Description of ride:	Ride from Melbourne to Winton, VIC
Date:	Probably Saturday 2nd May 2009
Destination:	Winton Raceway
Route: (incl meeting points/times)	8.00am meetup (destination TBA to be advised - either central Melbourne or around Bell St would be ideal) Leave soon-after.  A full tank should easily do the journey. Should arrive at Winton sometime around or after 10am.  Setup of camping and parking, and set to scope the qualifying at 11am. Return home after v8 race on Sunday.  Can be arranged to camp a second night and return on Monday if preferred.
Who's coming:	Keen:  MapleLeafs, MalFLHTCU08

Should be a nice ride, some decent travel and fine entertainment watching the big boys in the v8's trip around.  Figured it'd make a nice weekender and could stay either in Winton or a nearby town depending on availability or prices.

Thoughts?

Woohoo go Dave. Not only would it be great to see the shovel do the miles up there with a smile on its face, you can chat up a pit-girl for me

Hey, rock n roll. That makes two people other than me. I'll start some pre-planning so we have a few alternatives, probably tomorrow at work if my boss f*cks off for a few hours.

Okay then...

So tickets are pretty damn cheap - Sandown was something expensive relative to these things...

Saturday ticket price (including race one - 33 laps) = $55* (race begins at 3.30pm or so)
Sunday ticket price (featuring race two - 67 laps) = $55* (race begins at 12.30pm or so)

* But as a two-day pass, the price is just $90.

There is a slight additional charge for 'paddock access'. I haven't been before so don't know if that's recommended or not?

Staying the night!
Camping:
Saturday Night $30 Per Person

Or a choice of:

Bethel Farm - Winton
Winton Rise - Winton
Melliodora - Winton North

So it's looking like the trip, entry, a little junk food and a place to catch some zzzzzz's and even gas for the ride should be under $200.

Ideas then... equipment for such a weekend...

- Motorbike and related outerwear
- Appropriate tool bag
- Clothing - Holden apparel, wet weather gear, spare/changes
- A tent or swag of some description and sleeping bag.

I'd say just about all of this stuff should fit into one a decent size travel bag I have and without too much weight. Getting keener still. Just need a foolproof ocky-strap concoction...

[Only need the weather to hold out for our travel and overnight - and to keep up the quality of racing too...]

Not bad, Wozza. At the worst, its at least a backup plan if the Supercars are washed out for Harley riding And those chickening out of the v8's can be manly in a mid-winter trip instead hehehehehe.

I figured I need to buy a new tent, can't find the one I had since a youngster anywhere. One of those $49 "rock concert" jobs that Rays Outdoors is hawking could be happening a little closer to the date... Either that or chat up Garth Tander for some spare floor...

I'm all set gear wise, and really wanna be there. Hopefully Whincup will fail

Now just ensuring there isn't a deluge to ruin the trip - and I'll get booked up. Get your enthusiasm up, lads. They've even started tv advertising

Greg Murphy wants KiwiDave there cheering him on.

Understood, mate. I'll have to get plotting with Mal after this weekend.

Mal! Updated a time/plan for the v8's if you're freed up to take it on this weekend. See the ride description in the first post of the thread

All others welcome, naturally, should the bug hit you now the time has arrived.