The 5th edition of the Australian Classic Scooter Mille was held on Wednesday 27th & Thursday 28th September. The last state to host in the yearly cycle of this event, and the National Classic Scooter Rally, was Queensland. The planned route was to take in some of the best roads that southeast Queensland & far northern New South Wales had to offer.
32 competitors on 31 scooters converged on the Bearded Dragon hotel in Tamborine from mid-afternoon on Tuesday 26th September. Repairs, ensuring the tanks were full of fuel and last minute checks were being carried out by most people. David Atkinson was working on an electrical problem after riding up from Melbourne. Not surprisingly, one of the Dark Lords, Callum Robinson, was still working on his Vespa Super ‘Speedy’ well after dark; he’d also ridden all the way up from Melbourne, along with Michael King (Il Ginchi).
32 competitors on 31 scooters converged on the Bearded Dragon hotel in Tamborine from mid-afternoon on Tuesday 26th September. Repairs, ensuring the tanks were full of fuel and last minute checks were being carried out by most people. David Atkinson was working on an electrical problem after riding up from Melbourne. Not surprisingly, one of the Dark Lords, Callum Robinson, was still working on his Vespa Super ‘Speedy’ well after dark; he’d also ridden all the way up from Melbourne, along with Michael King (Il Ginchi).
Derek Myers watching David Atkinson battle with his electrical gremlins
Legshield banners, with the riders numbers printed on, were handed out at the pre-event briefing and dinner. You could feel the excitement in the air, as returning participants shared a few beers and stories from previous events. All the debutants were welcomed into this group with open arms, including Colin Thomas, who had ridden up from Canberra, and our first New Zealand guest, Christiaan Liebenow.
Day 1 – Tamborine to Boonah
Gathering in the early light of morning in the car park of the Bearded Dragon, the teams were lined up in starting order. The first of 13 teams made a start at 6am sharp with Beth Massey & Rolf Graunke leading the way out of the car park on their 1959 Vespa VBA with a sidecar. The rest of the teams followed at 2 minute intervals for the 492 kilometre day.
Day 1 – Tamborine to Boonah
Gathering in the early light of morning in the car park of the Bearded Dragon, the teams were lined up in starting order. The first of 13 teams made a start at 6am sharp with Beth Massey & Rolf Graunke leading the way out of the car park on their 1959 Vespa VBA with a sidecar. The rest of the teams followed at 2 minute intervals for the 492 kilometre day.
A few early morning traffic jams caused by the lights in the middle of nowhere over Mount Tamborine and the roadworks on the road up to O'Reillys Plateau, saw teams all bunched up. The up and back road to O’Reillys Plateau should have provided us with great views, both out to the Gold Coast and to the west and destinations for later that day, but the low early morning clouds spoilt that for us. Probably a good thing though, as the tight twisting narrow road really needed to be concentrated on, especially with what was a surprising amount of traffic for an early morning.
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Riders waiting at roadworks on the road to O’Reillys Plateau
The next few hours saw teams riding by themselves down via Beechmont, through the Numinbah Valley, by-passing Murwillumbah, heading just south of Mount Warning and up into Nimbin. It looked like Nimbin was a popular place for teams to not only complete a task, but to also re-fuel both the machines and themselves. Tourists and locals showed a lot of interest in the lineup of scooters in the main street, with a number of people being asked what exactly was going on with this many scooters.
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Taking a photo of your scooter outside the Nimbin post office was one of the tasks on day 1
The next section for the day would include Lions Road, which was still closed to the general public due to roadworks. An agreement was made with the crew working on the bridge in the weeks prior to the Mille, that would allow us to push the scooters over the nearly completed bridge.
A number of teams had bunched up again at Rathdowney for fuel and to check what was happening with the bright flashes coming from the workshop, which turned out to be Rolf and Beth welding up the hub from their sidecar.
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Team Sidecar welding their sidecar’s wheel hub
The next section included going over Mount Lindesay, crossing the border between Queensland and New South Wales again, and the road between Woodenbong and Legume which, as a local in Legume explained had not had any major work in about 20 years; it certainly showed. As dark approached, the last section took us up and over Queen Mary Falls Circuit, where wallabies were scattering into the bush as we rode past in the dusk.
