ATECO 2006 28th-29th-30th July

[MUD EMPIRE]

BIRDY'S COCKPIT



PETE MIHALOFF 2nd PLACE



SANDY BOWMAN



THE AFTERMARTH



GQHOON's view



REAR END BIRDY

[bogged]

[Juzza]

1st Place- Birdy and Wazza- Nissan GQ
2nd Place- Hoon and Shiloh- Nissan GQ
3rd Place- Dave Hickman and Kevy- Nissan GQ

[6.5 rangie]

How ever with all that said if you are a compeditor in a winch challenge they are huge amounts of fun

Couldn't agree more, not really great for the spectator. Unless your involved or competing its a little boring and hard to see and know whats going on, but it was good to be out of the house

Anyway any more results, had to leave a bit early so missed out on them

[bogged]

anyone know what happened to kriminal? was towed out of boghole, and parked up when we left..

anyone know how Jas and Steph (tigger) went?

[6.5 rangie]

I was standing at the bog hole when they went in, started to winch and then lost all electrical power (except winch), wouldn't do anything, tried fixing it but kept blowing or shorting out straight away, i think wiring to starter motor

[GU BUG]

Top event .

Congrats to Birdy & Wazza for their win. The car still looks brandnew .

Ol SHREK is in need of some serious panel work though . A rollover Friday night & bouncing off a few trees today made for an exciting couple of runs (from a spectators view ).

[6.5 rangie]

What i should of said was its hard to see whats going on except for whats happening in the spot that your standing. Mind you i did see roll overs and plenty of carnage which as a spectator is great, its just a hard competition to veiw.
Yeah does anyone know how Jason and Steph did go? Spoke to Jason at the end he was pretty happy with how they went.

[goodie]

im couldnt gp due to my hand

how did team penrite go?

team action 4wd??

[marin]

i dont even know where we came outright, but we were 23rd at the end of saturday.....

we'll have to wait until its posted up on the website, as they had run out of final place sheets by the time we got around to asking for 1.

All in all, a farking awesome weekend, i'm sure there are many ppl who will remember us now from my antics, sliding down the hills, being hauled to the ground by the winch cable being stuck in the drum, time after time......

i'm really happy, that although we DNF'd SS11 on time, due to ignition problems, we finished every stage, and we didn't come last, and matt is able to drive his car to work on monday night without working on the truck.

marin

P.S. any pics of us, or video, please pm me.

[vanzbrown]

i dont even know where we came outright, but we were 23rd at the end of saturday.....

we'll have to wait until its posted up on the website, as they had run out of final place sheets by the time we got around to asking for 1.

All in all, a farking awesome weekend, i'm sure there are many ppl who will remember us now from my antics, sliding down the hills, being hauled to the ground by the winch cable being stuck in the drum, time after time......

i'm really happy, that although we DNF'd SS11 on time, due to ignition problems, we finished every stage, and we didn't come last, and matt is able to drive his car to work on monday night without working on the truck.

marin

P.S. any pics of us, or video, please pm me.

Was that u sliding on ya arse down the hill on SS10, going back for the dampner...

You guys looked like ya were having fun anyways... Nice work!

Leeroy

[marin]

i dont even know where we came outright, but we were 23rd at the end of saturday.....

we'll have to wait until its posted up on the website, as they had run out of final place sheets by the time we got around to asking for 1.

All in all, a farking awesome weekend, i'm sure there are many ppl who will remember us now from my antics, sliding down the hills, being hauled to the ground by the winch cable being stuck in the drum, time after time......

i'm really happy, that although we DNF'd SS11 on time, due to ignition problems, we finished every stage, and we didn't come last, and matt is able to drive his car to work on monday night without working on the truck.

marin

P.S. any pics of us, or video, please pm me.

Was that u sliding on ya arse down the hill on SS10, going back for the dampner...

You guys looked like ya were having fun anyways... Nice work!

Leeroy

Yep, that was me in the orange shorts. Sliding on my arse. Again.

we really need some practice, we basicly finished the 3 month rebuilt finishing touches on the friday of the event, so no practice.

marin

[hokey]

How'd the car go marin? from what you've said sounds like it was fairly reliable. what time did you finish it? still looking to improve it or was it fairly sorted on the last car anyway?
Cheers, Calvin

[marin]

How'd the car go marin? from what you've said sounds like it was fairly reliable. what time did you finish it? still looking to improve it or was it fairly sorted on the last car anyway?
Cheers, Calvin

best i leave matt to answer that 1, we have to have a good sleep, then think about how it all went

marin

[matt.mcinnes]

How'd the car go marin? from what you've said sounds like it was fairly reliable. what time did you finish it? still looking to improve it or was it fairly sorted on the last car anyway?
Cheers, Calvin

Truck ran just like the old one and drove like it too, going up things it should not

The ignition problem we had on SS11 will be checked out as it maybe the new isolator switch as it's not a usual problem for my FJ40, but that's just one of those things you get when you have left the mech's at 1pm Friday after noon after 3 month rebuild and not tested anything.

