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For Sale...
Ferrari, never driven in the rain or above the speed limit
For people who love vintage V12 Ferraris, it doesn’t get much better than the David McKay rally, a festival of fantastic roads, fabulous cars and great people. Held every two years, the 2010 event was bound for the Alpine country of North Eastern Victoria and was much anticipated by all 40 entrants.
Keeping with tradition, a dozen gleaming dodici cilindri thoroughbreds from NSW and QLD arrived at Annie McKay’s beautiful home in Exeter to begin the event. We enjoyed the garden and delicious food in the warm sunshine, then Annie gave us her thanks and good wishes for the rally. It gave us all much pride to know that we are helping to keep David’s memory alive. Spencer Martin raced for Scuderia Veloce and he shared some of his stories about the history and success of the team, it was both moving and entertaining – there is a book that needs to be written here!
Then it was onwards to Milawa, arriving about 5 hours later in the King Valley, a wine and gourmet region just below the NSW border. The bar in the Lindenwarrah resort was soon pumping as old and new friends got together and shared their motoring passion. They next day began wet and got wetter. We drove in a careful convoy across the Ovens valley to Mt Beauty. Stunning scenery and empty roads, but relentless drizzle had us all treading carefully. About this time people were reaching for that unfamiliar wiper switch and finding that not all was well.
A GTC/4 surrendered to a smoking switch and more than one car had wiper failure by the time we arrived in Stanley for lunch. While we sat indoors, it hailed then bucketed down, so we had a slow lunch then a slower drive back to Milawa, where the rain had happily cleared, so we could walk to the local pub then on to Brown Bros for a delicious dinner. Bob Oatley, with encouragement from Clive Smith, had donated a holiday for two at his Qualia Resort at Hamilton Island and this was drawn on the night, the happy winner being John Bishop. Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny and the car park became a mass car cleaning event, where anyone with a bucket became everyone’s friend. Shining once more, we joined the road to Tatong. Another fine choice of roads, which could be tackled at an entertaining pace in glorious sunshine.
The next stage took us through Mansfield, where the locals are famously not fond of Ferraris, however we avoided any roadblock (but not the roadworks!) and then embarked on the climb up and over the mountains to Whitfield. What a drive. A road that climbed and dived, twisted and stretched. V12’s howling off the mountainside, John Hall setting a cracking pace in his GTE, it was the highlight of the rally. Lunch at Pizzini Winery was excellent, with a tasting of their range of Italian-style wines. Not too much tasting however, as the constabulary was waiting just up the road for us. We had the afternoon free to digest lunch, prop up the bar then the final rally dinner at Lindenwarrah.
The last day dawned brightly again, but Simon Hardwidge’s (unrestored) Daytona had quietly spent the night flattening it’s battery. Jump leads and energetic pushing couldn’t start it and a tow truck home seemed the only likely outcome. However, Trevor Basset’s race-prepared C4 came to the rescue with it’s rear tow hook. Finally we’ve found something useful from the CAMS rulebook! Other C4 owners looked on approvingly as their belief in the superiority of sidedraft vs downdraft carbies was vindicated! Thanks to Geoff Burgess for organising the rescue.
Then it was off to Rutherglen for morning tea. John Bishop, no doubt dreaming of his 6 star Hamilton Island holiday, kindly let me past, putting him in the “rearguard” position. Uh oh. Moments later an unmarked car was closing on him at 160+ (it’s OK, they’re trained to do it…) and it was gotcha time. A lecture on the evils of travelling (just) over the speed limit followed, I’m sure we all feel safer now. Getting to Olive Hills winery in Rutherglen provided the first navigation challenge of the rally and, in time honoured fashion, we promptly all got lost. Despite much head scratching, a large group of adults was cast adrift when there was no longer a red car to follow. Thankfully, a Ducati rider came along and took pity, directing us to the winery. So in future, remember to follow the red bike instead!
Lunch was at the famed All Saints winery 30kms to the west, but Charlotte and I decided to head north for home, so our rally ended there. The Daytona got us home 5 hours later, it hadn’t missed a beat all weekend, proving that old Ferraris are perfectly reliable, all you’ve got to do is use them regularly. We are indebted to Brendan Quinn, Ray Delaney and Peter Strauss for their many months of effort to plan and manage the rally, which ran like clockwork and proved every bit as enjoyable and memorable as expected. Long may this wonderful event continue!
Contact me by email if you’d like high-res copies of any photos.
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