Night Drive - Warburton - 1-May-2010

[neofitou]

Put me down for a maybe too. WIll confirm by the next meeting.

[Greg]

Put me down for a maybe too. WIll confirm by the next meeting.

Sorry Neo - do i know who you are? This who web-alias thing make it a bit hard?


Here's my problem - if, as i suspect, you are new to the club, then i would be a bit hisitant to have you along on a night drive as your (almost) first drive with us... particularly given the tracks we are talking about.

From past experience, night drives are always a bit tricky. And, for some reason, new club members always seem to find their cars upsidedown on the tracks. I don't know why they do it - it just seems to be a new member/night drive curse.

Am i right about the new member thing?

If yes, i think the way forward is to come along to the Warburton Day trip (which i see you have registered for), and that will give you a good gauge on how hard the tracks are going to be in the daylight - then we can assess how you feel about attending the night drive in the same location, and how confident i am with having you along for the drive.

As i said though - if i'm completely wrong and i should know who you are, then i take all of this back etc...

[gwagensteve]

X2 Neo - More people coming on trips is a great thing, but it's not without good reason that we call night drives on hard tracks "soul destroying" It's all good fun until someone makes and unforced error and golly, they can get quite stressful.

Also, this trip will still run if the track is wet. 31 MTR's and one locker are not a good combination on Ellis in the wet. Xtealslacksitybillion when it's dark and you can't pick the lines anymore.

Please don't think I'm having a go, but even if you are a very experienced 4WDer, an unfamiliar car that's not quite capable enough for the track might not the best way to do a night drive or familiarise yourself with your car.

Go for your life on the day trips coming up though.

Steve

[neofitou]

Completely understand, yes new member, but not to 4 wheel driving or suzukis, but I do understand, you can't risk a potential n00b on a hard night trip.
See you all at the next meeting.

Stephan Neofitou (neo is is fine)

[Greg]

Thanks for being understanding about this neo, but don't be too discouraged...

You can still get along to the day trip in the same location to check out the same tracks (in the safety of daylight).

And, you can always tag along as a passenger on the night drive to see what's it's all about and determine if you and your car will be up to the task next time around.

cheers,

[neofitou]

No problem at all, I dont think my car will be ready for the hard trip this weekend anyway, I've run out of money..

I will be going on the easy one,
In the Paj if I have to or if the wife & daughter come..

[Greg]

Track Update (29-Mar-2010):

We had a chance to get out and drive basically all the tracks of interest in the warburton area on the weekend during daylight hours.

Cemetery is looking good.
Justice is looking good.
Britannia creek has been graded.
Ellis is looking spectacular.

All were very drivable due to the dryness of the area, but (fingers crossed), it won't take much to turn them all into a slippery challenge.

4 weeks of repairs, should see me ready to go in time.

[Greg]

just checked the luna status for 1-may... April 28th will be the full moon, so, if we have some nice clear weather, we might be able to get away with park-lights only

or it could rain lots and be crappy and end up as a night on the rev limiter... which would also be good fun.

[Greg]

Team,

I have received some questions regarding lighting requirements for a night drive.

I think the right amount of light can easily be achieved with a set of headlights, and a portable light (i.e. hand held / hat mounted torch).

There is definately no requirement to mount extra spot lights or your car just for this trip, and in fact, the car infront of you will probably prefer it if you didn't use your spot lights because you will blind everyone else around you.

If you have any other questions about this, please let me know.

Cheers,

[cj!]

I think a full array of roof mounted Dolphin torches should do the trick