GOR 2009 da last weekend of November 2009

yeh

 

yeah we know that but what time do we need to get there in the morning. At the moment im thinking its arrive at shell station at 8am then cruise starts around 9am, is that right??

 

see use next sunday put me and zenx down. 2 separate cars.

 

see thats what im thinking. so confusion

 

Hold your horses guys. I'll speak to Kingy and then we'll put up the official meeting point & times by sunday night which gives you a whole week to organise yourselves.

 

Put me down as well guys pretty sure ill be joining the cruise

 

how hard is it to add a date + time?

outbound at 8am lol..

 

I'm out family visiting from interstate and won't get to see them otherwise..

 

bring em with ya martin

argh! would have been mad to catch up bud...

 

Nice cheap shot, and from someone who hasn't organised a cruise, and especially not one the size of the GOR. Well done.

Not that I organise the GOR anymore, but I'll let you in on a few of the reasons why it is not as easy as you seem to believe:

1. The number of attendees which is 30+. It is the big vic cruise of the year. The sheer number of cars attendng complicates things dramatically. And you'll never make everyone happy. All cruise directors can do is ask the majority and go with what they want. It was very easy in the early days of 10-12 cars. But 35+ is a nightmare. Especially the distances we travel.

Every traffic light or roundabout has the potential for attendees to get lost. So you can see it becomes quite problematic finding ways to minimise all these kinds of issues so that the cruise runs smoothly.

2. The distance of the cruise is fairly substantial. We have to make sure there are enough fuel refill points along the way to suit even the worst economy car attending. It is not like organising with 3 of your mates to go for a drive down to the beach.

3. We also have to contend with the unfamiliarity that many of the participants have with the area we drive to / through. We have to determine routes that are easily seen, and where people have the least chance of making a wrong turn. Not easy on a 500km cruise.

4. Organising the route of the cruise. In the past it has been run to always accomodate the majority. And to Kingy's credit he has so many great new ideas for the crusie route that it really depends on what people want that he has continued on running this for the majority.

5. route determines lunch time. This year there is a more formal lunch than previous years. And as a result we have to let these businesses know what time we will be there, which requires more precise organisation.

6. lunch time determines the Geelong meetup time, which in turn determines the departure point from melbourne. This year is the first time we'll be using the geelong ring road so there is a new unknown.

7. this year determining a suitable Melbourne meetup / start point is much more difficult due to the M1 upgrade. The Shell servo at Todd road is normally a no-brainer but because there is no longer any way to get to todd road after Montague street things are much more difficult. If you miss it you have to cross the westgate, go along williamstown road, then back over the bridge the other way, then cross back under the bridge to the meetup point. This takes 10-15 minutes. Unless everyone is definately intending to arrive 15 minutes early then there is the potential for issues / lost / missing attendees. It's all well and good to say tough luck if some muppet can't find their way to the cruise start, but you can guarantee in that situation that by the time we return from the cruise there would be some lovely criticism waiting for us on the forum.

8. in years past we have always tried to find an acceptable departure time for everyone. For many 8am is too early and we recieved lots of feedback in the past from younger members who were unwilling / unable to make an 8am start. Or some who say they are coming, then go out on the town the night before and can't get to the start point in time because it is too early. Some other members have kids and have other commitments to attend before attending. And on top of that I generally drive up from Barwon Heads, so an 8am departure from melb means I have to leave home before 7, and get up around 6. Too early for me on a sunday thanks.


So you see it isn't quite as easy as you might think. But hey if you think you can do it better, then get involved. I'm sitting back keenly watching for your contributions from here on. And remember Kingy is only recently a dad again, so I'm sure his spare time is at a minimum. Cut him some slack and have faith that you will have all your answers before cruise day.

 

actually col, i have
as recently as thursday night i had a 40+ meet ( my own car club)at the outbound mcdonalds on the same road.
cruised from there to williamstown beach, then to mt.dandynong.
so nice cheap shot... but unfortunately not good.
i was joking but ok.... nice.

yeah i understand. but at the end of the day col, you and kingy need to work out what is easiest for the majority. obviously not everyone will be happy but at the end of the day, 80% will. and FYI the less notice you give everyone of the actual meet, the more get lost!

as im sure you know.

fair point. but my last cruise we worked out that one of the guys was getting 300km's per tank from his GTiR so we had to work out fuel stops to that.
maybe look into, which again im sure you have the average of a zed's tank.

a map works wonders. print 40 of them and hand em out with a highlighted path. cant be lost then.

thumbs up for kingy. keep it to the majority. but all i asked for was a meet time / location col.

google maps FTW. then factor in 20 minutes with traffic.

i think your doing it the hard way. you really should do a run through of this route col. dont guess work it. factor in again frequent stops etc, but again im sure you know this already.

yeah true. although i travelled this road last night, col it still is a no brainer. MASSIVE signs pointing and directing to the todd road service exit, you cant miss it.. and im pretty sure there are 2 slip lanes now incase you miss the first.

wait... isnt it Saturday morning?

im 19 and that seems reasonable to me. i would have to get up at 6am and frankly i couldnt care less. half the fun, but i guess to those that want to sook about an early start, are the same that bitch about late finishes. again you cant keep everyone happy col. but you need a time / date. the longer it takes to do this, the less you will have rocking up.

i would love to help.

tell me what you would like me to do? i know. and im not pressuring him col, just need a time mate. most like kingy dont have much time either, so we need to know so we can book it in mate and make / cancel plans on the friday night.
and lol, i hope i have the answers before cruise day, otherwise their wont be a cruise day.

with no meet point haha.

hope this made sense and helps

kindest regards.
rod.

