Chairman’s Waffle May 2008

I have been absolutely manic these last 2 months! Work is still busy but a little less ‘pushed’ now & all of the work to prepare Baby finished (well, when I say finished…) & we’re all moved into our new home. The house warming party over (what do you mean ‘not invited!’) & the hangover gone. It’s so nice to sit down in the evening & be able to write something for the newsletter. Uuuummm…..

Oh yeah, I remember. The Club Birthday, woohoo! We’ve sorted the venue & date & have a list of events to please everyone. Bob’s going to get summit together in the way of an advert I think. It’s going to be great.

I had a bit of a shock tonight, whilst browsing the D4x4 forum I came across Paul’s truck for sale! Dunno what that’s all about yet, I’ll have to call him I think.

We had a great time on the last challenge. Unfortunately the 2 dayer was postponed so we had just a single day but we camped & had some night stages.

I was dying to test my new beadlocks so we aired down to 4psi, only to be told 2 of the stages were ‘comp safari’ stylie! Aaaghhh. I think the only thing holding us on the corners were the beadlock rings digging in. Fantastic fun but maybe next time I’ll check. BUT, they stayed on the rims so I guess they work!

We pushed Baby really hard & managed to get all 40 punches but were beaten into second place on the stages because I got a 6th on one when I got hung up on a stump & bent my ‘unbend able’ track rod.

It’s so nice having my Landy at home with me, I can’t remember the last time I did? Sheila has been looking after her for so long now I bet her drive looks empty now. I bet when she offered to have her there she wasn’t planning on it being that long, she has been very good to me. I’m not used to having this much space thought, we had 12 cars on my lawn at our house warming. I’ve got a workshop & everything, though I can’t get baby in it (although I have got my eye on a shed in the farm next door!)

Bob’s plans with the outdoor show are going ahead. Hopefully the course that was designed is starting to take shape. I think we are a few short on vehicles really & could do with a few more before he offers it out to other clubs. If you fancy taking people for off road rides in return for free entry to the show + food+ fuel then get in touch. This should be a high profile event for the club.

Isn’t getting old great!? I think my memory is getting worse. One good thing though…. When I came to re insure Baby last month I had a very pleasant surprise, £165 fully comp with (most of) my modifications listed. That’s with the NFU.

I’m off to Eastnor Castle next weekend for the LRW Show. I’ve never been before & was offered free tickets. CSW have got a club stand & Baby will be on show for everyone to admire! Not looking forward to the drive up mind, think I might take some ear defenders. Should be a good weekend though (if this rain ever stops!) maybe I’ll see you there?

Bio fuel is looking ever more tempting! With fuel prices rising 1p a week at the moment, maybe now is the time to find a source of used cooking oil & start stockpiling? I know Baby’s tdi runs quite happily on cooking oil but haven’t tried my vans hdi engine. I think the answer is 2 fuel tanks & start & stop the engine on diesel & run once warm on bio diesel? I’m not sure but think I’ll do some searching on the web. I see though that the supermarkets have cottoned on to people using new cooking oil & have increased a litre of oil from 25p to nearly £1! Not fair. Still, that’s nearly 30p a litre cheaper than diesel.

Talking of the World Wide Web… Me & Paul are on ‘Youtube’. I have no idea who posted them but someone has put some vids of last years Mike Wolf Challenge up.

Finally, a big thanks to Andy for the unenviable task of welding my beadlocks on for me, just one more!

See you soon.
Rog

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