Where did the no deplume Man on Road come from?
Man on Road
I am asked many times.
Where did the no deplume Man on Road come from?
Whilst it
may feel that my rally blog fans think Man on Road has been on the road for eons,
the term only entered my Rally story world in August 2008 on a dark dusty night
(very early morning) some 20 or so kms East of Tibooburra in far North West New
South Wales, not far from the Border to Queensland via Warri Gate whilst competing
in the Red Centre to Gold Coast Rally
So, it is
correct I have been on the road in the rally world since I first wagged a day
off school at St Bede’s College Mentone and went, along with older brother
Chris to the start of the 1973 BP Rally of SE Australia at Chadstone Shopping
Centre in early May.
Warwick Smith even has a picture of me
(Man on Road) standing next to Colin Bond and himself in the -to be - well used HDT Kingswood at the start of the 1973 BP Rally
of South Eastern Australia.
Chris and I then travelled to the Bargarg area for a section around the Broken Creek area. From there we headed to Myrtleford and watched transfixed as rally car lights wandered the multis levelled tiers of the Ovens Plantation in the early hours of the Thursday morning – then back to St Bede’s by 9.00 that Thursday for more HSC study.
In my lifes
history I have really been on the road for almost another 2 decades already with
the family road trips in the August school holidays to lands far away such as
Coolangatta and the to feed the Lorikeets and see lots of other exotic
wildlife.
https://currumbinsanctuary.com.au/
A few years later the South Stradbroke Island Three Hour Cruise and old fashioned Paddleboard sking was a highlight.
I can remember several trips, the first being in the family pale blue Holden FE packed for two weeks in paradise with the full family of six on board. First stop was an on-site van at Gundagai – just south of town and that long – noisy – wooden bridge over the Murrumbidgee River flood plain with semi-trailers rattling across it all night
Time on the road was often filled in with no internet days entertainment, such as Number Plate cricket - last letter 0 and out !
So now I hear you ask, what is the connection from road trips to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and a Porsche 911 here on HRA Facebook Audi and Porsche week.
So, here we all were on Thursday 18th of August at the Tibooburra Sports Ground
for a 2.00am, yes 2.00am, start for Day 7 and just a lazy 636kms eastward bound
to Bourke on the Darling River.
 |
| Reviewing Tom Snooks' Day 7 Leg Notes at the Tibooburra Sports Ground |
To quote
Tom Snooks day notes for the trip: The competition is hot on this Leg with five
competitive sections on private properties.
The competitive are a good mixture of sand, rocks, gates, fast fence
lines tracks and even a narrow track around a salt lake. You will really enjoy
this Leg.
Well, that was a bold prediction by Tom Snooks
The first
stage of this Leg started some 20 kms east of Tibooburra and was about a 60 km
run across what looked like sandy farm tracks generally following the Arcoola
Creek east then turn South to follow the White Well Creek back to the
Tibooburra to Wanaaring Road, which is known as the Cut Line, just east of Mt
Wood.
It was on
the run south that drama struck, just after an open gateway we heard a gouging
noise for the Left Rear of the Capri Perana and we grooved a channel in the
sand to a stop @80 metres later, I opened the door and noticed that it was more
than a flat tyre – the whole Left Rear tyre and mag were AWOL !
Upon
inspection Paul and I discovered all four wheel studs had sheared off and the gorging
stop had further damaged the axle and black oil was weeping onto the White Well
Creek flood plain.
Hmmm,
that might be the end of the action for us for a while I thought, although I
knew that our Service Crew Steve and Alex were at the stage end Control. So rather than sit here in the dark, I
decided to walk the @ 4 km to the Control to brief the boys of what repairs
were required to get us back on the long road east to the end of day at Bourke
on the banks of the Darling River.
Off I
trotted up the dusty path with a small touch light on the dark moonless night and
as each car approached, I hoped into the scrub so not to distract them. After a few cars I heard the deep howl of the
James Calvert Smith and Ben Hardy Porsche 911 approaching, and I must have been
a bit slower with my deviation into the scrub as the crew saw me and a frantic
call went out over the event radio channel.
Man on
Road, there is a Man on the Road…..
Several
cars behind the Porsche were our Melbourne HRA friends Peter Otzen and Paul
Franklin in the Orange 180B SSS and according to reliable reports there was a
discussion onboard as to who the Man on Road may be.
 |
| Peter (Stan the Facts & Figures Man) Otzen & Paul Franklyn in action (?) at Tibooburra na few hours before the Man on Road call was made. |
Looking
at the cars ahead on the road that night they concluded that Man on Road must
be fellow HRA Melbourne rally competitor, Simon Brown.
Now this
is something that they worked out correctly and it was confirmed from them as
they past the stricken Capri with only one crew member sitting faloony on the
dusty White Well Creek flood plain.
So, there you go ...
Man on Road was first heard (created?)
with a disparate Radio Call by Ben Hardy navigating for James Calvert Jones in his pretty Porsche 911 early in the morning of August 18th on a dusty - still - moonless night some 30 kms East of Tibooburra.
And he
has been on many roads since, stay tuned for some more reports of these
adventures.
Photo Credits: John Rawson
James Elliota SwanSimon Brown
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