Well what can I say about my 10th RFC - GREAT.

We would have been the only team who did not do work on the vehicle during the event. Everything went as planned and better then I imagined. The only time anything was done was to spray Inox on the motor when it started to miss in water, my fault as it should have been done at the start. All the changes made to the vehicle etc:- Clutch, Suspension, Billet flywheel, Engine turning, Winch and of course the body armour fitted made it perform above expectations.

Alex Driscoll (first time) did a great job as my codriver, and yes he did get very dirty. I would like to thank Alex for the effort he put in prior, during and after the RFC, it was great to have your there. We will do it again one day.

This was the best RFC for many years.

The organization was above what one would think as of great. The Jacky Toh and his crew from Johor did a brilliant job of setting up the transport, Prologue SS and jungle SS.

None of this would have been possible without the support of Johor State Government. The support that they gave the RFC was great from the start to the end of the event. I have never seen a complete highway closed down for a convoy of vehicles, this included the city of JB. Every time that the RFC group found a bitumen road the police were there. Not 1 but a Team of 7 plus police bikes as well as extra police bikes from the local area. So at times we could have had up to 15 motorbike police & cars looking after us - UNREAL.

 

We were very lucky as well, as it only rained one day (Day1) during the event. It was a bit strange driving on dusty roads in Malaysia.

The RFC managed to conduct 30SS over the event. These were a mixture of winch challenge style SS, Gymkhana SS and even 5 driver/codriver SS these happened to be run in 38c temp.

Breakdown of SS:- (close as possible as I remember) 90% of the SS were set up for smaller vehicles, with very tight turns, no room to move around and even trees narrower then my vehicle.

SS1:- 3 deep V ditches (man made) Broke cable on 2nd and DNFed

SS2:- 1 deep angled V ditch (motor started to miss) DNFed Photo below is Rod & Aun from Thailand in their Hilux.

 

SS3:- Gymkhana style around poles, we did this day 2 of the Prologue and put on a real show, the big Nissan took up the most room to get around the pegs causing the marshals to dive for cover and block entry road to site. Slow time but scored.

SS4:- Simple gully crossing with 100mm of water on top at the start, by the end of the Prologue it was over a meter deep of sluch. Finished a lot better then others. Phot was later in the day when it became very deep.

   

SS5:- 8 laps of a near a 600plus meter course with 2 jumps in, 2 cars at a time. Talking about rain this is when it happened during our run. The local team got the jump on us as they know the track, so for a few laps getting the feel of it all. Came over one jump and noticed something on the ground, it happened to be the other vehicles ground anchor. So the next time around they stopped and picked it up they could not gain any ground on Alex & myself after this and the Marshals noted that the white fellow picked up the pace again and was turning into a "Madman". WE did well even if it were a wet track, lots of fun.

SS6:- We got to use the winch again. Leave start, vertical up and same down, (Marcus in Jeep nearly went end for end on this one) up again and into finish. Knocked over one peg and they tried to pin me for 2, but after a few words we settled for 1.

SS7:-Leave start drop into creek exit bank brake cable get recovered by back hoe - DNF.

SS8:- Enter Start move forward and call DNF, impossible at this stage, most vehicle DNFed and required recovery.

SS9:- Sprint stage, 10laps possible in morning but by the time we ran the Thailand team before us took 20 minutes to go 100meters. - DNF

SS10:- River run, rocks and water. Official results show us as 3rd place with a time of 59 seconds, 2nd place was 58 seconds and first place was 36seconds, have a guess who did not complete the course and still got first. So had to be happy with 3rd.

SS11:- Nasty bog hole, and if you got out of that the Nissan could not get past the next 2 trees so called a DNF.

SS12:- Driver go to the finish, start stop watch and then run back (hahaha) and complete course, get out at end and stop stop watch. We managed to score on this in mid field.

SS13:- Rock & river run. Simple? Being able to walk SS I found myself chest deep on what would have been drivers side. Not real safe as you were at this stage of the SS runnig a very nice side angle. So I went and found Stage Manager and took him for a walk, being a bit shorter then me he was able to see what could happen if something went wrong so after moving some pegs and bunting by a couple of feet the SS started. As said before the trees were too close together and having to do several shunts and some body dameage we were on our way to the finish. Again another reasonable finish.

SS14:- Gymkhane style SS. Around a centre pole one complete turn & into box, again, again and yet again and then back to finish.

SS15:- Finally a winch style SS but the only thing wrong with this one was 2 tree's planted to close to each other 39 year ago. We had to winch up the trees to get past. But even saying that it was a great SS. Finished a lot better then most.

 

SS16:- This SS claimed that many vehicles in a sand/water hole making them winch out and some having to be recovered at this point. Sprint along the river exit to your left up bank (this is where Rod & Aun rolled) drop back into river, follow down stream exit to your right and drop into sand/water hole. At this point we really hugged the left side and proceeded very slowly for about a car length onto solid ground or more to the point rocky sand & water and made our way back to the drop in, this was a vertical bank of appox 1.5meters & require winching. Winched up to the top got Alex back into vehicle and proceed to finish line on the limiter. 3rd fastest time. We were real happy with our effort.

