Chris Abel

I think someone's pulling your leg! Shooting season finishes 31st January and breading season for the Pheasant and partrige starts in April. Anyway im looking forward to this one, Co-driving for Jim and we got ourselves a good team mate Its a shame it clashes with the AWDC series, maybe next year someone could start up a website listing the dates of all challenge events so it could be avoided in future.

I would like to say a big thank you to all the AWDC team & sponsors for a fantastic year. It was hard work on Sunday the punches were difficult the weather was against us, and I felt like Cr@p , however we still pushed on and finished the season on a High! It’s sad to see the Range Rover go, but at least it will be back for the HW2009 with Kev behind the wheel and Alistar Darlings lookalike in the passenger seat! we won’t be doing the whole series next year because the new buggy won’t be finished in time, however we might turn up to a few round’s to chuck a spanner in the works.

Count me in new truck will have an MSA approved cage. We need something like this to keep the sport evolving, I love the concept of the King of the hammers in the states and to bring an event like this to the UK is a great idea

Go for a plow type, I use a ScrapioRn anchor and its hard as nails probably the best product they have made/copied but its quite heavy! X-Eng anchor is incredibly light but from what ive heard it does not like the rocks and is bulky to stow on the truck. Devon anchors are good but they also bend when used in rocky ground. Carls Gold digger anchor is a good piece of kit, if i bent my Scrap iorn one thats probably what i would go for.

You dont need big money to still have fun at an AWDC event, the majority of the punches could be done with a fairly basic vehicle. If all depends on how quickly you want to do them. Simon and I have talked about entering in a £50 MOT failer suzuki sj with an 8274 to see how many punches we could still get, and we would still do the hard ones, might take us a bit longer though.

You just need to make a few alterations to the way there mounted to your car, to make it sit lower like my truck and you will never think twice again

Like Simon W, said great event! West Harptree is a small site and to set a challenge there to keep us all busy in no easy task, So big thankyou to the AWDC Also another big thankyou to Gigglepin 4x4 for Sponsoring the event and Simon and I. We have been using the Bluetooth headsets for the last 3 events and they do make a huge diffrence. I'll be in the passenger seat at the next 2 rounds in Simons truck, might stick my winch on his truck though!

I work in the house construction industry, constantly writing risk assessments & method statements, looking at the way we work and how we can make improvements making the workplace safer. I started this pole because I'm concerned for the safety of my co-driver and others who are potentially at risk from the use of winch sails. I do not want to start writing Risk assessments and Method statements for what we get up to at the weekends because from the HSE's point of view what we do brake all the rules anyway. I do see your point Andy and yes a sail is a good idea to indicate that a winch line is in use. However the level of risk imposed on the co-driver when repositioning this sail can in most situations outweighs the reason to using a sail in the first place. There is an even greater risk imposed on the co-driver if the winch sail is to pass through the fairlead, removing the blanket from the drum involves the co-drivers hands in a very dangerous place with the driver flicking the winch backwards and forwards to try to remove it. In the heat of the competition you have to consider the effects of mental and physical fatigue, removing that sail from the drum could result in the loss of a limb with a flick of the switch in the wrong direction. I would like to see: Sails (warning Flag) carried on vehicles but only used if winching across a track, otherwise they are not needed (unless you're using wire rope).

I was going to break it for parts for the new truck, but its worth more as a complete vehicle and i hate the thought of doing it, so many hours went into the build. I would keep it if someone would buy my house

something like that

Im almost ready, truck came back from tay with no damage apart from a tyre valve. Might change the axle oils tonight and swap the winch ropes round. West Harptree will probably be the last event i do in the Range Rover, its up for sale soon We will probably turn up in Simon truck for the last two rounds, with me bitching for a change

Driving glasses might be better, he does have a tendency to drive into rocks at speed Looks like a good event from the photo's and talking to Jim & Adrian, if they make it a bit more technical, longer sections next year ill be going

I would like to find out what the general opinion is for the use of winch sails with synthetic rope? For the Howlin Wolf challenge events we use a thin sail wrapped up on the rope that can be moved along the rope if needed, the majority of the time it’s at the hook end out of the way. The only time it gets moved down the rope is to protect the rope on sharp rocks. At the Tay forest we were not allowed to do this so we used the conventional weighted Velcro sail, we found that the sail would constantly slip down the rope ending up getting dragged through the fairlead, when this happens on a 45 degree slope trying to free it is by no means safe. Keeping the sail in the middle of the rope also requires the Co-driver to constantly reposition the rope under load, how is that safe? Synthetic ropes do store some energy but they are not a threat to the driver, co-driver or spectators unless you have direct contact with the rope. I do however think that sails should still be used with wire rope because the potential kinetic energy stored under tension is far greater as we all know.

Sounds like a tough event, they were not carrying Spare CV's shafts then!? Im suprised that the new steering box broke that was suposed to be a really strong box. Hope Adrians foot is ok and they have a better day tomorrow.

Got a Text from Jim & Adrian, they went though scrutineering today, now loading the truck up with all the gear, they packed Arm Bands, snorkle, rubber duick, rope, shackles, latex gloves, grease gun etc all ready for a week of dirt and sweat