Well it was a small group that gathered for our little jaunt to Slindon Pit

I met up with Mark @ the meeting point alone as Geoff had to cancel at the last Minute as Heidi was unwell and of course had the 
obligatory Bacon Sandwich etc and just before 10 Paul and Lynn Turned up @ the meeting point only to announce over the CB that they 
were off to get Petrol for "Max"
We all then met in the Slindon car park (now joined by Tony in his road car) and helped Paul and Lynn unload their new toy "Max" a 
Landrover Defender Like Hybrid Powered be a 3.5 V8 EFI engine with 4 speed Auto !
Off we went to play in the back area where Paul and Mark spent a fair amount of time pretending to do the Jeep thing and put wheels 
on Mounds and then get out to look at the outcome, Paul to see if his Suspension that is set up for Comp Safari and hence has very 
little articulation (Not Ideal) and Mark to see how his new Rotating Shackle things worked.
After that we had a little play following Paul so he could choose what to do and test his toy, I followed and had my first "Jelly head" 
moment while following and on the CB to Lynn did pay full attention to the tricky decent, My offside front wheel caught a Mud bank and 
bent the steering tie rod to a rather Banana like shape, not good as it meant both the front wheels were facing outwards at approx 45 
Degrees (not good for Control) although I wasn't really stuck I got the write up and soon had my self free by pulling myself backwards 
with the winch.
We tried to get back to the car park to effect repairs but had to give up and fix the 90 on a level piece of ground, luckily Paul 
Wightman was trundling past and I managed to get his attention and borrow his Ball joint splitter so we could get the Tie Rod off and 
try and straighten it. After much messing about the 90 was fixed and we had a little play and tried some more demanding stuff and Mark 
followed in his Tonka Toy (Suzuki) and was duly pleased with the amount of articulation he was getting and decided his new bits were 
working OK.
After Lunch we decided to go over the very back of the site near the main road and try a little "in Out" section Mark had found, this 
was where my second "Jelly Head" Moment came about (Must be cos Geoff wasn't about to be Mr Jelly Head) as Paul looked over the 
obstacle he entered taking a very tight left line, I then followed ignoring Paul’s line and went over in the centre soon to find why 
Paul had chosen the left as I could not make the first turn and started sliding down to the right and was unable to get through the 
first pair of trees and had to put both winches into action to pull the 90's front and back up and around the trees.
We both got out of that section OK and then Paul decided to show why a V8 had certain advantages and entered another "In Out" section 
with a nasty climb out exit on a bit of a side slope leading into a tree, Paul’s V8 and Simex's did a sterling job digging down quite 
a bit on the exit and I for once decided to give it a miss as I thought I would probably slide into the tree as I didn't have the 
advantage of V8 power and with my previous "Jelly Head" moment thought it would be pushing My Luck !
We all decided then to go to the bomb hole to play and we had to enter by the Steep climb on the left (the one I had to winch 
everybody up last time) as the normal entrance was blocked, it was pretty easy this time as the steps had disappeared and caused no 
problem, we had a look into the bomb hole and all looked good so Paul and Lynn Dropped in (Giving Lynn a bit of a shock) and then 
they tried to get up the Left Curved exit and had to give up when their front wheel was TWO Feet in the air (not the first time I 
might add) at this point I decided to go in and see if I could do any better and much to Paul’s disgust I managed to drive up the 
same exit without lockers or and hassle at all, I was just going to re-enter when Mark pointed out my steering bar was starting to 
bend again so it was decided to give up and take the "Easy" way out down the slope that we had entered via but all di not go well 
and half way down the 90 decided to bend the Tie Rod even worse and have the wheels jammed on the Mud Walls AND the radius arms so 
the only way to recover the 90 was to winch it down the hill - Yes I Did 
Say Winch it down the steep hill.
We messed around fixing the tie rod for ages but unfortunately the thread had been damaged by the ball joint splitter and would 
only allow the nut to go on about five turns so was flapping about in the breeze to say the least.
Anyway it was decided to see if we could make it to the pub and make a decision from there. I'm not sure if it was the Kronenberg 
but after having a drink decided I could make it home Ok (And I Did)

So All in all it was a good Day 
Paul & Lynne were impressed with their ney toy
Mark was Happy with his New Shackles
And I think I definitely got the Broken Prop Award.

Lyndon

My Pictures will be on My Website Soon, ant Other Pics please email to me etc & I will put them on the website.