A suggestion was put forward by Malcolm Ebel, the founder of  Team AIM to get a team together for the Victorian 6 hour in support of their event, in consideration of the fact that they always support the South Australian event.

We were able to get five drivers consisting of Malcolm Ebel, Andrew Ebel, Julie Crafter, Sam Schmidt and Andrew Scadding to run their Alfetta GTV’s and, of course, Malcolm’s GT with Grant Pigot eager to continue being Team Manager.

Due to Grant’s work commitments, this was unable to eventuate and we were fortunate enough that long time Scuderia Alfa member, Jim Strattman, who had volunteered to assist us, happily accepted the challenge of managing our team in Grant’s absence.

So with the enlistment of Chris Schmidt, Gerald Marsson, Lucy Crafter and Marlene Scadding as helpers, our team was set for the challenge!

While we made it a two day trip with a stopover in Swan Hill, the others went in convoy driving non stop on the Friday.  We were able to access the track on Friday afternoon between 3.00pm and 5.00pm to unload into our allotted team shed which we shared with Brad Wilson and Team Alfa NSW.

This alleviated the congestion on Saturday as there were 42 teams participating.  Simply awesome.

We all brought dinner to share in the recreation room at the caravan park on Friday night and planned our weekend strategy.

Saturday morning was an early 7.00am start.  Lots to do setting up Camp AIM with 200 cars to scrutineer before six practice sessions, 45 minutes duration, throughout the day.  The girls were happy to find out no chairs, tables or umbrellas allowed on pit wall and endured step aerobics for two days from a ledge on pit wall every time they displayed the pit board!!! Fortunately Julie Crafter brought a t.v. so we could access the official lap timing.

Saturday evening a dinner was organised at the Benalla Art Gallery with 85 Alfa members from three states attending.  A great chance to catch up with everybody and talk cars……mmmm.

Sunday morning endured another 7.00am start and we couldn’t have ordered better weather.  With the start looming at 10.30am and all in readiness for a formation lap behind the safety car, we were able to get great footage of 42 cars on the grid with hearts pumping and testosterone levels high – it was a site to behold.

We had 100% reliability – no mechanical issues and drivers trying to familiarise themselves with a different track.  It was difficult to get into a rhythm with so much traffic, you had to watch your mirrors constantly.  Each driver found it easier to get into a rhythm on their second stint and things went well until ten minutes before the finish, when Murphy struck, oops it was a Porsche that cleaned up Malcolm’s front right corner when the rear end became loose.  There was a mad scramble for

Andrew Scadding to drive the last two laps.  So that ended the event on a sour note, considering the weekend went so well – finishing 28^th, but we have learnt a lot about the Winton 6 hour and perhaps a better result next time.

A special thanks to Neil Choi and AROCA Victoria, Benalla Auto Club for scrutineering headed by Bruno Colautti from AROCA, Doug Gould, Clerk of Course, flaggies, fire marshalls and all the other marvellous volunteers who organised dinners, raffles etc.

After the event Sunday evening, our team gathered again in the camp kitchen for pizzas, drinks and a review of on-board footage, videos and story telling.

The convoy headed home Monday to get ready for the final round at Mallala the next weekend.

A big thank you to all the team – a job well done….

ANDREW & MARLENE SCADDING