10th Annual Toranafest Newcastle

20th & 21st September 2003

Canberra Torana Club Cars @ Toranafest

     

Trevor Won 2nd Place
For Best
LH/LX/UC 4 Door
     
     
     
 


Setup & Ready

 


Phil's LH 4 Door

   


On Show!!


Phil & Mikes car



Groupshot

 


Tailends


Trevor's SL/R 5000


Mike's LC 2 Door

 


Rob's LX 4 Door


Pat's LH SL/R 5000


John's LJ 2 Door


Lawrie's A9X

 


Highway Driving

 


On our way home!

Toranas @ Toranafest


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

More Photos of Torana's @ Toranafest

Toranafest 2003 – Newcastle

Motivation levels were high in anticipation of the 10th annual Toranafest, as we met in Braddon for a 9am departure under blue skies. We started with 6 Toranas, and Julius in a Corolla, with interesting signage.

The trip up was leisurely, with stops at Marulen, Pheasants Nest, and the Truck Stop mid-way between Sydney and Newcastle. For the trip through Sydney, we decided to try the new M5 and connect through to the F2 to Newcastle. The V8’s were awesome through the tunnels, I think most peeps taking the opportunity to drop a gear, the noise of the engines were great.

We arrived in Newcastle at our accommodation The Travellers Motor Village at 4:30pm, much to the bemusement of our host Robin. Rod had travelled up the day before, and met us at the motor village. We had heaps of people and cars, and three cabins booked. Would we all fit? After some quick organization, we allocated people rooms and beds.

Accommodation sorted, it was off to the car wash to clean the insect splattered vehicles. While we had originally planned a BBQ, the toll on energy levels of the long trip saw a change of plan. Laurie and Amanda stopped in at the pizza shop and picked up 10 pizzas of different varieties, cokes and garlic breads. A cancelled order saw them arrive with goodness knows how many pizzas at a very good price.

Darren and Andrew from the Victorian Torana Club called just about when we were ready to retire for the night.

Morning dawned, and refreshed, we cleared out our gear, and repacked the cars. Toranafest, here we come.

We arrived at the venue, with the Hunter Valley Torana Club in position, and a few other vehicles in place. We got our site, and proceeded to set up for the day. The site we were given was particularly challenging, between the cycle path and the carpark, with two trees to negotiate as well. After bit of a discussion, we struck a plan to make the most of the area we had been allocated. All in all, we had 7 vehicles on display. Good effort guys!

The park started to fill rapidly, with more Toranas in one location than anyone can care to remember. In all there were 77 Toranas entered and on display, not counting the five or six that weren’t entered and parked across the road. There was also a very, very original SL/R 5000 that pulled up, had a look, and left again???? Clubs attending were the Hunter Valley Torana Club, the Sydney Torana Club, the Victorian Torana Club, and the NSW GTR XU-1 Club.

Through the day, we got to meet up with YirriSS, Darren, Andrew, and HDT078 from the GMH-Torana forums. We had it on good authority that Jadey, RedA9X, and Litre8 were there as well, however, we didn’t get the opportunity to meet.

The highlight of the day, was Trevor picking up the Runner-Up trophy for the best four door LX/LH/UC. A pretty good effort, considering, that we weren’t necessarily expecting to pick up any awards, so this was a pleasant surprise.

We were blessed with great weather during the day, although showers moved in later in the day, they were not heavy or prolonged enough to cause too much concern, or affect the event.

We departed for home at about 3:30pm, refuelling at the servo on the way out. The planned trip home was to be pretty direct and swift, however, half way to Sydney, Mike and Amanda’s LC overheated in the hilly sections trying to keep up with the V8’s that were duelling up the hills in 3 lane hill climbs. A special thanks to the guys of the Sydney Torana Club who stopped to offer assistance. The stoppage also provided the opportunity to listen to the STC V8’s thundering up the mountain, as they sprinted back to Sydney. As seems to be the case with overheating, once the cars blow their stack, there was no further occurance of the incident for the remainder of the trip. Why this is the case, is just one of those curious motoring phenomenums.

Back through Sydney, we lost Mike & Amanda, and Rod, who travelled down Route 7, while we shot across town on the Silverwater Road to the M5. Quite confident that we’d made real good time going this way, we were only at the truck parking area past Cambelltown for only a couple of minutes when Mike, Amanda, and Rod shot past us.

After dinner at Marulen, where King Lauza refuelled on a huge steak, we made for the final stretch home, all lights ablaze on Yella, to ensure early detection of roos. The drive home was swift, and we made the Visitor Information Centre by 9:30pm.

All in all, a great although tiring run. Thanks for all who made the effort to attend, and for a great time away. Congratulations to Trevor on his trophy, good one!

Cars Attending
Phil, Tania, Jamie & Madison – LX 4dr
Rod – LX 4dr
Trevor – SL/R 5000 L34 4dr
Mike, Amanda & Nathan (Woolly/Skezza) – LC 2dr
Alan, Jan, John, Joe – LJ 2dr
Laurie – A9X 2dr
Pat – SL/R 5000 4dr
Bryan & Julius – Corrolla AWD


© Copyright 2003 Canberra Torana Club.