| This evening was the monthly MBCNSW night drive. We finally completed a route we have wanted to do since March of 2021, on the third attempt. It was worth those attempts as it was a great drive. We actually planned the route back in February 2021. To test out the route, we did an informal dry run with a few club members. We thought it was it was a pretty good route, so booked it for that March. Of course a few weeks later Sydney experienced freak ‘once in 100 year’ storms that flooded the route. Based on that, we […] After a month of relentless rain, we finally had a sunny day for the May 2022 Night Drive. This drive was a shorter one, The Spit to Palm Beach. We had previously done a Palm Beach drive in October 2020, so we took a different route. On the previous drive, we started at Manly and hugged the coast until we reached Palm Beach. This time we started at the Spit, and took Wakehurst Parkway, bypassing the traffic lights and built up sections. Wakehurst Parkway is a winding road through areas of bushland that are quite close to the city. […] Last night was the April 2022 MBCNSW night drive. Due to the terrible weather we’ve had in Sydney over the last couple of months, it was the first one since January. The last two were both rained out. We generally try to go if its raining, but the amount of rain and flooding made it impossible. The route was one I was looking forward to. The plan was to do a ‘Bridge to Bridge’ drive – from Windsor Bridge in the north west of Sydney to the Peats Ferry Bridge in the far north. This route goes through some nice […] The first night drive of the year was held a bit earlier than usual to avoid the Australia Day Holiday. This was actually a drive we planned for the second half of last year, but it was postponed due to the COVID lockdowns. This month, while we are no longer in lockdown, COVID cases are up in Sydney and tests are not available for love nor money. Therefore, many people are in self imposed lockdowns and the attendance of the drive was a bit smaller than normal. The planned route was a variation on a previous drive before the night […] Last night was the final night drive (and last official drive overall) for the Mercedes Club in 2021. Since the lockdown was lifted, we’ve really struggled with the weather for these night drives. Finally, the weather held up and we had a great turn out of 17 cars on the night. It started out hot and humid but cooled off and proved to be a great night for the open topped cars. I had originally planned to bring my 250SE, but hadn’t had a chance to get the club registration signed off in time. Given the route we took, I’m […] Last night was the first of two planned December night drives with the Mercedes Club. This was now the 3rd time we’ve run the drive to Bilpin. We did the route in May 2021 and November 2020. The drive is pretty simple. We meet at Windsor McDonalds and drive up to the Apple Pie Cottage at Bilpin. The Apple Pie Cottage is run by a club member who puts on coffees, apple pie and this time Pizza as well. Not only that but he is quite the comedian. We’ve had some really wet and wild weather in Sydney of late […] After a three and a half month lockdown, official MBCNSW night drives were back last night. The route was Clovelly to Kurnell. The night drives were supposed to be back two weeks ago, but freak hail again prevented the Berowra ferry drive. It was a lovely spring Sydney evening of about 20c, perfect for an open top Night Drive, so I took my 250SE Cabriolet. As I have outlined previously, the car hasn’t been running too well since lockdown, so I am trying to put a few miles on it to see if the performance keeps improving with use and […] Today was the June MBCNSW night drive. This month, we had planned to do the route originally planned for March. Back then, Sydney had just experienced the worst storms in 60 years. Our route was not going to be possible after all the storm damage. We also had to postpone our planned route tonight. We were supposed to drive over Berowra ferry, but as we got close to it there were signs indicating the ferry was closed for urgent repairs. Instead of taking the Ferry, we headed up to Peats Ridge via the Old Pacific Highway. We took the old […] Last night was the monthly MBCNSW May 2021 Night drive. This month we did a repeat of our very successful November 2020 drive to Bilpin. As with last time, we met in Windsor and then headed up to the Apple pie cottage for a late dessert. Unlike the warm summer weather of last year, it was a little colder last night. Only one brave soul (our club president) did the drive with the top down, with temperatures ranging between 5-13C. Probably due to the cooler weather, the turn out was a bit smaller, but we still have 11 people […] A couple of days ago I went on the April 2021 night drive with the MBCNSW. This month was a drive from Luna Park to Coogee via Vaucluse. We had run a similar drive in December 2020, but the weather was a bit iffy on the day and quite a few people decided not to chance it. This time there was no such issue with the weather. As usual we had a nice turn out of cars on the day from the 70s onwards. One car that was quite interesting was a W123 300D with a turbo conversion. These were […] | |
