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November 2006
What is it about the Club that persuades you to renew each year? The regular driving days perhaps or events such as the Team Challenge? Or like me do you enjoy the social interaction with the camp-overs, camaraderie and such like? Well here’s a tale of just such a case of club camaraderie… On the day of the recent trial, Paul & I agreed to meet at the site to empty the trailer and dry out the marquee after it’s last minute soaking at Stonham (more about that inside). After an uneventful journey down to the site we laid out the marquee panels in the sun and decided to put everything else away. As I went to turn around, the Disco suddenly started shrieking like a demented banshee on acid: The power steering pump had seized solid! There was nothing I could do except ring the nice man from the AA to come and take a look, so Paul towed me to the top of the drive to await their earliest convenience. Carl the AA man duly arrived well within the quoted time and managed to find a belt short enough to drive the water pump, meaning we could drive the Discovery home. So back at home, the internet searched and no second-hand p.a.s. to be found anywhere: This was starting to look expensive, especially as I need the motor. Out of the blue comes a call from Simon Bareham offering the loan of a pump from the Disco he has just bought but doesn’t need for a couple of weeks. He even met me halfway at Copdock, and handed it to me! Now if that isn’t what the club is about, then I don’t know what is. Thanks Si’ you’re a star! In this issue, we go to France with Dave Cook, greenlaning with Pete Matthews and there are the results from the trial and the forest driving day. The ‘loon brings word of warning of a worrying disease and Norman Southgate has more RoW news. Now read on… DEANO
Whilst I’m sorry to say my inbox hasn’t been bulging with new ideas for events for next year, the events we held during October were well attended so we must be doing something right. The forest drive, once against set up by Simon Foster, supported by Dave Lyes, Chris Slack and their respective partners attracted almost 50 members in assorted vehicles, most with families and/or dogs in tow, all of whom had a great day out in the forest. We were very lucky with the weather, with a very heavy shower holding off until we had just about finished (even if Simon and Co. hadn’t had time to pack up, sorry guys), despite this I’m pleased to say that Simon has offered to set the event up next year, forestry commission restrictions permitting. On behalf of the club and everyone who took part in the forest drive, can I pass on a big thank you to Simon, Dave, Chris, etc. for all the hard work that goes in behind the scenes and on the day to make this event the enjoyable success it is. Following that we had a trial at Newbourne. Setting up a fresh trial on a well used piece of ground is always a challenge, but one that Simon Bareham one of our new committee members rose to admirably, in all, five sections were set up, with three run in both directions to give a total of eight on the day. Twenty six entries was about right and with only a couple of minor incidents, the whole day ran very smoothly with all competitors having a good day out in the warm sunshine. I’d like to say (a slightly biased) well done to the Series drivers, who acquitted themselves well on some tricky sections to demonstrate how capable a Series is when it comes to playing in the rough. I’m going to close as I started with my plea for feedback on events. We will be putting next years club calendar together soon and we would love to have both your ideas for new events and feedback on past events, so go on, send us an email or drop us a line, you know you want to…. Chris Goldsmith - Chairman
I’m always hearing and reading about club members who want to do some greenlaning, but don’t appear to know where to start. Well, until the club manages to get some regular trips sorted (hint, hint), there is one publication I’ve found that produces an off-road route each month, called ‘Total Off Road’, and covers all marques of 4x4, not just Land Rover. This in its self provides an interesting insight into what other groups are doing to their vehicles (don’t laugh at the Vitara’s, they can’t help it!). Personally though, I get the mag mainly for the roadbook.
Each route usually lasts from between 4 and 6 hours, and has details for each junction and any hazards you are likely to meet. Routes seem well researched, and include interesting features like fords, which are easy to miss when planning your own routes. They also have map references at important locations, so if you get lost, or just want to avoid a section, you can rejoin later. I probably now have around 25 of these roadbooks, covering the whole UK. I’ve found this is an excellent way of doing some laning when on holiday, or just further a field. As the mag also posts TRO’s and other restrictions, you can be fairly confident when you do the route, it will all be legal and open. You may be thinking, ‘surely routes posted like this would lead to overuse and increased damage?’, well I’ve done a good handful of these routes and haven’t found this to be the case. You often find yourself going down lanes that know one has been down for ages, and are very overgrown.
