OBC 2006

[teemothy]

why is tyre size such a big deal.
the entire reason for having a class is so that the vehicles conform and are evenly matched. the tyre guages should be built so that they can't be pushed and pulled to get tyres through. if the guage can't easily fit over the tyre than its too big. If we have exceptions to these rules then whats the point of having the rules. And further more, the rules should not be compromised because of event sponsorship issues, if they don't fit, they don't run...

[bogged]

jason and steph dnf on the first 2 stages, thats all i know.Wrong gears on the first and the second one was a snaped rope going over the boiler. Let us know if u find out.

thanks Mr. Will probably hear from them soon enough I hope

[turps]

why is tyre size such a big deal.
the entire reason for having a class is so that the vehicles conform and are evenly matched. the tyre guages should be built so that they can't be pushed and pulled to get tyres through. if the guage can't easily fit over the tyre than its too big. If we have exceptions to these rules then whats the point of having the rules. And further more, the rules should not be compromised because of event sponsorship issues, if they don't fit, they don't run...

I agree the rules are there for a reason.
Some competitors had there tyres passed even though they where the same size tyres on the same rims.
Cass Jones, did some miles on his before the event and his fit no worrys. Otheres did burn outs to get rid of the excess (Pete and Wazza).

Also I did hear the original guage used at scrutineering was a mill out. But was taken to an engineering firm in Broken hill where it was fixed. Then it went to a couple of otheres to confirm the measurement. And still some of the ProComps where to big.
Lastyear Norm waters had to grind abit of his BFG Krawlers.

[bad_religion_au]

If we have exceptions to these rules then whats the point of having the rules.

i think more of the problem is that some people are pouring months into the rigs, buying a tire which due to the sidewall marking is OK for the comps (spending around 2 grand on tires) to show up at broken hill and find out nup you can't compete unless you buy newies

[cebarry]

Tops yet again.....OBC 06 was unreal. GroupA....the best with Ken (Robo) our fantastic Passage Controller. I think our group collectively had the most placings all up and the outright winners ( YAY! ) also.
Huge congrats to Rohan& Wayne Car6. for 1st you guys rock!!!!, Kermit & ShaneCar48, Laurie&ShaunCar8,Greg&MarkCar29, Phil&CraigCar12 for placings on stages.....some up to 5 I think!
the rest Al & AdamCar19, Peter & JaneCar41, Tod & VerenaCar16, Boof(Paul) & ShaneCar50, Kris&MickCar20,John&JasonCar45(Yanks) us Celia&EugeneCar34 and lastly but by no means least the one and only Norm&JasonCar1....(who sadly had to withdraw at the Prologue), thanks for a great week.
I'm sure the DVD will tell some but def. not all of what the week was like, it never does. You have got to be there...............
Awesome tracks as always....tho we opted for the first time to keep our feet dry..........no water events this year for us and funny how we managed to finish without electric probs or water/mud in the engine!!!....unlike last year in the Zook.
The manual Maverick swb was diff. and took some getting use to, especially the steering which we feel wasn't right on our drive to Broken Hill already. We went to Pollamacca& Nandooka first then back on the Wed with everyone for the combined 3 stages, off to Viewmont & Denian Thurs Fri and back altogether again on Sat for the other 3 stages. Damage was minimal........we had our first tyre probs ever on the 1st 2 stages, due to pressure being too low for such a heavy truck. Then the Air Lockers kept fuzeing and I didn't realise on both Low & High Mount ss. 2 Solinoids went on Cliffhanger as we're making our way up the wall winching......so we withdraw but that gave us time to help Peter & Jane up.....
Otherwise all was well.
Shorter DNF times this year made getting thru/done in time real hard.....loosing out by 6seconds on the winch wall was not fun!.....
But we had a ball and a huge thanks to our Group A for being such a great mob.
Such a shame the Yanks had endless probs ...but they will be back older and wiser with their Disco in body but Patrol everything else.....
Special thanks also to Mick Whitehead for the truck ....without it, we wouldn't of been there. To all the terrific Marshalls who give of their time so we can have fun and everyone else who is involved. The people of Broken Hill, the media, the spectators....of course Sharyn & Paul and fellow competitors.
Lastly in memory of our son Justin.....we did it for you mate.....we miss you so much!
Cheers and thanks,
Celia & Eugene Car 34 which placed 35th!!!....and this is def. our last time....
ps I will try and post some images.......