 

SS17:- This was just a 30 second loop in the jungle. We managed to kill a peg, nearly knocked myself out and hurt Alex's elbow when I gave it a little bit too much right foot which resulted in a vertical launch and being very lucky lande on the back wheels first before coming down on drivers side front with a very hard impact, meaning:- smashing head with helmet on into paded roll cage and Alex having his elbow in wrong place. And yes it will be on the official DVD when released as the film crew were there.

SS18:- Again driver starting and finishing the stop watch. This SS was a long uphill sprint and return the same way into the finish box. I could not hold 3rd low so was in 2nd low up and back (O for a hair dryer). The Kiwi,s being a little bit braver or for lack of brakes pipped us on this SS - Buggar.

SS19:- This was the only driving SS for the day and we were 3rd or 4th on. Lave start follow washed out track into finish garage. The trick before the start was not to roll it before you got into start garage. We managed to get caught between the washout so had to winch the next hill was also winched before getting into finish garage. By mid morning this was a drivable SS. We still managed to score. Again luck of the draw.

Now the next 5 SS were carried out in the sun and around 38c, bloody hot. It is amazing someone did not have a heart attack or suffer from heat stress during these SS.

SS20:- We had to winch a Suzi up a slight slope appox 6/8meters. All gear was supplied. We had 2 trees with supports on to hold a log that went between them and also another piece of timber that we had to hook the rope over, then around the piece of timber between the trees and start turning, such fun, yes we did finish, I do not know how.

SS21:- Winching anoth Suzi with highlift jack for appox 12 meters, now this was real fun (NOT) yes we did finish, I do not know how.

SS22:- This was a wheel change using a block of timber & log to lift front of vehicle. We were lucky that you could have a try out first, because guess what no mater what we did we could not lift the front of the Nissan with timber supplied. So guess who won the heaviest front award. Yes Us. And also a DNF. We are really happy by this eposide (NOT HAPPY JAN). The next morning we were given another chance at this SS with a heavier piece of timber so we could lift the car and yes we did get a better score then a DNF.

SS23:- After trying up front of vehicle we proceeded into next SS which was another tyre change, but at least we got to use the jack this time and yes we did get a score.

We are at this point having so much fun doing these SS in the sun and 38c.

SS24:- Last one for the day (Thank God for that). Lift a Toyota and block and let down doing the same thing at the rear. Using trusty logs and another log to lift with. Finished this one as well.

Then we were of to the main camp (after grabbibg several cold beers) for a swim in deep water hole before driving the 6km back to competitors camp. We really needed that.

Next day saw us head to the Twilight Zone with a media vehicle we had to look after. Due to the dry conditions we made camp at appox 2100hrs and caught up with Dave, Peter & Peter (Chook), that meant a great meal and more cold drinks.

The next day was a lay day and as we had no repairs to do headed to a small town of Bekook appox 30 k's away for some shopping nothing much there so we proceeded another 15/20k's to the township of Chah(?). We caught up with what was happening at home and washed the vehicle before having lunch with Max & co.

Left to right:- Max, Marcus & Brett.

On return from town we were kidnapped by the Russian for more Russian Tradition "Bon Aqua" or as we know it vodka. Managed to sneak away from their cap at some reasonable hour for sleep before the last day.

 

Team Russia

SS25:- Rocky river very easy when you use 4wd and don't get stuck on big rock. And after winching getting cable wrapped around rear axle. Another penalty.

 

SS26:- This should have been another one to say no to, but as 3rd place in class was within sight the last day was going to be make or break. Not enough time in this SS as 80% of the field found out. DNF but at least we tried. Photo's below are SS26.

       

SS27:- Now this was one we should have backed away from. Very tight turn when dropping into gully winch up a hill (break cable) try and turn around trees which you were flat out getting a quad around, meaning do as mush damage to the left side panels as possible to get past trees and scrape trees on right doing so. Drop (nasty) into another gully with bullbar ending up in bank and rear wheels still halfway down the hill. Reverse winch to be able to get out cable, hook up and try to take out half the bank - cable breaks, in comes the backhoe to resue me. DNF but had fun.

SS28:- Gymkhana style. I am not one who likes reversing around several trees 1 1/2 times each tree. Yes we did finish.

SS29:- Nearly there. walk to finish garage start clock and run (hahaha) back get into car and follow track between trees that us larger cars could not get around in one turn or for that mater 3 shunts, follow get over log and into finish garage, get out of vehicle and stop clock. We made it.

SS30:- Yes the last SS we did and it was fun. Sprint for a k or more and back into finish garage. Yes & that was it.

The next day was a compulsory convey back to Johor but we had already been given the ok to leave early to get vehicle cleaned for a meeting with our sponsors (Exedy) Malaysian Office (photo's below)

while on the way back to Kl in 2 days time.

 

Some photo's of the RFC:-