Autohaus Hamilton - End of Year Drive 2014

We’re not going to lie, we were equally nervous as excited for our final event of the year. When we put the word out through our Track & Drive Mailing List (to join – click here) we had a huge rush of reservations, within the first week we had 50 Porsches and by the second we were sitting on 80!

That’s when we had to make the call and capacity was reached!



When the 14th of December came, sixty-eight Porsche’s made the effort to come along, joined with a handful of other makes and models. Fortunately and thanks to the car gods we were greeted with a spectacular morning, which was a shock after a week of lightning storms! What better addition to the weekend than an easy Sunday morning to gather and drive.



Porsche fanatics came from as far north as Newcastle, south as Canberra and west as Bathurst; all to meet in the Royal National Park on the southern border of Sydney. 1 Porsche, 2 Porsche, 3 Porsche, 4! As the minutes ticked over, the sound of flat 6’s filled the National Park bouncing off the cliff-faces and sending chills down the spines of all who could hear. We found ourselves trying to ‘Guess the Porsche’ by distant exhaust notes, then finally seeing them pop out of the bushes and come across a water level bridge.


There was a strong presence of Police through-out the weekend on Sydney’s roads and that didn’t change even this early on a Sunday. But, as the police rolled by there was nothing but thumbs up and smiles ear to ear! It was time to round up the group, give a quick briefing… then ladies and gentleman – start your engines!

Our first leg of the drive was simple, head south through the Royal National Park towards The Scarborough Hotel which had kindly opened early for us to enjoy breakfast by the sea! This was by far the easiest leg of the drive; with no real places to get lost there were 68 Porsche’s stretched kilometres down the road!


We had a few extra minutes, so we squeezed in one quick stop at Stanwell Tops, a very scenic look-out just a few minutes before our breakfast destination. We managed to pull all 68 cars over and basically grid-locked all parking available, with spirits so high and adrenaline pumping everyone was soaking up the morning sun and already telling stories about the last 45kms of twists and turns.


Matt (Matthew Everingham Photography) joined us on the day to cover the drive and live the Porsche. This stop-over was too good to be true for eyes like his and with such a great opportunity to take a few cars aside and frame a shot, he didn’t waste any time! Matt has done photography for many well-known publishments and international blogs; he’s also just recently won the 2014 Canon AIPP Advertising Photographer of the Year! (Congratulations and Thank-you!)



As a few cars stayed back to work on the shot with Matt, the rest of us continued down the road and started to fill the 2 car-parks, along with both sides of street parking at The Scarborough Hotel. The hotel living up to their promised word and reserving the best view in town coupled with all our breakfast and coffee ready to consume within minutes!

Breakfast was great, it was really nice to see so many couples, friends, fathers joined with daughters and sons enjoying a shared passion. With breakfast over we swiftly head back up to the carpark where a quick map briefing was held. The gist was basic… “We are going to hit traffic, we are going to hit lights and there will be people getting lost” but, on the up side “Guys, take it as it comes! Remember all these roads are great and even if you’re lost for a second, enjoy the road and when you can stop safely take a quick look at the map. If you’re too far gone, punch in the final destination into your GPS and we’ll see you there!


With so much excitement, cars were already started and moving before you could even count to ten! Before you knew it there were small groups of Porsche’s all headed in the same direction but on different roads, some lost… some found. At the next check point, about 40 cars arrived. The other 20 were… on a different route. As the southern decent continued, more cars were found and more cars were lost.


But here’s the kicker, we all found our way to the final destination just as briefed! There was so much laughter at Briars Country Lodge, jokes about all the wrong turns made and random places small groups of cars found each other. Suddenly all the ‘stress’ was laughed away and nothing but good reports given. It just goes to show with the right frame of mind, the right steering wheel in your hands and no matter if you’re lost or found, Living the Porsche is an enjoyment like no other.



Before all this sinks in, there's also a video! Thanks to Lachlan from Petrol Fuelled Passion for joining in on the fun and some-how compressing 250km's into a punchy 4 minute video.