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If your looking for a good club in Kent try: www.twinaxle.com Nice bunch, not just Landrover, and lots of experience through the ranks at all levels Very active club, although talking about capping membership, so be quick Hope that helps Jim

There are now available certain joints that are of a suitable standard to use for every day/competition use... But they are frightfully expensive We have just imported a load of rebuildable chrom moly joints with ptfe liners that are adjustable..... But cost is around £90+vat EACH....... But they are the best. But we would use these for suspension joint and not steering. For steering we would use similair joints, but non rebuildable and ditch them at the end of there life. If you still want to pursue this, then call me, will be pleased to help. Jim 01732 463600

Not so sure on the Lotus body kit in the back ground though.....

Wot....... Have i just gone on to Pirate.......? Bling, Bling, BABY Go, Baby, Go Looking good mate, looking good. Jim....With lots of Luv

I use pro radios with motor cycle head sets....... They are very good......but Wireless or blue tooth would be fantastic Jim

Paul, You shouldn't have to use tubes with these...but They have had a problem with them leaking around the welds, which is why we tube them... Quick tip.... When you fit the tubes, push the valve into position and then place a cable tie as low down the neck as possible to retain the valve, or otherwise at low pressures they have a habit of disappearing inside the wheel All the best mate Jim

Well said.... Have been doing twin motor conversions for sometime and i'll be watching with intrest to see if this winch has the problems i expect it to....... Andy, is this prototype going to Ireland in a couple of weeks????????? Be intrested, we have a proto winch going out for testing thats remarkably similiar Fair play to David, he's done what he set out to do and wish him every success........ does look nice......and very similair to an 8074.......... kind of ironic Jim

A lot of the reason none of this is in place, is simply because it scares the living sh*t out of people.... They do not want the hassle of regs, helmets, etc..... They just wana have fun (Cheers Cindy) And we have to ask does it really matter if the helmet is MSA spec??????? So long as it's a helmet?????? of reasonable quality?????? The MSA is the a fine organization ....BUT They don't half have some 'Dumb-F*ck' rules about offroading And insurance is available from other sources I wonder if we can just ask competitors to have helmets, rather than get the MSA involed?????? Just a thought JIm

YES, YES ,YES YES, YES, YES AND YES!

Brian Hartley (Club offroad Aka Bulldog, etc....) has been Taking points of teams for roll overs for somer time now...... It is a rule i HATE Who in there right mind would roll a car on purpose? For what gain? Just to smash your car up??????? It ALWAYS leads to arguments of "Is it a roll over, No it's got two wheels on the ground" Or "i can't have rolled i was in a ditch" I was nearly penalised for a roll over at last years bulldog, but as we ALL pointed out, I drove in and drove out without the assitance of a winch......... Whether or not i had only two wheels on the ground is inmaterial, I WAS IN CONTROL.....(ish ) So was that a roll over???? I rest my case....... Added to this the fact i was AGAIN accused of a roll over the previous years on the night section!!!!!!!!! Turned out the marshall saw a jeep that was a similair colour to the SV roll and blamed me W*nker! Soon put him straight (Lots and lots of friends and witness's B) ) People just need to get off the throttle, and accept that accidents happen. I HATE speed restrictions at events as i personally believe that they, again, cause more problems than they solve.......BUT, if this is what takes, then so be it..... I think we need to look back at events of old and how they got round the problem of noive or inexperienced drivers biting of more than they could chew....... They used to have prologues, where the skill of the vehicle team was tested and then the start order was arranged from this.... This usaully meant that the top teams got a way from the inexperienced leaving the lower teams to do things at there pace.......... Of course accidents still happened, but thats motorsport I don't want to be wrapped in cotton wool and told to drive only on the dry bits! I want to have some fun So less rules and less punches, There getting boring and very difficult to marshal, thus leading to accidents as we have seen........ More super sections........with punches, equals more control and less incidents...... I hope Jim Ps: Helmets are great

One thing i forgot to add is that as a driver YOU do not HAVE to do ANYTHING you feel is dangerous...... Or is that the problem? People are scared to say NO!!!!!

Intresting thread Chris..... Have had to wear helmets on several occasions abroad and in the UK whilist competing, and two major things have raised there head as a result... After wearing a helmet for two days competing i actually find that i am NOT in pain from muslce aches etc... I think this is because i am not trying to constantly stop my head hitting the the roof and vehicle side the whole time, thus not stressing my neck and shoulder muslces as frequently.... So for this it is a plus point The other thing that raised it's head is that, give someone a helmet, gloves and a car and all of a sudden they think there Nigel Mansell !!!! Seen it plenty....... This sport is changing, I have been doing this along time and it is getting very competitve..... Bad thing???? Who knows?? But i think you'll have difficulty getting some to wear helmets in the UK, They will feel they are having to suffer to others inability to judge terrian.........Or .........Drive Some events state that you must wear a helmet etc, but not what type or whether or not it's approved. I think this is a sensible approach as any helmet is better than no helmet, but i also understand that this in itself will cause problems in this litagation strewn land Answer ? Not sure, but Helmets defiantly get my thumbs up As for the recent roll overs etc.... Very sad and i hope all our well, but we have brought it upon ourselves by having one day competitive events..........At two days events most are not so heavy footed because the vehicle MUST last two whole days..........Nuff said The poor competitors that unfortautely rolled must also take some blame for getting it and their judgement wrong, I strongly hope this acts as as reallity check for everyone I also strongly believe that a little of what started the challenge scene has been lost ie: The Challenge, Team spirit and the will to help others. Anyway.....Where was i ????? Helmets, Yeh there great Jim

