Skip's 4x4 - Pinjar Night Tag-a-long 22 Mar 2003

	*Participants:*
	Vehicle	Driver	Passengers
1	Hilux turbo-diesel	Skip (trip leader)	Mudslide
2	Landcruiser 40 series	Brettski	3 passengers
3	Jeep Wrangler	Kirk (guest)	Chantel
4	Nissan Patrol shorty	Adrian	Elisabeth
5	Mitsubishi Pajero	Dino	-
6	Landcruiser 60 series	Pommy Pete (Tail end)	-
7	Landcruiser 60 series	Hools	Scrounger
8	Landcruiser 80 series	Dean	1 passenger
9	Landcruiser 80 series	Caveman (guest)	Sarah
10	Nissan Patrol	Gadget	Herc (the dog)
11	Landcruiser 100 series	Bullet	Louise
12	Landcruiser Troop carrier	German Pete	-
13	Landcruiser 60 series	Friend of Hools (guest)	-
14	Landcruiser 80 series	Tony	-

Notes about the trip: The trip course was basically the second half of the Pinjar night navigation that was run in 2001. I would like to again offer my thanks to Turbo-Cam who helped me design and detail this course. The first half of the original course was ommitted from this night event, due to the area north of Gnangarra Road being closed off, and because we wanted to shorten the 65 Kilometer course down to about 40k. Thanks heaps to Brettski who came with me on the recognisance trip on the preceding Tuesday evening, to make sure the course notes were accurate, and the tracks were clear.

Brief trip report: The trip got off to a prompt start at 6:15 as planned. We deflated our tyres to between 15 and 18psi immediately. We set off in a convoy of 13 vehicles, with Gadget joining the group about an hour into it, making the total of 14 vehicles. A huge Thankyou to Pommy Pete who offer to go tail end on this trip - tail end being a real nasty job when there is a large group of cars, in very dusty terrain, on a still night. The dust just lingered in the air, and so must have been very hard to drive at the end of the convoy. Onya Pommy!

The first challenge was "Skip's Hill". Most vehicles got up this hill ok, with only 1 or 2 vehicles having to take several goes at it.

The next challenge was the "S-Bend Hill". This hill is very difficult at the moment, being quite rutted and very soft. A few vehicles did not even attempt it, myself included! Out of those that did attempt it, most had between 4 and 6 goes at it before giving up. Hools got his 60 series up after about 3 goes, and had to rock it and crawl up the last bit. Pommy then did the same in his 60 series. Then Dean shot up there in his Petrol 4.5Litre 80 series like a rocket - no problems at all - most impressive! Followed by Gadget, but we all expected him to get up, with the V8 right on song up near the red-line, and both lockers engaged!

The next challenge was the big long hill out near Muchea, with most vehicles getting up it first go, with a big run up! Only 2 or 3 vehicles needed a second go.

On the final leg of the run, towards the Pinjar power station, Dean got a flat in his cruiser, and had to stop to change the tyre. As it was on a very narrow track, the last few vehicles could not pass. But as they knew the way to the final destination (4 hills), we decided to split the group and carry on, with our lead group arriving at the 4 hills at about 10pm. After about 20 minutes we began hearing radio calls from Dina and Bullet asking for directions, as they were totally lost. Apparently Dino had taken a wrong turn, with Bullet following him, heading pretty much directly away from the 4 hills. With some Excellent radio instructions from Brettski, they were back at the 4 hills within 15 minutes.

Everyone enjoyed driving up and down the 4 hills, and then we relaxed and had a few drinks and nibblies, until about midnight, when we all headed off home.

I would like to say a special thanks to Mudslide, who was my navigator on the night, providing me with such precise instructions, that we stayed on course all night.

This evening was the ultimate test for convoy procedure, because it was run at night, with a large convoy of 14 vehicles, with very poor visibility due to dust, and with a moderately complex route. All participants need to give yourselves a pat on the back, as not a single vehicle got lost. Well done! The incident right at the end does not really count, as the group was intentionally split <grin>

Unfortunately, being a night event, we were not able to take many photos. If anyone else took any decent photos on this run, then please forward them to me so I can publish them on this page...

The best computer company: Heppell I.T.,
This page was last updated on 27th Mar 2003