Jeep Club SA Newsletter Q1 & Q2 2014

NOTE: THE OPINIONS OF WRITERS IN THIS PUBLICATION ARE THEIR OWN AND DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECTTHE OPINION OF THE JEEP CLUB SA. THE JEEP CLUB SA DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF RACE,COLOUR, RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, SEX, AGE OR DISABILITY.

PO Box 36086, Annlin, 0066 Fax: 086 505 0484 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.jeepclubsa.co.za

NEWSLETTERQ1 & Q2 - 2014

For more details see events onwww.jeepclubsa.co.za

Inside This Issue

GP: 4X4@Kungwini

GP: Jamboree

GP: Topless Day

GP: Rhino Park

KZN: Ramsgate

KZN: Killarney 4x4

KZN: Topless Day

KZN: Wild Coast Fun in the sun

WP: Kopbeenskloof

WP: Century City

WP: Topless Day

WP: Zevenfontein

WP: Bridgestone Challenge

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The Jeep Club South Africa caters for what we believe in - family fun in our Jeep’s!

Disclaimer: The Jeep Club South Africa has no connection with the website www.jeepclubrsa.co.za and dissociate itselffrom any publications on this web site.

GP - Kunwini 4X4

By Riaan Heath

Fun @ Kungwini! Started the day of on a realwet surface, some of the members decided tosleep over at Kungwini on Saturday evening, andwere greeted by a good old Gautengthunderstorm during the night. Early Sundaymorning saw the club members line up at the gateto Kungwini 4x4, complete the necessary paperwork to participate in the days fun event. After thedrivers briefing the groups departed to differentsections of the trail, and all had a blast at the“dongas” and another highlight was the visit to thelookout point, overlooking the Kungwini dam.

We ended up with 44 Jeeps pitching for the event,to join the ride. The committee handed overresponsibility for leading the groups toexperienced members, and this worked well, as

members led groups, shadowed by committeemembers. This alleviated a lot of stress on thecommittee, and also avoided any bottle necksaround the trail.The committee would like to thank theseindividuals for their willingness and time offeredto lead individual groups. A big thank you also goout to Wollie for arranging the Valentine’s gifts,Prizes and Boerewors Rolls with East Rand Jeep.After a fun day of wheeling, all the membersgathered at the lapa area where boerewors rollswere prepared for all. Awards were given out tomembers and everybody had a fabulous time justrelaxing and chatting away about the route.It was wonderful to see so many new faces, andhow well they integrated with the “older”members, socialising away for the afternoon.

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GP - Jamboree 4X4By Riaan Heath

What a Jamboree!

The day was aimed at some real familyparticipation, and boy did it deliver. Amongstsome of the obstacles and challenges wasEquipment check, Fear Factor, Egg andSpoon, Navigation 101, Paintball, Lock andKey, Rescue, Blind drive, Puzzle and Quiz,and Draadkar. These challenges all proved tobe a hit with the competitors, and all had a lotof fun.

Some enjoyed Fear Factor less than otherobstacles, due to weak stomachs, but all in a dayof fun. There were a lot of prizes sponsored forthe day and we would like to thank MardelevFinancial and HR Solutions, Eco-Bamboo, BeauBelle, C-Group (Taurus), Blue Feather EstatesMidrand; CJD Bedfordview, Safari OutdoorCentre and CJD Wonderboom for making thecontributions and for assisting the JeepClubSA tomake this event a huge success.

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GP – Topless day.By Riaan Heath

Fun @ Topless day!The Gauteng members braved a chilly start to theday and joined their respective areas for a gettogether at different starting points, and fromthere drove to the Groenkloof Nature Reserveand 4X4 track. Once at the Reserve, themembers were treated to a variety of potjiesprepared by Judie Horn from Perd se Stalle.After lunch most of the members opted to tacklethe 4X4 trail. Not extremely technical, but it wasa lot of fun where a couple of members met their

match especially in the mountain section due to alot of loose rocks. Many species of game werealso spotted, and this was the highlight for manyyoungsters.The committee would like to thank the individualsfor their willingness and time offered to leadindividual groups from the respective startingpoints.

