Lotus Club Queensland
Dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of the Lotus experience
Login
Register
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Membership
    • Member Login
  • Events
    • Calendar
  • Motorsport
    • Lakeside DTC Timed Laps
    • LAKESIDE DTC RESULTS
  • Magazine
  • For Sale
    • Merchandise
    • Classifieds
  • Posts
  • Galleries
  • Directory
    • Suppliers & Parts
    • Advertisers
  • Archives
monaco-sydney-banner

Monaco GP on Sydney Harbour

By Jason McGarry.

After seeing an email advertisement from Lotus Australia relating to experiencing the Monaco GP on Sydney Harbour organised with Ultimate Driving Tours, I thought what a great short break where I could mix driving and pleasure without the stress of competing.

So Deb and I packed lightly and headed off in the Exige to Sydney, yes we drove it to Sydney and not on a trailer! After softening the suspension before I left I was quite amazed how comfortable the drive was except we should have put ear plugs in! The coast road is excellent now from Brisbane to Sydney but need to watch the speed.

So we left Brisbane on Friday morning and headed down the M1 with a planned stop for lunch at “The Farm” at Byron Bay, and then on to Taree as a sleepover. We had to be in Sydney by lunchtime as we had bought tickets to see the musical Hamilton (which btw is excellent). Dinner that night was at my favourite restaurant in Australia “Mr Wongs”, which was excellent as always.

Sunday morning we left from the Crown Hotel lobby where my Exige was surrounded by Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Rolls Royce and Audis. We were given a closed channel radio, some final instructions and told to “warm” the engines up for the guests of the hotel before getting on our way. After leaving the Sydney CBD we headed north to our first stop at Estuary Waterfront Restaurant where I had a discussion with a local policeman about where I parked illegally – my way out of the situation was that I told him I was from Queensland. I also said hello to a MG Car Club group that was on an EMR that morning as well.

From there we headed towards Mooney Mooney, where I got to watch the rear of Lambos and Ferraris as they weaved through the narrow country roads. The scenery was awesome and the roads were great for the Exige where it could stretch its legs at times. From there we travelled to our lunch spot at Bells at Killcare. At this point we were able to have a chat to the other tourers, most of whom had been on tours with Ultimate Driving Tours driving Supercars in Europe on route to events like Monaco F1.

After a delicious lunch it was time to head back into Sydney to prepare for our boat departure from the wharf at Crown Towers at 4.30 pm where we were entertained whilst enjoying the sunset on Sydney Harbour. The experience on the boat was in line with the experience that Ultimate Driving Tours offer in Monaco. With a live covers band, excellent food and the alcohol flowing it was a great build up to watch the race on the screen. An hour before the race Mark Webber called in to share his feeling on how the race was going to unfold and gave an account of the atmosphere on the track, which was a great surprise.

We returned back to the wharf around 2:00 am, by 10:00 am we were on the road heading back to Brisbane in the Exige. If you ever have the opportunity to book a tour with Ultimate Driving Tours either in Australia or overseas I would totally recommend it. They understand how to tailor a package together where there is something for the car enthusiast and their partner.

IMG_4355 Crown-Hotel-Lobby Lambo Porsche IMG_4342 Jasons-Exige IMG_4358 IMG_4354 IMG_4380 IMG_4364 IMG_4370
[Show thumbnails]
Vinnies CEO Sleepout Historic Grafton Hill 2021

Related Posts

mp-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Morgan Park Sprints R4

kevs-banner

EMRs, Gallery 2022, Homepage

Kev’s Big Day Out

duratec-banner

Articles, Homepage, Technical

Duratec Elise – better late than never

Random images

IMG_8909 Mick-ready-to-go IMGP3422 IMGP3420 Rob-and-Clive 117_1800_IMG IMG_4266 IMG_4883 image_014 IMG_4351 Vern 10_Entering_the_Maiala_Rainforest_Teahouse IMG_7883 IMG_7836 P1060548 Armstrong_Siddely_Boat_Tail 20090822_095 171_171 P1050548 P8310143 20161106_145405 Great-to-be-back Cossette-Woolleys-very-first-track-day Start Line Jon nathan-04 nathan-03 IMG_1962 20170423_073756 Western Aussies IMG-0169 IMG_0330 Exige_pic3 Daryl, Dick and Shane Mathew and Victor Sweeney _MG_4514 as Smart Object-1 Wybe & Greg Club-Flags Host-Brad-centre 12-John-B-in-Cheetah.jpg lec_0194 GIC28-NSW-Winners-of-Interstate-challenge Cracking-the-whip Mar-main-73 Inside-the-Outpost-Cafe-for-lunch Inside-St-Josephs-Chapel main-17 main-0 IMG_4856 IMG_0293_1 main-8 Anita_in_340R P1060117 img_1086 Renault Alpine A110 Ploughman's Lunch P1080251 Ploughman's Lunch IMGP2254 Past_President_future_President P1020792 IMG_3171 IMG_3043 P1090167 P6220135 P6220129 IMGP7294 IMG_6342 IMG_8152 IMG_8129 IMG_8059 IMG_0527 IMG_5115 IMG_5090 IMG_7331 IMG_7322 IMG_6407 DSC_0093 Assembly at the start ballet in yellow Gideon Waiting for go Ready-for-the-next-run healeys-by-the-score IMG_20210925_095039 IMG_0053 Pits1 Brewery-Mt Alford7_gw Clive Porsche-911 _MG_9666 as Smart Object-1 P1020977 IMG_9696 alex-gostwyck-chapel-3 Tonys-Eleven-masterpiece-by-Gavin-Goeldner Boy talk 170722 Track A great day Engine-starter-motor main-66 Ken and Margie

Recent Articles

  • Morgan Park Sprints R4
  • Kev’s Big Day Out
  • Duratec Elise – better late than never
  • Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022
  • Marburg Pub Run – 4 Sept 2022
  • Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane
  • Leyburn 2022
  • August 2022 DTC

Latest Gallery Images

20220220_093834 20220220_093818 20220220_093827 20220220_093743 20220220_093812 20220220_093730

Search articles by category

Archived articles

Lotus Club Queensland
© Lotus Club Queensland   |   Site by Black Eye Studios