MBCNSW Mystery Drive to Berry
Today I joined MBCNSW members for a drive through the Southern Highlands to Berry. The drive was billed as a mystery drive, with the route only being revealed the night before. The drive started at Pheasants Nest, a service station just south of Sydney. The weather was quite rainy, so I bought my 560SEL. Its my most modern car and I like having ABS brakes for drives in this sort of weather. The W126 is very stable in the wet too.
Due to the weather, the cars on the drive tended more to the newer models, but a few classics braved the rain and fog. A 560SEC, a 450SLC which is basically a clone of mine except for the blue interior, a 190E 2.6 and an A124. I saw my first R129 on classic rego. It makes sense, as the first three models years are now eligible, but I still think of this car as much newer! There was a good selection of modern Mercedes including three W211s, AMG GT, SLK, new ML and more.
The route took us off the motorway at Bargo and we took the back roads down towards Kiama. A big part of the drive was on tourist route 9, which has great scenery. There are some good winding sectionds down towards Kiama too. I would like to do this drive again in better weather as the road conditions make sure we had to take things very easily. I experienced a bit of brake fade on the 560SEL near the bottom, so I want to check the hoses, fluid and also the brake pads currently installed. I’m pretty sure they are low dust models and very hard. I don’t think they have the stopping power of the OEM pads.
We stopped for a quick break at the Robertson pie shop and then for lunch at a pub in Berry. The drive back up the A1/M1 was interesting. There was really thick fog, reminiscent of another club drive I did a couple of years ago. On the way back, we were obviously no longer in convoy as people left lunch as they finished. Amazingly, none of the other cars on the road seemed to know how to operate their fog lights. Many cars ran their hazards which is an alternative, but there were cars fitted with proper front and rear fog lights not using them. A proper rear fog light is much brighter than the hazards.
Despite the bad weather, the MBCNSW Mystery drive was a really enjoyable drive, and one I would do again.
