THE
4X4 CLUB – ZIMBABWE
Newsletter
No: 93
AUGUST
2012
P O Box HG 594
Highlands Harare Zimbabwe The
Motor Sports Club House, 2 Annan Road,
Eastlea, Harare.
The
Chairman and Editorial Team:
The
4x4 Club is affiliated to the Zimbabwe Motor Sports Federation - ZMSF
Our
Club is a member of the Mashonaland Motor Sport Association Club House,
situated at: 2 Annan Rd. Eastlea. It is
available for hire for weddings, conferences, kid's parties, 21st
birthdays, etc.
News,
comments and opinions expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of
the Club or the Committee
THE EDITOR’S
DESK - Michael and Pat Gill
A
point of interest, if you had read the editorial last month where we mentioned
getting a Rescue Unit organised. Well,
in South Africa they had a VERY cold spell recently with snow in the Cape and
Free State and many roads closed. I
noticed a snipped of South African news that mentioned the local 4x4 Clubs came
to the assistance of the stranded motorists.
We get slated for driving 4x4s but there are many times when we can
justify our love of these wagons.
MEMBER'S
NEWS:
Greg Stead: navigated his driver to
victory in the Uganda Rally recently.
This puts them in a good position to be the Africa Championship
winners.
Pete Jenkin: has been over to
England to his daughter, Dawn's, Graduation Ceremony and while there he planned
to go to the "Billings Land Rover Week-End". A motor show that can take more than two days
to just walk round. Typical of the weather, it was cancelled to a later date
and Pete missed it.
Ray Walker. Jeep Wrangler. The Jeep got a bit bent at the Jamboree, so
it went to the body Doctor. Ray has also
been to the body doctor and has had a new hip joint fitted and then a cataract
removed so he can now see better. No
more cracks about seeing where he is going PLEASE!
TELEPHONE
NUMBER:
If
you need to get hold of me, please note I have a new cell phone number:
0778.731,288 Pat Gill.
MEMBERS
CARS:
I
know I press this point but will continue to do so until my message has sunk
in!!
One
of my pet hates is the 4x4 driver who brags about the way he drove on a dirt
road from there to there in 2WD.
Unused
front drives deteriorate rapidly. Control is better on a dirt road in 4WD and
so is tyre wear. It is the unused front
drive that dies prematurely.
Try
and get your 4WD to work at least once a
month, like your manual tells you.
DID YOU
KNOW
A
little bit of 4x4 history for you. You
must have heard of the Audi Quatro. Well
back in the 1970s a bunch of Audi engineers went for their annual road tests to
northern Scandinavia, -40 C with several cars including a VW Iltis 4x4 and an
Audi 170 hp 100. The roads were all ice
and snow as expected but what came out of it was the VW, with only 75 hp, left
everything else behind, with ease. Off a
good dry tar road power was not the winner, the 4WD was. So they made the Audi Quatro 4WD and won
every rally they entered for some time. "Audi"
is listen in German.
PAST EVENTS:
HWANGE ROAD CLEARING REPORT. July 2012
A Trail Drive with a Purpose - it
can't get any better.
Did you see the 6 page
report with photos done by Muzza Black?
It was sent out as a flyer. Here
is a shortened version.
We, The 4x4 Club Zimbabwe, were asked by Jane Hunt of the Lion Research in collaboration with Greg Rasmussen of the Painted Dog
Conservation to help them clear some unused roads within the Hwange
National Park. This is to assist them in
their research to be able to get to their projects. Some of these roads had not been driven for
at least ten years or more and were now just elephant single tracks.
A lot of planning went
into this project and our Environmental Officer, Muzza Black, did a sterling
job of plotting the co-ordinates, communicating with the authorities and
gathering up as many Club Members as possible.
We also put a report in a South African 4x4 Newsletter and were
surprised at the response.
This all boiled down to
having seven fully equipped 4x4's and sixteen able bodied people to do the
job. We had two South African and one
German/Czech contingent. We were
allocated two Ax Men and an armed Game Scout for each team with Justin
Seymour-Smith as their leader.
