until we gather in North East Victoria
There’s a simple joy in a car you love, and in sharing it with people who get it. Come and gather for a relaxed autumn weekend in North East Victoria.
You’re invited
A weekend for car people. Come for the cars, stay for the company, and enjoy three easy days of driving, sharing and good food among friends.
Whether you’ve owned your car for forty years or just picked up your first, whether it’s concours or cheerfully imperfect, you belong here. There’s nothing to prove and nobody to beat, just the simple pleasure of the cars we love, enjoyed together.
Bring the family, bring the car, and settle in to one of the most enjoyable regions in the country as it turns to autumn.
Presented by the Fiat Car Club of Victoria, this is the first Fiat Group brand vehicle Grand Gathering in Australia, and it also celebrates the club’s 70th anniversary.
It was created to bring Fiat enthusiasts together and help the community grow, here in Australasia and across the wider Fiat Group family.
The invitation goes out to the Fiat car clubs of Australia, to all Fiat Group brand enthusiast groups, and to all Italian car clubs of Australia.
No competition experience needed — all makes, all eras and everyone who enjoys a good car are welcomeWhat the weekend holds
The heart of the Grand Gathering is time spent together, on great roads and around good tables. Here’s the kind of weekend to look forward to.
Friday’s Social Drive Tour leaves Wangaratta at 9am and stops at Winton Raceway at midday for parade laps of the circuit and a catered lunch in the On Track Function Room, then rolls on at 2pm and winds back to Wangaratta by 4pm. Lunch is for Social Drive participants, $15 for adults and $10 for children under 12, booked and paid for on this website when entries open.
Saturday offers a choice of two drives. Option one meets for coffee in Wangaratta at 9:30am and departs at 10:30am for Glenrowan and a visit to Brown Brothers, back in Wangaratta by 4pm. Option two is a longer run into the High Country with a stop at the Stoewer Museum and a lunch stop, finishing back in Wangaratta by 4pm. Any car, any era, everyone welcome.
The perfect, easy way to kick things off. Arrive, grab a drink and a bite, and put faces to names as everyone rolls into town for the weekend.
No formality, no fuss, just like-minded people getting together and swapping stories before the fun really begins. It is a catered barbecue, $20 for adults and $10 for children under 12, booked and paid for on this website when entries open. Held in Wangaratta, with the venue to be confirmed.
Each evening the group comes together over a shared meal, the warm, informal centre of the weekend where the real conversations happen.
Saturday’s Event Celebration Dinner runs from 6pm to 11:30pm at the Wangaratta Performing Arts and Convention Centre, Memorial Hall Room, on the corner of Ford and Ovens Streets. The two course menu is served alternately, $75 for adults and $25 for children under 12, with drinks at your own cost by cash or card. Book online here when entries open.
Sunday’s Informal Get together Dinner rounds the weekend off, at your own cost, with the venue to be advised.
Cars of every era and make, side by side, from tiny classics and sports cars to modern hot hatches. Bring yours along or simply come and admire the field.
It’s a highlight of the weekend: a relaxed morning of open bonnets, good stories and a shared love of a good car. It runs at Apex Park, Wangaratta, from 9am to 1pm, and all cars are welcome.
There are no outright positions and no vehicle classes, just People’s Choice and Specialty Awards. Catered egg and bacon rolls are $12 a head for adults and children, booked and paid for on this website when entries open, and there is a coffee van on site at your own cost.
Take in the rich history of North East Victoria, gold-rush towns, grand old streetscapes and the stories of the region, at an easy, enjoyable pace.
A gentle, interesting way to round out the weekend and see a little more of this beautiful part of the country. It departs Apex Park at 1pm, straight after the Show n Shine, and returns to Wangaratta by 3pm, with afternoon tea on the way at your own cost.
For those who enjoy it, there’s a Track Day on Friday and a Skid Pan session on Saturday morning at Winton Motor Raceway, a chance to stretch your car’s legs in good company.
