On Thursday the 8th of August 2002, ARB Track Torque in Wangara held an open day (evening) for members & friends of West Coast 4X4 (Inc) 4WD Club. The evening was set as a social evening for club members and visitors to enjoy a few drinks, sausage sizzle and enjoy a few tall yarns of off-road travel's and experiences.

Track Torque Sales Manager; Chris Panting (Mudrunner) organised the event for the members and gave a talk on the latest air compressor now in ARB's product range. Chris demonstrated how  the new portable compressor was capable airing up a Simex 35' mud tyre under two and a half minutes on his very capable GQ Patrol. Very impressive indeed and very affordable.

Later in the evening, Grant (Proprietor) had organised a flat top tow truck to be set up in the ARB car park, allowing West Coast members to test their travel on their vehicles. This part of the evening was rather interesting indeed. So far as to say the two vehicles that shined on the ramp was Captain's 80' Series Cruiser, which did get half way up the ramp, incredibly impressive, and the only other vehicle to even get close to half way up the ramp was one of our newest members, Murray Langdon. Murray (alias Muzza) was pleasantly surprised to see how much travel his dark blue GQ short wheel base Nissan Patrol actually got up the ramp before his rear wheel lifted off the ground, and it sort of surprised a lot of other people as well. Big Pete was challenged, but picked due to short shock absorber arms. No point in stretching components to the point of breaking. Chris Panting picked also due to the tray back of his GQ Nissan not being raised yet. We might have to come back for another great evening to see if Chris can get his GQ Nissan higher than Captains 80' Series up the ramp.

Vehicles in order of ramp distance, 1 being the highest ;-)

1. Captain (80 Series Land Cruiser - coil modified)

2. Muzza (SWB GQ Patrol - coil standard)

3. The Judge (GU Patrol - coil modified)

4. Froggy (62' Series Land Cruiser - leaf modified)

5. Bullet (Toyota Prado - IFS coil front wishbones and rear coils - standard)

6. Styx (Toyota Hilux - leaf standard)

7. Fish (Mitsubishi Pajero  torsion front, coil rear standard)

8. Skip (Toyota Hilux -  torsion front, leaf rear standard)

9. Bretski - DNF (Mitsubishi turbo sprint car 4 x 4 independent - standard)

10. Hool's - DNS (60' Series Land Cruiser - leaf modified)

11. Big Pete - DNS (60' Series Land Cruiser - major leaf modifications)

12. Mudrunner - DNS (GQ Patrol - major coil modifications)

DNF = Did Not Finish
DNS = Did Not Start

Winners of 'pic that pic' competition from the web pages went to Gadget, runner up to the Hooligan who got 1st prize. The Hool's managed 16 out of 18 pics correct, geographical location and name places. Gadget came through with 14 out of 18 correct answers. Well done guys.

• 1st prize was an ARB Snatch Strap.

• 2nd prize was an ARB Bridal.

Towards the end of the evening, Grant and Chris open the doors to the shop and invited members to look through the ARB product range and ask any questions related to off-road accessories and components members had queries with. I know I certainly appreciated the show and tell session as it was not so much a selling ploy as it was educational and at times entertaining ;-).

Speaking quietly with Grant later in the evening, he mentioned to me that his team of dedicated fitters and technicians always strive to give their client what they are after. And if a component needs other modifications out of the norm, they will climb over all kinds of obstacles to find away of making that particular component work. As Grant quite rightly says, on the rare odd occasion, they are indeed delving into the unknown with  particular client requests for modifications. Track Torque technicians do their absolute best to get it right the first time. Though if teething issues arise, Grant promises that his team will find a solution to get over any teething issues. Considering all the different makes and configurations of off road vehicle types on the market today, with all the new and old proven  technologies in modifications to 4WD vehicles available, the lads at ARB Track Torque do have their hands full keeping abreast of future developments in this field. On behalf of Grant and Chris, I ask all members, if they do have any issue with anything related to the fitting, modification of off-road accessories & components, to please talk to the source to seek a solution, talk - communicate with the lads that did the job, talk to Grant or Chris. Grant has made his pledge that he and his team will do their absolute best to solve any issue. It just makes good business sense, yes?   

Our congratulations go to the very professional team led by equally professional leaders at Track Torque ARB Wangara. Thanks Chris (alias Mudrunner) and Grant for opening the doors of ARB Track Torque Wangara on a Thursday evening to members and friends of West Coast 4X4 (Inc) 4WD Club. And a very special thanks to the technicians, fitters, tow truck diver for giving up their time for our  members and friends. Thanks guys, you guys are the best  ;-)

Cheers lads,
Geoff Couper (Alias Froggy)
West Coast 4X4 (Inc) 4WD Club
Website: http://www.westcoast4x4.com.au/
E-mail: gcouper@bigpond.net.au