Upper Middle Petrol Head:

The Lufra Hotel, overlooking the Tessellated Pavement on the shores of Pirates Bay at Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania, is normally a serene setting where the loudest sound is the dull boom of incoming surf.  Not so once a year, though ; each August, the state's southern-based Italian car club, Club Motori Italia (CMI), runs its annual Lufra hill-climb and the still, chilly winter's air reverberates to the sound of classic sports- and performance-cars as they vie for honours on the steep and winding road from the hotel to the scenic look-out that provides sweeping views of the majestic Tasman Peninsula, an hour or so's drive south-east of Hobart.     This year's event got off to a nippy start with a sharpish breeze and an early morning sun that failed to deliver the warmth it promised, and did little - if anything - to dry the dewy course surface, although it did cast a beautiful golden light over the bay.  But it wasn't just the lovely setting that excited th