Vintage car aficionado Graham Crittenden recreates the 1918 run from Brisbane to Toowoomba

GRAHAM Crittenden used his 1912 Overland racing car “Old Whitey’’ to recreate the record-breaking run from Brisbane to Toowoomba set 100 years ago.

Graham Crittenden and his wife Marjorie in 2016 with their 1912 Overland racing car known as “Old Whitey’’. Picture: Regi Varghese

IT was exactly 100 years ago that Fred Eager set a new record for the quickest drive from Brisbane to Toowoomba, clocking in at 2hr7min30sec.

Kingaroy-based vintage car aficionado Graham Crittenden and his son Paul recreated the drive yesterday, using the same vehicle and leaving from the CBD at precisely the same time, 9:35am.

Would you believe it took them longer to make the run?

Yep, they knocked off the trip in 2hr37min50sec after a few stops along the way, including one with the Vintage Car Club at Goodna.

Crittenden acquired the 1912 Overland racing car known as “Old Whitey’’ more than 50 years ago and he’s been painstakingly restoring it in his workshop ever since.

Detail matters, of course, and Crittenden was so focused on historical accuracy that he went to the trouble of sourcing the correct wheels for that model, as well as a brass radiator.

Eager, who was part of the AP Eagers clan still immersed in the auto game, left the Treasury building on Queen Street carrying a sealed watch by Hardy Brothers to time the trip to the Toowoomba Post Office.

With the pedestrian mall making a recreation impossible, Crittenden departed instead from the William Street entrance of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, which sponsored the re-enactment.

But he also took a sealed watch to record the time. And he sure looked the part too, donning a cap, goggles and driving coat for the journey.

DESTINATION REACHED

SHE’S been variously dubbed GPS Girl or Dashboard Diva, dispensing directions and letting drivers know they have reached their destination.

She can be heard in public spaces, from cruise ships to airport elevators.

She’s the woman with the calming voice on iPhones and iPads known around the world as Siri.

But Mackay native Karen Jacobsen revealed yesterday that she recorded all the material in 2002 and it wasn’t until 2011 that Apple decided to use her voice as the basis for its interactive audio system.

Incredibly, it turns out that Jacobsen never struck a deal directly with Apple for what may well be the best-known voice on the planet.

She was in Brisbane yesterday to talk about “recalculating’’ life with a small gathering of bizoids at Urbane restaurant under the auspices of Michael Johnson’s East Coast Forum.

Jacobsen, who now lives in New York City and has carved out a successful career as an entertainer and motivational speaker, said she still can’t quite believe that her voice is literally everywhere.

“It’s quite unreal,’’ she confessed.

OFF TO CANADA

WHO knew that Australia has a world champion swim team of people with Down syndrome?

Well, we do and they fly out of Brisbane next Friday bound for Canada to take part in the ninth such global swimming competition.

The trip was made possible only after Brisbane office park developer Bill Henderson wrote a cheque for $70,000 recently to pick up nearly the entire cost of sending our 20-strong team to compete.

“The families of these swimmers have been trying for years to get some corporate or government sponsorship to assist in the huge expense of competing at world events,’’ organiser Helen Dixon told your diarist.

“Apart from family and friends we get no financial assistance, despite the fact our swimmers train as hard as any other swimmer on an Australian team.’’

Henderson, the boss of OPD Developers, said yesterday he was glad to help out and his efforts paled next to the efforts put in by the team and their assistants.