Sorry I can't work it out....not familiar with process without the attachment prompt...maybe someone can help?

[bogged]

Celia & Eugene Car 34 which placed 35th!!!....and this is def. our last time....

Congrats on the finish

Same as I said last yr, shame its your last one, hope though it will be like last yr, not your last

[teemothy]

think more of the problem is that some people are pouring months into the rigs, buying a tire which due to the sidewall marking is OK for the comps (spending around 2 grand on tires) to show up at broken hill and find out nup you can't compete unless you buy newies


but the rules state 36.5"...... so why buy a tyre that is marked 37"
anyone who runs a tyre marked 37" is using a loop hole and unfortunatly not passing scrutineering is the risk of using this loop hole.

[morkz]

but the rules state 36.5"...... so why buy a tyre that is marked 37"
anyone who runs a tyre marked 37" is using a loop hole and unfortunatly not passing scrutineering is the risk of using this loop hole.

I agree everyone knows the rules for the event before they enter this should not be used as an excuse.

Its the same as the roll cages many competitors new they had to change the materials in the cage i.e. get complete new cages built because the rules changed.

If know one adheres to the rules why have them in the first place....

[toughnut]

The main thing with the tires isn't that they are baged 37". Allan went to Paul well before the competition and had the tires checked in the gauge to see if the would be cleared for the comp. Allan isn't stupid and he knew that different rims etc would effect the overall size of the tires, so he got it in writing from Paul and Sharyn to say that the tires would be suitable for the competition. It doesn't make it right but the right steps were taken to allow these tires. My own opinion is that the tires should be measured on an individual basis at scrutineering as different size rims will effect the diameter of the tire as stated above. The tire size rule was changed because of misleading tire badging in previous years so why flex the rules now. I stood there and watched Paul try to pull the gauge over Allans tire. One edge was jammed between the tread blocks on one side of the tire and they tried to pull it over the other side of the tire. It didn't work so they tried it on other tires until they found one that they could push the gauge over. It makes a mockery of the rule book. When an unnamed competitor (I was standing there when the complaint was raised) told Paul that he was going to make a formal complaint to CCDA, Pauls response was to tell him that he wasn't allowed to make the complaint. Luckily the competitor knew better and as far as I know he is still going to put his point forward to CCDA.

[gqpete]

yes i was told to take a bit off cause my spare that i did all my initial mesuring on was well under size, mind u when they said take a bit off was because the gauge did go over but not fall over . so i took a few mm off and it fell over. all clear. mind u just cause a tyre is stamped with 37inch does not mean that it is true, can easily b an inch either way in some cases. i had a set of boggers once and between all five tyres there were an inch difference and they were all stamped the same. i knew the spare passed but cause they measured a different tyre i was victim of casting issues that are beyond my control from the manufacturer. my 2.2cents

[MYTTUF]

Well what a wek!! Loved it!!! and will hopefully be back next year!!! Cant figure out the photos so have uploaded some here.
Blue Coat Jonesy
http://www.patrol4x4.com/photo/showphot ... puser/2595

[toughnut]

Cheers Jonesy. I always wanted to know what my truck looked like from underneath

[MYTTUF]

I'll post up more now I know how. I followed group B so I'll get of some of the 400+ photos I took.
Blue coat Jonesy

[teemothy]

maybe alan should have got it in writing from the ccda (the sanctioning body) not the event organiser (being paid to promote the product)

every time there is a competition there is some sort of issue, i encourage every one to go and watch a cams sanctioned event where its black and white, they don't care how much money you spent on your car, if it doesn't pass scrutineering it doesn't race

[AJ]

Cheers Jonesy. I always wanted to know what my truck looked like from underneath

speaking of rollovers......
has the CCDA/CAMS clarified whether exo cages are ok or do you have to run an internal cage as well????

[mtb4x4mad]

And a few more. (I'm not sure why the first two pics are so small).

The FJ40 in an impossible position at Nundooka.


The roll at Poolamacca.
.

Lawrie's 'lux after the final stage (note the windscreen - hard to see but it is smashed on the drivers side). Anybody know what sort of diffs it is running now?


The photoshoot.

