Keith Law's complete TALES FROM THE GREAT ROLLING DYNO

Post by **jason** » 12 Jul 2012 16:39

Heh, that'l work, mind you, this is the heaviest one I have seen, it weighs 2200 lbs as opposed to my Suzuki's 1800lbs .... It is rated for a half ton though ....

Post by **bertvorgon** » 12 Jul 2012 17:35

1/2 ton!...I will get some dynamite, and we will go gold mining.....Bring ear plugs....

Note to any who come......You need a GOOD flashlight,as bright as possible.

Post by **jason** » 12 Jul 2012 17:43

There's gotta be stuff in the creeks around there if there's a hard rock deposit there Keith, how's about a little panning?

gooned · Post by **gooned** » 17 Jul 2012 20:47

NICE PICS!!!
just got in from Drumheller, count me in too - I'll bring the Dodge we can just skid the Subie along behind...

TTY soon

Post by **jason** » 17 Jul 2012 22:49

How's about I park the Subie in the back of your pickup Jason

!

Post by **bertvorgon** » 18 Jul 2012 08:11

Lets shoot for the end of August, everyone should be back from holidays by then. We can also start to plan our Run Beyond Hope drive.

gooned · Post by **gooned** » 18 Jul 2012 19:35

just not the long weekend eh?

Post by **bertvorgon** » 12 May 2013 16:03

Rainy day today, so mucking about on my computer. Here is a story from 1995, about one of the local track days, with some of the early 510 club members. It was a rainy day then, so I was doing my usual whining about the weather,,but still ended out on the track. 95' was ther year of my inter cooler, and right before I jumped to the 3" exhaust.

For you non locals, Mission Raceway is very tight, and totally unforgiving due to the concrete that lines it. The straightaway during this time period was near the start of the drag strip, and there was a brutal pavement break just as you fed onto the strip, making one be very careful as the when you fed the power on. It was here that "Bert Vorgon Braking Systems" were born, after the brakes went beyond nuclear. The rear drums on a fast 510 were useless, and without front brake cooling, the fronts would go away after about 15 minutes. Jamie Mitchel showed up with 40 feet of Home Depot aluminum ducting, for his brakes. Anybody have a picture of that? One got very smart in watching their mirror at the end of the straight, just in case someone had lost their brakes and was NOT going to be able to stop , just as you made your left turn.

BERT VORGON REVISITED

I did wake up at 4:30 A.M., honest! I did have my car ready to go. I just could not face that rain, man was it coming down. Sorry, just a wimp I guess. When I awoke later in the morning it did not look as though it was going to get any better. At that point I decided to try for the B.C.M.A. track day the following weekend.
Typically, like a kid before Christmas, I did not sleep a wink Friday night before the track day. I was up and down all night, peering out the window, seeing if it was still dry. The weather stayed dry, albeit cloudy. Off to the plant at 4:30 A.M. to get my car, still dry. O.K., lets go for it. Passing through Langley on Saturday morning it started to rain, rats! O.K., I'll just drive out to Mission and have a coffee with some of the B.C.M.A. people, might as well enjoy this last bit of seat time in the car. Kind of fun to just touch the throttle and slide a little, maybe Noel or Jamie could show me how to do those BIG slides. After coffee my wimpy self said go home, but, that other competitive voice said, just go down to the track for awhile. Hey, I'm here anyway. It's now a bleak, rainy 8:00 A.M.. As I stood around watching the others get their cars ready I decided to take some of my STUFF out of the car. Hey, can't hurt. Even though it was still misting I decided to maybe go out for a session in the rain, we'll just take it REALLY EASY. Right Noel?
Third gear, spin tires. Fourth gear, spin tires. Fifth gear, spin tires. Corvette spins in front of me. AAHHH, mind if I Smoke? Some fun now, hey, maybe the rain is not so bad after all. Just have to keep it off the concrete. Now it is starting to dry and the pace is picking up substantially. The sun is actually starting to come out. Surviving the first session I decide to put on the old (1991) Firestone race tires I have. Surprise, surprise, they work just fine. They had never been truly heat cycled !? Dave Christie and I had bought these to battle it out for the National Slalom title in 91'. Should have used these to battle that damn RED water bomber!
What did that "T" shirt say? "Wide open till you see GOD, then brake!" Yes, Bert Vorgon was alive and very well on the second session. There was a good mix of cars out on the track with everyone driving well. The bulk of the B.C.M.A. people all drive those LARGE American cars, you know, those ones that take TWO sets of spark plugs. Right Campbell!!! They were also good enough to provide a moving slalom down the straight, neat, we'll have to do that again. Hey, they even have some good brakes.
During the next break, Dave Doan magically appeared. Having seen the wave of the future he also now sports Bert Vorgon Braking Systems. Now we'll have some fun. Dave was a couple of cars behind me on the grid. Off we went, thundering down the straight. I could see Dave working up and then he disappeared. Seems he got meatballed for some sort of fluid leakage. He ultimately could find nothing wrong, possibly water in a rocker panel? We never got to "VORGON" it out at the end of the straight. I watched Dave eating up others under braking, even some very "expensive" cars. What I did miss was all the other 510's that make these track days fun. Luck of the weather draw.
During the third session my aging exhaust finally gave another death rattle. Suddenly there was a tremendous rushing of exhaust and the smell of hot paint. The waste gate dump pipe failed big time, vaporized into rusty dust. Fortunately there were only three laps to go. Upon examination I could see the firewall was starting to burn and that to do another session would likely melt a hole in the firewall.
On the technical side I would say the intercooler is a success. Throttle response has not been compromised and if anything seems a bit better in the mid range. Given that the day was not hot, I only saw 117 F. discharge temp at the end of the straight. Last year I was near 250 F.. The air filter is not in a good spot. There is such a negative pressure area behind the air dam that the air goes through the radiator and then washes down onto the air intake. This seems to produce intake temperatures around 85 F.. Actual air temp was 62 F.. Have to work on that, maybe one of those drag type hood snorkels. As the horsepower wars seem to be heating up, what with Gary"Monster Motor"Koehn, and Dave"It's Bigger" Doan, I am going to have to reach into my bag of tricks even more. God knows what Jamie may be working on.
Lots of stuff left yet!
All in all it was a great way to finish the year. Lets see if we can work to get some more track days next year, even if we have to work our way through those moving chicanes. To keep you going through these cold winter months remember our patron saints motto: Wide open till you see God, THEN brake!