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GP – Rhino park 4x4.By Riaan Heath

Fun @ Rhino Park 4X4!The Gauteng members rallied to the east ofPretoria to get together at the McCarthy Toyotatrack also known as Rhino Park. We were onceagain received in style by the members fromMcCarthy, and they even surprised us with somehot coffee and rusks to break the early morningGauteng winter cold. After the drivers briefing,three groups set out to tackle the trail at differentstarting points. The training track, the “ROOIGATE”, the sand pit and the mountain trail, allprovided some real fun for the members, and with

such a variety of obstacles, who could complain?Closer to the end, some members decided to goplay in the sand pit, and this provided a lot of funfor both drivers and passengers skiing behind thejeeps in the sand.

Afterwards the new Cherokee was revealed tothe members by Andre from Jeep Wonderboom,and all stuck around for a braai and a little bit ofafternoon leisure.

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KZN – Ramsgate.By Johan Fourie

Fun @ Ramsgate 4X4!Our February outing was a very scenic trail inan undiscovered area on the lower SouthCoast! We had four new members and theirfamilies join us for the day. Even though this

was supposed to be an easy grade 3 outingit turned out to test some of the Jeeps as wehad to do a few recoveries.

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KZN – Killarney 4X4.By Johan Fourie

Fun @ Killarney 4X4!Despite all the rain we had and furtherpredictions for rain on the day a good number

of members arrived at Killarney 4x4 track. Wewere fortunate to have overcast weather andwere able to have loads of fun out there!.

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KZN – topless day.By Johan Fourie

Fun @ Topless day!

We decided to let the group from Durban arealeave in convoy from Amanzimtoti and the Southcoast group left from Shelly beach in convoy to

meet at The Waves restaurant in Umkomaas forlunch.Needless to say we all had an awesomeafternoon and the food was great..

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KZN – wild coast fun in

the sun.By Johan Fourie

Fun @ Wild Coast Fun in the Sun!This was easily the most members together atone outing and we were blessed with excellentweather. Our Wild coast outing again did not

disappoint, this is a scenic route and someplaces quite challenging with a few recoveriesthat had to be done during the day..

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WP – kopbeenskloof

weekend.By Craig Parsons

Fun @ Century City!After a warm welcome from the farmer,Wouter Stemmet, we were pleasantlysurprised by the facilities on farm… theaccess to a full kitchen, hot water andelectricity took a bit of the camping out ofcamping for some but there was nocomplaining around the fires at the firstevening’s braai.True to form the Karoo gave us a nice chillyfirst night but gave us the most idyllic sunrise.After breakfast Neil welcomed everyone andWouter gave us a brief history of the farm.Due to the cost lamb vs. the cost of farmingall farms in the area are supplementingfarming livestock by offering off-road trailsand or like in the case of Kopbeenskloof, ecotourism. The farm caters for up to 200guests (in wendy houses), which makes itideal for bigger school groups or functions.After some equipment checking we split intogroups based on experience and headed offon the main trail. We were treated to everchanging terrain, from rocky sections to

almost beach type sand and a couple ofwatery drifts. With this the vegetation alsochanged from renosterbos to fynbos, evensome proteas. It felt like driving intocompletely different eco systems every fewhundred meters depending on our elevation,truly beautiful… and we were fortunate to beallowed to collect some proteas for home!Back at the camp there were some excitedlooking faces of those who had their firstouting with the club or first off-roadingexperience in their Jeeps.

After a short lunch the braver of the bunchtook on the remaining (and more challenging)section of then trail. There we had tonegotiate some steep steps and a bit of mud,which turned into quite the slush pit and arecovery had to be done (on a non-Jeepbrand of vehicle which shall not be named).Back at the camp some war stories andmineral waters were shared late into thenight!.

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WP – century city.By Craig Parsons

Fun @ Century City!The Saturday morning started early with the8 obstacles being set up and registrationstarted at 8.30am. It was predicted to be ahot day and the forecast was correct as thetemperature grew over the 35 degreesmark. 25 drivers registered not that allcompleted the day. The eight obstacleswere designed to test the driver’s skill in offroad conditions with a few fun activitiesthrown to keep the co –driver distracted.Mark Hutton –Brown was the course marshalfor the day and he gave the drivers briefing rethe rules and what was expected at eachobstacle. Once all were briefed andregistration completed the Marshall took theirplaces and the event started.Sandown Motors Century City sponsoredgate 8 and provided a 2 dr Wrangler – BlackShadow for all the participants to use in theobstacle. The obstacle consisted of

reverses, and some really tight turnsthrough a circular route with a bit of waterincluded. All that took part had a really funday and a big thank you goes to all themarshals who managed the obstacles andensured the day was a success.This event was a warm up for theBridgestone point’s event to be held later inthe year in Cape Town and all Jeep Clubowners are invited to take part in this reallyfun event, with great prizes on offer.The winner of the point’s event was PaulNiemantinga in his Grand Cherokee.Congratulations. Second and third placesrespectively were Jean Theron and Jacovan Vuuren.The winner of Gate 8 the Sandown MotorsJeep Century City was Carlo Townsend andhe receives a Century City shopping voucherfor R500.00 thanks to Sandown Motors JeepCentury City..

