Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I was just looking through the honour roll and dreamimg about what Ill be doing in a months time.

Looks like a rangie/Dakar won in 1994. Is it anybody from here?

If so any tips we will be racing the defender in it this year. First time in WA

Quote from Aust Safari site

1994 Australian Safari (FIA World Cup): Sydney – Darwin
International Auto: Jean-Pierre Fontenay (France) / Bruno Musmarra (France) - Mitsubishi Pajero T1
National Auto: Rod Garnett (Australia)/ Helen Garnett (Australia) - Range Rover DakarMoto: John Hederics (Australia) - Honda XR600

(Mods I thought Id get a better response here but feel free to move to comps and events)

Yes. Zuffen on this forum.

He still has the dakar, with more power under his right foot now.

Cheers Ill wait for him to chime in. Would have been a hell of an effort if it was an open top type dakar

discokid wrote:Cheers Ill wait for him to chime in. Would have been a hell of an effort if it was an open top type dakar

From memory they had a lot of problems with broken bolts for the swivel to axle casing joint.

Ive got a complete spare diff but Ill take those bolts as well with me

Its a bloody long race its hard to know where to start and finish with spare parts

Extra HP and limited susension travel may be my enemy in this type of event

Zuffen here,

Yeah we did that. Seems like forever ago!

The truck was a mighty wild ride in those days. Dakars stopped traffic then.

My wife did it tougher than me. She was pregnant at the time but wouldn't stay home whilst I had all the fun.

We did have a few dramas.

The fuel tank could have been better built as it spit down two seems and needed welding on the first occassion but we tied a ratchet strap around it the second time and fixed the crack with epoxy.

The fuel return line was blocked by sealant from when the original builders (John Davis) installed the fitting in the tank. This cause the engine to flood and lost us a couple of hours.

The swivel bolts stretched and we kept tightening them until one day the swivel parted company with the axle. I think they were second hand when it was built. The replacement (new) bolts haven't given trouble since.

We didn't take a lot of parts as spares as we didn't use a palecon on the parts truck so carried all our own spares except for 4 additional spare wheels/tyres.

We didn't carry any diffs as they weighed too much. We'd done a lot of outback miles in a rally Porsche and had learnt that light cars don't break as much gear as heavy cars. Full of 180litres of fuel the car weighed 1805kg. A fully laden Patrol in the same event was 3500kg.

The spares we carried were:
* spare front axles. Used the short one from the swivel snapping it.
* two spare tie rod ends. Used one for the above reason.
* spare swivel. Used it too.
* spare fuel pump used it when the fuel tank filled the pump with alloy filings and killed it.
* spare hoses and belts.
* a very small toolkit (keeping the weight down)

Cloths were:
* 8 pairs of underdaks
* 8 pairs of socks
* 8 old T shirts
* one driving suit
* toiletries.

We always looked the same just the smell changed.

We beat the 2nd place getter by 15 hours in a 45 hour event. That's a serious gap.

Would I do it again. Nope too old and slow now.

Full 5 page article here: (click to make go bigger)
(dont hit previous or next coz they be all over the shop)

page 1 - http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=6106864
page 2 - http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=6106865
page 3 - http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=6106866
page 4 - http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=6106867
page 5 - http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=6106868




Coupla other pics here:
www.angelfire.com/on4/bushy5560/25.html

Wow, well done zuffen, that's something to tell the grandkids.

The vehicle looks to have been ahead of it's time. Is it ironic that a 'similar' vehicle won TT this year? Or is that a completely innacurate comparison?

Welp, they started off as being similar vehicles.
http://www.angelfire.com/on4/bushy5560/18.html

The yellow Bushrangie that won TT07 was a 'real' Dakar, built in the UK and imported privately into Australia around 95-96 era. Not really sure why Mal calls it a Bushie. I guess from when JDM bought it, it instantly had a name change from Dakar to Bushrangie.

..very interesting indeed, as said, these vehicles appear to be way ahead of their time - particularly impressive is the weight differentials you cite which demonstrate the advantage of low COG, good ptw ratio and light weight.

What an adventure I cant wait for this years

My race car weighs in at 2120kg with all spares and full of fuel etc So thats not too bad. I normally race at 1970kg anyway

Im blessed with 2 support trucks so Ive go loads of spares but you cant take everything

Hi there

Do they still sell these kits/dakars in Australia - and if so is there any web sites/costings etc.

Many thanks

Wayne

Awesome story.

Gotta love custom built stuff that causes problems like the tank.

Highlights the swivel bolts that work hard on a rover. Think what $10 of bolts could have saved.

My 90 Hybrid wheel carrier used everything from the axle flange out so that there was spares.

ellard wrote:Hi there

Do they still sell these kits/dakars in Australia - and if so is there any web sites/costings etc.

Many thanks

Wayne

AFAIK:
John Davis (Xtreme Special Vehicles) still sells the Bushranger - complete and kits. No website.

Rovercraft sell Dakar kits. Don't know about website!

Dakar website http://www.dakar.co.uk

Thanks

I will start a new post.

Wayne

Dakar Cars (who build em) won't sell vehicles or parts to Australia.

I tried to purchase a set of flares (I'm doing a GQ axle swap) and Steve from Dakar Cars won't sell to me because JDM copied the Dakar to build the Bushrangie. He also won't sell to any member who plans to export the parts to me.

Rovercraft may be able to get kits as they have dealt with him for years and they trust them.

Seems all Australians are still convicts in the eyes of some Pommies.

Perhaps just JDM

zuffen wrote:Dakar Cars (who build em) won't sell vehicles or parts to Australia.

I tried to purchase a set of flares (I'm doing a GQ axle swap) and Steve from Dakar Cars won't sell to me because JDM copied the Dakar to build the Bushrangie. He also won't sell to any member who plans to export the parts to me.

Rovercraft may be able to get kits as they have dealt with him for years and they trust them.

Seems all Australians are still convicts in the eyes of some Pommies.

Now that you mention it, I suspect Rovercraft were involved, when Barry was building/selling the Dakars (before Steve took the building over). I'm not sure of the current status with Rovercraft.

We are now up and running for the Australian Safari next week

You can follow Team Rovacraft Motorsport here

We are hoping the landys put on a good show


http://www.offroadoz.net.au/Forum/viewf ... 8d96630920

Good luck to all of the team.

We are back from the safari

We had a great time racing the safari. We placed 11th I think and won the teams division being 3 landrovers across the line. Lots of people commented that they couldnt believe how tuff defenders are. We really raced ours hard over the entire course. So many stories to tell. Its something I wont forget for a long time.

We had some issues with a tree jumping out on the track in the last 50km of competitive but its amazing what a patch up job you can do when you need to finish

We had our auxillary tank split the first day which caused some issues and the rear tailshaft come loose the small bolt holding the handbrake drum on to blame. We also broke a wire off our airflow meter which saw us chugging along for 2 days blaming everything from bad fuel to plugs and leads but we found it in the end but only after plentyof diagnosis by replacement

The gearbox was what I was worried about and that held up fine. So now Ive got a load of spares

Pics of the landys are at

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/showthread.php?t=42676