MightyBoys vs The Mountain
Bathurst Cruise 2024
After a drought of interstate MightyBoy meets lasting more than a decade, it was time to rally the troops and assemble at Australia's motorsport mecha: Mount Panorama in Bathurst.
With the basic details locked in and the Facebook event created and shared, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. As the date drew closer a bit of a buzz starting building, and as we crept over a dozen confirmed I was optimistic that we might get a decent turnout.
I was surprised to see interest from as far afield as Melbourne, Swan Hill, Brisbane and even Moranbah in north Queensland!
Although the event was scheduled for Saturday 12 September, the pilgrimage began early for owners who were coming from interstate, with some heading off as early as Thursday to get to Bathurst on time.
'MightyBoys vs the Mountain – Bathurst Cruise 2024'
by Brayden
27 September 2024
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Saturday started with a cruise from Sydney for those who had come from further up north. This was organised by Chris, one of our long-time members. He took the group on a scenic route from Richmond through the Blue Mountains via Bells Line of Road.
Coincidentally there was a truck show on near the meet point, and Scott took the opportunity to show up early and found a couple of MightyBoys amongst the big rigs. Although none of them would join us in Bathurst it was great to see some love for the little utes on display.
The drive from Sydney took in a few planned stopovers, including Bellbird Lookout and the Zig Zag Railway near Lithgow, before moving on to meet the rest of the crew in Bathurst for lunch.
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Slowly but surely the boys arrived at the meet point in Bathurst. As the numbers grew we realised that this would be the most MightyBoys gathered in one place since the Albury Cruise in 2010. We ended up with a total count of ten utes (excluding the two that only made it to the Sydney meeting point) plus a Suzuki Carry to complete the convoy.
As we waited for a few latecomers to show up, we were surprised by a visit from the local Channel 7 news. Apparently the event had been promoted by the regional tourism board, and so they showed up to give it some TV coverage.
Despite being caught off guard by the attention, Chris and I volunteered to front the camera for interviews. We did our best to talk MightyBoys and not look like complete idiots. You can be the judge of how well we did by watching the video for yourself.
With our Hollywood moment behind us, we saddled up and headed towards Mount Panorama.
We had arrived in town only a few weeks out from the annual Bathurst 1000 race, and preparations at the circuit were well underway. This meant an audience of bemused workers, locals and tourists looking on as we made our way past the start line and up Mountain Straight for the first time. The chorus of buzzing three cylinder engines echoed across the hillside, punctuated by the VERY loud screamer pipe of one turbo rotary-powered MightyBoy in the pack.
There were many jokes in the lead up to the event about whether everyone would make it up the surprisingly steep climb to the top of the mountain, but I am happy to say that nobody was left behind. After completing a full lap we paused at a few spots for some pics, followed by a few more laps to make sure we got the most out of the experience.
From there we made our way down for a look inside the National Motorsport Museum – which for some reason was sadly lacking in MightyBoys, a vehicle known the world over for its racing pedigree. I have written a sternly worded email to the curator regarding this oversight.
After browsing the exhibits and learning a bit about non-Suzuki racing cars, we took a break before dinner. This gap in the schedule was of course used by some to sneak in a few more laps, for research and development purposes.
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For the early risers, Sunday began in darkness back on the mountain, to take advantage of that golden hour glow for some photos at iconic locations on the circuit.
While I didn't join in the pre-dawn shenanigans, I could hear the quite distinct sounds of MightyBoys zipping around the circuit like angry wasps from my hotel room on Conrod Straight.
Next stop on the tour was a local coffee shop, nestled in amongst some beautiful old commercial buildings and warehouses. Thanks to a 7k marathon, street parking was a problem. Thankfully some keen eyes spotted a small carpark down a nearby alleyway with just enough space to assemble our utes.
We took full advantage of the warm morning sun to fuel up on coffee and have a bit of a chinwag.
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The final adventure of the weekend was a drive out through the backroads to Chifley Dam.
We set off south into farming country, and it wasn't long before it became a game of dodge the pothole as the roads became littered with ruts and bad patch jobs. These are the risks you take on untested roads, and mercifully after about 20 minutes we arrived at the dam unscathed.
At dinner the previous night, Ashley volunteered to put on morning tea for the group. After all, if you've towed a trailer fitted with a barbecue all the way from Brisbane you might as well put it to good use! So he set to work getting the plate fired up for some sausage and onion rolls. (With thanks to Scott for the knife!)
By this stage the wind had started blowing a small gale, so after a few more stories and photos we decided to call it quite and head back into town to wrap up the weekend.
As we gathered in Bathurst to say our goodbyes I couldn't help feel a deep sense of appreciation for every single person who made the effort to come along for the weekend. I was honestly blown away that owners would take the time to drive hundreds (or thousands) of kilometres to meet up for what was really not planned as a big event.
The fact that everyone who showed up seemed excited just to be part of the weekend tells me everything I need to know about this community. You're a bunch of legends.
I am humbled by the support and hope that the success of this meet will help encourage others to give it a go. If you do, I'll do my best to make sure that your event is also one to remember.