Why is everyyone being so negative........??????? We are a step closer to having one less 'eap-of pooh' classic on the road And your upset?????????????? Coat.... Door.... Jim

Have been using a variation of the ep/come-up for about 18 months The brake and the gearbox are standard....... And so far no problems, aprt from a sticky free wheel which was caused by exceesive mud buiold up between the case and the drum........Not really the winches fault I rate both the EP and the come up as great budget winches Plus i prefer the external cone brake to the internal brake of the Xp.....not a problem though if your using wire. Hope this helps Jim Ps: yes you can waterproof the EP/come-up...........but it aint exactly a DIY job

I do not want to add fuel to fire....But I thought it was only the early ones ie: without the rolled edge that gave problems???????? I might be mistaken though????? However we have had quite a few that leak through the welds and have to be repaired, But this is found when we fit the tyres as new, not after use. But saying this, I have used Mach 5's for 4 years without any problems....... And i ain't that careful Jim

Have been looking at these for sometime They look and sound ace. If you look in the states you'll find universal mountings for as little as fifteen dollars Would love to try them But they ain't cheap Jim

You can now get OS topographical maps for all of GB for the Garmin units for 135 pounds. A waterproof unit with lots of memory like the new 60CSx that also takes SD memory cards is a good choice. It can be moved from vehicle to vehicle easily, or used as a handheld unit. It provides POI and road navigation too, but you have to pre-load routes and so is not really equivalent to a road navigation unit. If you were using for lots of green laning then yes memory map will have an advantage of showing BOATS etc and your exact position in relation to them but for Challenges and general GPS work I can't see the advantages. Cheers Steve Garmin Mappping is in a word, Disappointing to say the least, Cr*p is another that springs to mind After waiting soooooo long for it, wished we hadn't I personally use an Xplore tablet with memory map linked to a 176.... Quite excellent Why do you need Memory map for Challenge?? Ain't done much? no??????? The Aireal Photography is fantastic for finding routes across ground, you can see gate ways by looking for vehicle or animal tracks across fields, particluarly usefull in the Bulldog with Brian making you wonder across acres of peatbogs The mapping is also very usefull for travelling from site to site, No mistakes lead to good scores, and that is something we pride ourselves on Andy has also hit the nail on the head, Entering waypoints...... With a keyboard we can enter points sooo much quicker, that means we are rolling faster and have more time in the field. we also use a utility package to allow VERY fast entry of waypoints, that we then export into memory map. The other main reason for the tablet is the size of screen means you can read the map easily. Awesome However with the new vehicle we will run a tablet with sun see screen with heads-up monitor (9 inch) for the driver and a gps mouse (Superb bit of kit and cheap) The better mouses are staggeringly impressive with our display model picking up 10 sats inside our shop!!!!!! Now thats cool B) We also supply Vasari on board computors which are cheaper and do everything your home pc does,but in your car........ACE B) these are amoured and have water resistive values. Hope that helps a bit Jim

We looked into such an event in this country Jules. Even as far as arranging offical access to tour Salisbury, Sidbury, etc.......Which was hell to set up And then certain authorties had not been told, we had problems with police etc and this was with offical assitance and all the correct mapped aurthorities for the day and a land Marshall assisting us!!!!!!!! And it comes down to three things Cost...........MASSIVE Timing...........Almost impossible to tie down seven sisters, Salisbury, Grand Canyon etc for same weekend. Lack of entires..........Lots of talkers, not a lot of players So thats why we did not take it any further, Shame really, could have been a good laugh Jim

Sweet Mother of God........ You boys drive the ass of them............ Wow! Cheers for the link John Again Wow Jim

There really are a lot of thoughtless, heartless B*stards out there Hope they fall down a cave Jim

Think you are probaly right.......However, I think it is possible to get on the podium...... Speaking to the lads that have been and done it, they noted lots of areas that can be improved upon. Simon and others have beaten the Aussies in the RFC, so they are beatable...... But on there own turf??????? who knows, But i'd love to give it a try I think the UK is more likely to put someone on the podium on the 8 day Extreme rather than the OBC, More techincal and more winching Right up my street, Just hope i get a chance Jim Ps: Anyone else thought of going???

You carry on Mate....... Where do you get your smilies??? Jim

The Radius arms mentioned are a Gigglepin creation, and don't use standard rose joints....the plot thickens They are just a little bit special, All will be revealed soon. Looks like a very good day out, Do like that site All the best Jim

Quote: Dollythelw sorry guys did you ask for tech or crappy snides?? Cheer up ole bean, might never happen....... Just out of intrest.....IF That chain broke, What would actually happen??????? My moneys on falling of and doing little, if any damage ???????? Thoughts and reasons please Jim

To give you some idea of how big ba!!s you need. On one special stage, Adam Bird was driving corners with both inside wheels more than 1/2 metre in the air. At one time he put the nissan on it's side and as it was sliding along, on it's side, steered the front wheel into the ground and flipped it back onto all 4's and continued to the finish without coming to rest. Cool Where do we sign up I'll be Honest John, am looking at doing the 8 day extreme this year, NOT the OBC..... Our cars just ain't got the go' go, and i like a bit more winching You know much about it???? Be intrested in any info you got Cheers Mate Jim Ps: Am i right in thinking that it's the 10th Birthday of the OBC next year????? I know theres quite a few Brit cars talking of going for that........Just got to convince the Girlie