When camping this year, inland from Chichester, we decided to have a go at a route. As our little boy, Edward, is only 16 months, we thought we would play it by ear as far as duration went. With all routes you inevitably end up doing some tarmac, but this route kept us off road for most of the time, with some wide open dusty tracks, some very ancient looking enclosed lanes, a few axle twisting earthworks, and quite a lot of rather scratchy narrow lanes. It was along one of these narrow scratchy lanes that a malicious piece of hazel decided to side swipe my snorkel, and put a dent in the roof! The different colours of paint on said branch suggested I wasn’t its first victim! We skipped the last third of the route, but picked it up again for a final huge expanse of ford, that had us stripping off boots and socks for a refreshing paddle, after of course being gawped at by the locals as we gently drove through!
Pete Matthews
News just in from our Northern border correspondent of a worrying disease that is sweeping the planet. You have been warned! Rovitis - (ro-vi-tis) An incurable condition characterised by the uncontrollable urges of the patient to own and drive a Land Rover. The ancient cultures are credited with having opened the way for civilization as we know it today. Their postulations on medical matters have been the catalysts in many dramatic cures which would other wise have been terminal illness. This disease, which defies all treatment and resists inoculation, can disrupt the domestic environment of the patient and can lead to severe financial trauma. The disease is not confined to the tropics or even the civilized world, but finds a finds a foothold throughout the world. Experts in Britain, where the disease is believed to originated, have been dumbfounded by the rate at which the disease has spread through the world, and after much research & deliberation identified the condition as Rovitis. Rovitis is an infectious disease easily spread by human contact & exposure. The disease manifests it self at an early age, as evidence of Matchbox, Dinky, Majorette & Burago strains can be found in most homes! Some researchers have produced evidence that the condition may even be hereditary. Tests have shown that the same symptoms appear in children of 3 years old as those found in their fathers that have contracted the disease. The incubation period of Rovitis varies apparently on a number of outside factors. The two prime indicators appear to be the legal driving age & financial means, although the latter has been offset by the presence of a number of strains as identified by Solihull researchers. These strains have been classified as the following:
The symptoms of Rovitis are initially psychological. The patient may show tendencies to glance at the strains at first. These tendencies however, become stronger when human contact is made, & can usually develop into an uncontrollable desire to posses the strain. The strains are not equivalent. Some are found on the showroom floor while others appear in almost parasitic phase waiting for the potential Rovitis host to be infected. This latter infection shows a number of weeks of incubation in a well equipped workshop before the patient is actually fully infected. However, once infected, the patient now faces the same symptoms as those of a patient who may have contracted the disease in the showroom. The Rovitis patient shows signs of withdrawal from family gatherings, and tends to prefer to mix with other Rovitis suffers, where they can discuss the common peculiarities of their infliction. His home becomes a storage area for all the literature & associated implements & aids that accompany the condition, Most common is the procurement of WD 40, pair of wellies & that same old set of overalls that the wife has banished from house because it smells of EP 90.....ahem.. Recent research has shown that that in most cases, the patient’s wife becomes contaminated, purely as a result of continued exposure to the disease. Some female patients have however been shown by researchers to build up a remarkable resistance to this disease. This appears to create a social problem, as more than anything, the Rovitis patients need a lot of comforting, The patient needs to be nursed with ale, cheese sandwiches, tea etc. (without him asking) when he appears to be having a severe attack. The severity of this attack would be influenced by the particular strain that has infected the Rovitis patient. For instance, the Series 2 strain attacks are far more severe than a 110 strain attack but parasitic phase-strain can occur when looking at the "What’s for Sale” bit in LRO. The financial trauma associated with Rovitis is perhaps that is most hard felt, it is a very expensive condition & needs constant injections of capital to keep it under control. These capital injections may be of unleaded & the addition of aluminium checker-plate. No cure has been found as yet, needless to say its not life threatening, just life long, and with the proper and compassionate management together with a balanced treatment, could actually become a source of enjoyment for the Rovitis sufferer & his family. Ade (landyloon) Thanks for the heads-up Ade.
