Hobzees 4h - The 4wd Shop

Recent trip out bush

2010-03-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

Phil's Trip to Barmah State forest with the Mutts.

2009-11-04T23:10:00.000-08:00

Jason's Melbourne Cup Trip to Robe SA

2009-11-04T23:02:00.000-08:00

The AUS Safari Write Up from Darren Green (Krimnl)

2009-09-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

Australian Safari August 2009

Driver Darren Green

Navigator Wayne Smith

Manager Bruce Hughes

Mechanic Andrew Casser

After a 3 day trip across the country we arrived in Perth, after a quick rebuild on our borrowed trailer and a few last minute supplies we headed to Safari HQ for scrutineering & Documentation. Scrutineering was a breeze as the car was freshly built for the event with most parts new or reconditioned.

First taste of the event was the prologue; this was a short 18km stage through some natural forest near Perth. The stage was medium fast with some deep wheel ruts and loose ball bearing type surface. We were 2nd car on the track and it didn’t take us long before we caught the first car, after spending 5 minutes trying to get around him and calling him on the radio he eventually braked hard and stopped after making a wrong turn, we were too close to stop and gave him a little tap, this allowed us to get in front of him but we had to finish the stage with a flat tyre. We finished in 18th position. We were disappointed with this result as we knew we could do much better.

Day1 Perth - Geraldton

Day 1's driving consisted of 101ks of competitive and 473ks of transport with 1 refuel but no services. There were 2 sandy stages 1 was 74ks and the other 28ks. The tracks were mainly soft sand & corrugations, some of the tight corners and large dunes had us down into first gear wishing we had a little more power.

Day 2 Geraldton - Mt Magnet

We started Day 2 as the 11th car on the track, this is worked out from the results of the previous days competition. The day consisted of 381ks of competitive driving and 222ks of transport. we had 1 refuel & 1 service for the day.

Today’s stages were much longer, with the first for the day being 245ks with lots of mud. This stage really suited us and the end result was a 5^th for the stage. The second stage was 136ks but we had a few flat tyres that caused us to finish down the order. With our 5^th place finish in the days first stage we had moved into 7^th position overall by the end of the day.

Day 3 Mt Magnet - Leonora

The day started early for us, we woke up early as channel 7's Fifi Box done a live cross from our camp back to the Sunrise program. We had a busy day ahead with 4 stages totalling 496ks and 249ks of transport with 1 refuel and 1 service. The 1st stage was 122ks of tight rocky tracks with a few fast station tracks. Race leaders PWR's Paul & Kees Weel had brake issues on this stage and we were able to catch them in the tight stuff. We then started the next stage in front of them. Stage 2 was another 173ks of rough and rocky

tracks, Our overtaking of PWR didn’t last long as they caught us on 1 straight. We were doing around 140km/h when we got a tap from behind to let us know they were coming through. Stage 3 was only 63ks but one of the worst for us. We had a few tyre issues on this stage with 5 flat tyres. As we only carry 3 spares we were stuck without 2 tyres. lucky for us another competitor and our main class rival, Brian Robinson, stopped and gave us both his spares. We

were the last finisher for the stage loosing over an hour. This cost us on overall results but we were still able to fight on and try for a class win.

The 4th stage of the day was after a service and our service guys had managed to beg some tyres off Tambry Racing, these proved to be almost bullet proof although they wore down very fast, and @ $960 per tyre were very costly. We were one of the last to start this stage and done most of it in the dark. We were 9th on this stage but had lost a few overall places for the day.

Day 4 Leonora - Laverton

We were the 13th car on the track today; we had to overtake all the slower cars again! The days driving was 301ks of competitive and 163ks transport with 2 refuels and no services. 3 stages today , the first was 66ks of rough & rocky tracks with spectacular scenery and large rocky outcrops, this stage was hard work having to contend with overtaking slower cars again.

The 2nd stage was 203ks , we finish 5^th in this stage. we are finally starting to get some clear track ahead of us instead of trying to get past slower cars. Our service crew had a bit of trouble on this stage, on the way to the refuel point they had an issue with a cattle grid, the car went through ok but the trailer did not resulting in the full trailer being rolled. Lucky there wasn’t a lot of transport left for the crews. The last stage for the day was a short 30k one,unfortnately we took a wrong turn on this stage and finished down the order.

