Next up was an excursion to Atlantis with Bennie visiting us in CT where the 4Y-EFI manne realised their machines were not mapped for sand driving, and had to go back to the drawing board. Bennie also got his first taste of sand driving and didnt like it. He prefers the tar roads in Gauteng in his Plasticjero. We got to know Manie in his sand loving 4Y and Bees showed us a thing or 2 in his 4x2 Hilux, proving that it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog that counts.
We went into winter with very few outings and eventually Hentey Pople decided that we should do a trail to celebrate the creation of the Hilux4x4.co.za Club. This was done at Tierkloof, a trail we did before and enjoyed doing again. The day was quite warm and all the attendees had a ball. None 4Y-EFI machines who were supposedly mapped for mountainering and rock crawling attended the day, which was a pity, but I guess they were still too busy mapping their EFI's for mall crawling.
With Tierkloof behind us we had another outing to Atlantis. This time not only for dune charging but to play some games. This was also the first time we got sponsors to hand out prizes to participants in the Western Cape. We played a Blind-Driving game, which made for some really interesting in-cab convesations between driver (usually husband) and navigator (usually wife). Next we did a dune charge where Wolffie in his newly acquired Carb Fed 4Y Hilux kicked sand into the eyes of some of the modified Hiluxes after following the advice of a certain Andries Blaaw who made him deflate his tyres substantially. The day ended in a braai in the dunes, and prize giving, with AEW Auto, Red Pepper Bullbars and PietPetoors being the main sponsors.
Our final (official) outing of the year happened at Dirt&Dust, an obstacle course in a field outside Durbanville. Lots of fun, lots of thrills and lots of spills with drivers testing their machines to their limits (the limits of the drivers that is). The venue lived up to its name, with dirt and dust flying about as the vehicles struggled for grip on the slippery clay surfaces. The venue is perfect for driviers wanting to get to know their vehicle's abilities and to push the envelope of their own limits. It can be a vehicle breaker, but only if your ego allows it to be. The kids and Louis's 2 Jack Russels had heaps of fun cooling off in the mud-pools. Some of the drivers did too.
Now with November behind us and only December remaining, it will be a mad scramble to get to all the Year-End deadlines and commitments and to finally get to those pesky New Years resolutions you made on 1 Jan 2009. Stop smoking dammit! And then some of the luckier guys will be going away for their December holidays, so no more official outings will be organised. It does not mean that we cant go play whenever we have time. I have 2 Sundays available to go "bos" and I am planning to spend at least one of these at Atlantis.
If anybody out there in the Western Cape feels like organising an outing on behalf of the Hilux.co.za Club, please feel free to do so. Official outings in the Western Cape are not the exclusive domain of Pieter, Niel and myself, but any club member can organise a day-trip, a weekend away or even a longer overlanding trip. Louis (Rolbos) already indicated that he is very keen on organising a weekend away to Boegoeberg in early March for 15 Hilux Club members. For the time being we'll pencil it in on the Events Calender until closer to the time when we can commit to a definite date and time.
Some bad news this year was that the Takbok trail near Paarl closed down. In the recent past, this trail was badly maintained and the closure was imminent but it offered some of the most spectacular mountain trails in the Western Cape, especially 2 down-hills of note, one of which got the adrenalin pumping at our year End function in 2008. It is a pity that this trail closed down as it is close to Cape Town and had a nice braai area and obstacle course as well.
To everybody who attended our events this year, and to the sponsors and the venue owners and all the people who assisted with organisation of the events, I want to say a great big warm thank you from Pieter, Niel and myself! You guys rock, you made it all worth while. Without your participation the whole thing will fall flat and the amount of support and interest you guys have shown is fantastic. Give yourselves a pat on the back guys!! Come let us all pull together and make 2010 even bigger and better than 2009.
