The first international rally of Maserati cars in the Italian brand’s 103-year history stopped at the famous Woomargama station on Saturday.
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Drivers, who began their rally in Torquay on Tuesday, were treated to a breakfast in the woolshed, a tour of the property and even a Merino shearing demonstration.
Maserati Owners Club of Australia president John Grove said 45 people had registered, coming from as far as France, Hong Kong, America and of course, Italy.
“We wanted to give them the best possible experience of Australia; driving Great Ocean Road, coming up through the goldfields of Victoria, through here and the Snowy Mountains, Canberra and finishing at the Sydney Opera House on Monday,” he said.
“As someone said about Woomargama, they’ve waiting the whole trip for this, it’s what they’ve seen about Australia on TV.
“Our club started about two-and-a-half years ago.
“We approached the factory in Italy about this rally and got their support, and it’s been a full-time job since then.”
Mr Grove of Melbourne is the owner of a 1964 Maserati Mistral Spyder, one of only 14 right-hand drive cars made.
He said some of the more vintage models couldn’t join the rally due to Australia Border Force concerns about asbestos.
“We had a number of older cars coming in from overseas and customs wouldn’t let them through,” he said.
“It’s a shame, because we requested an exemption in September and they didn’t tell us until February, when the cars were a week away, that we wouldn’t be getting them.”
Despite the set-back Mr Grove was ecstatic about how the first event had run so far.
The Woomargama connection was made through station co-owner Andrew Cannon, a founding member of the Australian owners club and owner of one of 27 Maserati 150S race cars.
“Because it’s a running farm here, we don’t have visitors here very often, but on special occasions like this it’s good to showcase a bit of Australia to a great group of people,” he said.
“This is the first international rally, so it’s the sort of thing that only comes about every 10 years.”
Mr Cannon’s wife Clare is the daughter of Gordon and Margaret Darling, who bought the station in 1965.
The station, first settled in 1838, was used as a home base in 1983 by Princess Diana, Prince Charles and nine-month-old Prince William during their first Australian tour.