Day 5 Laverton / Laverton loop

Today’s driving consisted of 460ks competitive and 85 of transport. 2 refuels during the day but no service. The wrong turn on day 4 had cost us a few places and we had to play catch up yet again. The first of the days stages was 250ks , this was the longest stage of the rally and travelled through the great Victorian desert, it was a tough stage with lots of sand dunes and then finishing up on fast shire roads. The second stage was 126ks we finished 3^rd on this stage and got our top speed of 175km/h on this stage as well. The stage was on mostly tight tracks and overgrown fence lines, we have finally worked through most the slower cars and got to drive dust free for a change. the final stage for the day was only 84ks of tight & technical tracks we had a great drive only finishing 2 minutes behind the lead car.

Day 6 Laverton - Kalgoorlie

The last full day of competition with 391ks of competitive and 238ks of transport with 3 refuels for the day. We were 5^th car on track today and we are much happier with this sort of result. There were 3 stages for the day, the first was only 86ks but was a rough technical stage with a tricky creek crossing to contend with, this wasn’t an issue for us and we finished 7^th overall for the stage and moved to 6^th overall for the event. The 2nd stage for the day was another long one, 242ks this stage started with some fast tracks but the last 100ks was very tight through trees with lots of lock to lock action. We finished 4^th on this stage. The last stage for the day was only 62ks and another 5^th place for the stage under 2 minutes of the lead car. We are getting close to the end of the race now; we can’t make up any positions unless cars in front break. We are 6^th overall and first in our class. We were also 3^rd fastest car for the day.

Day7 Kalgoorlie / Kalgoorlie loop

The final 2 stages of the day they are only short with a total of 164ks for the day. Was great being 3^rd car on the track, was no dust to contend with, both stages were very tight technical stages on well used bush tracks. On the 1^st stage at the 14km mark we came across the lead car bogged on the side of the track, we decided it was the right thing to do and stopped to pull him out. Although this cost us a fair bit of time we finished 9^th on the stage. The second stage for the day and the last of the rally was just another short blast through natural bush. We finished 2^nd on the stage under a minute behind the first car. Our best result for the week

We had travelled over 3770ks and were finally crossing the finish line. We went to the event to come in the top 10, we ended up finishing 6^th overall and we won our class. We are now planning for next years event.

A big thank you to all the people who helped us with this event, On track 4X4, Induro Offroad Motorsport, Ftg auto salvage , Smithi Engineering , 4H.com.au, Wolf , Blackburn 4X4, Dynamic Wheels , Stud park panels & LRA .........

Congratualtions to the boys on their class win and 6th Outright Placing in the 2009 Australian Safari

2009-09-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

Images from the Race

2009-09-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

update from wayne

2009-08-08T03:56:00.001-07:00

oops tree!!! oops fence post!!!!! oops gate !!!! oops another tree!!! but we were 3rd fastest for the day. we had a 4th a 5th and a 7th and are currently in 5th place overall and first in our class.

update

2009-08-06T16:32:00.000-07:00

3 great fast flowing stages today mixed with some tight technical sections . 1 was 250ks, 1 was 126ks and the last one 84ks.
we came 3rd on the second ss just over a minute behind Andy brown , top speed on the stage was 175km/h
We were 5th overall for the day and have moved into 7th place.

Update from Krimnl

2009-08-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

From Outers:

Wayne wrote:
"Great 200 km stage today, I think Darren & I came in 4th or 5th on the stage, then stuffed the next one up with a navigational error by me, buggar...
All the time we made up in the previous stage was lost by a stupid mistake, but we finished the stage, and will make ammends tomorrow.
The Hummer is going great now that the stages have opened up and they can use their power, huge truck to get through the tight stuff though.
The support crew had a great stage today, trailer demolition 101, we now have gear being carried by three other teams and Cass is short one trailer, buggar again...
Fair go on the tyres, everyone is getting flats out here, we just need to stay on the track and keep clear of the Mulgar roots.
Fantastic stages, winding through massive orange rock formations and cause of all the rain they have had recently there's a bit of green stuff arouns as well.
We got the Big hurry up and get out of our way by the PWR team yesterday, that was exciting, we were doing about 140 and through the dust we recieved a bit of tap tap, to get us out of the way, I think they helped us hit our top speed for the day.
Droped a few placings today, back to 12th now, so we have allot of work today over the final 2 days."

2009-08-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

What's Wayne doing????

2009-08-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

2009-08-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

2009-08-05T17:53:00.000-07:00

Safari Road Trip and Krimnl the facebook addict

2009-08-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

Australian Safari Update

2009-08-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

The Boys on the trip over

Darren Green and Wayne Smith hit up the Australian Safari Off Road Racing Event

2009-07-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

Wayne Smith and Darren Green this year are hitting up the Australian Safari -http://www.australiansafari.com.au/Index.htm - in a very well setup 4.8 Litre GU Nissan Patrol.

