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Not a tale of two Landys, raider and the fire truck...

So, the excuse this time was to test a Fire Truck aka Bomba! What an excuse. The Fire Chief had instructed his men to test one Land Rover Defender 300 TDI on its off road capabilities- with one condition, it can ONLY get dirty. Any damage would not be acceptable. This being the case, the Rayu trail would be a short one to test anything to the fullest.

The convoy at the start of the trail with Mick's BJ

The convoy was in full recovery when I arrived on the scene. Mick's BJ 60 was being recovered and did not do the special stage. Laurence in Buffalo Soldier then tried and it took sometime to recover him. The fire truck did not attempt because the bog was way too deep and getting into it would mean that there's definitely going to be right side panel damage. So two cars turned 180 and headed out.

It was decided to try a 'short' loop. I have been in this game long enough to know that there is NO SHORT LOOP. The trail started with a small water crossing. Again, there really is no 'SMALL' water crossing. Colin in a Daihatsu Feroza went past the river but not before getting stuck and had to be winched.

Buffalo Soldier stuck in the deepest of ruts

Colin aligned his rig and crossed the river - rather heavy footed. Next was Buffalo Soldier. Alas, he only made it down to his front wheels and the drama started. The BJ40 would not budge. Colin was already on the other side and became anchor point. Laurence held a steady throttle with wheels spinning and pandemonium broke out.

Buffalo Soldier getting into deep waters

The engine was switch off and they popped the bonnet and crowded over the engine. Apparently water had gotten into the engine via a small 'opening' in the air cleaner box. Colin being a full time mechanic guided Laurence through the steps to get his engine going again. Les than half an hour later, the engine was cranking and working well.

Water in the air cleaner box (arrow)

As the wheels spun on sand and in water, it only dug in deeper. Anchor points were changed and the wheel spinning and digging went on for a while and it finally got to a point that Buffalo Soldier looked to be half way in water. Little did we know that the left rear wheel was stucked on a submerged log and the right wheel was punctured, not giving any traction.

Eddie points out that the car is stucked on a log

Utilising a double winch system and a couple of counter weights on the front left of the car, the winching finally got the vehicle over the log and out of the river. Laurence changed his spare and the fire truck went across the river with less drama, howbeit with a little winching. A 2 km short drive saw them out of the dirt back onto the main road and homeward bound.

Malcolm Jitam