Western tracks trip report

[discoute]

Trip report will be posted late today monday. Steinzy has pics and Mpeg to post. All had a good run.

glen

Due to computor problems we could not post pics over the weekend, computor fixed by Steinzy on saturday night, thanks Steinzy.

[stevo68]

Am waiting on baited breath on trip report and pics, cant wait

Regards

Stevo

[discoute]

The Tracks intended for this trip were very dusty and traction has been a problem, lite rain started late friday afternoon and continued thru the night. Saturday morning there was water formed into puddles, the dust would not be a problem this weekend.

At about 9.00 am Mick G, Stienzy, Jeff and Vicky rolled in the drive, followed by Bolts and his son. After a coffee fix it was out to the workshop where it was decided to fix the frontal clearance problem on Bolts Disco. Out with the grinder and a small modification was performed while Glyn covered his eyes. At this point I decided that the single lonely spot light on steinzies P38 had to go, I just could not stand to look at anymore. At 11.15 Dave Smith and Syd King arrived in a double locked Disco and a double locked Bush Rangie.

Off to the first tracks, This area is a sandy loam terrain with loads of axle twister to play on, Something for everyone here, All of us had the same thoughs that this would make a fantastic full club day trip. There is great variation in tracks from easy to hard. This small area is about 1.5 klms with tracks running off a main track "a gazetted road". All smiles as the group tackled the axle twisters and climbs, Mick G like a kid in a lolly shop all smiles. Jeff played for a short time and noticed some stange noises from the rear diff and returned to fernvale retiring undefeated. After an hour or so we moved off to more tracks. The Bush Rangie unable to start due to a dead battery. A tow start and off we go.

Turning off the main track we came across some very challenging axle twisters. Only vehicles locked or with loads of travel drove these with some interesting Photos taken.

On the way thru the next track my Disco ute suffered and major breakage in the lower rear trailing arm, snapping at the diff end I managed to stop before anymore damage. All the group helped with ropes. race tape, rachete straps and a drag chain. Thanks guys, After some time it was secure enough to move ahead so the rest of the group could continue with a more challenging area only a hundred odd meters from the breakage spot.

Syd, Dave Smith and Mick had a ball in this spot. At one point The bush Rangie came to rest on several trees and had to be recovered by Mick. In days gone by Syd would have used the accelerator to solve the problem, But the Bush Rangie had just received new paint only a month ago. This beast has a Davies 5 ltr engine fitted and goes very well. Our own Steinzy jumped ship at this point and road shot gun with Mick, Just because I broke my truck. tisk tisk , Mick G has the TD5 going very well, It's power is better that most good V8s. Glyns Disco had no problems with front clearance but did rearrange the rear bar some what. All in all damage was to a minimum, Everyone managed to tackle tracks that would normally be by passed. My Disco was driven very slowly to the bitumen road and parked till we returned later that night with a new arm, Advantages of being a rover workshop "plenty of spares" The problem with the arm is on the diff locating bracket, the arm twists down and engages the bracket hence the break at this point, With 16" of bump stop travel this bracket will need to be trimed out to allow full unrestricted movement. Check your own vehicle if it has over standard down travel.

Moving home we left Syd King to travel home to brissie with the rest of us returning to Fernvale. Thanks for the lift Mick. The lite rain that had fallen all day had become a bit heavier.

At home we had an easy meal and set out for the night run, Mick G with Jeff as passanger and Camo with Zoe. A quick fix on my disco and we were heading to another area for this run. The terrain is red dirt and large Rock. The first obsticle to slippery to drive, this area had received more rain than where we were during the day. The next Obsticle was a steep climp with very large rock ledges in several ares beyond the half way mark. This proved impossible, after several attemps with engine revs at maximum we move to another climb.

This climb is around 12 mtrs high badly washed out and steep. I have tried to beat this climb several times and not driven it without diff locks, tonight was to be no different, Camo moved into the bottom and had a half hearted go, He is in the his rangie with all new suspension and nissan diffs and has only had a few minutes of driving it in this form. The second attempt saw the rangie stall just short of the front wheels over the top. The coil lead had pulled out of the coil. After this fix Camo headed for the stars Literally with the rangie V8 singing big numbers and the front wheels between 4 and 5 foot of the ground. There is no better sound than a V8 in full flight in the dead of night. Adenalin had kicked in and Mick G was not going to miss out, He quickly moved to the bottom and played with several diffent approahes and gear selection. Micks last go was 2nd gear with the TD5 pulling out with the front wheels as high as Camo had done. Testiment to the mods Mick has made to the Diesel is pulling 2nd gear on a hill so steep that power is needed to drive it. The night was still young so we returned to the last area we at in the afternoon. The night drive finished at around midnight.

Sunday morning was showers and a feed of eggs, spegehti, Bked beans and toast. Glyn had returned home saturday evening but had returned for more sunday, So all agreed to return to the same tracks as saturday with Outlaw and Camo, Here we covered the same tracks as saturday in reverse order. there are some fantastic photos that Steinzy has taken, Steizy had the P38 today and placed the big rangie in some challenging spots with no damage to report. The good vs Evil thing was happening with Whatever you can do I can do better ahha. At one point 4 young blokes drooled over Camos rangie as he climbed a near vertical ledge after Outlaw of coarse. Outlaws defender going well with the 33 JT2tyres. Afternoon saw us return to the night run spot to drive the tracks that were to slippery on the night run. I drove the first rack gully first, this gully is about 30mtr long with large roacks and side angles and a steep climb to finish, Avery technical drive is required, wheel placement is top of the list. Mick G was next with some very interesting photos and Micks conment was "THATS THE MOST VERICAL I've BEEN. the photo does not do justice to the terrian and vehicle position. Camo was next with the coil lead problem agian, this was due to a broken engine mount. the next was back to the last hill of the night run with No driver being able to beat the hill in day light.

Thanks to the crew for a great weekend and great mateship. this is what it's all about.


glen

Rock on to August G4 run.

[stevo68]

Great read Glen, wish I could have made it, next time , now where are the pics??

Regards'

Stevo

[MickG]

Great read Glen, looking forward to the pics and footage!!

[LoadedDisco]

Good detailed report Glen, the trip would have been an eye opener.

[Camo]

Zoe and I had a fantastic weekend.. Thanks for the hospitality Glen and Annette. Also I'm stoked at how well my rangie goes as its more than I hoped for

We can't wait for the next trip and hopefully Zoe lets me drive a little more next time

[Outlaw]

Hey Camo... i know of a guy who has a Series 3 hybrid for sale... is in kit form and needs an engine but could be a good project for Zoe to have her own vehicle

Oh I also know a guy who could put it together for you and probably has an engine sitting around that'd work

[MickG]

Yeah cracking weekend Glen. A big thanks to you, Annette and the family for putting us up and feeding us for the weekend........great drum kit also!!!
Super impressed with Camo's rangie also and will look at getting mine in for some bar work soon once I come into a few more $$......still thinking some tube work up front and painting all bar work G4 orange, as it would look tops against the Epsom GreenI think Going to have to confine my car to play only soon as it is morphing into a mongrel of a Disco quickly

Looking forward to the next trip and I may even look at organising a couple of day trips out your way again soon as it is only an hour or so to get there.

Aye, Mick

[Outlaw]

Okay here's a couple little movie clips till i get hold of some more.

And pics be up shortly

http://www.visioncentral.org/aulro/Outlaw.swf
http://www.visioncentral.org/aulro/Camo.swf