[bogged]

i knew the spare passed but cause they measured a different tyre i was victim of casting issues that are beyond my control from the manufacturer. my 2.2cents

so they measure each individual tire? thats a bit rough when 5 pass and noe does not

[TRobbo]

Lastly in memory of our son Justin.....we did it for you mate.....we miss you so much!

Celia, Tony Robinson here, so sorry to hear about your son. Our thoughts are with you.

[def90]

can someone clarify for me why lawries hilux is running one procomp forward one procomp backward and a centipede one the back?

on the photo above

am i missing somthing?

[toughnut]

Laurie only changed the motor. The diffs are still the same.

[toughnut]

can someone clarify for me why lawries hilux is running one procomp forward one procomp backward and a centipede one the back?

on the photo above

am i missing somthing?

He had a couple of flats and there isn't enough time to repair a tire so he borrowed one from another competitor. As for the Pro comp running backward he only had one spare and it was obviously fitted to run on the opposite side of the truck. The tires are uni-directional. Some people say that runing the tire backwards make them good for rocks etc but it doesn't really matter that much.

[MYTTUF]

Lawrie's diff was put back together with bits that Mark riely could find lying around so that they could compete on saturday and low & behold all was good and it worked.
Blue Coat Jonesy

[MYTTUF]

I've posted more pics here.... http://www.patrol4x4.com/photo/showphot ... puser/2595 and will sort them out with time and endeavour to post up some goodies when I get time. If you wanna get the pics of any one from group B let me know and I will see what I have.
Blue Coat Jonesy

[def90]

cheers toughnut, just curiious thats all, i've know people run them, backward, but 1 centipede backward, 1 procomp backward and one forward stumped me, beadlocks and a flat answer that, cheers bud

[Ossie]

Anyone know how Jason and Steph went? (Ossie onhere)

Bruce,

we ended up 25th.... we were happy with that.

Damage list for the week, all shocks are gone (crab holes at viewmont), ripped a brake line out in the 3 1/2 hour stage at Viemont Friday afternoon, we just thought we had mud in the brakes but when we checked that night we had no fluid. And we destroyed a beadlock on Monday, when we popped a bead on the rocks

Steph went badly down hill early on Monday morning, and could not hold fluids down, and started getting dehydrated. To her credit she battled on, sleeping between stages, and trying her best when the clock was running. It is amazing that we only DNF'ed one stage in two days (last one on Tuesday) due to her being ill.

By Tuesday afternoon they were trying to force her to go to hospital, but she did not want to miss the event. Fortunately we made camp that night at 4:30pm and she got 14hrs sleep, and was fine for the rest of the event.

Spent the week in Group B, with the Hulk, GQHoon, Toughnut, The Duck (Cass), Kym Bolton, Sam and Mike (Kiwi's), Ian & Roger from QLD, Nick Mannell, Andy & Rob (ARB Northern), Bruce Borchardt & Roger & Hobzee.

Most stages were not much harder than lst year, but the mud was a killer. Yes it was deep, sitting in the GQ, winching, with the water level above the heater controls on a 70+ m crossing. And the 3 1/2 hour stage in the afternoon with 4 winchs, the longest 80+ m to an anchor...... We were probably the last finisher on the 3 1/2 hour stage, we got in with 30 secs to spare. Bruce DNF'd by 2 mins, man that would be frustrating on a stage that long.

Toughnut, shame you only made it to Wednesday, got some good shots of your roll over, and Offroad Images has a great sequence of you going over....

My only complaint....there is something wrong with the mud at Viewmont, it has actually burnt my skin from where I fell into one hole. The same thing happend last year. And Jeff in the HULK had an intch from the mud where you really don't want one!

Jason

[sparky]

Anyone know how Jason and Steph went? (Ossie onhere)

Bruce,

we ended up 25th.... we were happy with that.

Damage list for the week, all shocks are gone (crab holes at viewmont), ripped a brake line out in the 3 1/2 hour stage at Viemont Friday afternoon, we just thought we had mud in the brakes but when we checked that night we had no fluid. And we destroyed a beadlock on Monday, when we popped a bead on the rocks

Steph went badly down hill early on Monday morning, and could not hold fluids down, and started getting dehydrated. To her credit she battled on, sleeping between stages, and trying her best when the clock was running. It is amazing that we only DNF'ed one stage in two days (last one on Tuesday) due to her being ill.

