Sydney-Melbourne Driving tips...

To get to Avalon you will not get one set of lights, there is a new entry to Melbourne( be careful of the fixed cameras and the nice new cars 4x4s parked by the side of the road with well hidden cameras), the Hume runs you straight onto the Western Ring rd follow it all the way to the princess hwy and follow the signs to avalon no traffic lights no intercetions other than the merges from one FREEway to another BUT there are fixed speed cameras hidden behind bridges and overhead signs on most of the trip in metro melb.Also there are fixed cameras on the road to Geelong/Avalon that not only get you for speeding but can get you for an average speed above the limit!!! These operate from the Westgate to Geelong. Safe travel, see if you can get a portable UHF CB, channel 40 will give you all you want to know from the truckies on the highway.

 

Where can I get a RADAR detector from? How much $?

 

I think they are only legally sold in WA

 

Thanks Simon - one more question, I'm driving from Avalon direct to the GP - is it advisable to park in the City @ a Parking Station (nominate one) and then hop on a special bus to Albert Park, or is there parking close to the circuit that's suitable?

 

Besides the upto $2000 fine caught with one in NSW/ACT? Or the fact police have radar dectector dectectors??

 

IM told the fine is $1000 and 9 demerit points in nsw.
As for RDD thats why the RD's are fitted with VG2 to combat this.
Taskforce cars mainly concentrate on trucks. There are only a handfull oparating in the nsw/qld area.
If the vg2 alert goes off and you are being followed by hwp or tf my drivers simply throw it out the window. Some of the smarter ones have put the radars in stubby holders to protect them from the fall.

 

Well $1175 for NSW and $2000 for ACT from the RTA websites.

Still its no sneeze and 9pts. I guess driving up n down the state everyday on a deadline is prob worth more the risk then someone driving it once a blue moon. I like how they throw them out the window haha but if the cops pick up on that isnt that a littering fine as well

 

The drivers pretty much know when they been pinged. If a car coming the opp way does a sudden U-turn in a blaze of smoke they know its a unmarked.
One driver was caught in queensland with a scrambler/laser/radar (was a rocky mountain piece of ****) and went to caught and received a $250 fine only. Normally if you give the radar up they let you on your way.
The taskforce are more interested in drivers that have had the cpu on their loggers tampered with. When the taskforce/vicroads plug their laptaps to the truck via a usb it tells them what speeds the truck has been doing, how long they have been driving for etc! There are a few computer wizz's that have played with the trucks pc that takes the speed limiter off, and sais the truck has been the correct speeds and time travel etc! The tf/vr's are none the wiser normally. But when from my understanding a truck is nationally limited to 100 kph and is then caught upto 180 kph (may be bullsh!t) They want answers as to who is tampering with the cpu's.

 

Interesting.

Soo how much for a good radar/laser detector? and do they still spit out false readings or the techology is better now?

 

I did with 3 mates in C43 AMG few years ago.. we left Melb to Syd after GP and drove through the night each taking turns, 2 awake in front to keep eye on each other and to chat while 2 in back catching zzzzzz's..

C43 flattened hills into submission and never saw one piece of wildlife and we had pretty good average speed up too.

Never got flashed with any roadside camera in the night run and we would have been moving but were very conservative on our run down which was during the day.. if mem serves cam (at least one we saw!) was on dull coloured posts near border and hidden by slight rise/falls in road so if you get hit by it it's already too late..

safe driving and have fun time there!!

Alex.

 

all this talk of fines jnxed me, $300 for a missing front number plate just in NSW @ Tweed Heads

cop didn't buy the "it must have fallen off" story

he was nice about it though and wished me a " good day"

I just said " I'm driving a Ferrari, how can it be a bad day"

 

All detectors leak,they mostly false around petrol stations (X band most times and occasionally K band) The cheap ones leak continueously and alert you once youve past the mobile speed camera.
Cost varies depending on the brand.
3 piece scramblers can cost around 1600 aud+. The police will pull apart your car to find it thou when they get a blank reading on their stalker lasers..
Normal decent radar/lasers are around the 1000 aud retail. I can get these significantly cheaper.
Stay away from Rocky mountains and cobra and early warning
These failed badly during my testing of them.

I find them more usefull for suburbs driving with the cars on the side of the road. They operate using K band and very easy to pick up using my bel or whistler.

 

I do this drive 4-5 times per year.

There is a favorite spot for the cops at Golburn where they sit under a bridge at the bottom of a hill with just their radar poking past the shurbery. I tend to find stops at Yass and another at Seymorebreak the trip well for me and give me enough fuel to get around Melbourne when I get there.

Once you get onto the new Western Ring Road the cameras are no longer marked are well hidden and in every spot they can manage to put 1.

Victoria has more stuff on the side of their freeways, but untill you are in the metro areas I'm not sure the roads are any better/worse on either side of the border.

 

In my experience, radar dectors, particularly ones not designed for
Australia's roads, will always be made redundant by judicious driving. Common sense tells me that if I have a late model Falcon, Commodore or Magna with standard content yellow number plates, 2 or more external ariels and a suspicious device mounted on the dash, following close behind me, i'm not going to exceed the speed limit.

That said, if you're the "oblivious" type then perhaps one of the high end radar devices (that you can mount behind a grill, or anywhere but the dash) may be a worthwhile investment. Still.. I don't really want truckies doing 180km/hr on any road near me.. or anyone else for that matter, ferrari or not

 

Looks clean, where are the bugs

 

How was the DVD/Porn Show ?

 

Can i see a picture of your 360 aswell please?

 

Mike360, evertime I see your avatar I feel like saying "cheers"

 

I've got a similar trip happening
Heading off to Albury tomorrow by bus! any idea how long that will take me?

 

Heh, forgot about this thread...

I did Melbourne-Sydney-Melbourne over the Easter weekend....

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jpmccabe/convention/trip/longcurve.jpg