Both are completely optional and open to newcomers as well as experienced drivers. Each entrant needs a Motorsport Australia Speed licence, and a day licence can be issued at the event if you do not hold one. Come and have a go, or simply cheer from the sidelines.
The setting
Based in Wangaratta on the Ovens River, the Grand Gathering sits in one of Australia’s most rewarding driving regions. In April the vineyards and avenues turn gold and russet, the days are crisp and clear, and the roads through the High Country are at their very best.
It’s wine country and food country, threaded with quiet back roads, historic towns and mountain views, exactly the kind of place you want to point the car and simply enjoy the drive.
About 2.5 hours from Melbourne and 1 hour from Albury, just off the Hume Freeway, with rail and a regional airport nearby.
The weekend at a glance
Three easy days, built around drives, displays and dinners. Timings are indicative and will be confirmed closer to the event.
Items marked Track are optional track activities at Winton, there for those who’d like them. Both require a Motorsport Australia Speed licence, which can be issued at the event. The Skid Pan runs with no outright positions, no vehicle classes and no awards. Everything else is simply about enjoying the cars, the roads and the company.
Where to stay
A range of places within a few minutes of town. Book direct and identify yourself as Fiat Club, and book early, as a couple of venues are holding group rooms only until 31 October 2026.
Motel
3.5-star motel on Parfitt Road, a short drive from central Wangaratta. Around 26 ground-floor rooms from Executive Queen, King and Twin to family rooms, spa suites and self-contained units.
Group rooms held for the Gathering until 31 October 2026, so book early.
Good trailer parking available.
55–59 Parfitt Road, Wangaratta · Toll free 1800 355 207
Holiday Park
Riverside cabin & caravan park on the Ovens River, about a 300 m footbridge walk to the Wangaratta CBD. Cabins from budget to premium (sleeping up to 6), plus powered and unpowered sites.
Fiat group booking held until 31 October 2026, so book early.
Good trailer parking available.
2 Pinkerton Crescent, Wangaratta · prices are a guide, confirm on booking
Motel
Central motel about 200 m from the town centre, opposite Merriwa Park. Standard & Deluxe Queen, Twin, family suites and spa suites, all air-conditioned.
55 Ryley Street, Wangaratta · prices are a guide, confirm on booking
Motel & Apartments
4-star motel & serviced apartments in landscaped gardens, about 500 m from the town centre. Park-view rooms plus 1 & 2-bedroom apartments; secure bike storage.
56 Ryley Street, Wangaratta · prices are a guide, confirm on booking
Serviced Apartments
Modern serviced apartments in the centre of town. Self-contained studio through three-bedroom apartments with kitchens (and laundry in most), handy for a weekend or longer stay.
12 Docker Street, Wangaratta · prices are a guide, confirm on booking
Hotel
4.5-star family-owned hotel on Ryley Street, an easy walk to central Wangaratta. Spacious Queen, King and Family suites plus townhouse-style apartments, with a signature restaurant and bar on site.
29–37 Ryley Street, Wangaratta · prices are a guide, confirm on booking
For those who like to get out on track
There’s a real sporting heritage behind these cars, and it has a proper home at the Grand Gathering. A Track Day on Friday and a Skid Pan session on Saturday morning run at Winton Motor Raceway for those who enjoy getting out on track. Both are entirely optional and open to newcomers as well as experienced drivers, and both require a Motorsport Australia Speed licence and a vehicle safety check.
The track activities run at Winton, one of Australia’s best-known regional circuits, in Victoria’s High Country about half an hour from Wangaratta. Opened in 1961 by the Benalla Auto Club, it’s a tight, twisty layout famous for close, friendly racing, hosting everything from national rounds to club sprints and motorkhanas.
📍 ~31 km · about 26 min by road from Wangaratta, near Benalla
Friday · 7am to 5pm
Friday is built around fifteen minute sessions on Winton’s long circuit. Every car is given a running order number and the field is split into groups, so your group heads out, runs its session and comes back in while the next group goes. After lunch the format moves to the shorter top circuit.
