Back to the Track 2005

[Keith Webb]

Yesterday Euan McDonald and family departed Melbourne on the first leg of their journey around Australia in their No9 CGT towing a "Corio" trailer which Euan has transformed into a camper for the trip.
First leg was to the family farm several hours to the West of Melbourne at Brimpaen.
Euan has spent the past month rebuilding both trailer and vehicle including such mods as fitting the correct 24 gallon fuel tanks, and many details on the engine such as distributor and water pump as well as a myriad of smaller details like rebushing clutch pedal, wiring, side steps and so on.
He's also fitted new tyres for the trip on both CMP and trailer but at the time of departure still had some teething problems such as wheel shimmy which he hopes to rectify with wheel balancing and a steering damper.
There was also a worrying lack of power which may be something as simple as tweaking the timing - he hopes it's not the heavy trailer! He has many thousands of kilometers ahead of him as he travels to Perth to join the rest of the convoy, then up the West coast, across to Darwin and then down through the centre.
Creature "comforts" added to the CGT include BMW seats, full carpeting, UHF and VHF radio and (wait for it) a DVD player mounted on the rear of the battery box to keep the children amused on those long stretches.
Chris took this picture earlier in the week when we visited.