"National Lampoons Pajero Challenge" that is actully an accurate description of our weekend turps.
Arriving at the starting point on Saturday morning a strange knocking noise was comig from the front so we found a spot to park and realised that the wheel nuts on the front drivers wheel were loose and that all the studs were rooted,
so half an hour before the start we have the front all stripped down and are replacing the wheel studs with some that thankfully were in the tool box.
While Andrew is doing this l get the rest of the car ready, unload the swags, fix up my maps and folders, get the food and drinks all sorted, in an attempt to break up the bag of ice i end up destroying the esky lid, o well l needed a new esky.
So off we go and are doing well, get through stage 1 and check in to the 1/4 point go to move the car, whats that weird noise and smoke coming from under the bonnet, the water pump has ceized
, we the engine over a few times and after a few attempts it starts turning. Now we are a little worried, so we are given the all clear and are sent off for section 2, get around the corner and you guessed it seized, again we try cranking it over and it starts turning
so we head off with our ears primed for the problem sound to arise again, it didnt thankfully.
All going well now making progress and get to a nice hill where we pull up 1 car behind Frank, Frank looks a little worried as we sit there watching a rangie strugling for traction while attempting the climb, the Rangie comes to a halt and the winch comes out, half an hour later they are up and its Franks turn, with shouts of encouragement Frank takes off but doesnt progress further than the Rangie Frank has done damage, but with help gets to the top, when our turn come we have been sitting at the base of the hill for 1 1/2 hours ( dont feel guilty Frank, its all part of competing ), we get to the top and continue on our way for the remainder of the second stage, pulling into the 1/2 way point we realise we have a flat so we pump it up and do the special stage, which was a small motorkhana event with a boghole and some deep ruts, good fun but end up with both front tyres leaking air from mud in the beads, put some air in and off we go for section 3.
Section 3 covered some good fun tracks lots of steep climbes and descents, first gear low range stuff, lots af waiting around for people to finish these sections and get the go, stage 3 also included a mini winch challenge which was good fun and helped wake people up as by now it was early morning. Aparently we did a good time here but others were still to go through.
Arrive at 3/4 point and have a cup of tea and some soup on our half hour compulsory break, plot all of section 4 on the maps and head off. When at the base of rocky track we realise that we have another flat and no inflated spare
so off comes the tyre and we give the bead a clean up and reseat the tyre, off again. Do rocky and vic range and some other goodies. day light starting to appear in the sky, we get onto some great greasy sloshy downhill tracks which are new to us, we will be returning to these for a future play, getting thrown around a bit here, starting to feel ill through this section,we complete the rest of the stage and arive back at camp, by now its 9.30am, why do we do this to ourselves, still feeling crap, Andrew repacks the car and we take off for home, stop and hurl my guts out 1/2 an hour into the trip, get into healsville to refuel and realise one of the swags has disapeared from the back or the ute
So l am home now and recovering from a physically and mentally demanding comp and am looking forward to doing it all again real soon, yes we are gluttons for punishment.
As for finishing place l reckon Juzza will be up ther in the top 5, us between 10 and 15 hopefully, will find out on the 15th.
O yea and a big thanks to the Pajero club for running and organising such a great weekend.
Joe.
To succeed, focus on the solution, not the problem.
if someone did find it or knows of someone who did there is a large reward in $$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
at Moose
