Mini Diesel Run...

[MrCuddles]

an like all a allyuh official DBs feel dis run was too shiddy to attend owah??

[3stagevtec]

an like all a allyuh official DBs feel dis run was too shiddy to attend owah??

The road on the left, just in front of Speedy is where I work.. at the Tank Farm..

How alyuh reach quite there will remain a mystery...

[lighthammer]

^^ no mystery - i made bad course notes... hee hee.

This is what happened the day we went scouting - we were busy talking over the radio, that I forgot to scribble down which turn it was and how far away it was from the Health Center... so on the actual day, I made the turn too early and ended up outside where you work.


Sorry guys, but it was really funny to see that security guard nearly sh!t his pants when 11 trucks come rumbling past his little guard-booth.

I see de man look up when I pass.. and then when the 3rd truck pass, sunglasses come off, chair get push back, and de man stand up to try and flag down the next passing truck.... hilarious!

[3stagevtec]

I couda dead when that 1st vid Droppa posted started to play.. I would have sworn somebody bounce they truck when I heard the gunshot at the start of the song..

and best interview dey Leo!

[3stagevtec]

^^ no mystery - i made bad course notes... hee hee.

This is what happened the day we went scouting - we were busy talking over the radio, that I forgot to scribble down which turn it was and how far away it was from the Health Center... so on the actual day, I made the turn too early and ended up outside where you work.


Sorry guys, but it was really funny to see that security guard nearly sh!t his pants when 11 trucks come rumbling past his little guard-booth.

I see de man look up when I pass.. and then when the 3rd truck pass, sunglasses come off, chair get push back, and de man stand up to try and flag down the next passing truck.... hilarious!

all that was part of the mystery! lol.. I wish I knew who the guard was.. poor guy..

[3stagevtec]

btw, sorry I took so long to return to the start of the trail to rescue Speedy, but it took us alot longer than expected to make our way out! The hills on that side was extremely slippery and I needed to stay back until everyone made it out..

I not gonna lie though, I kinda vex the rain stop alyuh from completing the trail.. so close to the end to turn back, and looking back, I knew you all would have had some serious fun on those hills...

[lighthammer]

I knew you all would have had some serious fun on those hills...

Yeah... as long as it had remained dry!
But I think it was good that we turned back, cuz with all the rain that fell, I couldn't make it up that hill where the convoy got separated. No one could have made it up anyway. The only real obstacle was the big ditch we all had to face again, but this time it was more fun . Filled it up with logs (it was awesome how everyone pitched in, that was a great thing - everyone volunteered, good teamwork) and made it through a lot more easily.

The return trip didn't seem as long though.... i guess it's all part of the adventure.
I do know that it most if not all of the guys had a blast on that trail.

I just wish we had scouted it a little further, so at least we'd know what we were up against.
Bearing all of this in mind, I have to commend everyone for coming almost fully prepared for the trail. It could have been a lot worse, and thankfully no real incidents happened - but it seemed like we were all quite ready to take on almost anything the trail had to offer (shovels, boots, tow ropes, grating, air-compressors, cutlass, sharpening file, food, radios)

Good job guys, looking forward to the next one.

[claries]

WELL said top gun ,hoping to make future runs wit you guys

[3stagevtec]

I just wish we had scouted it a little further, so at least we'd know what we were up against.

I wouldn't say that.. remember I got stuck trying to exit the trail, so I knew it was going to be a challenge! fun galore!!

WELL said top gun ,hoping to make future runs wit you guys

was good to have you along! of course, if you have any suggestions for trails or possible runs, not necessarily off roads runs, feel free to leave them here..

we are always on the lookout for a run.. offroad or not..

[lighthammer]

Aye... speaking of which.
Anyone want to go kayaking in Salybia, up the river?
With a possible stop by the lighthouse in toco.... maybe gran riviere??

[3stagevtec]

Aye... speaking of which.
Anyone want to go kayaking in Salybia, up the river?
With a possible stop by the lighthouse in toco.... maybe gran riviere??

When you looking at? I kinda swamped for time this weekend but next weekend both me and Neela should be free..

[speedaholic]

this weekend is solodex yo! next weekend is Rally trinidad.. sat and sunday! sooo i deff out!

[Rotated]

Great vids Droppa...(But none of the 24's pelting up mud).... 8-(

Looking foward to more pics to remember the great day we had...Finally got the Lux cleaned today, now she is all shiney and nice...(Want to get her dirty soon)He!He!...

[lighthammer]

^^ is that what I sound like????

!!!!!!!

