Salt Run Down

It was an early start Sarturday morning, plan was to drive for as long a possible, we all got away at about 5am, three T5's with 2 trailers. Steve and myself towing the Ghia, Greg and Bill with the beetle, Adrain and Edwin carrying some spare engines, tools and supplies. First fuel up just up the road, i enjoyed 2 fancy rat coffins and sauce for breakfast.

A quick stop a few hours later, sorry i didn't get the name of the town. Time to let some liquid loose and top up the gut..

The amount of water out here was amazing, we drove through plenty of storms.. Perfect timing to a salt run...

That night we stopped of at Renmark, was a basic little hotel, the place had a bed and a place to cool the beers.. thats good enough for me!..

next morning there was more rain, pissing down to be honest... however we pressed on, the closer we got to the lake, the more it rained!..

and rain...

later that afternoon we hit Port Agusta, time for a fill up, and did i mention the amount to bloody RAIN!..

Greg actually cracks a smile..

Adrian, also smiles for the camera, luckily i caught he's better side!

the turnoff for Iron Knob!.. we are almost there (however there was still 200k's of dirt road to go) ... and this was not dirt now.. it was MUD.... we all all a bit worried that the event would even still be on, all this rain so close to the salt lake..

Last fuel at Ion Knob, also take some water on board under the Ghia trailer.. I wish i taped the conversation we had with the guy at this place, was priceless.

Some blue sky, filled us with hope..

The first look at the dirt road, this prick was long and bumpy, the poor old cars received a good blasting on this part of the journey..

the rain and the mud covered everything..

We finally hit camp, 20 hours on the road, and now the cars desperately needed a clean..

the clipper boys all got there the day before and set up camp, we cant thank these guys enough for being there, was a great HQ and also there where many times where they assisted with getting these cars ready for the salt. (a special, personal thanks comes from me to Scud, awesome hospitality, however i have NEVER met some one who has sleeping tourettes, trust me its freaky!) ..

here is scuds bus, lovely piece of work..

a total of 5 clippers where there, a top bunch of blokes.

here is my first ever view of a salt lake, pissing with bloody rain, at this point it was looking like a few days and nights of drinking beer and talking how good it would be if it was not raining!..

here are the pits, (not fully complete) setup days before the rain, now sits deserted with the rain..

the next morning, the rain had eased.. so we decided to walk out onto the salt and inspect what was there, in this photo there is an easy 10-15mm of water on the lake..

now some pics of some rides already on the lake, i have no detail on them, so ill just throw up some pics..

back up to camp, and we started to clean and setup, no access to the salt today!..

VOLKSCULTURE!!!!

a couple of spare engines.. well the one on the left is the 36hp..

deep in thought...

Eddie and Adrian..

LIFESAVER!.. lucky the clipper lads where there, had to replace all 8 valves on the cars, take out the plastic bases and replace with metal ones.. now the land speed cars sport huge truck sized valves..

some more work on the go..

night falls and we need a fire.. its also a good test for the seats that where brought along, its safe to say this seat did not perform as required and ended up on the fire..

anyone for some bundy??

time to get a night shot, tomorrow will be time to access the salt... so at 1am we all decided we needed an early night and hit the sack!..

cars all cleaned we finally head for the salt lake!

and we are on the salt lake for the first time....

looking over to the pits

we roll out some banners and park some cars.. then along came the well appreciated pie cart.. carrying beer and pies!..

there is a gap in photos here, alot has happened, both cars are being scrutineered. there are a few nervous faces as this is our first time on the salt, some questions where asked and all passed with a clear pass.. not bad for the first time!..

one thing to remember the salt is HARD, no hammering in anything, need roofing screws for all tarps and tents..

after all was passed, time to hit the practice track, no times, just test..

Is this the future????

this bad boy was something to see!

Greg and Edwin head out to the track..

this is first thing the next day, the boys sat on the grid for hours the last day for a run, and where first on the grid the next day, the turnover on the track was ridiculous, lucky if you get one run per day.

heading out..

Ed and Steve..

the track is just calling...

some adjustments for the second run, time to put the beetle on the GPS track, otherwise wait a day for another run..

we have some great shots with this little camera, watch this space for some video on the event..

your looking at 210mph odd sitting still, this thing was f%^king INSANE!.... (yes, thats Miles Per Hour)

I love this shot, all salt...

LOVED this beast, slammed landy on the salt..

steve and adrian, ready for the record 127mph run, we have this run with an on board vodeo, and it looks awesome, I will get the data to Ash and we can all have a look!..

and the shot, love this one, the two rides on the salt...

and the last shot, heading home..

What a trip, once in a lifetime..

I would like to congratulate Steve Muller for a bloody awesome effort in taking these two 'shells' and turning them not only into a competitive pair of vehicles, turning them into record breaking vehicles.. (altough there is some contraversy over the 36hp record)

Of course this could not have been done without many, many other people. Steve I'm sure will chime in and personally thank them all. However this trip was not only a bloody awesome experience, this was also an insight into the amount of time, money and knowledge that goes into this sort of expedition.

Thats all from me for now!..

ps.. excuse any typos or bad grammer..