We rebuilt it and tested it at the ATECO and to only DNF one stage and only on time was great achievement and testament to all those involved with the rebuild

[Ossie]

What i should of said was its hard to see whats going on except for whats happening in the spot that your standing. Mind you i did see roll overs and plenty of carnage which as a spectator is great, its just a hard competition to veiw.
Yeah does anyone know how Jason and Steph did go? Spoke to Jason at the end he was pretty happy with how they went.

We ended up 23rd outright, overall we were happy, but dissapointed lowe & Mrs Lowie beat us (19th), there was an informal challenge for the best husband / wife team.

Friday night started off well, a dodge alternator /electrics (gremlins still from OBC water) meant we had to roll start for the first stage SS 3, made it with no issues. Batteries were flat at the end of the SS so we did an alternator change before the next stage (a Big thanks to who ever helped out). Had to roll start again for the start of SS1, but at least the headlights worked. Drove the hill and was surprised how well the car went. Had a ball driving SS2, but unfortunately punched wood into the bead of the front right, and mud into the front left.

Woke up Saturday morning with two flat tyres and three flat batteries, but in 20th spot. Finally got the beads fixed and started the car, and headed of for the day, had to roll start 4 times and had issues getting power to the winch, but made all stages without DNFing.

Sunday morning, the car started and no flats, great, but back down to 27th after the electrical issues on Saturday. First SS was great, SS11, third car through the bog hole, it got real nasty latter on. Beat Lowie by 30 secs, he was annoyed that a turbo diesel beat him. Next stage he had a point to prove and he blew us away.

SS12 tried to start the car and nothing, not even a dash light, roll started it and got under way, but on the way down the first hill all the dash lights came on, then has I his the brakes the peddle was too hard, oops we had lost the alternator and no vaccum pump!. Continued on but punched a tree at the bottom of the hill because the brakes weren’t working, and that stuffed up our climb. Made it halfway up the hill and then the engine stalled. Steph jumped out the window and connected up the cable, winched in and all was good, car started first time?!? Winched the hill and finished the stage.

We replaced the alt belt, and figured out the isolator switch was faulty, it was preventing the batteries from charging., a quick fix and all was well. Made the last SS, the rocks & log crossing wasn’t pretty but at least we drove it and winched the hill.

Completed the Ateco no DNF’s, just a shame that the isolator issue was not discovered earlier, but had a great time anyway. An best of all no major damage, just a flair and bent the bull bar.

Jason

[grimbo]

I went on Saturday. It was well organised in places, the movement of vehicles through the property was good. However as a spectator you didn't have any idea of where to go or what was happening. A map would have been handy for each spectator and some officials around that could let you know what was happening. The shuttle bus while being a good idea was never sighted.


We saw about 5 stages and the vantage points we had were good to see some variety of vehicles and obstacles.

The catering was good with reasonable prices and good variety and the ban on alchol was good, although some were still drinking, makes for a much more family friendly and less annoying spectator experience

[Drafty]

It sure was one tough event. Friday night we started on ss.2 had a clean run but a bit average time wise. ss.3 was next, rolled on a high speed section got the truch back on its wheels and finished within the DNF time. ss.1 next nice clean run, no drammas, top 10 resul on this stage. Placed 25 at the end of friday night.
Saturday went more to plan, kept the car on its wheels, had a clean run on all but the last stage which was ss.7, drove the rocks in the creek cleanly but busted a cv on the hill, tried winching but couldnt get over the ledge, broke the rope 5 times but finally got over and up to the finish gate within the DNF time. Got a 1st on ss.5 (wallys stage) and a 2nd on ss.8 ended up in 14th place on Saturday night so we made up 11 places.
Sunday was damage day, started on ss.10 nice clean run did a good time, next was ss.11 had to winch the bog hole which had now turned to sh!t took a tree out while crossing the rocks in the creek but still drove the hill, ss.12 Andrew was out on control on the first hill 30 pounds of boost and high range 1st are not a good combo, had to winch after we slid onto a tree and squashed the snorkel but drove the rest.

All in all a good tough weekend. Not sure where we place as i didnt get a final placing list so if anyone has a copy could you please let me know where we finished. We were car 43.

Also in anyone has photo of the 3 On Track trucks being Shrek, Birdy & GQ Hoon i would love to get a copy off you. Thanks in advance.