[Smeed]

niceeeeeee pics!! looks like u all had fun. hard luck for de nav side steps dere! hopefully it can be repaired??

LH if i were home i woulda be in for de kayak in salybia....i actually looking to buy one to fish.....meh kids like dat kinda wildness!! peakes have nice pfd's eh....jus in case u wanna buy yuh own one.

hopefully i go be able to attend one of these runs in the future.....i like how de black van does look wid de mud ....rite now my baby all clean and covered down in meh garage

[lighthammer]

Ok guys, sorry it took so long to post up these pics, but I was busy this week.


So here we go:


The convoy.
Biggest yet for Side B, in our few months of running together.


Rolling into the contractor camp.


Clearing out a picker tree (can't remember the name)


Me: "Smile or else you gonna get chap-chap"
Jeremy: "This blade real nice bai, I not giving this one away nah"


Mazda B2500 ground clearance - nice van dey Claries


Exploring the contractor's new trail.


Make way, the Rangers coming through.


The scout/main navigator/rescue vehicle going ahead to scout the condition of the new trail


Nope.... looks even worse than before. Can't make it.


The only guy who could've made it through all that slush/mud/deep ruts.


Uncle going down by Quinam beach, and he taking the CAT.


Meeting up at the second, older trail. This was at the entrance to the side-path.


Entering into No-man's land


Keep on truckin' !!


Speedy sticking, and we come to his aid. No man gets left behind! Ooh' Rah!!


Jeremy says: "Fack this, I bun' dey. Tell speedy stop mashin brakes nah, it's NOT funny!


Speedy so hardcore, he come down a muddy trail in a 4x2. And when he want to park, he chap-down a tree and make he own parking space.




Watch out, a forest monster is coming through the trail!


The dreaded ditch. 3stage got stuck, had to winch himself out. It may look innocuous, but that ditch was real trouble.


civic_minded made it without much hassle


Jeremy powers through.



After the Rangers gone and dig up the ditch, time to bring out the grating.


Rotated's buddy - "Style" coming through on his 4x4 Nav, running on half-worn Dunlop Grantrek's highway tyres.



Epic stickage.
Not my Nav - this was "style" and his Nav.
Should have kept the power up and gone straight through.



Just to give you some perspective on how deep that ditch became, and how badly the other Nav got stuck.


Frontier POWAH!!


... to be continued........

[lighthammer]

At this point... the rain started to fall and we were struggling to get out of that gully and advance down the dirt track. The first 4 trucks in front made it up before the rain, I was 5th and then the rest of teh convoy behind me. As I started up the 30 foot high, 40 foot long hill, I was making slow progress, but when the rain started, it was as if the trail surface instantly turned into slush (within the space of like, 30 seconds) and I lost almost ALL traction. Could not climb further, all 4 wheel spinning, no brakes, ABS totally locked up. At one point, started to roll backwards with all 4 wheels locked with brakes. Basically had to guide the truck back into the slush with minimal steering.

Couldn't take much pics as this point, too busy worrying about getting everyone out.

Meanwhile, near to the exit of the trail, the 4 trucks in front were having a terrible time trying to make it out of the slushy clay soil. From what I heard, Jeremy stuck, 3stage had to winch himself out and the other guys too, and they had to resort to airing down the tyres to regain some measure of traction.

Back at the sliding hill, we made the decision to turn around and get out via our tyre tracks. The ground had already been compacted, hence we had some measure of traction even with the wet ground. The sun had come out and the trail dried slightly, so we turned the trucks around and headed up. Took a bit of maneuvering, and had to send the trucks up the trail one-by-one, but we were each able to make it out mostly on our own power, not much need for towing.




I was the last to come out, but we had to leave speedy's truck parked up down the trail. Had to wait for 3stage to come back from the other end



(far right of photo) - 3stage is off to get speedy out of the trail



VICTORY!!!


back out of no-man's land.


Winching operations. It was at this point that some of the guys/girls who rode along thus dubbed speedy as "sticky".
I like speedy better


What is it with the GV and sliding all over the place???!!??


Pressha' boy speedy!!


Finally we get out.


Relief!



Taking a min to step back and reassess the day's events.




Time to wash up, eat some food, re-air the tyres.


The last section of the trail - trying to get past the locked gate.
Style's navara had a lot of difficulty on this part, though it was just a short section. The mud was a lot more slippery, and the trail narrow. Plus as 1.8Ton navara on half-worn highway tyres = recipe for sliding & disaster. Luckily Rotated was able to tow him back out and one of the Petrotrin guys came along and we were able to get the key to unlock the gate from the office down the road.


Treacherous mud. Very slippery.