By Tuesday afternoon they were trying to force her to go to hospital, but she did not want to miss the event. Fortunately we made camp that night at 4:30pm and she got 14hrs sleep, and was fine for the rest of the event.

Spent the week in Group B, with the Hulk, GQHoon, Toughnut, The Duck (Cass), Kym Bolton, Sam and Mike (Kiwi's), Ian & Roger from QLD, Nick Mannell, Andy & Rob (ARB Northern), Bruce Borchardt & Roger & Hobzee.

Most stages were not much harder than lst year, but the mud was a killer. Yes it was deep, sitting in the GQ, winching, with the water level above the heater controls on a 70+ m crossing. And the 3 1/2 hour stage in the afternoon with 4 winchs, the longest 80+ m to an anchor...... We were probably the last finisher on the 3 1/2 hour stage, we got in with 30 secs to spare. Bruce DNF'd by 2 mins, man that would be frustrating on a stage that long.

Toughnut, shame you only made it to Wednesday, got some good shots of your roll over, and Offroad Images has a great sequence of you going over....

My only complaint....there is something wrong with the mud at Viewmont, it has actually burnt my skin from where I fell into one hole. The same thing happend last year. And Jeff in the HULK had an intch from the mud where you really don't want one!

Jason

Smithie Jnr had same problem with the mud aswell

[crazie]

Hi Guys

I Looked after Group B for the week. Lots of the guys are on here, so just wanted to say thanks heaps for an awesome week, we had some fun, not much sleep and I protected your trucks from the roos. It was great to meet you all. I have around 1200 photos and 3hours of video from our groups competition so I will be in contact very soon.

cheers

Crazie

[6.5 rangie]

Good work Jason, congrats on 25th and finishing. So the GQ was a more reliable truck, glad you got it all sorted out in the end.
Damien

[james feeney]

Jason,

Well done mate. You must be chuffed! Hope Steff is well, tell her I was asking for her.

So, those crab holes, shockies??????? Didn't you learn anything from us last year?

No punctures?? You would have been a pro...

All the best

James

[The Fish]

Well where do I start! With getting the phone call to jump in the navvie’s seat of Adrian Cauchi’s Rangie tray “Kurmit” only 4 weeks prior the event we had a lot of work to do and not much time to test the vehicle and how each other operated

But we had a fantastic event with some very good results

Friday
Registration and scrutineering went all ok even if it took nearly all day. Went to do some test runs in the creek at 9 mile in the arvo but the suspension set up was all wrong, King Coil Overs and bypasses on all corners, so we went back to town to make some adjustments and head down to the Mulga for some drinks with everyone and a few games of pool

Saturday
More testing but this time at Silverton and the set up seemed much better. Show and Shine, group photo and driver’s brief before we finished off some last minute things and went out to Stephen’s Creek for SS1. Ran a mid field time as Adrian started to get a feel for how the vehicle would handle. Also knocked over a peg in the finish gate for our first penalty for the week

Sunday
Prologue and SS2 & 3 out at the quarry. Once again ran mid field times. Found ourselves in Group A with some fantastic teams as Celia has already listed. Shame Normy and Jason had to pull out as it would have been a fantastic opportunity to see them in action. Left BH at 6pm and transported out to a river bed camp at Poolamacca. No night stage.

Monday
SS4 was a nav stage with 3 waypoints to be found in a 75min DNF. We started with a 2 –3km blast down a river bed and were told to exit the river to the left once the first plot had been reached. We were also told that a piece of obvious bunting would signal it was time to leave the creek. Well we got to the plot and like all other teams couldn’t find the bunting. Some chose to forget about the bunting and head for the second plot while others, including ourselves, chose to drive another 800m until the bunting was found and then exited the creek. This proved to be a bad call as those that exited the creek when they got to the first plot finished the stage in approx. 35-45mins and travelled 11-12kms while we took 55mins and travelled 16.5kms. Should listen more carefully and try not to read into things too much

SS5 – Low Mount Winch Wall – This was a 2-3km blast before a loose rocky climb to a winch wall. Winch up the wall and drive to the finish box inside a DNF of 10mins. Completed this OK with a reasonable time.

