Mini Diesel Run...

[droppa]

this man real wanna go Morne Diablo, watch nex run we going MD fo sure, in favour of 3stage.....

wet or dry we makin it.....

[Jeremy Mohd]

My van stilll have mud from the last time, need a detailing bad bad..

I in favour of the lil drier run; after all, we are in the 'DRY season'...

[speedaholic]

^^^ !

[lighthammer]

That mud from santa flora was terribly hard to come out! I had to use half a bottle of Purple blaster to get it out of the tyres and wheel wells, and my boots still stick up.

Have to rub down the interior with some concentrated upholstery cleaner to get that hard-sticking mud out....

Dry season run please.

[3stagevtec]

ok, so I did a quick underwash on the Vitara today and still end up finding mud stuck on top of the chassis rails.. actually, all on top of my exhaust still had mud! lol

dry run ftw yes..

I also have an idea that will make our next run ALOT more interesting! Will pass that idea on only if it is feasible..

[lighthammer]

^^ hmm.. we shall discuss it at high noon tomorrow .

[speedaholic]

hmmmm!! u gettin man excited here! ! hahaha!

[speedaholic]

clutch change due this week in time for run hopefully! i gone do it sideways in dat quarry! !

[3stagevtec]

clutch change due this week in time for run hopefully! i gone do it sideways in dat quarry! !

now that's stating the obvious!

we expect no less..

[speedaholic]

!

[3stagevtec]

Quick preview of today's scout run..



The rut I was driving over was around 2 feet deep!

[lighthammer]

^^ 3stage made us drive through fire!!!!!

Bushfire 15-feet away from my driver's window.... fire coming up to us and burning through the bush.

At least it'll clear the pathway for us and we'll get a better view of the track.


Just came back from the scouting run. Was a good run - looks like a fun obstacle course. Went down to Morne Diablo, the trail itself is BONE-DRY, although there are huge ruts from other vehicles passing through this past wet season. It's all navigateable though, we made it through mostly in 2WD, almost 90% of the way in 2wd.

There's one trouble spot on the way to the volcano though, where a backhoe and other vehicles ran through a soft muddy pit and totally obliterated the track - no stock vehicle gonna pass through that without getting either stuck in the soft part, or getting hung-up on their diff's on the high ridges of the deep ruts. We'll need some man-power to help fill in that rut with some shovels (like we did for the ditch in Santa Flora) and then we'll be able to go through it to reach the MUD VOLCANO.


Other than that, it's a moderately easy trail - it'll take some navigational skills to go through and over the ruts, and you may need a spotter on a couple ditches. Low-rider trucks like Speedy's L200 may not make it through, you'll definitely need the ground clearance.


Have to head out in a few mins, so I can't post the pics just yet - will do that tomorrow so stay tuned fellas. It looks like a great run for us to test our vehicles, to flex our suspensions (all through the trail, I only hearing my springs squeaking, and rene's shcoks sigh-ing from the flexing....) and tickle our brains to find the best path through them crevices and ruts - what real 4x4-ing is all about! (and not just mud-mud-mud!!)

So guys, pray for DRY WEATHER from now until the day of the run, as well as during the run too!

[3stagevtec]

Yay! We going Morne Diablo!

The Morne Diablo trail was great! The track has lots of undulations that will flex out most vehicles and really test your driving skills. It's not about power or traction here, choosing the right line and knowing where to put your wheel is key.

As Lighthammer said, the trail is bone dry at the moment, so lets get some suggestions on when you all can make the run. We'll choose a date that best fits everyone and hopefully before any heavy rains come..

Also, the trouble spot that Leo mentioned will take some work to get past, the ruts are pretty deep and soft in some areas, so tools will be required.. shovels, pitch forks, metal grating etc. We will basically need to fill one of the ruts.

Exploring Indian Trail










STOP!!


Awesome views.. you can see the highway in the background..


Some challenging ruts were found in Indian Trail also..

[3stagevtec]

At Morne Diablo. You can see how dry the terrain is.