We made Base Camp at
Mitswiri Pan, about 100 kms south west of Main Camp, and bomb shelled out from
there. One team went north towards Dina
Pan and one team concentrated on the Xixi Amanandi Road. This road had a Mopani Forest and we came
across six downed big trees which we had to chain saw and winch off the
road. An indication of just how long it
has been since anyone had driven this road; we came across two elephant sculls
still with the tusks intact. We removed
the ivory which was scorched by the sun and handed them in to the Parks
Office. They must have lain there for
all of five or six years. The nights
were very cold and quiet, not an animal call was heard. It is now very dry and most pans have dried
up so animals have moved away to the next available water. We did see lots of
Elephant and other game at the wet holes and some interesting foot prints.
All in all we cleared over
50 kms of track.
Distances: Harare to Hwange via Nkai and Lupane 584
(Well worth doing this shortcut).
Within Nat Park; Road Clearing
and Game Viewing: 340
Return Harare via Lupani /
Nkai 580 Total Distance 1504kms
Fuel
used 212 lts = 7.1 kpl
Participants: Muzza Black and Wilma Hoefnagel Pajero
Michael and Pat Gill and Roger Ellis Patrol
Kelvin and Tina Weare and Tim Thorburn L
Cruiser
Marietta van der Werff and Wayne Conradie LR TDI Defender
Rene and Andrea Bauer Patrol SWB
Andre van Wyk / Shelton Thorburn from S.
Africa Toyota Hilux
Greg and Linda Harris from S. Africa Toyota Hilux
I know our efforts were
much appreciated by Parks, Lion Research and The Painted Dog Conservation and
we have been invited (almost commanded) to return next year. They say they have a lot more roads for us to
clear. It was hard work but so worthwhile.
Sadly you are not likely
to get to our roads as they are a good 4 hour drive from Main Camp but they are
interesting drives.
NOTES:
Lupani / Nkai Road from KweKwe:
From
the Truck Stop drive 10 kms up Gokwe Road, turn left onto Nkai Road.
Full
Tar for 4 kms;
Narrow
Mat for 35 kms;
Dirt
for 11 kms;
Full
tar through Nkai for 50 kms
and
Dirt to Lupani 125 kms. Total distance 225 kms.
This
shortcut takes off + 150 kms from
going round via Bulawayo.
We
left home at 06.00 and were in Main Camp by 3 p.m. Well worth doing.
BALLY VAUGHAN on
Sunday 29th July,
Our
Club, once again, did a good job of taking lots of useful items out to Bally
Vaughan on Sunday 29th July.
If you did not come then
you missed a great day and that good feeling that you have assisted such a
worthy cause. Sarah has rescued 2 lions in VERY bad condition who need
constant and tender care, and therefore needs lots and lots of extra cash for
their care and to build them a home they deserve.
Items delivered the Park:-
Mops;
Ice cream boxes; Water containers; canvas tarp;
Shovel; Rakes; A roll of Game Fencing and nails; Cat
food; dog food and bird food; Yoghurt. And cash donations.
The participants are:
Peter
Benzon and Tammy; Carol and Derek Weare and their family; Mark and
Hilary Benzon with an American friend; Kelvin and Tina Weare with
their family; Mike and Ingrid Brophy and granddaughter; Roger
and Bev Ellis and Shane; Robbie and Rose Rushforth with an entourage of children;
Malcolm and Francis Attwell; Lloyd and Ann Clarke and Family;
Michael and Pat Gill.
Thanks
you to all who participated I know Sarah Carter of Bally Vaughan regards the
4x4 Club as a very special friend.
BLUE CROSS 4th
– 10th August.
Another Trail Drive with a purpose.
The organiser of the Blue Cross; The Mountain Bike Section, asked us, once again, to support them on
their fund raising 500 km ride from the
lowest point of the country to the highest.
This is all in a good cause as it raises much need money for the
ZNSPCA. The Gills along with Bob and Pam
Crook did the "Trail Blazing /time keepers" and "Back-up/sweep"
this year.
We spent a
couple of days in Gonarazhou and drove across the Save and Runde rivers at 3
points. Plenty of animals and great
camping spots.