Arrival at the Australian Hotel in Boonah could not come quick enough, as the only way my headlight would work was to tape the light switch to a position halfway between low and high beam. The last task of the day was a photo of you & your team in front of the clock in the hotel bar, which was then used to determine your completion time. It had been a long day for most.
Arrival at the Australian Hotel in Boonah could not come quick enough, as the only way my headlight would work was to tape the light switch to a position halfway between low and high beam. The last task of the day was a photo of you & your team in front of the clock in the hotel bar, which was then used to determine your completion time. It had been a long day for most.
Team West Enders checking in at the Australian Hotel Boonah at 19:39
Teams gathered at the Dugandan Hotel, just south of Boonah for dinner and regaling the tales from day 1. Needless to say, most people were back at their accommodation for the night relatively early to rest up day 2.
Day 2 – Boonah to Brisbane
Facing 489 kilometres and expected temperatures of over 35°C, teams again gathered in the cool of the morning outside the Australian Hotel in Boonah. The first major turn after leaving Boonah, saw the riders disappearing into a fog up through Kalbar. Except for Team BDC, who managed to visit Ipswich 3 times, before getting back on track.
Teams were again catching up with each other completing tasks at Rosewood and Lowood. The next section took us along the eastern side of Wivenhoe Dam, before a right turn to head up and over Mount Glorious for the first time that day. Dropping down into Samford Valley, the temperature had already gone well past 35°C.
A quick breakfast with Team Longshot and refuel at Daybro, then we headed up Mount Mee and taking the re-route via Campbells Pocket to avoid a section of dirt road, and across to Wamuran. After joining up with the original route just west of Beerburrum, the first problems for Team BRB started. Travelling along Old Gympie Rd, just west of the Glass House Mountains, I noticed that Phillip Julian had dropped off from our group, and after back-tracking, we found him with the Bajaj on its side and the tools out. Initial diagnosis was that the clutch plates seemed to be fused together. Phillip managed to make it a few more kilometres up to road to just west of Beerwah, before deciding to try and nurse the Bajaj back to Brisbane.
Terry Minutillo & I (Sean) pushed on to Palmwoods for the next task. A quick check of how we were going for fuel and I was surprised to see that the fuel was bubbling away in my tank! A message from Phillip came through while we were at Palmwoods, saying that the stator was now loose on the stator plate and the rivets have sheared off. Luckily he was carrying a spare, replaced his stator and was back up and limping back to Brisbane.
From the Facebook feed, we could tell that we were now lagging quite a long way behind other teams, who had pushed on to try and avoid what was now a full blown heat wave, where temperatures were pushing 40°C. The run down from Montville to Maleny across the Blackhall Range was slightly cooler and gave us some great views out towards the Sunshine Coast. Dropping down to Woodford saw the temperatures jump back up again to 37°C.
Not long after passing through Neerum and just before Mount Archer, my scooter decided to pack it in. A quick check of the spark plug revealed the all too familiar signs of a holed piston. I made the call to back-up driver Alan Huish, who already had (Quiet) Mark le Cornu on the trailer with a seized piston. Terry left me with the cows and headed back to Brisbane the quick way. After loading up, we headed back to Brisbane.
Day 2 – Boonah to Brisbane
Facing 489 kilometres and expected temperatures of over 35°C, teams again gathered in the cool of the morning outside the Australian Hotel in Boonah. The first major turn after leaving Boonah, saw the riders disappearing into a fog up through Kalbar. Except for Team BDC, who managed to visit Ipswich 3 times, before getting back on track.
Teams were again catching up with each other completing tasks at Rosewood and Lowood. The next section took us along the eastern side of Wivenhoe Dam, before a right turn to head up and over Mount Glorious for the first time that day. Dropping down into Samford Valley, the temperature had already gone well past 35°C.