Style's Nav was only sliding around, and being light in the back meant his rear-tail kept heading towards a tree.




Jeremy found a horsie.


One of rotated's buddies came along to see what we were up to (I was interfering with the Lock, in an attempt to break it - he said I can't do that, it's private property) and after some discussion, we were able to get the keys. Hooray, we were almost home free!!!


Sweet freedom!


The beat up (other) nav gets the first taste of freedom (while 3stage and his bro were already out, with some damage to cvt_rr"s tyre).


Happy to be out, finally.


Nissan powah.


Speedy rolls out. Bet he's feeling a big wave of relief there, eh?


Droppa rolls through the gate.


Don't worry Jeremy, you'll be home soon.


And finally, myself coming out last. Making sure that all the guys made it out safely.
Big shout out & thanks to Rotated's friend, Sanjay, who helped us out at this last minute and was a total Godsend. I'm sure the other guys were very relieved and appreciated the helping hand.


It's not a trail... it's a TRAP!
It was just the last section of the trail, yet it claimed the most damage:
- the gold b2500's front tire burst
- the other black nav's sidebar got bent, and almost had the Nav slide into a tree
- brian20v's rear taillight


Last bit of drama for the day - even Sanjay's almera got stuck.




So, that concludes the Santa-Flora/Quinam run.
This was the second time we attempted to make it to the beach yet had to turn back.

Next time, we might as well go straight to the beach and lime, ent?
So.... Kayaking in Salybia river & lime on Salybia beach next time, anyone??

[lighthammer]

this weekend is solodex yo! next weekend is Rally trinidad.. sat and sunday! sooo i deff out!

Aye, I definitely dey for Rally boy!
I esp. wanna come to Saith Park to see the final stage.

Anyone else coming to rally?

Side-B... assemble!!

[Sierra-117]

soon, very soon......

[droppa]

yeah we could do a lil rally lime, that sounding cool..........

and what aboput the toco run jeremy talkin bout, ent he saying it have some side tracks......

yuh kno dais we ting......

[civic minded]

i went up to that part of the gate - and tried it myself - as soon as i realized i was sliding too close to the trees i decided to stop and turn around and head the other way.

[DooMRR]

Just finished upload the videos to YouTube. Was suppose to cut and join the videos into one, but I don't have the time soon to do that. They are in order of events. Now when I was watching over the videos, it really did this trail no justice. The outside shots were ok, but the inside shots from the vehicle made it look like we were driving on flat roads coated with mud. You guys should know however of what madness the trail really was. When we got separated half way through the trail I gave up on recording videos outside the vehicle because my main focus was if we would be able to get out before night. Now then, let the mega-bites roll.

1st Pull Of The Day:


The next few vids are of most people trying to get through the river. Note that the more vehicles enter, the deeper the river got. Good thing we had shovels and cutlasses!:

Civic Minded -


Jeremy -


Me -


Lighthammer : WHAT AN ENTRANCE! OUCH! Guess it was just the skid plate -


Claries : Sorry. Don't know your name yet. Correct me if I'm wrong or let me know your Tuner name. The other B2500 showing that both Mazda got ting and it wasn't by luck -


Rotated : 24's!! He got in with no problems, however like he didn't wanna stop playing in the river so he left a part there on his behalf. Notice how slippery that mud is. On flat ground and he still spinning 4 tires to move forward -


Style : Entered with not enough speed. At this point, the river was really deep and I know he was worried about leaving his front bumper behind. Great job today. Welcome to the pack -


Rotated showing off some pulling grunt


Brian : Fast in, get some air time, fast out. Yea, he lovin' his lift kit -



From here, this is where the group got separated. No more outside videos from here on. All shot inside my van.

It doesn't look like a steep hill I was climbing at the start, but trust me, I was in second gear using all the muscle of the turbo -


From the end of this video was a section that was hard -


I wasn't able to record this piece because I was worried about sticking, And it really didn't have much traction for pulling. Basically, where civic minded parked up was a slight downhill leading to a left turn with deep rots an heavy mud. It was basically full speed from the start of the hill. When you did hit the turn, most of your momentum was lost due to the mud slowing us down. However, on the exit, I was about a few inches of sliding into Jeremy rear bumper. I was hard on the brakes a few meters from his van, but there was just NO traction and the van kept sliding. Gosh, I could imagine his reaction watching my van sliding slowly to his. Sorry about that Jeremy.

Then next was a small part before the final hills where we stopped waiting for civic minded to finish climb the hills. This wasn't a good idea because where Jeremy stopped was in heavy mud so I had to give him a small pull back to the slightly harder soil so he could get some momentum.

