate and the event was resurrected under the new name of Geelong Revival - not in my opinion a great name choice as it conjures up some form of church event.

Push on to 2015 in Geelong with this weekends Geelong Revival event commencing with a big 300 car cruise on Friday night that saw Bryan Wilson and me out in our Cobras participating.

The Saturday and Sunday competition was fierce with a huge variety of Ford vehicles challenging down the quarter mile course. Dozens of Mustangs, GT Falcons challenged the GM and European Marques for best time of the day.

Ian Ross in his Shelby 350 Mustang was one to beat along with local Geelong cars from DTM transmissions whom ran low 11 second times.

An interesting event that has a 500 plus car display area along the picturesque waterfront complimenting the Speedtrials. A number of Cobras were displayed on the grassed areas beside the inviting bay, with a few more scattered amongst trade stands and general parking.

Some of the clubs represented included; Jaguar, Healey, MG, BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, Ford, Holden along with a mix of street machines and street rods.

The displays of cars along with around 40 trade displays next to the pits made an interesting mix for those wanting to spend a few dollars.

Sprinkled amongst the trade show area was a big exhibition stand of wooden boats with a few current race boats also on display.

Motorcycle enthusiast were well catered for with everything from BSA to Harley on display and competing.

Certainly a weekend that provides something for every enthusiast.

The Geelong Revival enters its fourth year and is well worth a visit to take in this picturesque town and event that has a Monte Carlo or Monaco feel.

Bernie