Leo carefully navigating the 1st deep rut.


Me getting attacked by a bird.. and Civic Minded lining up to crawl through next.


Stock vehicles making easy work of the ruts.




Leo craving more action is eager to move on!


Civic in this Ranger carefully chooses his line. To his right, a deep rut that can cause the vehicle to bottom out. To his left, a river passes..










Remember the 'bone dry' trail... I have NO idea how this happened!!





uhh!


Can't complain though, this is the cleanest the Vitara has ever looked after a run! lol


That's all the pics I've got. I hope Leo got pics of the trouble spot we need to conquer, to give you all an idea of the fun in store

What y'all think? Interested?

[speedaholic]

hmmm yea i outa dat one!! for sure i will damage somthin!

[lighthammer]

speedy u can ride along man - we need spotters and man-power, for sure someone will fall into a rut, or will need a push-out, and that trouble spot further up will need filling up.

[civic minded]

if i brought along the shovel we would of made it to the mud volcanoes. Its definitely a full day run so you guys should get to the trail early.

[lighthammer]

Right, so here's some pics that I got from our scouting run....

Yesterday we looked at Indian Trail in Couva, as well as Morne Diablo Trail in Penal.


Indian Trail
We went past the "King Of The Hill" area, a bit further down. 3stage found a trail that leads through the canefields, and eventually leads back to the main road that carries you through to Preysal (by the rally stage) & the couva flyover.





The trail itself however has been rutted out by previous rainfall earlier this year, so we'll have to be careful going over the ruts and straddling over them. It's totally doable though, so guys with 4x4's and higher ground clearance shouldn't have a problem.



Morne Diablo

Morne Diablo is BONE DRY right now. 3stage was correct in his description. However, there are lots of remainder ruts from this past wet season when a bunch of heavy-tyre vehicles passed through and dug up the path.

Nothing that we can't handle though, cuz of the dry soil we'll be able to navigate our way through the ruts, over the ruts and straddle most of the obstacles.

We just have to be a bit careful to make sure the transfer case (which is the lowest point of the vehicle) is kept away from the sticky-outy bits of the trail.





It's getting close!








Trust 3stage to find the ONE muddy section of a mostly dry path.


The trail gets a bit trickier into the forest, but by the time we get there next month and with some dry weather and good luck, it'll be almost totally passable for us.


A monster has been through here..... and dug up the road for us


Awesome views and awesome sunsets.


Glad to be out and back on the way home.
3stage brought a souvenir of the trail with him.
What can I say, de man like Morne Diablo trail!


So all in all, looks like a good trail for us to go and really put our 4x4 vehicles and driving skills to the test. No mud to hold us back, no slipping and sliding on hills, no having to pull each other out. Every driver will get a chance to prove his skills and the newbies will get to earn their stripes.

Let us all just pray for dry weather before the run date, as well as for rain NOT to fall on us on the day of the run (like in Santa Flora ....)


- Lighthammer out.

[civic minded]

that camera you have really take nice shots...incredible pics!

[3stagevtec]

that 2nd last pic looks awesome!

[lighthammer]

^^ like you on safari

[jhonnieblue]

LH, saw u by debe today, like ure foot hott lol
dont think u made me out, the nav was actually dirty!!

[lighthammer]

lol i didn't see u man - was too busy trying to get out of debe traffic.

[lighthammer]

Can't sleep right now, so I played around with some pics of the scouting run of Morne Diablo.

Hope it gives you an idea of how awesomely fun we want the run to be.

[brianr20v]

really nice pics.........

[civic minded]

well dude - it dont really make sense you black out the number plates after all the previous ones have them ...LOL

[speedaholic]

hmmm watermark an ting!! man big!!

[lighthammer]

@ civic - due process my friend, due process....

@speedy - yuh not legit till yuh watermarked!

[droppa]

trail lookin real nice, lets jus hope the weather holds up and we will be good....

[Sierra-117]

mad fun these pics show... cant wait to get in