As you’ve hopefully noticed over the past couple of years, we’ve been bringing you quite a bit of content from the “Land Down Under.” I’ve always known that Australia is one of the most underrated automotive cultures in the world, but I really didn’t realize how much so, until I finally got to see it with my own eyes.
With our fast-growing following and increased presence in “Oz,” I figured it was finally time that I make the 14-hour plane ride to check it out for myself. I’ve heard such great things, over the years, about the historic racing scene there during our winter months that I was really excited when our South Pacific Editor, Patrick Quinn, invited me to come down. To say the entire trip bowled me over would be an understatement. Suffice it to say that Australians are, without a doubt, the warmest, most generous people I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting. Literally, everywhere we went—regardless of whether it was a car-related event or not—everyone seemed to go out of their way to be friendly and look after us. And as for the cars, after two weeks and nearly 3,000 kilometers of driving from track to track and collection to collection, I can safely say that the Australian classic car and historic racing scene is as large and as active as anywhere else on the planet. The Australians are mad, crazy about their cars and seem to relish every opportunity to get out and play with them. I could do a whole issue on our adventures down there, but there were a couple of driving episodes that I think speak volumes about the Australian scene.