Here's a few words from Darren:

"Myself & navigator Wayne Smith will be heading over to compete in this years Australian Safari

Over the past 2 years we have built what we hope will be a strong production class vehicle to withstand the 3600ks of torture its going to put through.

The car is a 4.8 GU patrol. It started life as a nice clean flood damaged car and was quickly stripped to a bare chassis. the chassis has been stregthened & painted white so cracks are easier to find.

The diffs have been laminated by Andrew @ on track and fully rebuilt with 4.6 diff gears front and Steering arms supplied by Hobzees 4H and the rear diff by Induro .

Suspension is custom King springs and King bolt in off road racing shockers & bumpstops. these were set up by Rohan Canavan.

Engine was supplied by Patralapart and rebuilt by On track.

Engine Management was taken car of by Robbie at Wolf aswell as dyno tuning and setting up the gearbox oil cooler electrics to keep the gearbox cool. The new genuine nissan gearbox was supplied by Blackburn 4x4 and Induro .

Roll cage was built by ontrack 4x4 and then the body sent to Stud park panels where the sunroof hole was filled and the interior painted white.

The car has then been carefully built by the guys at FTG auto salvage with every nut & bolt checked & double checked. drilled & pinned where possible aswell as all sump/drain plugs tie wired to stop them falling out.

Wheels are supplied by Dynamic wheels , they are their mines spec wheels and tyres are general grabbers also supplied by Dynamic."

Darren and Wayne head off this Sunday up to compete in the 3600km event which is a huge test of both vehicle and driver/navigator as they negotiate extremely rough terrain at insane speeds.

Hobzee and the team wish them all the best of luck. We will hopefully recieve updates throughout the event and keep this blog updated as the event progresses.

Here are a few images of the Patrol in the lead up to the event.

Hobzee and Lawrie showing the young fellas how its done at OBC

2009-07-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

Some pics of Lawrie and Hobzee at the OBC 2009 in which they came second.

Lawrie and Hobzee Score 2nd in the 2009 Outback Challenge!

2009-05-26T01:02:00.000-07:00

With only 3 winches made in the whole event and not one DNF Lawrie and Hobzee proved that smart thinking and smart driving combined with a reliable vehicle is a great combination for success in the Outback Challenge. Hobzee is now preparing for the leadup to the Ironman Cliffhanger 4wd Event.

here's a little blurb from hobzee about the event:
"Paul and Sharyn had a win this year. The new format worked a treat. The weather and road closures were not a problem and we were all together. We saw a lot of Paul as a marshal as well as regular driver briefs and that was a treat.

A great thing was after last stage Paul called up 1 car at a time to discuss scores, stage results, outside assistance. If you had a beef then speak now or forever hold your piece. So cool! If there is controversy then the person pointing the finger is a fool. Well done.

The field had thinned right down by the last stage and even those still running were barely hanging in there. Such as Dave Cameron on 3 tyres, no brakes and couldn't re-start the engine. Jeff Redman finished on just 2 tyres. Greg Scanlon on 5 cylinders and no diff locks. Max lost a panhard and had no brakes. Huddy broke his chassis clean off at the steering box.
Lots more stories like these and a credit to each team and the mateship between teams to keep each car going. All for 1 and 1 for all.

We missed the Nundooka stages. Not as much winching this year - I'm happy with that. We only pulled the winch rope out 3 times.

Pop and I were delighted with the Lux. 2 x punctures and that was about the extent of carnage for us. Oh yeh - Pop jumped the lux a bit harder than usual and we bent the front diff (straightened just prior to OBC) but it's back to normal bent diff with -ve camber. With the smallest engine in the comp (4ltr lexus) we lacked the ponies but made up with light weight and plenty of noise. Well done to Sean at SEQLD 4x4 for building a great rig. No DNF's, no penalties - happy with that!

Pro Comp extreme Muddies worked a treat. Drove a lot of the mud and they were just 35's. Averaged about 10 psi per stage. 4 psi on sandwall with 5 point nav. We took it steady in that nav section given the low pressure but our aim was to get up that bloody sand wall fast .. and we did.

I was very pleased to be a part of a very successful OBC. Paul and Sharyn agreed we should get together soon and plan next year with Cliffhanger and Outback Challenge working closer together.

And last but not least - It was an honour and a pleasure to have a ride with Lawrie sternbeck (Pop). He was great fun and he is a fabulous driver."

2009-05-21T20:30:00.000-07:00

The sms inbox has been quiet with updates from Hobzee....

