THE WALLABY TRACK WITH LIONEL MUSSELL

My first Australian caravanning experience was quite epic . My boss , Phil Parnell of the Moorooduc Service Station , ran a caravan hire business so we hooked one of his 12ft Globetrotters onto our little beetle and the five of us , Vi and I , Chris , Jackie and ‘ Puss ' set off for Tallangatta . Puss the cat loved travelling . He sat across my shoulders and took in all the passing scenery . When motorists overtook us , they did a doubletake when they saw that a little VW was towing the van !

Besides car repairs and caravan hiring , Phil had an agency for Whirlwind lawn mowers . Whirlwind was marketing gokarts with the same motors . We decided a go-kart would be fun and good for business , so we

formed the Mornington Peninsula Go-kart Club .

The club thrived and we raced all over Victoria until one fateful day when Murphy took a hand . I had spent time ' hotting up ' the twin motors . I fitted domed highcompression pistons and used special racing fuel . The first try-out was at a race meeting in Rosebud . The engines only ran for a few laps before overheating and burning a hole in a piston .

It looked like the end of my day but one generous person offered me his go-kart . It was a twisty track with hay bales lining the corners . I was going well , clipping the corners as tightly as possible when I cut in a bit too hard and Murphy tangled the twine on one hay bale with the front stub-axle and flipped the kart to tip me out at speed . The frame of the kart was badly damaged and so were both my hands where I had contacted the bitumen as I slid to a stop .

Although Murph may have thought this a wonderful joke , it was great for me as it led to a change in my career . As I was unable to hold spanners in my bandaged hands , Phil sent me off to call on Peninsula Garages to promote the caravan hire business . One call was at Turner Motors , and in the course of conversation I was offered a job selling cars !

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