March 7th, 2005.

Late Febuary saw Zak's second attempt at motorkhana after the first outing at the end of last year. The motorkhana was run by the NSW branch of CACA (Christian Autosports Club of Australia). I tried to set Zak up a bit better for this event. My nasty old standard skinnies got tubes to stop them going down and I picked up some 2nd hand rear tyres from the wreckers. I got 2 205/70R14 tyres in very good nick for only $60. Bargain!

Zak looked a bit strange with such small tyres on the back, but it was worth it. They allowed me to swing the back round much more effectively. Here's a pic of him before we started.

I got off to a good start at the beginning of the event and got a few really good times. However, my memory has never been good and there were also a few wrong directions. Added to that, by the end of the day the ground was soo dry that the dust was horendous. At one point I could hear my back tyres squealing on the hard packed dry earth. Unfortunately, on the last two runs I had to slow down to see where I was going.

The last run was called off do to an impending thunder storm. And what a storm it was. I was so happy to have the top. Needless to say, I know all the places he leaks now. the rain was so heavy at one point that the foam air cleaner was being swamped. The rain was welcomed in a way though, Zak was, and still is full of dust. At least the outside was washed clean on the way home. Getting everything else clean is going to be a real task.

On other fronts I have been working on the cooling again. During the holidays I made a panel to box the radiator in with. The idea was that all the air would have to go out through the radiator and not be able to escape anywhere else. Well, to my surprise actually runs cooler with out it. I realised today after a long drive. It seems that the panel, for reasons to do with the box's shape, limits the drawing ability of the fans so that they cannot full cool him on the freeway. Oh well, one less bit of sheet metal to be carrying around.
Less steel = more acceleration. :-)

March 9th, 2005.

After 7 years and lots of hard work (we won't mention dollars), I have decided to sell Zak. It's not that there is anything wrong with him, but rather, I don't get the most out of him. Because I am busy from Sunday to Friday and live nowhere near the bush or beach, I have few opportunties to use him for what he was intended, that is going offroad. The other issue is, he not really big enough inside to fit a port-a-cot and a pram. Accordingly, I am going to sort a few little things and sell him to someone who can enjoy him properly.

The price is $22k ono.

That might seem abit exy, but it's really a bargain for such a car. If I was to build him all over again it would cost upwards of $30k, and that's being conservative.

It seems a little sad but I would rather sell him on and have someone enjoy him than have him sit round and not get used properly. If you are interested please email me. He's got 6 months rego in NSW and he is fully engineered and legal.