 

OK .... natives are restless......

I drove the planned course yesterday and have the following info for all involved.



MEETUP POINT:
the usual Todd road Shell servo
Be warned tho.... somewhat difficult to get to at the moment due to extensive roadworks, but I'm sure all the metro guys will be able to navigate it ... I did ok for a country driver


DEPARTURE TIME:
8.30am
you need to be there by 8.15 at the latest as we won't be waiting... not turn up at 8.35 and expect everyone to still be waiting for you !


RE-FUELING DEPOT:
At this stage, I will be waiting at the large BP servo near Avalon, (same one I waited at last year). I strongly suggest you fill up here. A full tank here will see the average ZX return to Geelong with some fuel left in the tank.
If you run from the Todd Rd servo without refueling at the BP you may need to find fuel along the coast...... it will be expensive fuel too , about 20cpl dearer

This is also an excelent meetup place for the non-melbourne travelers IE: central, western, Vic members etc.



GEELONG ZEDDERS:
We will be taking the CERES EXIT off of the Geelong Ring Rd, from there we will head out towards the Princess Hwy.
I'd suggest you organise a meetup point between yourselves at this stage although the venue we attended recently for Bryan's (O'Connor Television) "post wedding party" would be a good and easy place to use, its also only a 5min drive to the Ring Rd exit for Ceres.... just follow the river from the corner of Barrabool Rd & Moorabool St ( Blue Building under the overpass )
I'll call one of you when the group leaves the Avalon Servo so you can get yourselves moving to coincide with our arrival at the off ramp for CERES.
NB: good photo opportunity from the overpass



CATCH UP INFO:
If for some reason your late / get lost / or suddenly decide to take a differant route to Geelong etc.....
Please set your satnav/GPS etc, to the following address to find our lunch venue
Address: 360 Phillips Track, Weeaproniah, 3237 VIC (Beech Forest, 3237 for GPS referencing, GPS reference 38.649540, 143.504669)
or print out this basic map.......


NB: the map is ONLY to find the lunch venue.....
it is NOT the GOR route map.



Kingy

 

not only dont you have a meetup place or time.... but you were going on the wrong day

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:


all the info has been discussed not only at the beginning of this thread but in all the other GOR threads aswell, most GOR runs have been held on a Sunday, giving people time to get their cars ready or do some pre-traveling on the Saturday ( interstate attendees etc)









the GOR is on a SUNDAY






just incase anyone else missed it

 

This is my final word on this to you. If your post was joking then you should re-evaluate your posting style. I interpreted it differently.

- A 40 car cruise from Todd road to Williamstown and then to Mt Dandenong is not the same as the GOR. By a long, long shot.

- You've got no idea how we've run previous cruises, but are happy to post up your opinions. We have been running the GOR since the 2002 ish (I forget exactly which year it started). By my reckoning you were 12.

- The GOR is in transition from me running it to Kingy. People run things in different ways and then sometimes life just gets in the way and things don't always run as smoothly as you'd like. Nobody gets paid for organising cruises and it actually takes up a fair amount of our time to organise a cruise of this size with this many attendees. Please be understanding.

- The meeting point will be up as soon as we know it. It is taking longer than I would hope, but it is what it is. You continually whining about it will not solve anything. All people have to know is whether they are coming, and if so be prepared to be somewhere near the westgate bridge between 8-9am, and check the forum at least the day before for final updates (but hopefully daily during the last week). That is much simpler than putting up a plan 6 weeks out that has to change the day before due to unforseen road closures etc. If you need to, make your point once, then if you don't get an adequate response then PM the cruise organiser. But continually spamming the thread with your opinions only makes the job of the organiser harder. And you being an organiser for other runs should respect that more thsan anyone.

- FYI we do extensive run-throughs of the exact route. So we are well aware of many of the approximate timings. But there are extenuating circumstances this year with the roadworks on the M1 and the re-surfacing of the Geelong Ring road and associated other coastal road works. And traffic on the GOR can be a hugely variable thing. Some years we have had a free run, and others it has been shocking. No amount of planning can cope with that. There have been times that I've waited for over an hour just to get through the Angelsea roundabout on the way to Lorne, so you just have to plan as best you can and roll with whatever happens on the day. Kingy has taken it to the level of chacking roads for clearance for low vehicles which is something I never thought to do, so kudos to him.

- FYI we've been using maps since 2003/4. But the whole idea is to cruise together as a group. Maps are only as a last resort.

