2019 saw the celebration of the 90th anniversary of the Mt Tarrengower hill-climb.  

However, like lots of other planned activities, there was no hill-climb event held in 2020 due to COVID-19. And again in 2021, with COVID active in our communities, the Committee of the Historic Motorcycle Racing Association of Victoria (HMRAV) in conjunction with the Bendigo Car Club, has determined that the correct course of action is, to again, postpone next weekend’s event until 2022. It is with significant regret that the HMRAV Committee takes this opportunity to let our hosts and the community of Maldon, know we will not be enjoying their warm welcome this year.

There are not very many combined car and motorcycle events in the Australian historic events calendar. This combination contributes to making the Mt Tarrengower hill-climb a unique event and one of the oldest such events in Australia.  

Except for a previous short break, motorcycles have been doing time-trials on Mt Tarrengower since 1982 when just six bikes and three motorcycle sidecars were entered. The number has since increased until a cap of 130 solos and outfit entries was introduced in 2018. The event was so popular in 2019 that capacity was reached within a week of entries being opened.  

While motorcycles have not originally been involved in the hill-climb, the motorcycle component is now one of the ‘must do’ events on the HMRAV calendar.

The original time-trial was held on a dirt road, which is now a fire track and which can be seen from the present day carpark.  

Today the course is the bitumen road up to the Mt Tarrengower lookout. It is 1.5 kms long from the start line, located at the base of Mt. Tarrengower, and finishes just short of the lookout where the vehicles wait at a designated event ‘carpark’ before being escorted back to the pit area.  

Recent years have seen the introduction of a chicane on the long sweeping right hand corner to control speed on the course. In the year after the introduction of the chicane, the chicane was further tightened and then finally replaced in 2019 by the installation of an Armco barrier.  

A regular competitor and past winner of the event, Mike Panayi, fondly recalls riding his bright yellow 1961 750cc Norton Manxman ‘Elly May’. In 2019, Mike was again named King of the Mountain with a time of 44.9 seconds. The fastest outfit in 2019 was powered by a 1972 750cc Norton and ridden by husband and wife team of Brian and Leanne March who completed the course in a time of 58.9 seconds.

Not every competitor is as fast as Mike Panayi, however, Dave Reidie attracted huge attention riding a 1929 1200cc FDH Harley Davidson in 2019. Dave is a regular at this event and in 2018 rode a very rare and collectable American Crocker motorcycle he had restored himself.  

Another regular, Wayne Donahue, regularly rides his stock 1971 Norton Commando. Wayne has been known to ride to the event, strip the bike of lights and indicators, add a race number, compete and then put it all back for the ride home. Wayne has been quoted as saying that this is just ‘how it was done in the old days!’. The age cut off for motorcycles is 1972, resulting in the majority of participants riding British or American machines, with very few early Japanese bikes in the mix. An example was Ben James recording a 2019 time of 55.4 seconds on his 1970 250cc Suzuki.

Originally, crews attending the event, camped in the area adjacent to the dirt road leading to the start line. The ever increasing popularity of the hill-climb meant that a camping ground was required and this was organised in recent years, providing space for motorcycles on one side of the lookout road and separate space for the cars on the other.  

While the time-trial is the catalyst that brings the participants together, many make this a long weekend get-together and an opportunity to enjoy the historic Maldon area.  

The historic racing community is something special with everyone helping out, whether its fixing broken machines, sourcing and ‘lending’ parts for repair or simply getting together for a ‘yarn’. The members of the HMRAV and the Bendigo Car Club, their families and friends enjoy and appreciate the warm support and the welcome they receive from the community of Maldon and they look forward to sharing that long missed yarn in 2022.

This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 15 October 2021.