An overheard conversation at Eye Show led to the attendance at a new show and venue for SLROC’s ‘PR machine’. A guy from the Fire Service Preservation Group was talking to Fred James about this new show that we might be interested in attending and maybe doing some offroad rides as we do at Eye. When asked about the date though, Fred said that it wouldn’t be any good to us because it was the same weekend as the Forest Driving day and everybody would be there. On hearing this, I stepped in saying that not everyone attends the Forest drive and that I would look into the feasibility of attending. A quick ask around at Eye produced 10 names that would be more than happy to try this new venue and so, with Alan Scott agreeing to apply for an MSA permit on the Monday morning ’just in case’, we were all set. The Fire & Wheels 2006 show hosted by the Mid-Suffolk Showground at Stonham Barns was born of a potential crisis for the FSPG! Previously they had held their annual get-together at the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket but in 2006 they decided they were not going to host it anymore. The organisation team at Stonham heard about this and got in touch, offering the use of their showground for the weekend. A few emails and phone calls saw some of the show crew turning up at Stonham on a sunny but rather windy Sunday afternoon to recce the place and meet the organisers: John, Karen & Wendy. The size of the meadow they had earmarked for us to lay out a course, while not as large as Eye, would be plenty big enough to demonstrate what our Landies could do, to the paying public. Our neighbours were to be the Air Ambulance, in keeping with the Emergency Services theme of the weekend. The week before the show, Gavin & Alan spent a truly dismal day trying to construct a course in torrential rain and both arrived home soaked to the skin. As if that wasn’t enough, Gav’ then went back on the Thursday to supervise the completion of that phase of the operation. To say the ground was a bit sticky really doesn’t do it justice, as anyone trying to drive on it would attest. We could do with a drop of that soil at Newbourne!
In the meantime, the marquee was erected one evening, to save time at the weekend and then it was simply a case of sitting back and watching the weather forecasts while priniting and laminating lots of signs etc. Camping from the Friday evening, there was the usual bout of socialising, in much the same vein as the Newbourne camp-overs which to me is as important as both raising money for charity and furthering the image of the club. Saturday dawned (so I was later informed) damp but promising but unfortunately very few visitors graced our hallowed area. Terry did sterling work on both days, press-ganging people into having a ride. He can be very persuasive as the charity pot proved by the end of the first day: I think every other exhibitor on the showground came along at some time or other for a whiz around having been accosted by our Terry! Pete & Steph brought along their Little Rovers: so popular at Eye Show and were again here. The look on the children’s faces said it all.
Saturday evening meant the barby was in full swing as usual and most cooked up on there, followed by a candlelit soiree in the marquee. Sunday morning and the weather was looking a little more threatening with talk of thundery showers in the afternoon. There were definitely more visitors about, although being a first time event no one knew what to expect. Pete & Steph moved the Little Rovers course from inside our area to a nice, big and far more visible site which helped drum up more interest. Ian our Webmaster arrived in the afternoon with wife Nicki and son Jamie (wow has he shot up since I saw him last!) and immediately got the camera out. Jamie jumped in with Wayne for a spin around the course followed by a turn around with Simon. The look on his face was a picture, but as I was manning the seesaw I didn’t have a camera on me.
Ex-Chairman Colin Cox and wife also stopped by to say hello, and remarked on how professional the club was running things. So all in all a great opportunity to show off the club, raise almost £300 and have another great weekend to boot. Thanks go to everyone who turned up to help and to all our visitors for giving their money so generously. Here’s to next year’s event. DEANO
We had decided to look for a house in France, so we rented a house in the hamlet of Les Monts near Confolens for three months, to explore our chosen area and look for a property. We had been to France several times for holidays over the last few years in the company car: a Peugeot 406 diesel estate, which was a perfect car for long distance motorway driving - but this had now gone and been replaced by a Saab - so the obvious choice was to use the Landy. It’s a 1988 turbo ninety, recently fitted with a very late low mileage 300 Tdi engine and gearbox assembly. Disco axles together with new springs and De carbon shock absorbers had just been fitted together with blue poly bushes. The springs and shocks have made an enormous difference in road holding and handling: you no longer had to hold on going round corners. There was a slight weep from the power steering box, but Mansfield’s assured me it was not serious and would last for a long time before it needed replacing. So the great day arrived, the tunnel crossing had been booked for the 22.30 train. Leaving home with plenty of time to get to the Tunnel in time for a coffee before boarding the train, I was there in about two and a half hours, which meant I had arrived in time to be offered a place on the train before the one I was booked on, so my train boarding code was soon flashed up on the screens in the waiting area. Walking back to the Landy, a French couple in a large people carrier asked if they could follow me as they were not sure how to get to the train boarding area. I didn’t tell them it was my first time in an over-height vehicle - before I had always used the lower height car lanes - but it’s well signposted from the waiting area to the train boarding area.