- Again, you don't understand about fuel. It is not about the average zed tank. It is about making sure EVERYONE can get from a to b. The GOR is not like driving through melb. There can be large distances between fuel stations, and then not all have premium. All this is taken into account. We have had requests in the past from cars who could do 250km on a tank, so we try to keep this in mind.

- Google maps is of no use other than initial route planning. Everything else is done by run-throughs.

- The departure time: not everyone has your opinion on getting up at 6am. If they did it would make cruise organising easier, but reality is those who want to be there will make the special effort, and thankfully it is those people who make the effort to attend year after year who make this cruise great. They make it easier on the newbies as well, because as a GOR organiser you don't get to stop and talk to people much, even on a 10 hour cruise. And that is one of the reasons I stepped down.

- As for helping out, PM Kingy to see if there is anything you can do. Otherwise sit on your hands and stop typing every little thing that comes into your brain. Or start organising your own cruise. There are a million ways to make things happen, but all I can see are unneccessary cheap shots winding people up. We are aware that things have not been provided with as much notice as we (or others) would like but again it is what it is.

 

thanks for the posts Col. I hope everyone appreciates now the effort it takes to organise such a long cruise.
As for the early start thing, there's no way i'll be able to make it this year. I went on my first GOR 300zx cruise back in early 2008 (almost 2 years ago wow time goes fast hey). It was so much fun, I had a blast. However for an 8am start, i'd have to LEAVE my home down the other side of the coast at about 5:30am. So i'd be getting up at probably 4:30am to prepare etc. Last time I stayed at my sisters house, but this then means I must come up the night before. So my whole weekend gets taken up, in effect. Last year I didn't get home until about 10pm that night, and after doing nearly 700 km or more i could barely walk.
So sorry fellas, have a great one. Maybe you can all cruise down here one day

 

8:30 departure ey?

early start then. I'll be at our usual SE meetup point around 7:30. chris i think it's just you and me @ the moment... come on sandeep, you taking the day off work?

 

yep ... the forum owes me for a few tanks of fuel over the years thats for sure .....
I used 3 tanks yesterday alone checking roads/ routes etc
PM me for bank details for "donations" :rofl:



The GOR has certain charactistics that most dont take into consideration...

Fuel for example is one of the main concerns, not every country town carries Premium fuel, some dont even have a servo !!!,
I actually have to travel 45K's to my nearest outlet for the fuel I use in my ZX... add the knowlege that some ppl will want premium fuel whilst others wont be so fussy, some will get 400+Ks to a tank whilst I & a few others will be lucky to get 250.... hence the jerrycan I'll be carrying


Parking.... Finding venues with close by parking for 40 odd cars is very limited, now find a lunch venue that can A/ cater for 50~70 people B/ have the parking facilities for the cars


Connecting the groups together for the mainrun, sounds simple although at times a missed call creates a natural disaster

Keeping the group together.... man what a nightmare
With some attendees wanting to cruize along at nana speed & others doing it Brock style its extreamly difficult to know who is where at times......
I always post up my mobile number for those that think they might get lost so they can contact me.... been very supprising on just how far behind some ppl get in relation to the leading pack, worst case has been one car an hour behind ..... thank God there hasnt been any major breakdowns


Country roads.... some are good.... others are not ZX friendly, allowing for the differant heights of all the ZX's that will attend & the fact that some will be on large rims with very low profile tires and others will be on a stock ride height with std rims/tires.... & dont forget those with fibreglass front clips too !!!.... yep even the roads chosen have a huge impact on the route !

Each year presents itself with differant requirements, one obvious requirement from a couple of years back was to include a longer "social time", hopefully this year we will get a good break and have the time for a chat.... me included


Every driver has differant needs, personaly getting in behind the wheel for 19 hours isnt an issue, my departure time is 5.00am for the GOR run, & I'll be lucky to be home before midnight ...... for some 3 hours of driving is hell

And all this can turn ugly at the drop of a hat if the weatherman gets it wrong
.... a backup date has been set if we need it !

All these and many more combinations need to be sorted out before the GOR, many of which are done via PMs & phonecalls, sadly I didnt have time to do the pre-check until yesterday, even then I should have been replacing my timing belt.... hopefully my zed will make it cause I dont have the time this week to change it !!


At the end of the day, all we all want is
to meet up with fellow ZX lovers:zlove:
Go for a good drive
make it back home safely
post all the pics you took on the run
& start planning next years run





Oh.... Kingy 0418 322 475..... add it to your phones NOW !

 

couple of years ago I tried to vid as much of the run as posiable, still have it on disc although I needed someone with editing skills to cut n shut it....

The idea was to make a saleable CD to support the forum

The idea is still open for someone to take on

 

last weekend i gathered saturday.

man... i wish it was made more clear along time ago.
that sucks so hard. i have a cruise i planned on with my club, and specifically made it on sunday so i could do the GOR... do sorry boys im out....

damnit.

 

it was mentioned on the first page of this thread dude...