Thread: when things get nasty...

Originally Posted by trout1105

Overconfidence and a cavilleer attitude to road saftey which was clearly displayed earlier in the Vid were the major cause of this accident.

I was going to make that point in the comments section of the vid. When I saw the accident I held my tongue. No doubt they saw it as a bit of harmless fun on an empty road, but if the Police, especially the ones who attended, saw the video there could/should be charges.

Still, hopefully lessons were learnt. However, blaming the tyre seems to show that they weren't.

Hi,
Yep, I felt the speed seemed excessive for the road.
But I'm probably an over cautious old fart who likes to smell the flowers and take in the scenery rather than test the limits of friction.
Cheers

Originally Posted by austastar

Hi,
Yep, I felt the speed seemed excessive for the road.
But I'm probably an over cautious old fart who likes to smell the flowers and take in the scenery rather than test the limits of friction.
Cheers

I'm an old fart who still likes fast driving. But there's a time and a place, and the Birdsville track in a heavily laden ute/camper combo ain't it. What's the point of taking a holiday, possibly the trip of a lifetime, if all you do is rush rush rush? I spent many years watching the world pass by at 100 ks. There's no fun in that.

Originally Posted by Bearman

And I would say travelling too fast on a loose gravel road probably contributed as well. I have been on that roads a few times and some drivers think it is a racetrack and shower you with rocks as they pass. Got 3 stars in my 6x6 windscreen last time i travelled Birdsville to Bedourie.

Driving to the conditions you mean? Here's another example of why that is paramount. Tanami track, heavily laden vehicle, corrugations, and unnecessary speed due to unrealistic goals.. Skip to about 5:25 if you just want to see the results. BTW, no crash, no injuries.

How long has there been bitumen? Took a series 3 LR North to South, down the track, back in the 80's, don't remember bitumen. But we turned off at the road to Kings Canyon, went down the northern track to the canyon floor. Overloading and speed, is your enemy on tracks like that. Having said that, we were guilty of having the trailer do a 180 rollover crossing a wash out. Our bad, but just reloaded the trailer and continued on, albeit a little slower. And wiser.

Originally Posted by Tins

Driving to the conditions you mean? Here's another example of why that is paramount. Tanami track, heavily laden vehicle, corrugations, and unnecessary speed due to unrealistic goals.. Skip to about 5:25 if you just want to see the results. BTW, no crash, no injuries.

Live axle housing failures like that are pretty common for just about any vehicle used on those roads. When I lived in Alice I saw failures of Discovery 2 axles, salisbury axles, Land Cruiser axles, Patrol axles, you name it. Corrugations don't discriminate.

Originally Posted by BigJon

Corrugations don't discriminate.

100%. But modifying driving behaviour can alleviate them somewhat.

Hi,
Crawling along horrendous corrugations on the way to Cameron's Corner at less than 20kph, we were overtaken by a speeding white Bongo type van spaying gravel left, right, and center.
It must have been like the inside of a vibration roller in there.
Levitation : contact ratio must have been near 100:1.
Cheers