Places after SS12

Place Car # DRIVER NAVIGATOR State Total
1 22 Greg Scanlon Liam Nunns VIC 1016
2 27 Lawrie Sternbeck Steve Hobbs QLD 936
3 15 David Cameron Daniel Dewit VIC 931
4 3 Brett Chynowyth Rob Bartch VIC 868
5 6 Neil Cooper Chris Hummer VIC 837
6 28 Huddy Adrian Parker VIC 817
7 2 Max Baerlocher Cosmo Scarpin NSW 765
8 12 Alan Mai Stuart Schoof VIC 759
9 4 Graeme Filer Jeff Winter QLD 758
10 14 Nunzio Coffaro Daniel Meneses VENEZUELA 745
11 24 Jeff Redman Jason Forssan VIC 728
12 11 Nick Mannell Torben Hansen NSW 709
13 5 Alan McMullin Shayne Barkly VIC 694
14 21 Andy Miller Robbie Calvert VIC 667
15 9 Renny Rodriguez Daniel Avellaneda VENEZUELA 663
16 8 John Clemens Tony Bright NSW 605
17 20 Laurie Griffiths Mani Kafantaris NSW 422
18 16 Brett Burns James Simonds VIC 342
19 7 Michael Hingerty Tim Hunter NSW 126

2009-05-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

Credit goes to AJ from Outers for this image.

Current Places as of Wednesday 1pm

2009-05-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

Places as of Wednesday 1pm

Place Car # DRIVER NAVIGATOR State Total
1 22 Greg Scanlon Liam Nunns VIC 921
2 27 Lawrie Sternbeck Steve Hobbs QLD 849
3 15 David Cameron Daniel Dewit VIC 831
4 3 Brett Chynowyth Rob Bartch VIC 804
5 17 Peter Mihaloff Alan McGilvray VIC 794
6 6 Neil Cooper Chris Hummer VIC 778
7 28 Huddy Adrian Parker VIC 759
8 19 Bruce Borchardt Kean Peard NSW 701
9 5 Alan McMullin Shayne Barkly VIC 694
10 4 Graeme Filer Jeff Winter QLD 690
11 2 Max Baerlocher Cosmo Scarpin NSW 689
12 14 Nunzio Coffaro Daniel Meneses VENEZUELA 673
13 12 Alan Mai Stuart Schoof VIC 668
14 24 Jeff Redman Jason Forssan VIC 655
15 18 Bill Tsaousis Warren Shipp VIC 640
16 11 Nick Mannell Torben Hansen NSW 626
17 9 Renny Rodriguez Daniel Avellaneda VENEZUELA 602
18 21 Andy Miller Robbie Calvert VIC 601
19 23 Anthony Kilner Andrew Norman VIC 591
20 8 John Clemens Tony Bright NSW 542
21 20 Laurie Griffiths Mani Kafantaris NSW 360
22 16 Brett Burns James Simonds VIC 285
23 7 Michael Hingerty Tim Hunter NSW 72

Update from Tuesday Night

2009-05-19T01:25:00.000-07:00

Another sweet day from the duo of Lawrie and Hobzee gaining top ten places all Tuesday with No DNFs. Good work lads.

Got the mud stage tonight. Will this see Hobzees first run on the winch rope?

Update from Monday Night

2009-05-19T01:21:00.000-07:00

As of monday night Lawrie and Hobzee were in outright second place firing on all 8 cylinders, behind Scanlon on 5 cylinders with 3rd place being Max Baerlocher with no rear brakes.

2 x DNF boys

2009-05-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

These boys have had 2 x DNF.

Huddy rolled and back without losing a stage - impressive. Roll Bar straightened and then re- braced, new screen and door and re-scrutineered in very fast time. Their front shocks are totally stuffed (1 is missing). Not mentioning brands as it is no indication of quality - they abuse evreything they touch - you know how some kids are just like that!!!

Dave Cameron in the green dual cab (15) is winning stages but did a drive shaft in the opening creek run, did a CV while backing out and then a winch motor during recovery. Yesterday they bogged down on the sand wall - but hey these boys can boogie. V8 5.0 stoked to 5.7 with a supercharger plonked on for good measure

2009-05-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

These guys have only had 1 x DNF.

Ant had a fire but all fixed - can't rev too hard coz will cause damage.

Bruce has to get under car to change gears in Car 19. He was doing really well. Hang in there - Kean has to get under car to change gears but stay in his harness - speaking of which - it was a harness penalty that caused the zero point DNF.

Alan Mai is doing well - melted the battery clamp on the sand wall just a half car length from the top. They guys are resting while others working on their cars - that's a good sign.

Hummer and Coops

2009-05-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

If there is someone trying very hard to get third place it's Coops and Chris.

