VIC Doug Red32 Memorial Cruise - PICS

Today was the 2nd Doug Red32 memorial cruise, and what a great day it was. Thanks to all that came and made it awesome. By my count, we had 23 cars, which is an awesome turnout Great to meet some new faces and catch up with some old ones . I hope you guys enjoyed the roads as much as I did. It was a long drive, but worth it I think. After all my blabbering at the start about directions and maps, I managed to get everyone lost by blindly following my GPS, even though I have done this route a few times before. So big apologies for that blunder . But alas, we all found each other again . I think we managed to stay together pretty well, considering how many cars we had.

Big thanks to our interstate guests Ian and Judy (IB) and John and Anna (Zcar91) for travelling from Canberra. Its always great to see some old friends from the forum early days Also thanks to my helper BigCol for letting me know what was going on at the rear of the pack.

I must say, thanks to all you guys for the donations. In total we collected $205 dollars!! Thats a great effort, thanks all for digging deep.

Ok onto the pics. I don't have any driving pics as I didnt have a passenger, so I'm hoping someone got some good pics of us tearing through the twisties. Here's what I took, enjoy:

In the morning, at the meet point




































First stop in Gembrook for lunch...




Then through the Reefton Spur and onto Lake Mountain...










































Last stop, Healesville Beechworth Bakery...










At home resting, after being flogged all day. But didn't let me down all day.

 

Some photos I got for those who haven't seen it on facebook yet.















Some of the twisties

 

Looks like it was a fantastic day!!!

Love the photos :zlove::zlove::zlove:

 

yeah great day had, well done Mark on organising. Some great roads this year!
Excellent work with the photos Mark & Will too, look great. Didn't get a chance to take any this year with the little man tagging along

 

Doug would have been well pleased with the turnout and so many fine looking Zeds ....

well done ......

 

A few more pics...





















































Big thanks Mark for the cruise, and also to Tim & Felicity for the outstanding map reading skills that enabled us to catch back up to the main group.

 

Photos look very sharp col, nice lens

What, is my car not cool enough for ya to take photos of or something??!?!?! Haha

 

Could not make this as we were on our way back from an over night trip but we did find ourselves in the same area though.

Not sure if Mark was more startled coming around a corner slightly over the centre line to find a rather large vehicle coming the other way when he was going up to Lake Mountain or I was more surprised to come around a corner to see Mark at the FRONT of a line of Zeds.

 

hahahahaha, that made me laugh out loud!

Of course it is - us stillen front lip group gotta stick together! Unfortunately I didn't catch your car with good light or isolated but here are two...

 

You were polite enough to give us a not when we waved to you even though you probably had no idea who we were too.

 

Ha, yep had no idea it was you - just the kind of guy I am clearly! hahaha

 

Oh no !!!!

What car were you in Pete? I didn't see you !!! I must admit, there were at least 2 occasions where I thought to myself "Mark, you're idiot, stay in your lane fool". BUt I was only slightly over. Were you in one of the 4x4's I passed on the Reefton Spur or on the way to Lake Mountain?

Yes, I was out front leading the cruise, believe it or not. But I think I gave the twisty roads a good run for their money BigMax and I had a great uninterrupted run on the Reefton Spur.

So when are we seeing you next?

 

Agreed. Was great to see Ian and Judy again, and to finally meet John and Anna after 13 or 14 years of interacting only through the forum.

 

The white Troop Carrier with a big bullbar coming down from Lake Mountain right near the bottom just after you'd turned off the Warburton-Marysville road, you weren't that far over but you got back quick smart!

I'll try to make it to an NDSOC meeting maybe or you and Col and associated families can come over some time.

Indeed, though it's been ages since we've seen each other, I'm pretty sure we've not caught up since we bought that car a few years ago so we didn't really expect you to recognize us.

 

As many have said already, the 2nd annual Doug Memorial cruise was without a doubt an great event with lots of driving and soicalising for all the members who attended on the day. It has become one of those events I believe every Victorian Z owner should attend and be apart of, but not just for the memorial of a fellow Z owner who has past away, but because it is becoming one of the fastest growing iconic Z cruises I seen since my First GOR cruise in 2007.

Our event host Mark aka Jedi77 did an amazing job with all of the cruise maps and pre cruise meeting rundown which he highlighted some key turnoff which some members may miss or get confused about. This was the first time I'd seen such attention to detail and Mark he did an outstanding job with everything throughout the cruise and I want to give my appreciation to you for those efforts you put in to make this cruise one of the best I've ever been on.

As always I really enjoyed catching up with the vic crew after the long winter hibernation and it was great to also see the new generation of possible Z owners attend with Alex and Kirby bring their son as well as Tim and his wife with their son enjoying the sunshine and fresh mountain air. It was good to meet some new faces as well and though I didn't get a chance to talk to out interstate members who attended from the ACT your Z's looked absolutely gorgeous on the day.

Anyways enough talking onto the photos. I tried to keep them to a minium as sometimes too much can ruin the overall presentation of a good thread post.

Starting meet point







If your wondering what Mark meant by "getting everyone lost by following the GSP" well this is where we waited for the pack to follow us back down the narrow street Mark accidentally took us up. I don't know how but only 2 of us follow mark back to the turn off we weren't suppose to go up and while we waited, mark called Col to organise how we could link back up with the pack of Z that he had with him.





We ended up meeting the rest of the pack on our way to Gembrook so it all worked out in the end.

Gembrook

Gembrook was our first stop along the cruise route and where would have lunch for the day. Most of the Z's got scattered in different parking spots along the main street unfortunately, so I didn't get many photos.





Lake Mountian

The road up the mountain has to be one of the twistiest roads I've every driven on and though it was fun pushing my Z which its TT suspension there were a few corners I took a little to hard for my liking, and scared me half to death that's for sure. We also had motor bikes zipping past us on the way up the hill and then one of the members in the green Z span out right behind me while doing a power side around a tight corner. No damaged was sustained but it was quite scary and though I had a laugh with the driving when we arrived at lake mountain I was still like F#@k me that was close. lol

We we arrived at the top of mountain the view was spectacular to say the least and with a massive car park to accommodate the everyone it was a great place to socialize and photograph the best cars on the planet in my opinion :zlove:

























Another thing that happened on our way up the moutian was a tiny nose into exhaust between a white and silver Z.



Looks like we weren't the only ones that knew about this great parking spot on the top of a mountain on a beautiful sunny day in Melbourne.





Healesville

After about an hour of resting our feet and socializing we headed back down the mountain to head to our last stop in Healesville. I tried to take it easy on the way down which meant a few of the more spirited drivers overtook me which added to the scare factor but I survived and after a long drive through some really nice forest roads we made it to Healesville.











And to finish off



Again it was a great fun cruise and I cant wait for the GOR in a months time.​

 

*face palm moment*

The day would have turned out perfect if it wasn't for that stupid face palm moment where I took the wrong street and inevitably split everyone up. But alas, the maps and directions must have worked as we all got back together.

Thanks Adam for the great pics and recounting the days activities. Also thanks to Col and Will for their awesome pics as well . Now I need to start thinking about the Doug Red32 Memorial cruise 2016 .

 

A ha! That was you!!

Yes, I remember the troop carrier Just didn't see who was driving it lol

 

God you make my car look amazing col! That lens is to die for. Love the photos

 

Thanks for sharing the great pics guys. Sorry I could not make it this year, but will try for the 2016 event.
Its a very well organised event and a great time, even if Mark (jedi-77) does try to lead members up the garden path.