THE 4X4 CLUB – ZIMBABWE
Newsletter No: 110
April 2014
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
We do have such a lovely sport and so do the Mountain
Bikers. We see parts of our country where
mere mortals fear to tread. We were
asked by Alan and Sheryl Winterton of the MTB to, once again, do support for
the Iron Will Charity Eco Challenge, in the Matopos this year. We spent a week at Camp Dwala on Eastern side of the National Park in a World Heritage
Site. A lovely site, five kms off the road near the Matobo Mission on the Old
Gwanda Road, 60 kms from Bulawayo. There are reputed to be in excess of 2000
ancient rock paintings in the area. From
there we bombed out most days to do control points and time the cyclists in, we
spent one night on the banks of Mtshabezi Dam, another day up a kopje to the Plaque to commemorate the battle
of Nkantola in the Matebele rebellion dated
20th July 1896.
There is no power at Camp Dwala, they use inverters, solar
power and generators and it was so good to be out in the bush again. Which caused me to coin a phrase: "Being in the 4x4 Club we see parts of
our country that cricketers and rugby players are never privileged to
see."
Drive well; enjoy the wide open world out there. Pat
CHAIRMAN'S
CHATTER: - Peter
Benzon
The 20th HP
Lubes Jamboree is drawing near and things are going full steam ahead in
preparation. It is going to be a great event!
I was
looking at buying a Toyota Surf the other day and in the process we noticed
that the airbags had blown. It had not had any obvious heavy body damage so I
was intrigued and did some research. I came across a story on the internet
of a guy in his Surf. He was helping his friend cut down some fir trees. No
problems until it came time to remove the stumps from the ground. They dug
around them and attached the Surf using a chain. The first stump came out
easily. The second stump was more firmly attached to mother earth. The guy
tried once and it didn’t move so he reversed back a couple of feet and took
off. As he reached the limit of the travel of the chain he came to an abrupt
stop. The airbags blew with a massive bang. He was blown against his seat; the
passenger airbag blew the plastic dash cover straight off and into the
windscreen shattering it. Quite a serious "Oh Shit Moment" you will
agree.
The upshot
is this poor guy has to spend two grand on airbags for his car, not only that
he has to replace the front seatbelts because they are equipped with explosive
pretensioners. And to add insult to
injury he has to replace his windscreen.
So there is
a lesson to be learned. If your 4x4 is
equipped with airbags do some research and find the fuse that will disable the
system. When you are attempting a hard recovery remove the fuse. It may save
your wallet and your heart! Peter
Benzon
NEW
MEMBERS:
John PARKER: John heard of our next expedition and decided
this would be the life for him. He is a
miner in the Shurugwe area and drives a Jeep.
Andrew WATERHOUSE; Does
anyone know Andrew, he joined us for the Ngomo Kurera run in January and regret
I do not have a Membership Application form from him so cannot add him to our
mailing list. Contact me:
Pat Gill
MEMBER'S
NEWS:
David and Ria
ROCK are on their annual pilgrimage to the north of Namibia and we look
forward to hearing their stories when they return.
Pam and Bob
Crook accompanied the Rocks but a g/box out repair to the crankshaft seal and
a wheel bearing on their Landy caused them to return home. Sadly Bob's Mother
had passed away too.
Peter Ellis
and Tammy: The time bomb is ticking towards
the wedding our chairman and the lovely Tammy Ellis on the 10th May.
The air is almost palpable. We wish them
a long and happy life together.
Water in the carburettor
WIFE: "There is trouble with the car. It has water in the carburettor."
HUSBAND: "Water in the carburettor?
That's ridiculous"
WIFE: "I tell you the car has water
in the carburettor."
HUSBAND: "You don't even know what
a carburettor is. I'll check it out. Where's the car?
WIFE: "In the pool"
TECHNICAL
TIP
Dropped the cell phone in the pool? Electrical gadgets do not like swimming but
there is a First Aid you can try. Not
guaranteed to work but worth a try.
First get the battery out as soon as possible. There are several ways to
dry it out so here are a few.
Store it in Rice for a couple of days, place it in the hot sun
or under a strong light for several hours, soak it in Gin (Alcohol), Then find
someone to check if it is repairable.
SUBS:
On checking the Nite Extreme entries
I note a number of "members" entered who had not paid their 2014
subs. You naughty boys, I know who you
are and I will get you!! Play the
game.
PAST EVENTS
NITE XREME
A HUGE thank you to Fuchs
Lubricants and their team for all their sponsorship and prizes, without it
this event wouldn't have been such a success. Our first major event of the year
and what a way to start off.
Thanks to all the competitors, especially the ones from Bulawayo and Mutare.
Thank you to Amelia Bennett for being Clerk of the course. To Roger Ellis thanks for organising the marshals, thank you to the marshals for keeping the drivers and public in check.
Thank you to my committee for their hard work.
Thanks to all the competitors, especially the ones from Bulawayo and Mutare.
Thank you to Amelia Bennett for being Clerk of the course. To Roger Ellis thanks for organising the marshals, thank you to the marshals for keeping the drivers and public in check.
Thank you to my committee for their hard work.