A wait at the boarding lanes for about 15 minutes, then the barrier went up and we boarded the train behind a P38 Range Rover. There was very little traffic using the tunnel at this time of day, only two large German coaches and about a dozen cars were loaded, so the train had lots of empty space. The Range Rover in front was rolling about with the motion of the train, but the Landy didn’t move, which made me realize how good my new suspension was. The thirty-five minute crossing went past quickly, and we were soon leaving the train in Calais. As I was going to drive for about two and a half hours, I decided to top up with gazoil (diesel) before the filling stations went over to unmanned for the night, as the credit card readers on the fuel pumps only accept French credit cards, which have a unique chip and pin system, and will not accept any other European cards. (This will often apply all day on Sundays when many of the smaller 24/7 service stations and hypermarche fuel pumps are unmanned) (Handy tip – Ed) I filled up with diesel at the service station on the exit road from the tunnel complex at just €1.00/litre (70 pence) and paid in cash as they had a notice up saying they were unable to accept any credit cards, then it was out onto the A 16 auto route towards Boulogne. This part of the A16 autoroute is toll free until you pass Boulogne. I decided to drive to the Baie de Somme service area, about 90 miles from Calais and have a coffee break there before driving to Rouen for the night. French autoroute’s at night can be very boring with very little traffic, but at least you can travel a long distance quickly, even in a Land Rover.
= Rouen is about 140 miles from Calais, and I wanted to drive round it whilst traffic was light, as during the daytime the “ring road” can be as bad as the M 25. Just before 2 am I had driven around Rouen, and on to a rest area just to the south at the start of the N138, where I slept in the back of the Landy on two mdf panels which fitted on the wheel boxes and across the rear load space under the side bench cushions making a complete false floor with space for all my luggage underneath it. A sleeping bag and a couple of pillows made a comfortable bed. The aire I stopped at was well used by cars and lorries stopping over night, which meant it was a safe place to stop for the night: there have been stories of cars being broken into and people being robbed in the more deserted rest areas! About 8 the next morning I started the Landy after drinking the last of the coffee from the flask and prepared to drive along the N138 for about 110 miles to Alecon. I decided to do about 20 miles to Malbrouck service station for some decent fresh coffee, croissants and a shower and hoped that by then the heavy mist would lift.
The N138 seems to go on for ever with its heavy traffic, very often large lorries carrying what seemed to be half an Air Bus fuselage, myriads of roundabouts, and it winds its way through many small towns and villages, all with their road works, markets, traffic-lights and parked cars. I always think of it as like the old A140 Norwich Road, with out the dual carriageway and by-passes, but with lots of roundabouts and many times busier. Anyway there was light at the end of the tunnel, I would eventually join the A 28 auto route at Alencon, which would take me all the way round past Le Mans and provided I got the right exits on the auto route junctions on to Ecommoy, where I would again join the N138.towards Tours. In the Le Mans area I passed several U.K. registered Discos towing trailers carrying cars after a weekends racing at the famous circuit. At least there are decent lay-bys on all the French autoroutes and even the smaller unmanned ones (aire de repos) have clean toilets, but can run out of loo paper at busy times, so its worth carrying a roll in the Landy . The bigger ones, (aire de service) have fuel pumps, restaurants, take away snacks, coffee machines serving decent coffee, toilets and showers, and are always clean. No litter, graffiti or burnt out cars to be seen any where. The only down side is the French gendarmes often put a mobile speed camera in the approach lanes to the Aires where there is a progressive lower speed limit, this also happens at the approaches to the toll booths on the auto routes where the speed limit becomes progressively lower.