SS6 – High Mount Winch Wall – Similar to SS5 but the winch wall had a double step in it and was also a 10 min DNF. Completed this ok also but damaged the winch rope and coped 2 penalties. One for knocking down another finish box peg and for unsecured equipment as I had left a box unclipped and our spare cable dampener fell out

Watching the American father/son team of John and Jason Micheals do this in their Disco was the highlight of the day as they have never really seen rock like this before and they were pumped to complete both inside the DNF times even though they had 5 recovery penalties on SS5

On closer inspection of the Disco we found the driver’s side (LH drive) coil tower to be torn of the chassis and undrivable. A group decision was made to strip the driver’s side front end and repair it as the guys from Tamworth ARB (Phil Swindale & Craig Hartin – Car #12) were carrying a mig welder

Wayne, Rohan and Adrian jumped straight in while the Americans watched some good old Aussie bush mechanics

With repairs made and the American’s limping back to Broken Hill we headed to Packsaddle for a re-fuel and chat to the guys in group B before heading out to Nundooka.

SS7 – Night Brumbies Run – Find 3 compulsory waypoints and an optional 6 waypoints, these were different for all teams, inside a DNF of 2.5 hrs. This would have to be some of the best 4wding I have ever done with the terrain having some nasty ridges and gorges along with some serious water eroded plains. At one stage we crossed a 6 foot vertical sided dry water course which was 10 feet wide and became jammed in it a 45 degree angle!!!! We did manage to clock up a speed of 118 km/hr out a across the open plains also. We completed this stage with all waypoints found in a time of 1hr and 17 mins and finishing only 3 mins behind Rohan and Wayne. This saw us claim 3rd place overall for this stage

Tuesday
SS8 – Day Brumbies Run – Teams were given a list of 7 waypoints with the last one being the flying finish line with a couple of waypoints being shared by several teams. DNF of 75 mins I think. We got the 1st 4 ok and then headed for the 5th which Rohan and Wayne were also chasing but 1 km or so ahead of us. When we got the 5th they were heading for their 6th but only 500m in front of us. We got to the waypoint 20 secs after them but Wayne had lost his pen so we wrote down the number on the star picket together and then it was on!!! A 6 km cross country race to the finish line. Racing basically side by side at over 100 km/hr was quite adrenalin pumping to say the least and they beat us back by one minute in a time of 36 mins. They went on to win the stage overall but we were way down the list as the finish line was also a waypoint with a number which we overlooked Bugger, will remember that for next time.

SS9 – Air Locker – Basically a mini gorge run with a hill climb and then a longer gorge run and a winch up a loose rocky wall and drive to the finish box in a DNF time of 15 mins. Not a good stage for us as we didn’t want to punish the vehicle this early in the week and had a time of 13-14 mins. I think Rohan & Wayne and Laurie & Sean had times in the 7-8 min range.

SS10 – The now famous Cliffhanger. Race down the creek, dig down the wall, winch or drive up, obtain waypoint and drive to finish line in a DNF of 40 mins. We had a bad stage but still got finished in 21 mins and was penalised for jumping the start as the car rolled 1-2 foot during the countdown and prior to “Go”. Also Adrian got our last penalty for the week as he crossed a live cable. This is why he’s the driver and I’m the navvy. Laurie and Sean had a good time of 11 mins but I think a Kiwi team did it in 4-5 mins!!

Transported to Packsaddle for fuel, then BH for another fuel stop ($270) then back out to where we camped on the Sunday night in the creek.

Wednesday

SS19, 20 & 21 – All short stages with DNF’s of 5-7 mins and all teams back at Poolamacca for the day. It was very hard to keep track of who was doing what but we had a fairly good day with no DNF’s and a 3rd place overall on our last stage.

Transport back to BH for refuel, a top up in Menindee and on to the well talked about Viewmont mud.

SS11 – This involved a 200m motorkhana then 25-35m billabong crossing over and back and then back through the motorkhana course intot the start/finish box in a DNF of 10 mins. Navvies were able to walk the crossing prior to starting the stage so myself, Wayne and a couple of others tested the water and managed to find some deep holes but there was lines in both directions that were waist deep. We elected to DNS the stage and watch the 4 teams from our group who attempted it. The guys in a gold GU trayback from Geelong, Vic plowed straight in and drowned the motor. Todd and Verena Joyce in the red shorty 40 series managed to winch across the first time to the DNF marker inside the DNF but also ended up with a wet motor. Laurie and Sean had good dip and got across in very quick time but on the return the Lexus dizzy caps got wet and it stopped running. They were out the other side and packed up in 7 mins but couldn’t get the Hilux running so they couldn’t drive to the finish box. Lastly Rohan and Wayne proved it could be done and completed the stage in 8 mins 15 secs.