A big thank
you to Mr Cruiser; Mica Q Hardware; Jim Perry Transport; Sendem; Supreme
Butchery; Specialised Floor Services; Hukuru Chickens; Kiggen Construction;
Stainzim; LR Manufacturing & Sales; Sawpower Blades (STIHL); Premier Auto;
Prime Bond; Ezytrack; and Big Sky.
Although named the Nite Extreme it started off with a
Jamboree launch to thank all the sponsors of the forthcoming Jamboree in
May. This all took time and due to the
competitors getting their cars to their respective test courses, and the
marshals being briefed on penalties in the tests, some of us missed the fun and
games with Castrol, again our major sponsor on the Jamboree.
Two 'Rescue' cars, Mike Gill and Pete Jenkin, waited to
pull cars back on their wheels or out the mud but, unlike last year, they had
nothing to do. Oh yes, several
"Door handles, Roof, Wheels" did occur but all were push back by willing
helpers. I think the crowd enjoyed
watching a car roll, get back on its wheels and continue with the test. We had a very good crowd and I hear the
caterers were sold out.
Results: Class
One - Standard and standard modified
1. Alex Hawkins /
Chad Bruford Jeep
2. Yesper Kirk /
Matt Kelly-Edwards Cournil
3. Dale Kiggen /
Geoff Clack Land
Rover
Class Two - Special
1. Adrian Watt /
Jason Smith Cournil
2. Costs
Dobropolous / Jason Landos Jeep
3. Mass Kirk /
Thomas Kirk Cournil
FUTURE
EVENTS:
JAMBOREE - DONNYBROOK
24 / 25TH MAY 2014
Preparations are hotting up. Course building days are getting closer. A new repair centre is being prepped with a
pit, cables laid for power and communications.
The grass is being cut and a hundred and one other things done. This all takes a lot of work and we thank our
hard working team for their input.
Always remember the Jamboree is the only event in the
year where we earn any money from the gate.
If you are looking for a job (voluntary of course) then we would be very
grateful
for your help. Contact
Roger Ellis his details are below in the Committee List.
Zambezi Expedition 12 – 15 June 2014
Plans are underway and as soon as we
have some concrete details we will let you know. To date we have 23 entries. If you would like to be on the waiting list
please advise us by email. This will be
a true 4x4 social, bush event with wild camping but please no trailers.
Watch out for flyers which go out before every event.
Keep an eye on our Facebook site for Club activities.
4x4 Club Diary - 2014
Note the date changes in yellow.
These dates change as the year progresses, but
flyers will be sent out before each event.
(A) Social Family Day. (B) Touring/Camping (C)
Comp Car 4x4 driving.
Saturday 3 / 4 May
Course building day (A) Donnybrook
Sat / Sun 17 / 18 May Course building to fine tune courses
(A)
Sat/Sun 23/25
May Hp Lubes 4x4 Jamboree (C) D/brook
Thurs/Sun 12/15 June Zambezi Expedition (B) Escarpment
Sat/Sun 2
/ 3 August Bulawayo
Jamboree (C) Bulawayo
Sat /Sun 13/ 14Sept
Training day/ Junior Jambo (AC) Donnybrook
Fri/ Sun 26/
28Sept
Bushpig (C)
Sat/Sun 1
/2 Nov 3 hills (B)
Fri / Sun 7/
9 Nov
Mutare Jamboree (C) Mutare
Sunday 7
Dec Christmas run (A)
Note
some dates may be changed as circumstances dictate.
Expedition dates are still under scrutiny.
No
doubt there will be extra Trail Drives fitted in for your enjoyment
In hindsight I should
have posted my Facebook status as: "I've blown the head gasket on my 2000
XR3i" rather than "I've just buggered a 14 year old escort".
The police still haven't seen the funny side,
my laptop's been confiscated, and the wife has gone off to her mum's.
YOUR
4X4 COMMITTEE FOR 2014.
CHAIRMAN PETER BENZON petebenzon@hotmail.com 0775.009.218
TREASURER KELVIN WEARE weare@telfordmica.co.zw 0772.326.687
SECRETARY CAROL WEARE theweares@zol.co.zw 0733.400.496
CHF MARSHAL/D.BROOK ROGER ELLIS ellisr@barzem.co.zw 0772.219.154
MEMBERSHIP WILMA
HOEFNAGELS wilmatembo@hotmail.com 0774.342.648
ENVIRONMENT MUZZA BLACK muzza@zol.co.zw
0772.241.000
EVENTS JASON YOUNG jason@telfordmica.co.zw 0772.918.878
EVENTS JESPER KIRK tsoko22@gmail.com 0772.414.281
EVENTS MATT
KELLY-EDWARDS matthewkellyedwards@gmail.com 0772.384.404
NEWSLETTER MICHAEL AND PAT GILL gill@zol.co.zw 0778.731.288
JAMBOREE CHAIRMAN TIM THORBURN timthorburn.zim@gmail.com
0772.645.518
DONNYBROOK
To enter
Donnybrook Park 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.
FACE BOOK
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.
Michael
and Pat GILL
Phone: 04.494028
(M) 0778.843.843 (P) 0778.731.288
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