We had our
4x4 Club banner flags flying at the end of each day's ride, about 100 ks, and
the riders could not have been more thankful for our help. We led and did the
route in about 3.5 to 4 hours, the Crooks about 8 hours. After last year we
were so impressed with this 4x4 route that we tried to get it rerun as a Club
outing. The Blue Cross raised about $18
000 for ZNSPCA, well done!! There were 26 Mountain Bikers; 6 road cyclist (who
also have to do some dirt); 6 horses
ridden by Peterhouse School girls; and six
walkers who take nine days to do the 500 kms. The participants came all the way from USA,
from Ireland, South Africa, Botswana as
well as Zim.
LAND ROVER ON A ROLL!
After all the recent bad history of this 4x4 marque
it is nice to hear some good news. Tata
Motors own Land Rover and Jaguar. The
new Range Rover Evoque is such a popular seller that there is a back list of
orders that goes through to 2013. They
have put on a 3rd shift at the West England Factory, at Halewood,
and a new engine plant at Wolverhampton.
Tata have a joint venture deal with Chery Automobile in China and with
booming sales of Jaguar and Land Rover in China this is all good news. Sales of the Land Rover range were 50% more
in March 2012 than March 2011. The Evoque
was awarded "World Design Car of the year" amongst over 100 other
design awards it has received.
4x4 Club Diary - 2012
These dates change as the year progresses, but flyers will be sent out before each event.
September
15-16 Bush
Pig Beatrice
September 29 / 30 Hwange
Game Count for info
October
20/21 Three
Hills (full
moon) Makumbi
November
10
Corporate Day Donnybrook
November
18-20 (TBC) Mutare
Dungbeetle
Mutare
December
9
Christmas
Run
SOAP Fund Raiser
How is it one careless match can start a
forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
DONNYBROOK
To enter Donnybrook on a non-event day it will cost you $2 per
car, providing you have you membership card.
Non-members will be charged $20 per car.
You must sign the book at the gate and put your name, your Club and
membership number. Do not pay
without signing the book.
Please note: If you wish to go to Donnybrook to play and there is
another event on, then the organizing club can charge what they like for you to
enter. They will have hired the entire
complex for that day. Please don’t try and argue with the gate attendant, they
will just be doing their job. Either
pay-up or go away and come back on a free day.
WEB SITE / FACE BOOK
Have
you had a look at our Web Site? Grant
Weare, Kelvin’s son has done a really good job of updating it. Go to:
http://www.4x4.co.zw
Motor Sports Association Club House
MSA Membership: The Club House bar works
on a Swipe Card basis and any member of an affiliated club can join. Pay your $20 Club House subscription and get
your card. Bar prices are double for
non-cardholders.
Hall for Hire -
Hire
our affordable Club facilities for parties, Wedding Receptions, meetings,
seminars, courses and other functions.
Assist us in this way to obtain funds for the Clubhouse.
CLUB FORUM
A forum for the club has been created. Click on the following
It will be linked back to the 4x4 website in due
course but register in the mean time.
Please pass this link on to anyone you think may be interested in
posting on the forum.
YOUR 4X4 COMMITTEE FOR
2012.
CHAIRMAN TIM THORBURN timthorburn.zim@gmail.com 0772.645.518
TREASURER KELVIN WEARE weare@telfordmica.co.zw 0772.326.687
SECRETARY CAROL WEARE theweares@zol.co.zw 0733.400.496
VICE CHAIRMAN MASS
KIRK kirk@afriglobal.com 0772.261.682
CHF MARSHAL/EVENTS ROGER ELLIS ellisr@barzem.co.zw 0772.219.154
MEMBERSHIP PAT GILL gill@zol.co.zw
0778.731.288
EVENTS / EQUIPMENT GARETH GEACH garethg@sunlite.co.zw
0772.283.524
EVENTS PETER BENZON petebenzon@hotmail.com 0775.009.218
EVENTS JASON YOUNG jason@telfordmica.co.zw 0772.918.878
ENVIRONMENT MUZZA BLACK muzza@zol.co.zw
0772.241.000
NEWSLETTER MICHAEL AND PAT GILL gill@zol.co.zw 0712.400.243
Michael and
Pat GILL
Phone: 04.494028 (M) 0712.400.243 (P)
0778.731.288
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