Every car carries a timing transponder and every lap is recorded automatically, so you can see what you did in each session and compare one against the next. There are no vehicle classes and no outright award for the day. The clock is there for you to measure yourself against, not to rank anybody.
To round the day off there is an untimed run up the front straight. Pick someone, line up alongside them, and first to the line takes it.
Saturday morning · 8am to 12pm
The skid pan is divided into two courses side by side, separated by barriers, with the same slalom laid out on each. Two cars line up in a marked start box and launch together, weave up through the flags, turn at the top and come back down, and the first one home takes it. There is no timing and no stopwatch, just you, the flags and whoever is alongside you.
It is run as a come and try track activity: no outright positions, no vehicle classes, and no awards or trophies. Come and try describes the format and the Motorsport Australia licence category, so a Speed licence and a vehicle safety check are still needed. It’s the friendliest possible introduction, and enormous fun in anything small and nimble.
It runs on Winton’s skid pan, with parking, an on-site briefing room, toilets and a coffee and snack van.
Friday and Saturday
Both track activities are run to Motorsport Australia requirements. There are two paths in, depending on whether you are already a member of a Motorsport Australia affiliated club.
If you are a member: your current club membership, a current Motorsport Australia Speed 2 competition licence, and a completed self vehicle scrutiny form brought with you to sign on. Event scrutineers then carry out a vehicle safety check after sign on.
If you are not: everything is arranged at sign on. A temporary Fiat Car Club of Victoria membership at $10, which covers all the sporting and social events across the weekend, and a Motorsport Australia Come and Try Event Speed 2 competition licence at $40. You will still need the completed self vehicle scrutiny form and the safety check.
The self vehicle scrutiny form will be available to download from this site.
Fees and ages
All fees include GST.
Friday Track Day: $250 adult, $100 junior, plus $20 per driver for a timing transponder.
Saturday Skid Pan: $65 adult, $35 junior.
Pay the $10 temporary membership once and it covers both days.
Good to know
A few of the things people ask most about the weekend. Can't see your question? Get in touch and we'll help.
It's a relaxed autumn weekend from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 April 2027, based around Wangaratta in North East Victoria.
Fiat Group enthusiasts of every model and era, from classics to the latest cars, original or modified. It's a social weekend, so friends and family are welcome to come along too.
Scenic drives on some of the region's best roads, long lunches, a Show n Shine and dinners together, plus optional track activities: a track day and a skid pan session at Winton Raceway.
Not at all. The drives are relaxed and social, and the track activities are completely optional, join in for a bit of fun or simply enjoy watching.
The optional track activities are charged separately, and all track activity fees include GST. The Friday Track Day is $250 for adults and $100 for juniors, plus $20 per driver for a timing transponder. The Saturday Skid Pan is $65 for adults and $35 for juniors. If you do not already hold a Motorsport Australia Speed licence, a day licence is $40, and temporary club membership is $10. Four catered meals are booked and paid for on the website when entries open: the Friday lunch at Winton for Social Drive participants is $15 for adults and $10 for children under 12, the Friday Welcome Function barbecue is $20 and $10, the Saturday Event Celebration Dinner is $75 and $25, and the Sunday egg and bacon rolls are $12 a head. The Sunday Informal Get together Dinner is at your own cost.
Full registrations aren't open just yet. The best thing to do now is subscribe for updates — leave your name, email and mobile and confirm the email we send you, and you'll be first to hear when registrations open and you'll get the program updates along the way. We'll also post news to our Facebook group and Instagram.
Accommodation isn't included, but there's a handy list of nearby Wangaratta hotels, motels, apartments and caravan parks on this site. April is popular in the High Country, so it's worth booking early.
Enjoy the cars, the people, the roads and the region, and if getting out on track interests you, there are optional track activities too. Subscribe for updates and we’ll keep you posted with the program and all the details.