Tour of the 1984 George Derrick Memorial Trial

Friday 17 March to Sunday 19 March 2023

Originally planned to happen in October 2022, the Tour route and schedule clashed with the Alpine Rally of East Gippsland and Tour needed to be postponed.

Before the 2019 Mallee Tour of the 1981 George Derrick Memorial Trial had concluded, a rough plan was hatched for the next tour of a Ross Runnalls epic car trial. This one would go to the opposite end of the state and pick up the route of one of Ross’ three Victorian High Country / Gippsland trials.

The 1984 George Derrick route was selected, due to the roads, the views, the diversity of the country visited, (did we mention the roads) plus some of the organisers having issues left unresolved from 1984! This event visited all of South Gippsland, East Gippsland and SE NSW.

There will be none of this 1980’s start at midnight business, we will be running respectable daylight hours, with evenings devoted to social activities.

The route will closely follow the 1984 original and will look a lot like this:

Friday 17 March
Following a Traralgon start it’s straight into some sandy plantation country to the SE followed by back road touring taking us further east, including the route Ross wanted to run but which was rejected by the shire council at the time. Then we enjoy a couple of nice mountain sections of over 100km between Bruthen and Orbost. Overnighting, dinner and socialising in beautiful Marlo.

Saturday 18 March
The 1984 Div 2 was an all-daylight blast on some then rarely used roads that have featured in some Alpines since. We run between Cabbage Tree Creek, to Bemm River then Cann River. Our day two will follow all of that then proceed partially into the 1984 Div 3: up Buldah Gap Rd, over the NSW border into the start of the magnificent Bondi plantation roads. The socialising that night will occur in Bombala.

Sunday 19 March
A slightly shorter day that concludes the Bondi plantation roads then transports through Delegate back into Victoria. Then follows 100km of 1984 competitive across the Errinundra Plateau with views that were not available at 3am, 39 years ago. Some may decide to head home from Orbost or join the survivors at Marlo for, yes you guessed it, dinner and socialising.

Once again this is a non-competitive tour on open roads involving other road users but none-the-less fun to drive on in a safe, sensible manner. This is a long event (1105 km) so you and your chosen vehicle will need to be capable of maintaining solid pace on gravel-based mountain roads.

We must clearly distinguish ourselves from the competitive car rallies that run in these areas. Therefore, the organisers reserve the right to refuse entry to obvious rally cars carrying significant sign writing or those with high-end competition exhausts and driveability.

The overnight stops have been selected as they offer the greatest opportunity for accommodation, however, beds are not abundant. Therefore, if you wish to secure your accommodation you should contact Tom Kaitler ASAP, who can provide you the accommodation options.

For more information, see the “Information Document” below.

Tom’s contact details: Mob: 0427 513 084. Email: tom@gasflues.com.au

Your organising team: Geoff Byron, Tom Kaitler, Robert Wilson, Gary Grealy, with abundant help from Ross Runnalls.