They have had great runs and pushing very hard. Quite a few stage wins but rolled last night in the sand. So they are making sure they wont win or come second. (These guys only ever get 3rd place) Yesterday they changed transfer case over because they had only 1 range - not sure whether it was high or low only. Not a bad repair in the bush huh!

Of the teams with 1 DNF - these guys would be leading (say 4th place is a safe bet).

Nice new paint job - Grabber tyres are certainly tough and can be driven very fast - but only thing is that the only 2 cars to roll are also the only 2 with Grabbers. DOH.

Top 3

2009-05-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

Here are pics of top three as of Tuesday lunch - not official but based on the fact that these are the only ones that haven't yet had a DNF.

Greg Scanlon doing great times and pushing hard. Down to 5 Cylinders and running hot now - Hang in there buddy!

Lawrie and Hobzee so far always top 10 and clean runs so far. Got a second last night in the sand and a 3rd on Sunday. Car going well. Voted best sounding V8 by spectators.

Maxi is doing nice clean runs consistently - no DNF's and enjoying the pointy end for a change. He is launching his new designer unddies and need the Hammer he uses on people's teel to shut off his rear brakes. - My advice is dont be the car in front of him in transport.

Saturday Night

2009-05-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

Well for just a little while we were winning the outback challenge. Laurie did a great drive on his first run with a 4.03 minutes but then about 5 cars did better - Coops was best I think and Huddy did great in carby 4.2 (Funny how that's the motor everyone was taking out to fit a V8 and yet he beat almost all the V8's in a speed stage).

Major carnage for some as follows ...

Dave Cameron (fist car) did a tail shaft.
Laurie Griffiths busted the A Frame in the rear.
Nick Mannel was most impressive - not only ripping the front right hand wheel off with hub and all, but also front right guard completely off as well.
Mick Hingerty did a fuse - it ran computers as well as 6-8 x spottiesso he got just 50 feet into the stage.
Not sure what happened to Hoon but he lost power and coasted back to the finish inside DNF (5mins) but got towed back to B'Hill.

Second run was much less breakage an ran without a hitch. Times got faster. A sub 4Min was the goal and we were happy with a 3.50 from the Lux. But alas the fast guys got faster too.

Notable great performances from the following ... (I am tipping this might be top 10 ish but no particular order ...)

Neil Cooper & Chris Hummer
Greg Scanlon
Huddy & Muppet
Brett Chenowyth & Rob Barton
Alan Mac & Shayne Barclay
Lawrie Sternbeck & Hobzee
James & Brett - PGS - I think they did a pwr steer pump on 2nd run but still did great.
Bruce Borchardt did a blinder 2nd run and worth noting.

Not much sleep at Silver City tonight me thinks.

Pics tomorrow.

2009-05-15T16:00:00.001-07:00

We had to stop for a cold one - lemon squash of course ... almost there. Topar is about 45 mins from Broken Hill.

2009-05-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

Update Friday 15th

2009-05-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

Hobzee and Lawrie went through registration today - 28 cars due for registration. They are Car 27.
Lots of race trucks about town. 2 Teams from Venezuela.
Hobzee is fitting internal beadlocks for Team Venezuela on Sat am.
Show and Shine is on Saturday am. Stay tuned for pics.

4WD Action photographers and Hole Shot Images did a photo shoot on Lawrie's rig ... while it was still clean and straight.

Hobzee has been practising on Lawries Garmin 2006C GPS - he is normally a Magellan FX324 guru but claims he is now a convert. He believes that although he can enter waypoints faster into the Magellan the Garmin is heaps faster to Route and Go To with arrows and data also on the map screen that also shows all the waypoints. This means travelling to a waypoint is possible while assessing what the next waypoint will be and that it takes just 2 clicks to Go To the next way point. Lawrie hopes that this means they just dont stop out there plotting the next waypoint and that this will mean extra points achieved in the time given.

Stay Tuned for pics

Hobzees Hittin' the Outback Challenge

2009-05-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

Lawrie Sternbeck (Driver) and Steve Hobbs (Hobzee - Navigator) team up this year for the 2009 Outback Challenge. Lawrie is convinced that Steve can run faster than Wayne Smith and all that work that Hobzee has been putting in at the gym just might pay off this year.

Some words from Hobzee via Broken Hill,

"Car all great. Lights fitted and behaving well. Lawrie is happy. We took a practice run today. 110 klm in 2nd high at 6500 RPM. 120klm in low range at 7000RPM ... Impressive. Very loud - very impressive."

Lawrie Sternbecks Car in Action in a 2006 Xtreme Winch Challenge Comp.

We'll be constantly updating this blog with current info during the competition along with lots of pics of both Hobzee and Lawrie and the other competitors. So stay tuned!