Off Road Oz

[chilliracing]

Australian Safari Update

Hi All,

I thought I'd give you an update on the team progress to take the red Landy to the finishing podium in the upcoming Australasian Safari.

With stages being longer and with around 3000 competitive kms of rough racing it should be quite an event.

The team progress thus far:

I’ve been busy arranging extra fuel capacity (thanks to Russell and Paul at Perth 4x4) and testing to make sure we can make the distance.

The motor has a few more hp and low down torque thanks to Perth 4x4 for the custom air intake set up and WA Performance for the tuning of the vehicle. It will at least sound a bit faster on the start line!! Seriously this thing now goes!!!

Suspension has been slightly revised, again thanks to Perth 4x4

The big news is we now have a number of Sponsors on board and without them it would have been near impossible to compete.

Toyo Tyres via Mark at Bayswater Tyres will be supplying the rubber for the event. We will be using their open country mud terrain tyre. This tyre is the same tyre as used by Robby Gordon’s racing Hummer in the US.

I'll now be running these all year round in the off road racing series

Redline Oils who have with been with me for some time will be supplying all the oils for the race car. It’s quite critical that the oils can withstand the extreme temperatures that will be endured on the long stages of the Safari. This was well proven in last year’s event.

Rovacraft will be supplying a spare parts package for the Landy. God knows, we will probably need it!! If you need a part for a Landy go see Dave Rowlands at Rovacraft.

Gentronics will supply the necessary generators and workshop equipment needed and this has been arranged through Kim Epton.

Exact Fabrications have helped financially with entry fees and the like and a big thank you must go to them. They will also be supplying on race support with welding and fabrication repairs carried out during the event. They have also kindly lent the team a truck for carting spares and crew.

Parkinson Chartered Accountants really I got some understanding business partners when I have to leave work to run around with my race car from place to place.

There are also a number of businesses helping with bits and pieces like Clifford Automatics for the torque converter, Automatic Transmissions R Us for spare gearbox.

The team thus far:

Dave Fong Driver
Kim Epton – Navigator
Russell Cullen (taking some time out of managing Sookchucker racing) to manage the crew and chief mechanic. He loves sitting underneath cars at 2am in the morning
Steve Leersen – Exact Fab welder and fabricator
Brett Cornish Truck driver and assistant to Russell
Matt Fong – Coming in during the event to help ( last year's Navi) and will help with carting fuel and spares

The car will be in a display at the convention centre from mid June to the end of June. From there we go into testing mode and practicing. Let's see how good Kim's Navi skills are!!!!!

Cheers


Dave
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to finish first... first you must finish

[ken]

WELL DONE RAIN MAN

[chilliracing]

Thanks Ken

Im also featuring in an article in Perth Street Car only a small thing for one of my sponsors as well

Im trying take it up a notch to try and give my sponsors maximum exposure now

Just need somebody to chip in for some fuel its getting bloody expensive!
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to finish first... first you must finish

[chilliracing]

Hi Guys,

Just a quick update

We have had a setback with the trailer gone missing but we are still holding out hope that it will turn up in the coming weeks and come with us on Safari. We currently have a lot of people looking out for it. Thank god for good friends in offroad and the 4wd community.

Car is still being prepared and the new Toyo tyres are going on Friday.

We are gearing down a bit as the re-tuned motor is allowing a lot more power and higher reving in all gears including top!! Thanks to Mitch at WA Performance.

A shakedown run is then planned for sometime next week. This is where we will really test Kim Epton's navi skills ( He tells me he's a famous international rally navigator!!)

From there, there is still a multitude of things being done including more fabrication work to be done by Paul and Russell at Perth 4x4 and arrranging the multitude of spares required for over 3000km of competitive racing.

Kim and crew are busy with truck and camping requirements for the team.

Stay tuned for an update after the shake down run.

Cheers

Dave
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to finish first... first you must finish

[chilliracing]

Hi All

We did a shakedown run today completing a course that saw us leave at about 8:30am in the morning and arrive home at about 3.00pm.

All in all a good run.

With the car being retuned it is actually using less fuel and has more power. Thanks again to Mitch at WA Performance.

The new tyres are sensational with lots of grip under foot. The tracks had plenty of water cover so we are happy we have made the right choice there.

We ran at about 70% of race pace to get a feel for the new found power and tyres. Kim had to come to grips with corners that come up a little quicker than they do in a Kombi van!!

We had small things happen - like the new jack decided to unbolt itself; and we still need to tidy up small jobs around the car before we sticker it up ready for scrutineering. Although it now needs a clean beforehand so we at least look the part in Forrest Chase.

Unfortunately, no news on the trailer so this is proving to be the hardest part of preparations to solve at the moment.

Thats all for now.

Dave


We have a team name for the event - "Team Offroad Oz". I wonder where that came from???
_________________
to finish first... first you must finish

[ken]

WHAT ABOUT CHEESE AND CRACKERS AND A NICE CHARDONAY

[chilliracing]

An update on preparations...

A big thanks must go to Peter Kozak who is generously lending his trailer to the Off Road Oz Australian Safari Team for the event

Kim Epton has organised this with the 501 team and we are stoked that Peter has been able to help us

The monster trailer will be perfect for the big heavy landrover to take us to the start line at Kalgoorlie.

Kim and Russell have been busy with the truck. Kim taking a number of weeks out of his normal timetable to ensure no detail is missed in preparing the race transporter and camping equipment

The race car is already to go and is being used for duties around town leading up to the event

Sponsor Stickers will be going on next week
_________________
to finish first... first you must finish

[ken]

GO THE RAIN MAN NO MORE ON THE TRAILER

[chilliracing]

Update


The big red landy is off to the Perth Convention Centre on Friday night for the Auto Salon

The defender wiill be jostling for position amongst rice burners, big stereos,flashed up engine bays and skimpy girls in one of WA's biggest car shows.

It wont be doing any dyno work but will be on display on the TOYO Tyres stand in full race trim (I had to clean it though) as a promotional on the toyo tyres range.

It should stand out from the crowd and if anybody is going drop in a say hi to my sponsors and take a look at the landy before it heads of to Kal for the Oz Safari

Link here

http://www.autosalon.com.au
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to finish first... first you must finish

[chilliracing]

Update

With the event only two weeks away we are now in final preparations for the event

As most of the readers know I got my car trailer back but it has some damage to be repaired and items to be replaced. The final shipment of matching lights , ramps etc is coming as we speak so I can bring the trailer back up to spec

Russell is busy preparing the chase truck being his trusty 80 series landcrusier

Spares and other car bits are being loaded this weekend and final touches put to the truck

The race car is ready for scruitneering next week and Ive completed quite a few road kms to make sure everything is right

The competitor list and stage distances should be released in the next week or so on the official site
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to finish first... first you must finish