A quick breakfast with Team Longshot and refuel at Daybro, then we headed up Mount Mee and taking the re-route via Campbells Pocket to avoid a section of dirt road, and across to Wamuran. After joining up with the original route just west of Beerburrum, the first problems for Team BRB started. Travelling along Old Gympie Rd, just west of the Glass House Mountains, I noticed that Phillip Julian had dropped off from our group, and after back-tracking, we found him with the Bajaj on its side and the tools out. Initial diagnosis was that the clutch plates seemed to be fused together. Phillip managed to make it a few more kilometres up to road to just west of Beerwah, before deciding to try and nurse the Bajaj back to Brisbane.
Terry Minutillo & I (Sean) pushed on to Palmwoods for the next task. A quick check of how we were going for fuel and I was surprised to see that the fuel was bubbling away in my tank! A message from Phillip came through while we were at Palmwoods, saying that the stator was now loose on the stator plate and the rivets have sheared off. Luckily he was carrying a spare, replaced his stator and was back up and limping back to Brisbane.
From the Facebook feed, we could tell that we were now lagging quite a long way behind other teams, who had pushed on to try and avoid what was now a full blown heat wave, where temperatures were pushing 40°C. The run down from Montville to Maleny across the Blackhall Range was slightly cooler and gave us some great views out towards the Sunshine Coast. Dropping down to Woodford saw the temperatures jump back up again to 37°C.
Not long after passing through Neerum and just before Mount Archer, my scooter decided to pack it in. A quick check of the spark plug revealed the all too familiar signs of a holed piston. I made the call to back-up driver Alan Huish, who already had (Quiet) Mark le Cornu on the trailer with a seized piston. Terry left me with the cows and headed back to Brisbane the quick way. After loading up, we headed back to Brisbane.
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Sitting in the sweat box checking the Mille Facebook page, it looked like a lot of teams had decided to short cut due to the heat and other issues. Got an update from Phillip and Terry, and it turns out that they had both made it safely back to Brisbane and were at the Regatta Hotel. Final results were that only 15 of 31 competitors completed the entire course!
The presentation was held on Saturday night at the Regatta Hotel in Brisbane. Trophy winners for the 2017 Australian Classic Scooter Mille were:
Most Spectacular Breakdown - Phillip Julian
Phillip won Most Spectacular Breakdown for having to fix his clutch, then replace his stator plate and tyre (which had been rubbing on the clutch casing) and finally for breaking his cruciform….but still managing to limp back to Brisbane under his own steam.
The presentation was held on Saturday night at the Regatta Hotel in Brisbane. Trophy winners for the 2017 Australian Classic Scooter Mille were:
Most Spectacular Breakdown - Phillip Julian
Phillip won Most Spectacular Breakdown for having to fix his clutch, then replace his stator plate and tyre (which had been rubbing on the clutch casing) and finally for breaking his cruciform….but still managing to limp back to Brisbane under his own steam.
Best & Fairest - Beth Massey
Beth won Best & Fairest for learning how to ride a sidecar outfit so that her partner Rolf Graunke could still also take part in the event, albeit in the chair (he’d had a crash on his scooter some months before and still had wires holding his kneecap together).
Beth won Best & Fairest for learning how to ride a sidecar outfit so that her partner Rolf Graunke could still also take part in the event, albeit in the chair (he’d had a crash on his scooter some months before and still had wires holding his kneecap together).
Winner on handicap - Steven Ramsden
Other honourable mentions went to:
See you all in New South Wales for next one….
Sean Heffernan
- Christiaan Liebenow, for coming over from New Zealand to compete on a borrowed scooter (thanks to Ian Brill) and taking line honours.
- David Atkinson, for not only riding up from Melbourne and back (3,300 kilometres), but also celebrating his 70th birthday during the event.
- Janine McGinness, for finishing the event despite suffering from a slipped disc.
- Team BDC (Robert McClelland, Declan Magee and Chris Hodge) for managing to go to Ipswich not once, but 3 times…and it wasn’t even on the route!
See you all in New South Wales for next one….
Sean Heffernan
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