Our final night drive for 2023 was an old favourite. I ran a poll a few months ago for some of the regulars on the night drives to identify drives that there was interest to revisit. The drive from Galston Gorge to Cattai Ridge Road, Galston Gorge road and Old Northern Road was one of the most popular. I really enjoy this drive myself as it has some sections with tight ocrners as well as some faster parts along the old Northern Road.
Generally the roads are in good order, except for the section of Pitt Town Dural road which is quite rough. Most of these roads were all repaired after the floods a year or so ago.
On the day of the drive we had eight people registered. It had been a very hot day in Sydney at 39 degrees. The meeting point was KFC Asquith. Since we were meeting there at 9:30PM, and it was fairly close to closing time, I figured it would be fairly quiet. It was actually incredibly busy with a long line for the drive through. Not being a fan of KFC, I was rather surprised.
It was before the drive even started that the hot weather claimed its first victim. We had a Lotus 7 on the drive. However, when it arrived at the meeting point it was running very hot and missing. After it was reluctant to start the owner decided to bail out on the drive.
Aside from the lotus, we had a good mix of cars. I took my 1965 250SE Cabriolet. It’s finally running very well the 123 ignition. It also has nice cold A/C. In addition to that, my old 280SE made an appearance. The new owner has sorted out the A/C, fitted new shocks and continued to improve the car. Last time we did this route, I was behind the wheel of the 280SE, so it was great to see it make an appearance at the night drive. We also had a 450SLC, a R107 500SL as well as three W124s.
From KFC Asquith, we set off and regrouped before going through Galston Gorge. Galston gorge has a series of hairpin turns, followed by a faster uphill section. From there, it was some of the tight corners of Cattai Ridge road followed by faster sections.
We finished the drive at McDonalds and a few of us went in for something to eat.
After the drive, I had about a forty minute drive home. About 10 minutes in, all of a sudden I heard a terrible noise from the engine bay of my car. It sounded like somebody had put a handful of nails in a paint tin and was rattling it up and down vigorously. The steering also had a terrible feel to it, like it was partly assisted and partly not. I figured that I had an issue with my power steering pump.
I pulled over to have a look. There was plenty of fluid in the system. The noise seemed to be from the general area of the pump. The pully didn’t seem to be quite on straight either. There wasn’t much I could do by the side of the road, so I called for a tow truck. I didn’t want the pump to completely grenade and fill the steering box with shrapnel. In addition, I didn’t think the car would be all that safe to drive.
I called the tow truck at about 12:10AM. Originally I was told it was not going to come for four hours. I wasn’t enthusiastic about that timeframe. However, after the operator looked at the address more, because I was stopped on a main road, I qualified for a priority tow, so the time was cut down to two hours. It turned out to be a fairly reasonable estimate.
By the time I dropped the car off at the storage unit where I keep my cars, it was 3AM before I got home. The 250SE is booked in already for some other work in March, so it is probably off the road until then unfortunately.
I’ve actually been pretty lucky. I’ve been driving exclusively classic cars for 20 years and over 200,000km. This is only the third time i’ve needed to be flat bedded.
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