It is our great pleasure to announce that the Vincent Owners Club of Tasmania will be hosting the National Vincent Rally from Saturday 15th to Wednesday 26th February 2025. In an effort to optimise the riding conditions and provide the best experience for all participants, we have selected February as the most favourable time to hold the rally in Tasmania. The last rally was held in South Australia in October 2022. This will mean the Tasmanian rally will be around 28 months since the previous National Rally.

After the success of our inaugural Tasmanian Vincent rally, we will be having a similar format of riding around our beautiful island state on the best motorcycle roads in the world. There will be one change though. Following feedback from a few riders, we have decided to split the rally into two parts. The first being a three-day hub rally comprising rides around the Northwest Coast area. This area has some of the State's best roads with very little traffic. For anyone not able to commit to the entire rally this will still give them the opportunity to participate in the rally without needing to do the full lap around the state. We will hold a rally dinner after the three days to farewell any riders who will be leaving us after the first part is completed.

 

The second part will then continue around the state in an anti-clockwise direction. We have tried to vary the roads compared to the previous rally as much as we can, so you aren't doing the same roads each time you come to Tasmania. This will be a further nine days including two rest days that will also have optional rides. For those not wanting to ride on the rest days there will be other attractions you can visit or simply rest or do some maintenance on your bike. We will have some organised lunches and dinners and other times where you can make your own arrangements.

After the first three days riding the beautiful roads around the Northwest coast we will head to Strahan on the rugged West Coast of Tasmania. The West Coast is home to mining, fishing, salmon farming and tourism. On the day after we arrive you can either visit one of the many attractions on the West Coast including a scenic tour of Macquarie Harbour visiting Sarah Island, the home to the first and harshest of Tasmania's convict settlements as well as visiting the Gordon River, a truly beautiful river in Tasmania's famous Southwest World Heritage Wilderness area. One of the other major attractions, the West Coast Wilderness Railway, was originally built by the Mount Lyell Mining Company to bring copper ore from Queenstown to the port of Strahan. Due to the rugged and steep countryside, it used an ingenious Abt system for pulling the train through the steeper parts of the journey. There will also be an optional ride around some of the fantastic roads we have on our West coast.

From Strahan we are travelling to Hobart. You will be travelling on great winding roads with little traffic. At Derwent Bridge you will have the opportunity to see the 'Wall in the Wilderness'. This is a world class attraction with fantastic Huon pine carvings depicting early European settlement in Tasmania's rugged West Coast.

 

In Hobart, where we will have a rest day or an optional ride. There are many attractions to see, including MONA (Museum of Old and New Art). This is not your typical museum! If you aren't into art and unusual exhibits you will be impressed by the architecture, as most of it is built under the ground. It has been named as the best private museum in the world. You can access it by ferry on the Derwent River, catch a bus or ride your bike there. The Salamanca Market is held every Saturday so you will get a chance to visit this. There are many stalls displaying wares made in Tasmania as well as great food and beverages. There will also be an optional ride which, weather permitting, will take us up Mt Wellington and then around the scenic roads of the Dentrecasteaux Channel and a visit to Peter Bender's motorcycle collection.

 

Leaving Hobart, we head to Richmond and then take some back roads towards the centre of the state to Oatlands. We will visit the Callington Mill whisky distillery, where we will have lunch, a tour of the distillery and a small whisky tasting. From Oatlands we head over to the East Coast where we will stay near Orford. From Orford we will head up the East Coast, taking the Lake Leake road back to Campbell Town in Tasmania's Midlands and then ride through the Fingal Valley and St Marys back to the East Coast staying in the beautiful East Coast town of St Helens. There are beautiful beaches around St Helens including Binalong Bay and the Bay of Fires. These beaches have beautiful white sand and the water at this time of the year will be great for swimming.

From St Helens, we head for Scottsdale and down the Sidling; a fantastic hilly, winding road that takes us towards Launceston. We will skirt around Launceston though and head towards our next stopover at Grindelwald in the West Tamar Valley.

 

From Grindelwald, we then take the most indirect route possible back to Devonport where we first started. We will have a farewell dinner that night to say goodbye to our old friends as well as the new friends we will have made along the way.

 

As this is a National rally, we will keep the registrations open as long as possible and will not restrict numbers. However, due to the increased demand for accommodation in Tasmania we urge you to get your registrations in as soon as possible. Anyone using the Spirit of Tasmania are also urged to book well in advance. While we will have to make final decisions well in advance on the itinerary for the rally and accommodation, anyone booking late runs the risk of not getting accommodation where the rest of the rally participants will be staying, and you may have to stay at the next destination or in the nearest town to the rest of us. These types of rallies are difficult to organise and must be organised well in advance due to needing accommodation in multiple locations. Although we don't want to turn anyone away, the earlier we know the numbers the more likely we can have everyone staying in the same location. As such, we urge you to put your registrations in by the end of February 2024 as this will be when we will be putting out the accommodation schedule. Going by past experience, accommodation will fill up fast at this point, even though it will be nearly twelve months to the start of the rally by then. In some towns our group will be taking 100% of the rooms available in that town.

As we draw closer to this spectacular event, we are eagerly anticipating the gathering of Vincent enthusiasts from across the country to celebrate our shared passion for these iconic motorcycles. The Vincent Owners Club of Tasmania is dedicated to ensuring that the National Vincent Rally in 2025 will be an extraordinary and unforgettable experience for all attendees.

                        If you want to join the rally you can enter by clicking on this link. National Vincent Rally Entry Form

                 We look forward to seeing you all in Tasmania in February 2025 and to hosting our first National Rally