Next up was the 1st part of the uphill to the exit. The van just under steered at the 1st corner. Had no traction. As for the up hill, the van had a mind of its own heading for every tree at the side of the path -


This is the point where we had to air down the tires in civic minded van to get him to climb the hill. Jeremy and me did the same right after -

Jeremy's last run with 3stagevtec in the tray of his van hitching a ride up the last hill to the exit. Not sure what happened for him to stop -


My run. The second to last vehicle to exit the trail. Lol at navigators, they make you feel so good after a trail like that -


Speedy getting pulled from the start. Notice, he just needed a slight pull. He basically drove himself out. The winch wasn't doing a thing -


The final man out. Big sigh of relief! -


Thats all my videos. Once again, well done fellas!

[droppa]

great videos there runul, this event needed a dedicated cameraman for vids and one for photos.....

and we still didn't get a photo of all the trucks together.....

12 trucks - 3 Nissan's, 2 Suzuki's, 2 Fords, 2 Mazda, 2 Toyota's and 1 Mitsubishi

the Nissan men came out for us.......Top Gun was their leader.......

[civic minded]

great vids there dude

[lighthammer]

great videos there runul, this event needed a dedicated cameraman for vids and one for photos.....

and we still didn't get a photo of all the trucks together.....

12 trucks - 3 Nissan's, 2 Suzuki's, 2 Fords, 2 Mazda, 2 Toyota's and 1 Mitsubishi

the Nissan men came out for us.......Top Gun was their leader.......

"... That's a negative ghostrider, the pattern is full."

[Jeremy Mohd]

Well done with the vids... Mazda did reallll good on the trail too..

[wagon r]

...nice run guys....LH, you would know more than others that the photography has slowly taken my time away from doing many things...but i'm glad to see other take up the slack and organise runs.

somethin i want to touch on though, diesel boyz are not just a select group but all who are free to join and be a part of. yes, there are those who are the orig. group but we are all one as far as i am concerned.

on some brighter news....i got a email from the TTORC guys.....

....hhmmmmmm

[3stagevtec]

^ competition in the works!! it's gonna be epic from what i've heard..

[Rotated]

Great Vids cvt-7_RR......Good things to remember on that day.

droppa wrote:
12 trucks - 3 Nissan's, 2 Suzuki's, 2 Fords, 2 Mazda, 2 Toyota's and 1 Mitsubishi

the Nissan men came out for us.......Top Gun was their leader.....

But Mr Droppa Jus remember No Toyota Needed to be Pulled...LoL....

[lighthammer]

Wagon_R

Yeah boy, you been incognito a while, real photoshoots keeping yuh busy .


Good points u posted - one thing I always liked about this forum is the openess and spirit of sharing, of both information and fun. The guys here are mostly mature, intelligent and genuinely love their diesel machines. That was a major factor in me using my parent's frontier and eventually going on to buy my Navara.


Having said that, I just wanted to make it clear that "Side B" is just a collection of the next set of diesel and 4x4 enthusiasts who also hunger to test their vehicles and enjoy exploring our country - much like the original set of guys did back in the early days of the forum. It was just last december 2010 when a couple of us just decided to get together and make a run, since there wasn't anything official going on at the time and we felt bored. After that run, the popularity of this side-group started to grow and the runs became larger. It just goes to show that the guys here want to go truckin'.... And it didn't matter who they go with, since they've since gone to both the major and minor (side B) runs.

However, these runs are in the same vein as that started by the original guys: biggy, waggo, bleeding freak, venum, etc etc. The runs are open to EVERYBODY, not just diesel (gas engines are welcome too!) And its all about enjoying the vehicle you and your family purchased, and enjyoing our
country.

There is no real "president" or "commander", there isn't a strict hierarchy, nothing like that. There's usually a main leader or at least someone to assume the role so that everything is organized and the run goes smoothly.

So that's pretty much the focus of "Side B". Its not run by a single person - it's run and maintained by everyone. Even so, our aim isn't really to distinguish ourselves apart from the diesel boys - the name "Side B" just implies the group that does stuff in between the major events, kinda like how the side-b football team does stuff at home while the national team does major matches.

In fact, the only reason why it's called "Side B" and not "Diesel Boyz, Side B" is because there are a few guys with gasoline engines, and I didn't want them to feel ostracized or left out. Other than that, it's the same kind of atmosphere, the same amount of fun, excitement, adrenaline rush and camaraderie that we all like to enjoy, no matter what group it is.


Bottom line is, whether it's a major run or a minor (side b) run, all we really care about is keeping the spirit of adventure alive!