BlackTJ

Doug Cannon of the Bucks Jeep Club team has had his WB pull out on him at very short notice leaving him in urgent need of a WB to take part in the Steve Maddision 3 Peaks Challenge on the weekend of 27th & 28th October. If you are interested or know of anyone who mght be, please drop me a PM. The time needed away from work/home would be from Thursday 25th October to Monday 29th October inclusive. Ferry and hotel has already been booked.

Tonight is not a good night to check. She left London at 4.30 on the train then had to go back to Paddington because of a problem with the train. Eventually got to Bristol and everyone had to get off. Last time I spoke to her they had gone through the tunnel under the Severn but were now travelling at 2 mph whilst they look for the remains of a crashed plane and assumed dead pilot. The green Jeep is now back home having been fixed by Ivor

The organiser is called Angela. She was a female last time I looked The will probably be 5-6 females driving their own Jeeps and a load more being driven around to show what all the money has been spent on.

From what I have seen from the trailers one Ed Cobley has a starring role. That should sort things out

The lights fitted to a Jeep TJ are just within the limits of the law. Most of us who fit larger tyres and subsequently wider wheel arch flares stray into a legal grey area as the main concern of the Police is that the tyres are covered. They haven't yet got around to that level of measuring. A couple of years ago Jeep brought out a variant with lockers etc as standard. They were available in Australia in right hand drive but never sold in the UK due to issues with the width of the flares

Pity we can't comment but I am going to anyway. Would have preferred slightly smaller X-Eng logo on front and just the flying hammers big logo on the back. I can't be doing with all the website bits and lots of writing. I like the flying hammers logo and I just think all the extra writing ruins a good logo. Likewise a small X-Eng logo on the front gives Simon a return for his generous offer without it turning into an X-Eng in your face t-shirt. Oh and any chance of an X-Eng bottle opener and something from Simon to give me a handbrake on the Jeep

1 large T shirt for Kevin. Have sent pm.

Anyone interested in a day out at Dunchideock on the 15th April. J33P are having a small event there Dunchideock and still have places. Any roadworthy vehicles allowed. If you want to attend the Seven Sisters event in July then this event will entitle you to the discount. If not already a member then drop me a pm and I will speed it through.

Paul - Not so much as case of borrowing it - just being my WB on recovering HH out of the evil bog. Darren had done the sensible bit by then & got changes into clean clothes so Jim was very excited about his first trip in the Jeep.

Great event and really enjoyed it apart from the bit at the end which was not so great. Instead of last punch of the day it was last recovery but thats how it goes. Was I also well behaved enough to be allowed to come again - thats assume Kevin will let me out on my own after what happened.....

Angela should be back about 10 o'clock tonight. The Jeep has been left with Ivor Daniels following the damage inflicted whilst recovering a certain Honiton Hobbit. Seems they are very deep rooted creatures and not easily moved.

Another food order Angela: Fish and chips Darren: Sausage and chips

James, Don't forget to add Angela to the list

First let me make clear I fully understand why a marshal needs to have a 100% guaranteed way of knowing which is the earth lead. In a high pressure situation like an accident he can not afford to get it wrong, especially if there is leaking petrol about. I would have turned up at an event thinking I have a readily distinguishable way of identifying the Earth lead. The thick black cable is the Earth and the thick red cable is the +ve. Seems like a pretty basic standard. They even sell the thick cable with either red insulation or black insulation. However (and no personal dig at Bull Bar Cowboy) because some people decide to save a few pounds and only buy the cable in black then everybody has to wrap yellow tape around the black cable to ensure the marshal cuts the right cable. This is an example when a scrutineer should be sensible and point out to the competitor with the black +ve cable (even with red tape) that he should change it in the near future. Instead the tail wags the dog. If I didn't have any yellow tape would I have been banned from entering? Presumably I need to wrap it around the Earth to chassis cable, the front winch earth cable, the rear winch earth cable, as they all provide an Earth between the battery and chassis, and possibly the -ve cable between the dual batteries. Do I do this near the battery terminals or the whole length of each cable. I think a rule change would be in order in the Challenge arena as some of us use so much of the stuff. If nothing else it should state categorically that the Earth lead should be wrapped in yellow tape. Personally I think red for power and black for Earth would be more sensible.

It would be very difficult to get a Wrangler Jeep to comply as the factory fitted roll cage does not meet the requirements and cannot be modified to comply. Anyone with a soft top needs crash helmets. From what I can see from the photos, the majority of the vehicles at Bampton did not have mudguards which covered 100% of the tyre width for a 120 degree arc. All trayback vehicles I have seen only cover 90 degrees and anyone who has trimmed the front of their 90 mudguards doesn't comply. Of course all of these are open to interpretation. How many side exiting exhausts have deflectors fitted within ten minutes of finishing scrutineering on the scrap iron challenge? Does a simple bit of sheet metal held on by a couple of self tappers make a Wrangler a hard top and hence forget the roll cage and helmet rules? Do gel batteries need to be in a sealed container if they are within the driver compartment as I believe they can not spill acid. My concern is that I don't want to travel all the way to an event to find out that my vehicle doesn't comply although the scrutineer thought it did at the previous event. Likewise winning an event because none of you guys meet the mudguard rule seems a bit of a hollow victory. Kevin