July and August Night Drives

I’m a member of a few different car clubs (Mercedes, Jaguar, Citroen), but am rarely able to make events.   With a young family the times rarely work for me.   A lot of the time I spend either working on or driving my cars is late at night.   I figured I am not the only one in this situation, so after a poll of a few friends from the Mercedes club, we have started up a monthly night drive.

Not only is driving at night more convenient for me, but the traffic is greatly reduced, especially cyclists.   Obviously you have to be more aware, particularly of wildlife.   Many petrol stations are closed too.

The first one was in late July and the route was up the old Pacific Highway to the outskirts of Gosford.

On that inaugural drive, we had a 380SEC, a 420SEL, my 450SLC and a 280CE.   The old pacific highway is quite a twisty road and is a lot of fun even at the legal speed limit.   It was also a good run for the 420SLC with its new injectors.   That drive was pretty uneventful and we came back via the motorway.

This months night drive was around the back-roads between Dural and Wisemans Ferry.    That route is not as demanding as the Old Pacific Highway, so it was a good night to take my 250SE Cabriolet.

The weather was almost warm enough for top down motoring with the heater on, gloves and a hat.   On that drive we had a 280SE 3.5 (above) and a W211 E55 AMG, Audi S3 and CLA250.

This months was also a lot of fun, but perhaps a bit more eventful.   At the final meeting point we disturbed an amorous couple in a Ute who had to quickly get their clothes on and drive angrily away.    Secondly, on the drive back the charging light on my 250SE started to flicker on and got brighter and brighter on the way home.   After a while, I turned off the radio, but figured headlights were pretty important.

Luckily for me it was failing slowly so I was able to drive home without incident.  When I arrived back, I tested the voltages with a multi-meter.  With the engine running and headlights on I had only 11.6 volts at the battery.   With the engine and headlights off, I had 12.2.   Thankfully the 250SE does not have any sensitive ECUs etc that would not have enjoyed running with low voltage.