=At Ecommay it was back on to the N138, the A 28 auto route was being extended to Tours and this looked very nearly ready , road signs where up and road markings where being painted, Hopefully it would be ready for the return journey to Calais in about 3 months time. But today it was back on to the N138 to Tours, a very large historic town on the river Loire, with a nuclear power station a few miles to its west, and some very beautiful chateaux in the surrounding country side. Nuclear and hydro electric power stations (even on the smallest rivers) are the main source of electricity in France. Route finding in France is easy if you know which towns you are going to pass, as the direction signs on the main roads and auto routes show the town names of places many kilometers away, Rouen shows up when you are still about 150k away from it. On the Michelin maps where there is a green square round the town name it is shown on the direction signs. Once through Tours I joined the A10, L’Aquitaine, which runs down to the west coast and Bordeaux, the A10 would take me to Poitiers, where I would turn off for the last 60k to my destination via the D 471 passing close to the I’Isle-Jourdain motor racing circuit. I soon reached Confolens, only a few kilometers from my destination at Les Monts, so it was a stop at the hypermarche to get to nights meal and of course some wine. The price of diesel was looking good it was less than 1 euro (about 68 pence) at the hypermarche so I topped up then on to the house for a decent coffee, a meal some wine and a good nights sleep. The house is about 450 miles from Calais plus the distance from home to the tunnel, about 110 miles. The Land Rover averaged about 33 miles to the gallon, which was over all types of road doing 75 mph on the auto routes, (approx 250 miles) to narrow country lanes.
=The only mechanical problem through out the three months was the power steering box which was leaking badly by the time I got to Les Monts, but a call to Andy Cole an English car mechanic at near by Charroux soon had him fitting a replacement seal, which lasted till I got home and had a recon box fitted. Dave Cook
I am sure you will all join in wishing newly-weds, Andy & Caroline Cutting all the very best for the future
Adults
Adults (with technical help)
Childrens
Well despite the thunderstorm that struck just at results time the day was once again a great success with 47 vehicles/teams signed on, and 38 childrens teams. Out of the total of 96 questions, all childrens questions were answered and only 2 adult questions remained unanswered correctly. (Sampras or Krajicek, while Cliff sang and Aldeburgh Guinness record, the worlds heaviest Blueberry). Incidentally there were very many wrong answers to the question........... If you were following a goods vehicle exceeding 7.5 tonnes on a single carriageway road what is the maximum speed you should be travelling? Which is not 56 or 59 as many people answered but 40mph. Any prizes not collected on the day will be available from the signing-on hut down at the Newbourne site. Lets hope we can do it again next year. Simon Foster
Just had to let you know how much we both enjoyed our first event with the SLROC on Sunday 1st Oct - Forest Driving Day. Despite the odd heavy shower we think we located all the clues, couldn’t answer them all but a laugh about them. Sad to see that some people had to use a laptop, kind of took the fun out of it. Hope to see some of you at the Mince Pie driving day. Claire & Peter White - Soham
Wayne Peck, stalwart marshal and scrutineer was speaking to me at the last Night Drive/Driving Day weekend. He was unhappy at having to turn away 3 vehicles that had absolutely no recovery points, or were too dangerous to be driven around the site (and yet they were driven there!). I'm not going into details of who these members were (they weren’t happy), but Wayne thought that a short summary of basic preparation might avoid this happening again. It’s a difficult subject to broach without sounding patronising so I hope you will all take this the right way. Wayne's First LawFirst off is something that should be on your daily checklist: Wayne spotted a battery lying on its side with no clamp in sight! Now come on people you shouldn't be waiting for the MOT to come around for the inspector to do your checks for you, you know it makes sense. In Wayne's own words, "If you do roll it, the bonnet acts as a huge frying pan with fuel and oil laying in it, a loose battery may hit the bonnet, spark and Woosh! you're in deep trouble". So while Land Rover provide a nice sturdy clamp, even a simple metal strap with a couple of holes drilled each end to take bolts will solve that problem. While you are under the bonnet, look around the engine bay. Any leaks, especially from fuel or brake lines need sorting immediately, sometimes it's as simple as tightening a hose clip or pipe union. I bet you take the time to spray some waterproofing around the wires on your petrol motor so you don't look a Charlie in the first puddle you come to, so take the time to look properly for the other stuff while the bonnet is up. Add another check to your list while you’re at it: The handbrake. This must be able to hold the vehicle on our scrutineering slope, that’s why it’s there (the handbrake and the slope)! |