After all the rumours of the long winching obstacles we had in store for us the next day I sat up till 3am splicing all the ropes we had into extensions and even did one for Laurie and Sean as they were busy drying out the Hilux.

Thursday
SS12 – Winch/drive across billabong, follow several waypoints and return across billabong to finish box inside a DNF of 40 mins. After watching Rohan & Wayne and Greg Scanlon & Mark Johnson winch early during their first crossing we decided on a different line which the ARB Tamworth guys had taken which proved worth while as we nearly drove the whole way. Quick winch, drive to the waypoints and then the return crossing but I had left the tree trunk protector at the first anchor! A quick run down the billabong and I returned with the tree trunk. We crossed back along with the ARB Tamworth guys and moved into 3rd place overall for the week with Group B still to do the stage.

SS13 – The very long, very tiring 3.5 hr mud stage. With over 30 waypoints to find, 45kms of driving and 6 mud obstacles this was an absolute killer on driver and navvy. The first 20-30mins was awesome and at one stage while travelling at 120 km/hr on the plains we hit a 2-3 feet jump ramp which I reckon had us airborne for
2-3 secs and probably jumping 30-40 foot. The suspension just soaked it up and was absolutely awesome!! Then the billabong/mud obstacles started. The first wasn’t too bad with no extensions required but had to do 2 separate pulls to avoid Greg and Mark with another cooked winch motor.


We continued on to successfully cross the billabong again with no dramas and headed off for more waypoints. Managed to drive one of the mud obstacles the wrong way as we were travelling too fast for the GPS to keep up and entered a waypoint via the obstacle rather than exited via the obstacle but it was drivable and a bit of fun.

After winching through 2 other obstacles we finally made it back to cross the billabong for one last time where the finish line awaited us on the other side. This ended up being the longest winch of all and I had all the rope off the drum (45 mtrs), a 35 mtr extension rope and a 20 mtr extension rope all set up in a straight line pull. This was unbelievable. You really couldn’t begin to understand how hard the navvies had to work on this stage and I hope the DVD does all us navvies some justice and shows how hard we worked. I was totally stuffed. But we finished with a time of 2 hrs 55 mins and with all the recovery work done managed to avoid getting any penalties. At this stage we were 3rd quickest but the last group pushed us back a couple of places in the end.

With the 2 day mud stages conquered we cleaned up, packed up and transported to Denian for the night motorkhana.

SS14 – Night Motorkhana – Two laps of the course set in sand dunes and a DNF of 10 mins. After a couple of long waits during the Americans breaking a swivel ball in half and Greg Scanlon blowing a rear diff we finally took on the motorkhana course. With Adrian struggling to see at night and basically driving to my directions we set a mid field time but still happy that the vehicle was holding up and still no DNF’s.

Friday
SS15 – Xterrain (Gunbarrel) – Race another vehicle out across the dunes around 3 trees and back again with a DNF of 5 mins I think. We drew Peter and Jane (Car #41) in a GQ LWB. Having a lot more horsepower we had the course to ourselves and returned with a time of 3mins 32secs. This was 1 sec behind Rohan and Wayne and only 4 secs separated the top 5 teams in our group.

SS16 – Day Motorkhana – Sightly different longer course and only one lap with a DNF of 10 mins. Once again had a mid field time with the tighter course slowing us down a bit.

SS17 – Procomp Sand Wall – Leave start box, stop at top of dune, navvy gets out grabs ground anchor and runs across top dune to the top of the sand wall climb, driver descends the dune does a 2 point turn and attempts to drive wall. If he/she does navvy packs the ground anchor back on vehicle, jumps in and puts harness back on. If he/she doesn’t drive the wall then winch vehicle to top with a DNF of 10 mins. First vehicle away in our group was Celia and Eugene Barry and it was heartbreaking watching them DNF by 6 secs when they have never conquered the sandwall. We were up next and the 240rwkw powered Rangie ate up the Sand Wall and we finished with a time of 1 min and 3 secs. Only contenders left in our group to knock us out of 1st place was Laurie & Sean and Rohan & Wayne. Unfortunately for them Laurie and Sean busted a rear diff and tailshaft uni which in the end may have cost them a top 3 finish overall. Rohan went for test drive to see if he could pull 3rd low and he smoked up his clutch which meant he was unable to drive the wall and we held on to 1st place This was to be our only stage win for the week.


