6/7th October 2007 - Eric & Liam completed the Irish 4x4 Challenge 4 Charity but were put out of the running early on with uj problems, however we did mange to win the Team Spirit award while our friends and clubmates "the slag brothers" (Andy & Glenn) took 1st place overall for the second year running

so here's the pics then, well a small selection

The calm before the storm - day 0

 

Andy & Glenn's Slagmobile looking like new,
its not a landy, but he did win it last year in a 90

Old Captain Chrome himself, with a poor choice of location for the sticker,
you can tell Glenn designed the layout

 

 

Competitors & Organisers meet (some for the first time) at the Royal Hotel in Boyle, some worried faces were seen when the old hands tell the noobies to expect some deviousness from Jonathan "dastardley" Crozier (him in the green fleece)

The Slag Brothers tuck into a hearty breakfast,
making up for the one we missed last year.

Team BLRC don uniforms and pose outside the bluesmobile, sad , i know

A few more decals added at the last minute
(gave up trying to put them on in the dark last night)

Competitors line up at Lough Key Forest Park, just time for a couple more stickers

wheres wally, oops, i mean Liam

Section 1 was a Crystal Maze type effort in the world of Boda Borg,
no driving involved, this was much more difficult and great craic
here Mike Purtell (Trex) attempt to solve the challenge,
boy we had some laughs in there

 

Section 2- some greenlaning around the lanes of Roscommon guided
(or misguided) by the tulip maps

We all met up again at the Rendevous point in Laghey for the start of stage 2.
Eric thinks he has found the spring of eternal youth but it turns out to be a
leaky washer pipe

The Slag Brothers plot their way to success,
well Glenn plots while Andy does paint by numbers

This competitor came all the way from Wales in this well stickered 90
but unfortunately had to retire early due to injury.

Team BLRC see the camera and do as all good landy drivers do,
switch on the lights in true camel trophy style

A little stop to check if the new vibrations are the rough lanes or something mechanical

Bad news - the vibration quickly got much worse, looks like a Universal Joint was rapidly disintegrating in the propshaft
Good news - Fellow club member (and landy mechanic) Raymond Black ( www.burnside-auto.com ) is based a mere 10 miles away and managed to squeeze us into his busy schedule and wouldn't even take payment for the job as it was a charity event

less than 2 hrs after what looked like imminent disater we were back on the road again
although we did have to skip section 3 to make up for lost time so any remote chance we had of victory was now long gone

we arrive late at the evening rendevous point, even the series beat us here

Gerard & Laoise prepare for their first night navigation

You don't get too many photo opportunities on the night nav
hill fog and lakes adjacent to the road meant driving was just that bit too risky
and half way through the drive was postponed til morning

a quick call to the off license on the journey and the Mad Max Bar
is commisioned into service (we even had ice)

DAY 2
Dawn at the Hostel under Mount Errigal
an early start, on the road by 8am to complete the rest of the night course

Lets stop for 1 more pic as we complete the night/dawn navigation section

this was one of the lakes which we could so easily have driven into with last night fog
(is that not why we were asked to bring the speedos & snorkles!)

at least we're not last any more

 

 

 

Rush hour - Donegal style

There's that big hill again

Just in case you forgot about our team sponsor

here we have sneeky pete & penfold,
winners of the Ordance Survey sponsored Night Nav

nice lanes

 

oh, they get even nicer

Mamore Gap in the background, Eric, you're going the wrong way!

Fellow competotors laugh at the strangely dressed wee fat bloke with a camera

Finally we make it to the gap

what a view

Eric checks the headstones for clues

The start of an excellent section called The Scorpions Tail, a twisty uphill drive with a steep drop at the drivers side.

 

 

We meet the marshalls half way up the hill, are they laughing with us or at us

oops, chatting too long again and the jeep has caught up with us
(wonder if they will notice that the marshall is not just having a friendly chat but is actually hiding a marker board)

We arrive at a familiar quarry section, the same one we used last year, EXCELLENT
the recovery truck keep us in their sights, i wonder why

oops, stuck already, one corner of the site was very muddy with a steep hill in and out

took two winches to het us out of a tricky corner

then we had some time to make up as we only had 30 minutes before penalties
were added so no more stopping for photos

don't be silly, there's always time for photos
this hill was very steep with plenty of sharp rocks just chomping at the bit to slice a tyre

as this poor fella found out, but he did make it up the hill that very few were brave enough to go down!

whahey! our old friend the waterjump

Eric takes it easy, many others had water over the roof!!!!



see, or maybe you don't

 

he'll be leaking for weeks now

even the petrol engined series 3 made it through
(which is more than can be said of the slag bothers petrol nissan)
substantial reward offered for pics of the stranded nissan patrol

 

 

 

After the quarry we headed to the finishing point at Ballyconnell for the evening celebrations and award ceremony

Cinderella's Castle, this is one seriously nice hotel

while most competitors get a chance to relax & shower before dinner,
the organisers are kept busy tallying up the results

The Norn Iron contingient (Andy, Glenn, Liam & Eric)

After some worried faces while the results where being called out in revers order the Slag Brothers heave a sigh of relief as they are crowned champions once again

what better way to celebrate than taking the lions for a spin round the car park
(its not like they were in any fit state to drive)

only they couldn't get the things started

5am and Glenn gets a wee catnap before he goes looking for the goose again.

DAY 3 - the morning after

Eric loads the wagon for the long drive home to Cork without his LiamLiam to tell him when to turn

The Champions make it to breakfast despite not hitting the sack til 6am (still making up for last year)

Jonathan & Robert get a few pics of the trophy just in case it gets lost again.

all in a days stride
(bet they're practising already for next year)

If they win next year they'll have to get used to this paparazzi type of attention
(or are they groupees)

a final word of thanks to our team sponsors

BLRC www.blrc.co.uk

and

Offroad Ireland www.offroadireland.eu

also thanks to David Tothill for some of the pics