Since the day of the motor car there had always been competition. There's some conjecture as to the first motor car race in Victoria. One of the early events was held at Aspendale on a purpose made race track for horses which motor cars used in the early days up until the late 1930s.
Early hill climbs were conducted under the patronage of the RACV with events being held on public roads. Wheeler's Hill being one such venue was held ocassionally as was the Burgundy Street hill in Heidelberg.
Mount Tarrengower at Maldon was in operation during the 30s and still runs today. Other hill climb venues were at Mount Martha on the Mornington Peninsula, Sugarloaf at Glenroy, Terry's Hill at Belgrave, and Malpas Hill at Mt Ridley which is now covered with homes. Most of these events were then run by the Victorian Light Car Club (VLCC) which later changed its name to the more grand Light Car Club of Australia in 1932. What today is recognised the first Australian Grand Prix in 1928 at Phillip Island was run by the VLCC. It was the following year that it actually took the title of "Australian Grand Prix".
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| The beginnings of Rob Roy was formed by the friendship of the owner of Clinton's Pleasure grounds, Bill Clinton and the LCCA. |
I first became aware of Rob Roy Hillclimb when as a member of the MG Car Club we were told that our annual historic event at Templestowe Hillclimb for 1987 would be our last as the land was being subdivided as a housing estate.
A small sub-committe led by Solicitor Ian Mawson was formed to look at the possibility of buying land and establishing a venue for the club to build a hillclimb and a place for other club activities.
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| Bill Clinton in his mayrol robes as Mayor of Heidelberg. Below is the pony stud on the property on Clinton's Pleasure Grounds |
This sub-committee investigated the old unused Rob Roy site at Christmas hills in the northern hills outside Melbourne. Much of it still existed however the very starting section was totally gone. The timing box still existed although dilapidated. The property was owned by Melbourne Water and was reserved as a future catchment area.
Ian Mawson along with another member, Graeme Jackson (who happened to be a Melbourne Water employee), and Wayne Rushton formed a proposal to Melbourne Water and to the Nillumbik Shire for a ten year lease which was accepted in early 1992.
Restoration of the site began mid 1992 however the financial commitment was another issue. A second sub-committee was formed under the name of "Friends of Rob Roy" by the myself along with some very passionate club members that included Anne Arnold, Fritz Norden, Graeme Eaton, Andrew Buick as the core but several others from the MGCC club also assisted the sub-committee. Life member Kaye Thatcher and her husbandRay worked with us and Don Kinsey who was an ex radio man with a great voice and a sense of motor racing history were part of our group. There were many others that today escape my memory.
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| Around mid 1992, work began on the restoration of Rob Roy The track had been laid and work began on clearing debri. |
Friends of Rob Roy (FORR) proved to be a successful venture. The aim was to sell 500 memberships at a cost of $125 by the end of 1992. The last few memberships trickled in prior to New Year's Eve and our goal was accomplished.
The main source of members came from the MGCC, Vintage Sports Car Club of Victoria, Victorian Historic Racing Register and the soon to become defunct Light Car Club of Australia. I say soon to become defunct because the Club had just gone into receivership. In fact when I walked into the old LCCA building, they were vacating it and there were boxes littering the foyer.
This is an excerpt from the "History of Rob Roy Hillclimb".
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| With a substantial from the Vintage Sports Car Club The timing box found a new life. |
"I walked up the steps of the LCCA club rooms in Queens
Road, not far from the Albert Park circuit where this club was innovated enough to clinch
the right to run the Australian Grand Prix for several years until strong
opposition through the Sun and Herald newspaper reports cause it's demise. I
asked for the secretary of the time, Margaret Hardy and I was directed to an
office that consisted of many boxes, that had been packed with documents and
general office paraphernalia. With a few hundred leaflets and joining forms for Friends of Rob Roy under my arm, I was informed that the Light Car Club of
Australia was going into liquidation and the Club would cease operation.
What should have been a moment of joy for those who had fond memories of their old
hill was overshadowed by very sad day for a club that was a leading organiser of motor racing in this country for over 70 years. As it ended up many of the members who were now left without a club contributed to our cause and proudly attended the meetings at Rob Roy with the same enthusiasm as they did over the past years when it was controlled by the LCCA."
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| Friends of Rob Roy contributed substantail funds to achieve the dream. |
The MGCC ran its first dry-run meeting as a Club event on October 18, 1992 with Peter Beasley in his MG Midget taking Fastest Time of the Day. We ran an All British Marque two day event on November 28 & 29 in preparation for the grand opening of Rob Roy for 1993 but that's for another post soon.
The All British Day in October was a huge success with Paul Trevethan taking FTD and establishing a new (modern day) outright track record. Before the demise of Rob Roy 1961, the outright track record was held by Bill Patterson in a F1 Cooper Climax with a time of 23.89 secs. Paul lowered the record to 23.45 secs. Not bad for a V8 MGBGT.
This was all excellent preparation for what was to become our opening event - known as RETURN to ROB ROY.
To be continued soon.
The book is available on-line at
http://robroybooks.com.au/
http://robroybooks.com.au/
