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Wedges Down Under By
Bob Wilson aka 'Chunder' Inspired by the success of Big Bad Wedge Fest (BBWF) held earlier this year in the UK, it was decided to have a get together of our Wedge cars in Australia. To avoid the issues the UK lads had with their yellow commemorative shirts, ours were going to be blue! ;-) It turned out to be a glorious day - 23 deg C and beautiful clear blue skies. I was staying in a hotel in town after a show so I got off to a late start and thought I was going to miss the meeting point. Luckily a scenic route was being taken which meant doubling back a bit from the meeting point so I was met with the sight of 3 wedges coming towards me flashing headlights. Now you need to understand what a rare sight that is considering there are only 4 roadworthy cars, in a state that is the same size as Western Europe!
Unfortunately, out
of the handful of modern TVR's in WA only a Chimp could make it on the
day (albeit a v.nice example) although this guy behaved himself unlike
the guy who turned up to the UK meet! An immaculately restored TVR Taimar
also managed to make it along with three cars from the Jensen owners club
and a couple of "normal" cars, driven by enthusiasts who couldn't
make it in on their usual steeds. After a quick U-turn I caught up as the cars pulled off the main road and immediately pulled over. Ahead of us lay a 25km stretch of well surfaced road with numerous short straights, gradient changes and switchbacks, sweeping corners and not a junction, traffic light or other joining road on the whole stretch. Apparently it is an unwritten rule that in the morning traffic travels East along the road and then West in the afternoon so it is almost one - way. This was then borne out as around 50 bikes came hurtling past us so we gave it a break before setting off one at a time at 2 minute intervals.
First off, Toby in his 280i who was going to stop at a 3rd gear bend 10km in and video the cars going past. I had thought the 280 sounded good as he gave it a boot up the tree lined hill away from us. Next off Ray in his red 390 set the spine tingling with a full throttle run through the gears, each gear change sending what sounded like a hand grenade explosion back down the road. Next was the Chimp which, whilst making rapid progress, did confirm what I had always known in that a BBW has the best exhaust note, ever, of any car this side of 500hp.
A few of the Jensens next and then a 3 series BMW which I allowed a good couple of minutes grace before setting off. Now picture this - roof down, trees echoing the bark of the exhaust, a 400m straight followed by a downhill 270 deg bend with a small wooden bridge over a stream then a short climb, along sweeping bend opening onto the next short straight and so on for 25km - motoring heaven. Of course none of us were exceeding the speed limit but I did find I caught the BMW far too rapidly and had to keep stopping to get some space which allowed Don in his silver 390 to come up behind me.
At the end of the
road we all allowed the cars to cool and when Toby caught up I distributed
the Steve Heath DVD's I had kindly been sent (Thanks again YNW). We then
went onwards to a small town which was holding a craft fair, we alll had
lunch in the local pub and then onto Colin's (Taimar) parents home which
sat on 17 acres of land which proved to be ideal for a scenic photo shoot.
Before heading off home we had a more detailed look at the cars and then
a spot of afternoon tea before heading off home. Again, this just goes to show, with a 100% turn out, that wedge owners are the most enthusastic owners of the lot. All of whom I believe have brought the cars for all the right reasons, for what they are - what they look like, sound like and drive like. A great day, which
we will have to arrange to do again soon. Catch you later Rob |
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