The final WA Peugeot GTi cruise for 2003.

There were some changes from previous drives.
1. The cruise started in the afternoon. (3pm)
2. The start point had moved from South Perth to the city side of the river.
3. It was conducted entirely in the Metropolitan area.

Once again Perth proved why it's considered one of the best cities in the world to live, with a glorious sunny day.

The response was fantastic with 18 cars attending. Peugeot 206GTi x8 | 206CC x2 | 205 x3 | 405 Mi-16 x1 | 306 GTi-6 x2 | 306 Dimma x1 and a Citroen Xsara VTS.

After much bonnet lifting and photo snaps, a briefing sessions was held and everyone got some advice on the route instructions - a new concept of regroups was introduced for the cruise and they proved very effective.

So off to the first regroup at Curtin University.... because it was a weekend, the car parks are empty and make a great regroup point. A small delay leaving this regroup didn't effect the running schedule. Like most university car parks it was plagued with speedhumps, while no problem with any of the normally sprung cars the people with lowered cars needed to take it slower, something to take into consideration on future runs.

We then headed for the river ... the cruise took us along the Canning river and then part of the Swan River .. before a regroup close to Point Walter. Next on the agenda was East Fremantle and Mosman Park for the next regroup. The cars all lined up along the grass, it was an impressive site ... as we left a 307 owner trying to get around the corner was wondering "what the earth was going on" as 17 Peugeots went streaming past him. [no I couldn't stop to sticker slap him]

Heading past all the multi million $ Peppermint Grove houses before snaking our way through devils elbow and back onto the main highway. The stop point was again near the river and the carpark proved to be just big enough to fit the cars. Which couldn't be said of the next regroup point ... it was already full of cars at the top of Reabold Hill, so we didn't stop there and headed to the final destination along the beach front to watch the sun set. By this time the clouds had rolled in, but despite this we still got treated to a rose coloured sunset.

Some members stayed for dinner at the nearby Italian restaurant.

The mere 87kms took 3 hours to complete ... most of it at 50-60kph but everyone still had a great time. Very few people took wrong turns and this is either testament to the clarity of the instructions or people are getting used to the idea of tulips.

I couple of tips for the next drive ...
A). Schedule in Toilet breaks. (There were some very crossed legs at the end)
B). Schedule in mid point food stop if possible. (People liked the bakery stops of previous runs)
C). Encourage the use of 2 way UHF handheld radios.
D). Remind people a full tank of gas is good idea. (Even include a gas stop on the longer runs when possible).
E). Encourage taking a co-driver (makes navigation much much easier)

Next cruise is not planned until Feb 2004 so until then drive safe and have a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.

gc