Rear Compartment Jigsaw

Simon has employed a guy specifically to work on the vehicle, his name is David and seems a sensible and with some nouse - compared to another guy I nicknamed Spaceman who was put to work on the car in prior years and his welding fell apart before we arrived at the venue. David’s is the one sporting sunglasses in the photos which I post on the shared Photos folder. If you don’t already have access to this folder, let me know and I will invite you.

This week was spent playing puzzles with all the bits that need to fit in the back of the vehicle before we try and fit in the runners.

Spare Tyres

We carry x2 spares in the Rhino Charge car itself and one in the support car. To gain some extra clearance on the Charge, we invested in some 38” tyres last time out which are much larger than the ones we had before. Not only did they contribute to us needing to make changes to our differential crown wheels (which we paid dearly for when they failed!) but also made the car much less stable hanging on the sides of the car.

So this year we have been working out how to put the tyres into the middle of the car, lowering the centre of gravity and reducing the instability as well. This is critical for when we traverse across hillsides as the steepness means that the vehicle is prone to tipping onto its side and rolling which can be uncomfortable for those inside. - see photo on website for evidence. Look carefully at my face to detect signs of queasiness.

We put the tyres flat to begin with but now have stood them up against the central roll bar and have built some metal wedges so they always get put back in the right place if/when we need to use them. I am sure we all know how to change a tyre but we will practise who does what the day before.

One of the Support Vehicle’s key roles is to take a punctured tyre from us in exchange for the spare in the Support Vehicle, get it mended at HQ and then to the following checkpoint in case we need it again.

We need to decide if we are going to put anti puncture gunk in the tyres - probably we will and this will be made in a few weeks time.

Fuel Tank

When we cut the original chassis we had to lose the original tank. So a new, larger aluminium was purpose built and installed behind the driver’s seat. The tyres have grabbed that precious spot so the tank is now on the outside, probably safer for that rolling motion mentioned earlier. We have had lots of trouble finding the right place to mount it, allowing human hand access to the rear winch controls but the space is just enough with a protection box to cover the pipes leading out the back to the fuel pumps.

Rear bodywork

Raising the wheel arches to accommodate the larger tyres has been fun - see spark-filled videos. We have also removed the rear taillights section which protruded and made life difficult for the runners clambering around in the back. This will be replaced by more toolbar into the bottom of the bodywork.

The floor has been removed and will be replaced with suitable holes for fuel tank drainage plugs and rear winch wiring. David the metal-worker is beginning to cotton onto my exacting standards and making things look professional beyond the initial Jua Kali efforts. “Jua" means sun in KiSwahili and “Kali" means hot/angry. Jua Kali is a term for work done on the side of the road under the hot sun, which does not conform to Western standards in any way at all, often ingenious but rarely lasts. Something to be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

Winches

Pic of the rear winch is on the shared folder. I have to admit that she looks quite a sorry sight at the moment. We will be taking both winches out for inspection and service in the next couple of days.

Winching is one of the weakest areas in the Falcon’s set up. There are some super-powerful and fast winches on the market but we have never managed to justify the expenditure. Instead we are very careful with our routing and take less of direct line than some of the others as a consequence. I am OK with this, but as a consequence our runners need to be more aware about what a 4x4 can achieve in the thick bush. Newbies are always amazed what can be done, but as we get wiser we find more cunning routes than we see others have taken before us.

One of my most memorable moments was 4 years ago when we had to cross a small dry river, known in Kenya as a “lugger” and climb a very steep bank the other side. Josh, our short runner that year, brought the car down over some rocks into the rather narrow river bed. He then came to the window and told me that I would have to gun the Falcon 10 yards in 2nd gear and then swing sharp left up the bank in a straight setup. I looked at him with an amused smile. Once on the bank, I would need to use as much of the momentum that the Falcon had mustered in only 10 yards to get up the loose sandy bank as far as possible. My instructions were to make damn sure that when the wheels started to spin I stopped and applied the brakes. I am quite good at following such clear instructions and managed to get the Falcon halfway as predicted. While I sat with my brake leg wobbling with adrenaline, the team out front who were waiting for us swung into action. The winch rope was already uncoiled and was passed up the bank to a tree at the top. A tree strap had been prep’d with shackles engaged. The rope was hooked through and doubled back to the front of the bull-bar. Meanwhile the winch control cable was run from the control box back to me the driver. The whole thing took about 60 seconds to get set up. Two team-mates stood on either side, feeding small sand ladders under the wheels to gain extra traction and off we set. Winching itself is actually very slow and the hardest part is to get the front wheels up out of the sand in front of them and maintain enough steady movement to keep them travelling along the surface and not dig back in again. The winch angle tends to pull the front down of course. We were in deep bush so no-one was there to spectate but the result was a thing of beauty. Machine and team working together in perfect tandem, smart thinking and everyone involved in getting us across and over in less than 15 minutes. Memorable stuff and why the event keeps luring me back, year after year.

So we will service the winches and set them up as best they can be for this year’s run. We would certainly welcome any ideas on how to maximise what we have got. We have thought of using the tyre rims as a mechanical winch but never managed to figure it out properly.

Getting the car ready at a reasonable cost is another of the fun little games that the WildDgs team has to play. Stinky and his gang’s fantastic $$$ contributions are of course making this somewhat easier on us but be assured we are very parsimonious and will openly share with the team a full breakdown of all expenditure.

I will write up what the car setup looks like another time and can tell you now that it is quite a formidable gathering of off-road specialist parts.

So, here ends this week’s update. I am hoping to get the old girl moving this week with her exciting new diffs installed. Much depends on the weather though, the rains are dogging our every move and of course work is being carried out under the hot sun…..when it shines!  10 weeks time, it will all be over…...