Bay to Birdwood – Day 5 – The Event
Today was the actual Bay to Birdwood event, the core thing we based our trip around. And what an event! It really surpassed my expectations. I don’t think I have ever been to a more community oriented automotive event. Perhaps the closest is the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit, but I rate the Bay to Birdwood above that.
The event is in three main parts. Firstly, all the cars assemble at Barratt reserve, West Beach. The cars are lined up first by class, then the order in which they arrived. With the cars assembled, then the actual drive happens, where 1500 cars drive in convoy around 65 kilometres from West Beach to Birdwood.
As the cars arrive in Birdwood, they can optionally take part in the finish festival. This is an event that encompasses a huge show and shine, awards (both for cars and fashion of the drivers) and the National Motor Museum at Birdwood.
We left our hotel early, at 0630 to make sure we got to Barratt reserve early. This meant we would have time to see many of the cars arrive, and also we would have plenty of time at the Finish Festival before we had to take off on our journey back to Sydney.
I’m really glad we did it. There was a great atmosphere at the start point. It was great to see some amazing cars roll in. Not just expensive cars, but interesting cars that were clearly the pride and joy of the owner. I would rather see a car that is actually used and driven than something over-restored. An example was a 1920s Bugatti with a lot of Patina. There was quite a jovial atmosphere at the start too. Many people were dressed in clothes based on the era of their car. While that isn’t something I’m interested in doing, it was great to see the effort people put in. There were also funny things like the owner of a Ferrari 328 with a life size cardboard cut out of Tom Selleck.
The cars leave by class, so we were able to see the early classes drive out of the event. First are the cars made before 1937. It was quite a sight seeing them drive past us out onto the route. There was a lot of variety there. I don’t think I have seen so many cars of this age at a single event. It was also great to see some younger people driving those cars.
Next there were the show class cars, then the motorbikes, commercial vehicles and the cars from 1937 to 1951. Some of the commercial vehicles were quite impressive.
Then it was our turn. Since we were early in the general class, we left after about 500 cars had departed. The thing that surprised me was that the entire drive was one big party, and it seemed that everyone in Adelaide was invited. All along the route, there were locals out to see the spectacle, waving as we went past. It was a real festive atmosphere, whole groups of people with folding chairs, food and drinks, and ages from very young children to elderly people.
And it wasn’t just the people. all along the route, pretty much everyone else in Adelaide who owned a classic car had it parked along the route on display. In the built up areas, this meant cars on median strips, in the parking lots of closed businesses, tucked between trees. It was such a spectacle. Some of them were people who lived locally and some were clubs with whole displays. As we left near the start, it was still early so the groups had cups of coffee and snacks, and by the time we got near the end there were groups with BBQs and a real party atmosphere.
The Bay to Birdwood drive contains 1500 cars and there must have been well more than 500 on display along the route. The community atmosphere really makes this event special. I think if something like this happened in Sydney the councils would try and give parking tickets to the cars and confiscate the BBQs. This was another thing that really struck me about this event . There was no overzealous security, no silly barriers and no officials ruining it for everyone. Being treated like adults meant that there were no issues as far as I could see.
Given the number of cars in the event, it took a fair while to drive the roughly 65 kilometres. However since the roads were lined with onlookers and interesting cars, there was always something to see. It would probably be just as much fun to be part of the spectator group than being part of the event itself.
At one point we found ourselves driving with a local W123 and a local W201 which was pretty good. We also overheard plenty of comments about our Sydney-Birdwood magnets.
I was also very impressed with how well signposted the route was. At times due to traffic lights i found myself at the head of a line of cars, but I never felt like I didn’t know where to go. Once we arrived at the National Motoring museum, we then became part of the finish festival, which will be covered separately.
I highly recommend that any Australian car enthusiast participate in the Bay to Birdwood at least once.
