MR2 Owners Club (NSW Branch) April Blue Mountains Heritage Run

Hi All,



It's autumn and a great time to go on another drive to the Blue Mountains, this time taking a look at places where motor racing drew huge crowds in decades past, and taking a drive on some of them.

 
The plan is to start at Parramatta Park, meeting near the Gatehouse café, which serves great coffee (see below image for a teaser). The road through the park was the venue for enormously popular motor racing in the early 1950s; we will do a lap or two of the same road (at the leisurely 30 km/h limit these days) before heading off, via Richmond, to the Springwood Rd and a stop at the Hawkesbury Heights lookout. The section of hairpin bends here used to be closed and used as a hillclimb course; it was here that Jack Brabham competed in his first road event after speedway racing, with a surprising result.
Taking the Great Western Highway to Katoomba, we call in at Catalina Park, which saw racing with the likes of Bob Jane, the Geoghegans and Frank Matich throughout the 1960s. The original circuit is still there but slowly crumbling, and we can a short walk on it.
Then on to Blackheath, where we turn left and down into the Megalong Valley via a tight, winding road through semi rainforest, for lunch at the Megalong Tea Rooms, which is surrounded by mountain scenery, and probably a few kangaroos grazing nearby.
After lunch, return to Sydney via the Great Western Highway, or the Bell's Line of Road.


Date: Satuyrday 28th April 2018

Time: Meet at Parramatta Park Gatehouse Cafe at 9:30am  for a 10am departure

Route: https://goo.gl/maps/VGoxQer1xHn

Lunch: Megalong Valley Tea Rooms, Megalong Rd, near Blackheath. 
 

 

The run was a great success and despite the distance and the rain we had over 15 attend and 11 MR2's. It was a great day out and Gordon did a fantastic job explaining the heritage surrounding some parts that were previously motorsport locations. It was a great day out and the food and company was fantastic at the megalong tea rooms. Despite the wet weather the cars still all were great fun and made for some fantastic scenery in the blue mountains. Here's some of the pics from the event taken by my partner: