While it was a Mercedes Club event, I took my Jaguar E-Type.   I would have driven my 560SEC, but I am still waiting on new brake hoses for it.   When I last drove the car, the pedal was quite soft and the hoses look quite old.   The E-Type is a great car for these fast B-Roads.     I don’t normally drive the E-Type during the day during summer as it gets quite hot, but I could not pass up this drive.

In a nod to the route, most of the other cars were high performance cars.   In fact, the E-Type may have been the slowest vehicle there.    There was an AMG GT, a C63 AMG, CLA45 AMG, CLA45S AMG, E400 Cabriolet and a C250.   Bit of a theme to those cars.

The starting point was the service station at Pheasants Nest, south of Sydney.   From there, we proceeded in convoy down to Goulburn.   At Goulburn, we turned off the M31 and proceeded up towards Oberon.   The first part of the drive was a bit dull, as we were stuck behind a slow Mitsubishi crossover.   These top heavy vehicles struggle on these sorts of roads and it had to slow down quite a lot for each corner.   The second part of the drive was much better and we were able to open up the taps of the cars a little.

When we got to Oberon, it was only 11:30AM.    It was suggested that instead of returning, we continue on to Bathurst and do a lap of Mt Panorama.   One of the people on the drive knew the roads around this area quite well and found us an excellent set of roads to take us through to Bathurst.   This part of the drive was probably the highlight of the day.   Instead of going directly to Bathurst, we first drove back towards Oberon until Black Springs.   We then turned onto the road for Bathurst.     I’ve been on Google maps trying to work out the road we used so I an visit again, and I think it might be Dog Rocks Road.    Looking at the map, I am assuming we must have gone through Rockly and towards Bathurst.

Once in Bathurst, we then did a (slow) lap around Mt Panorama.  The circuit is just a regular road when there are not races.   It has a low speed limit and and is heavily policed.  I’ve previously taken my 560SEC around the circuit.  Once we finished our lap, we drove back via Lithgow for a fuel stop and then up via Bells Line of Road to Bilpin.

The only part of the drive that wasn’t particularly enjoyable was the drive through Sydney from Richmond.   By afternoon it was a really hot day.   Normally I enjoy the wood steering steering wheel in my E-Type, but it was so hot I found it hard to grip with my sweaty hands.   Despite the reputation of English cars, and E-Types in particular for overheating, the car never went over 90 degrees.    The only thing that did overheat was my iPhone, which shut itself off due to the heat.    I guess British cars are more reliable than Apple products.

All in all, it was a really good day and great to take the E-Type out for a long drive on such good roads.   I’ll be back in Bathurst with the E-Type in April for the 60 years of the E-Type celebration.  I would recommend Bathurst via Goulburn and Oberon as a drive to anyone.   In the end, we covered more than 700km.   Some classics are not driven this much in an entire year!

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The idea was to find some good roads for the classic car driver who wants to get out and explore the area a couple of hours around Sydney.

Mudgee via Bells Line of Road

The first drive I did was to Mudgee.   I took Cattai ridge road from Glenorie through Maraylya.  This is a drive I do quite a bit as it can be done in a couple of hours.   Instead of returning, I then took Bells line of road up through Lithgow and then up the road to Mudgee.

Bells line of road is always an enjoyable drive, especially during the week without much traffic.   The road up to Mudgee is a nice undulating road with some fast sections and some tighter sections.

I made the mistake of coming back via the Great Western Highway.   It really is a horrible road.   Congested, insanely low speed limits, speed cameras on every corner.   Next time I would go back via Bells Line of road again.

I took my DS.   On the way up the DS drove really well, but it was a bit unhappy on the way home and I had to nurse it back.  It felt like something was dragging on the motor, perhaps one of the accessories?    I did this drive first, before the hot summer weather came in.   The DS isn’t the best as a hot weather car.     It is really comfortable and soaks up the bumps on a rough road like few other cars.

I really enjoyed this drive and would do it again.

Putty road, returning via Wollombi

I did this drive as part of a mid week drive with the Mercedes Club.   This drive is already covered here.    I took my SLC.    The Putty road is so much better mid-week than on the weekend.  The return via Wollombi is much nicer than going on the M1.   This drive is on most Sydney Scenic drives list.

Bylong Valley

This one was a surprise because I just started looking at google maps to find roads that might be interesting.   The self-leveling rear suspension had just been re-installed in my 560SEL and I wanted a good drive to give it a work out and make sure my used struts were not leaking.    Not only was this a good drive, but it fulfiled that requirement as the road was quite rough.   The car was transformed.   The horrible old ute feel was gone and it was back to driving like an S-Class again.

I started by driving up to Singleton where I had lunch.   I then took the Golden Highway to Bylong Vally Way.     The Bylong Valley Way is a really enjoyable road.   A bit rough in times, but scenic and twisty as you cross the mountains.

Return was via Lithgow and Bells Line of Road.  You pop out very close to Mudgee  so the return is very similar to the drive above.   The SEL is better than most people would expect on twisty roads.   It also has plenty of power to accelerate up hilly roads.      This drive really cemented my decision to put the SLS back in.

You could probably make this drive even better by taking the Putty road up to the Hunter and then continuing the drive from there.  Large sections of this route have no phone reception.

Oberon to Goulburn

I’ve been wanting to do the Oberon to Goulburn drive for years.   I’ve always heard it was good but never got a chance to try it.    After I got the cooling system working again, I took my 560SEC.   I figured of the cars I own, the SEC with its 220KW engine or the E-Type are the most ideal cars for this drive, and given the weather was iffy at the start of the day, the SEC was the best choice.

I took Bells Line of Road to get to Oberon and then proceeded to Goulburn.   This road really lived up to expectations.    There are some long fast sections were I got to push the SEC along as well as some curvy bits decending down the mountains.     The road to Oberon from the Great Western Highway is really picturesque as you can see from the photo below.

The only real downside to this drive, is that the return journey on the freeway is a bit boring.

Goulburn to Oberon

I enjoyed the Goulburn drive so much I decided to do it again, but in reverse.   I just had the E-Type ready after its new fuel pump.      The E-Type drove really well and was really in its element on this drive.    I did this one as a pop up drive with the Mercedes Club.   It is kind of funny the one I did on my own, I did in a Mercedes, but the one I did with the Mercedes Club I did in a Jaguar.

I think its slightly better to do it in this direction.   Not because the drive is better, but it’s easier to manage traffic that way, especially if you live north of the Harbour like I do.

Grand Pacific Drive

I’ve done the Grand Pacific Drive through the Royal National park many times.   Both on club events and on my own.   Most recently I did two variants, one that took me inland to Berry and another over Macquarie pass through to Mittagong.   We didn’t have time, but the Berry drive would have probably been even better to return via Kangaroo Valley.   The drive through the Royal National Park is nicer during the week and very scenic, if a bit slow.   The speed limits are artificially slow and heavily policed.   There are also a lot of cyclists.

I took my 250SE on the drive through Berry and the 300SE on the other drive.   Like Putty road, this one is also on most of the Sydney scenic drives list.

Wollombi, returning via Wisemans Ferry

I had a bit less time this day so did a shorter drive.   I took the old Pacific highway to Peats Ridge, and followed the roads north to Wollombi.    On the way back, I turned off and went via Wisemans Ferry.   This is quite a nice drive if you don’t want to spend the full day.   The roads up to Wollombi are in decent shape although the one to Wisemans Ferry not as much.

I took my 560SEC.   The Old Northern Road after you cross Wisemans Ferry is a nice drive too.

Hunter Valley – Scone – Merriwa

On this drive, I took the freeway up to the Hunter Valley and then went up towards Scone, where I had lunch.   From Scone, I took the road to Merriwa, which was scenic and deserted.  I was able to push the 450SLC along a bit.    This was quite a nice drive once I got up to the Hunter but the freeway section was boring.   It could be combined with Putty road or Old Pacific Highway.    I think Bylong Valley was better though.

Barrington Tops

This one was a bit speculative.   There looked like there could be a nice road through the Barrington Tops national park from Barrington across to Scone.    And there is.   Problem is that its unsealed for about 80km.    I took my 560SEL, and while it could easily do an 80km unsealed road, I didn’t want to.   I drove on the unsealed bit for about 5KM until an information kiosk.   When the extent of the unsealed section was apparent, I turned back.

I had tried to get up there without using freeways.   Getting up to Peats Ridge via the Old Pacific Highway was good, and then I went towards the coast towards Alison.   From there I should have taken the motorway as I ended up driving through the Newcastle suburbs.      The other Alternative would have been Putty road and skip the whole area.

During my navigation, I discovered some key differences between Google maps and Waze.   When you avoid Motorways on Google Maps, it just avoids Motorways with an M prefix.   A roads that are built to almost motorway standards are OK.   Waze is stricter.    Major A roads that are dual carrigeways are also avoided.    Thus, Waze will tell you the only way to get up there without using Motorways is to drive up to Queensland and take the silly route around the top.   Google will take you on the A roads.

Waze has an option to avoid Dirt roads, but it doesn’t show them on the map.   Google doesn’t show them at all.   I wish it would.   Maybe I need to invest in a proper printed road atlas to explore more Sydney scenic drives.

It may be worth at some point exploring up Thunderbolts Way.  This takes up towards Tamworth which is too far, but there could be some good intermediate stops.

Future

If I get more time to explore more Sydney Scenic Drives, I may look at more roads on the other side of the great dividing range.   From Oberon, as an alternative to Goulburn, it looks like you can turn off earlier and go via Wollondilly.   There may also be some roads in the area between Bathurst, Mudgee and Lithgow.   I can probably explore further West too.

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For both these reasons I wanted to take the car in to be checked my by mechanic.   Now the engine was getting enough fuel I wanted to make sure the tune was right.  I also wanted to repair the fuel leak damage.  This meant fixing up the areas where the paint was damaged so rust did not start.

This was done in the spare wheel well so once I got the car home I could replace the spare tyre, tools, jack, and the trim in the boot.  The spare tyre was completely flat so a good opportunity to pump it up again.   While they were at it they replaced the plugs and gave the engine a quick tune.   It drives really well – much better than before.

Earlier this week there was an informal drive with the Mercedes club.   While the E-Type is obviously not a Mercedes, it was too good and opportunity to get the car out for an extended drive before the weather gets too hot.   We had a great drive down to Goulburn on the freeway, then up to Oberon via the back roads and back via Bells Line of Road.    The E-Type is really in its element on the twisty roads between Goulburn and Oberon,   The diff ratio change I did a couple of years ago also makes the car much better to drive.   It cruises happily at 120km/h on the freeway in 4th gear @2900RPM.  It also makes 3rd a much better passing gear as you can get up to decent speeds when overtaking before getting too close to the 5,000RPM redline.

On the drive we had a Mercedes E400 Cabriolet, a BMW 545i and of course my E-Type.   One of the other drivers reported a bit of smoke when I lifted off the throttle of my E-Type.   I guess a little bit of oil is getting past a valve guide or valve seal.   Its not too bad at the moment but something to keep an eye out for in the future.    Overall I was really happy with how the E-Type drove.  With the fuel leak damage now being fixed I don’t have to worry about rust in this area either.

This is the second time I have taken the E-Type to Oberon.   Last time was the start of brake problems that would hamper the car for a while.   Luckily I did not have the same problems this time.

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On the drive we had a 300SEL 6.3, a W210 E55 AMG, a late model C class and I took my E-Type.

The drive was a lot of fun, even if the weather was iffy in the morning – starting from Richmond, up Bells Line of road, then over to Oberon.   The Jag performed well, although on the way back I had the brake dragging issue I thought I had finally fixed.   It got particularly bad about 1km from home and I had to limp back in 1st gear.     Pretty much the entire braking system on this car is new or refurbished, so it is starting to get difficult to work out what to do.   The symptoms were different here, a rock hard brake pedal and the calipers were dragging in general rather than a slow release like I had before.     The car did go past 66,666 on the way there, so maybe this is the reason.

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