SS18 – Shifting Sands – Find as many waypoints out of a list of 18 as possible and return inside the DNF of 45 mins. I had been looking forward to this stage all week as I have done this stage twice before and had managed a 2nd and a 3rd. We drove it as hard and found 12 waypoints and returned with 1 min and 56 secs to spare. Rohan and Wayne got to 14 waypoints to take the stage win and Cass Jones and Kevvy Nott got 12 waypoints also but in less time so we came 3rd overall.

With the days stages completed we returned to the motorkhana course to skull drag the Americans disabled Disco out of the dunes and onto a flat bed truck. At one stage we had 6 vehicles hooked up to the Disco pulling it and restraining it so it could be guided onto the truck. Near the end of the recovery I mentioned to Todd Joyce that everyone should winch at once and treat it like a chicken bone see who ends up with the biggest piece. He promptly announced the idea over the radio which gave everyone a good laugh during what was an intricate recovery. Hopefully Wayne Smith or Andrew Norman will have some good photos of this.

Once the Disco was sorted we started the long transport to our overnight camp near Poolamacca via Menindee, Broken Hill and Silverton.

On our way through Silverton a bottom swivel hub/king pin bearing on the Todd and Verena’s 40 series collapsed which stuffed the wheel bearing and free wheeling hub. With only spare wheel bearings it was decided that they were not going to accept a 100 point penalty for outside assistance at this late stage so we racked our brains for a fix. So under the only street light, after midnight and with an event official watching our every move we swapped the top bearing to the bottom and used an OME shock bush cut in half as the top bearing. This was a very neat fit and enabled Todd and Verena to make the night camp and limp another 70 kms into the last day staging area where we sourced a spare bearing from Neil Cooper and replaced it.

Saturday
SS22, 23 & 24 – Once again all remaining teams (33 out of 52 starters) competed together over 3 stages with DNF’s of 5 mins each. We had a reasonable day and finished the event with no DNF’s.

The rumour at the start of the day was we were in the top 10 and knocking on the door of the top 5. But with too many mid field times we knew we weren’t in the hunt for a top 5 finish.

On to presentation we claimed 1 SS win and 3 3rd places. This helped us finish in 7th place overall which we were extremely happy with. With all teams above us full of knowledge and experience we were very satisfied to be in such good company.

Well done to all teams that made it to Broken Hill to compete. That in itself takes a huge effort and $$$$$$$.

Thanks to Robbo who was the Group A passage controller and an absolute legend.

To all teams in Group A thank you for such an enjoyable week. Many happy memories were gained and some good friendships formed.

Laurie and Sean you two are absolute gentleman’s of the sport and it was an absolute pleasure to see you 2 compete first hand. It was shame to see your rear diff let go as you would have been pushing for top 3 finish.

Peter and Jane (Car #41) a great effort for your first attempt and I’m sure you’ll be back a lot wiser for the experience. Thanks for keeping our cans cold.

Greg and Mark (Car #29) another team that was right up there until the rear diff let go. Goodluck next as I’m sure you will return.

Celia and Eugene you are an inspiration to many of us and it won’t be the same without you guys out there giving it your all. I’m sure you have made your son proud in your efforts in his honour.

John and Jason (Car #45 – Americans) You guys just never knew when to give up and you really had a red hot go. Working on the Disco and recovering it certainly kept us occupied and entertained. Hope to see you guys return.

Toddy and V (Car #16) What a blast we had right up until they kicked us out of the Silverton pub at 2am. Hope to catch up for a rum at the Ateco mate.

Rohan and Wayne congrats on the win and thanks for all the tips on navigation, recovery and rope splicing. Hopefully I’ll get another chance to push you on the nav stages Wayne.

Lastly thanks to Adrian for entrusting me with Kurmit’s nav seat and for driving so well to my instructions when required.


Hopefully my Challenge report hasn’t bored everyone too much and has given those who didn’t marshal/spectate/compete a good insight into the “One Week Of Sheer Hell”

Cheers, The Fish.