Lastly thanks to Tony and all his crew, great event. And Birdy and Pete congratulations.

[RoldIT]

dose any 1 konw who came 1 2nd 3rd?????????

They are probably still going, there was about 10 cars backed up at the sectino at the bottom of the hill waiting when we left.
No offence to anyone, but if thats a typical days competition and normal speed between runs, the people on my club's run there wouldnt go again.

That was the slowest competition I've ever seen.. Just the time between runs, and nobody knowing or telling the crowd why... At least if we knew what the holdups were, it would have been understandable.

Downloading photos now from camera.

Depends on who is running the stage/how it's being run. SS6 on Saturday that I timed for, as long as there were vehicles available to run, we never had more the 60 seconds between a vehicle finishing and the next one starting.

[RoldIT]

I went on Saturday. It was well organised in places, the movement of vehicles through the property was good. However as a spectator you didn't have any idea of where to go or what was happening. A map would have been handy for each spectator and some officials around that could let you know what was happening. The shuttle bus while being a good idea was never sighted.


We saw about 5 stages and the vantage points we had were good to see some variety of vehicles and obstacles.

The catering was good with reasonable prices and good variety and the ban on alchol was good, although some were still drinking, makes for a much more family friendly and less annoying spectator experience

There were some very good maps made up this year. They were A3 maps posted at strategic points around the property (ie Catering tent, bus stops, some SS locations, etc) but I have made a suggestion that in future they are at the spectator entry points of each SS with the "you are here" type thing.

There were 2 shuttle buses (9? seat Defenders) rotating around the property all day but I guess it was a "right place, right time" thing to get one.

Feedback is welcome as there is always room for improvement.

[grimbo]

granted there were those couple of A3 maps, but as you said they needed a you are here on them, probably better to supply spectators with their own copy of the map with some details on each stage and probably what sort of terrain to get to it. Some of those hills were killers to walk on, and I overheard a few people grumbling about not having any idea how hard it was going to be to lug the family up and down the hills

[RoldIT]

granted there were those couple of A3 maps, but as you said they needed a you are here on them, probably better to supply spectators with their own copy of the map with some details on each stage and probably what sort of terrain to get to it. Some of those hills were killers to walk on, and I overheard a few people grumbling about not having any idea how hard it was going to be to lug the family up and down the hills

Yep, in a perfect world everyone would have got their own copy but the printing requirement for the weekend was in the thousands of copies as it was, maps for everyone would nearly double that but point taken.

Spectator terrain information is a good idea which I will pass on.

[Hamo]

Along the lines of constuctive criticism here
I second maps for the spectators
I attended both saturday & sunday and enjoyed both days
Walked between all stages on saturday so a map whould have been good
and although a map probadly wasn't needed for sunday it whould have been good to know what stage was what
Now as for the alcahol ban.
I noticed that it was stricly enforced on saturday but seemed to be overlooked on sunday as there was heaps of peaple drinking unchalanged by the marshals
As a drinker i could not wait and had to stop at the trafalgar on the way home to buy some travelers
Any way top event i'll be back next year
Hamo

[suzuki boy]

Sunday was great! I think the spectators area was was good enough when youve youve done the 20 minute walk. And my mate finished 3rd time lucky i guess!

[ludacris]

Who can tell me about the specs of BIRDYS new vehicle. Also how did Mani and Kevin do in the Qld yellow GQ. Very nice photos and awsome looking event.

LudaCris

[DaveS3]

Mani and Kev camped oppisite us but were in different groups.

They put it on its side on Friday night and blew a hub late saturday.

Not sure how they placed.

Dave.

[Jeff80]

Ludacris,
Not sure on specs of Birdys new rig or where Mani and Kevin placed, but the QLD boys had some dramas on Sat on SS7. They got hung up on the rocks in the river bed and busted the rope twice winching. Mani then decided to try and drive it and he blew a hub(?). Had to DNF as there was a really funky long winch after that (same hill that Drafty busted a CV and snapped his rope 5 times). Let me just say, Mani wasnt too happy!

Jooga

[shakes]

I only attended on the sunday and being this was my first 4wd event I've been too absolutely loved it.... coming from the many many rally/drift/v8 events i've been too there was alot more going on in the small section that was running than what I was expecting.

slightly better parking(not such a walk cause i'm lazy), and PA system would be my only gripes

good work!!

Simon

[teemothy]

i was blown away by the dash on the birdman's car.
a little concerned by the spelling on some of the dash lables though.
it could be hezardous

[marin]

i was blown away by the dash on the birdman's car.
a little concerned by the spelling on some of the dash lables though.
it could be hezardous

ROFL

hezardous? Is that a quote from his dash? Or the pot calling the kettle black?

marin