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WP – topless day.By Craig Parsons

Fun @ Topless Day!The planning team met early at HillcrestQuarry to set up the venue at 7am. The airwas crisp and no rain predicted we were infor a fun filled day. The weather was perfectfor the early morning gathering at SandownMotors – Jeep Century City. With theTopless Wrangler owners arriving to hotMug n Bean Coffee sponsored by Jeep Clubmembers Rudi and Monica Knoesen. TShirts were distributed by Jennifer and Peterand the drivers briefing held at 9.00am.62 Topless Wranglers in convoy slowlydrove down Otto Du Plessis to BloubergBeach front for a photo shoot. Thewranglers received waves and hooter blastsfrom enthusiastic motorists passing theconvoy. From Blouberg Beach we drove inconvoy through Melkbos Town to MorningStar and then the N7. Our planned routethrough Visserhok Farm had to be changeddue to an en-duro challenge taking place onthe same route. Not to dampen the spiritswe headed off to Hillcrest Quarry through

the back roads of Visserhoek Rd andContermanskloof Road.At Hillcrest Quarry the convoy lined up todrive the gravel route through the vineyardsand Olive Trees with some spectacularviews of. Once the lead vehicle was in placeand with Mike Crawford the Manager ofHillcrest Quarry on board the wranglersslowly climbed the hill behind the quarry.This is normally a cycle route but today theJeeps had permission to ride the route. Theque of wranglers could be seen from the topof the mountain as they parked in the mainroad waiting to enter the venue.Once we had all arrived into the quarrygroup photos were taken and the day’sfamily funs started with all relaxing andenjoying the lovely autumn weather. Allsettled down to mingling with other clubmembers and braaiing.A great day was had by all that took part inthis years 7th International Topless Day, anda big thank you goes to Sandown Motors –Jeep Century City for covering the additionalcosts of the event for 2014.

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WP – zevenfontein.By Christelle Connor

Fun @ Zevenfontein!This was our first true 4x4 trail, and after ourtraining session, we were both excited andapprehensive at once…Bracing icy coldness and a clear sky we set offto Zevenfontein farm on Saturday morning. It issituated between Robertson and MacGregor,about two hour’s drive from Cape Town.Beautiful scenery of snow topped mountainspassed us as we drove en route to the farm.We were camping for the weekend at a nearbyfarm called Waterfalls Farm at the bush campand after an icy cold night we were all ready forsunshine and action.For us the route started with an adrenalin-filledchallenging up-hill curve with a donga or two.We were assisted by the technical experts andwe were able to enjoy the route with itschallenges effortlessly.The route offered us a beautiful view of thefynbos and farmlands in the Agterkliphoogte

valley and the Langeberg range. With the viewof the kloof and waterfall, this is the perfectplace to stop for coffee…The trail is mountainous and rocky and thegrading ranges between 2-3. Afterwards therewas a fantastic obstacle course for the highclearance vehicles, as well as river crossings.This part was very challenging but providedexcellent spectator viewing.Afterwards everyone relaxed and went their ownway, some visited the Wacky Wine Festival andothers enjoyed the afternoon sun. The eveningwas spent relaxing next to the fire and our veryown “masterbraaier” braaied our meat toperfection.We will remember this weekend as one of ourcoldest camping experiences, but neverthelesswe had a fantastic time with Jeep, we learnt a lotand we shared it with a group of warm-heartedpeople...

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MEMBERS PARTICIPATION

Your enthusiasm, participation, support and positive attitude will ensure that Jeep Club SA growsas a family orientated pleasure club catering for the “loved ones” in our lives - our families, friends,outdoor adventure and needless to say - our Jeep’s!

The Jeep Club SA caters for what we believe in – family fun in our Jeep’s!

Please print this newsletter in colour and distribute it amongst your friends and family withoutaccess to Internet facilities.

Thank you for your participation and support.

Make sure your companion, kids and friends also read the newsletter and know what we are upto next!

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HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY - HAVE FUN OUT THERE

Documents

Jeep Club SA Newsletter Q1 & Q2 2014