Keith Law
October 24,1995

UPDATE ON VANCOUVER ISLAND CAVES

On October 21 I traveled to the north end of Vancouver Island to visit my folks. While I was there I took my maps, compass and, with the help of my Dad, found RESONANCE and ARCH caves. There is a third cave marked on the map but I could not find it. I know the area it is in and we would just have to scout a small area of bush to find the entrance. I have not been to this one in the past and have no written description of it. Resonance Cave descends approx. 1,000 ft. with some very nice stalactites, stalagmites and other cave formations to be seen. This one is easy to go into. There is a steep pitch at its end, leading to a lower chamber and large? cavern. Does anybody have any rope experience? Arch cave appears to be more technical and possibly quite wet. We may only be able to explore part of the entrance on this one depending how adventurous/safe we feel. We will plan as the winter goes by. You would need some really old/warm clothes, possibly a rain type jacket/pant combo, a GOOD flashlight and possibly a spare. A head mount light is good because your hands are free. I haven't worn a hard hat yet, but then I tend to heal quickly! Keep you posted.
Keith Law

Post by **Byron510** » 01 Apr 2014 21:26

Eh Bert, since this is your adopted build thread, here's a flash back for you...

And a little truckin going on.....

Byron

Post by **proflex** » 07 Apr 2014 21:17

Keith is that pic of your car at race ride height? Or is the car chained down some? Looks a little low for the street.

Post by **bertvorgon** » 08 Apr 2014 05:04

It's maybe a tad lower than actual height, Steve pulled things more horizontal than vertical to tie the cars down. That was a lot of work to get those 4 cars on there, a few inches apart, and nothing moved for 300 miles!

Was very tough on the front cross member, the metal is very thin on those things.

Nice way to get your car to an event though.

Post by **proflex** » 09 Apr 2014 07:05

Cool!!! Thanks Keith..............
Now someone photo chop that CRX out of there....

Post by **bertvorgon** » 09 Apr 2014 08:06

I plan on doing a thread, that will kinda be my build thread, but, really be a photo history
of our 510's and racing stuff here in B.C..

Post by **bertvorgon** » 18 Aug 2014 19:34

Here is a story of our latest trip into the wilds of B.C.. Another re-visit to an area last visited in 1997, and where my brother and I used to try to do a yearly pilgrimage back in the 70's.

Enjoy the trip and pictures!

CHINA HEAD REVISITED

I'm standing at the top of an insanely steep road, road being a misnomer here, more a claw mark into the skin of B.C., cut by a crazed Caterpillar driver, tired of a day's worth of buzzing mosquitoes. Next to me is our black GM Tracker, a black fly on a near vertical wall, ready to plunge down. Do we go or not?
Matt and I are off on another exploring adventure, to re-visit an area my brother and I first traveled back in the 70's, called China Head. It is in the edge of the Fraser/Chilcotin plateau, accessed only by four wheel drive. We have planned a 3 day loop, enter at one point and exit at another. This was to be a lesson in frustration with Mother Nature, and, a potential limitation of being by ourselves.

Since the 70's, a new road had been cut from Lillooet to a junction high above the Big Bar reaction ferry, on the west side of the Fraser River. This would cut some 100 kilometers ( 64 miles ) of extra driving out of our trip. We fueled up in Lillooet, filled a five gallon jerry can with extra gas, and, took five gallons of fresh water. The area we are heading into goes from extreme desert, to 7,000 feet (2,187 meters), all with very little water flow this time of year. Better safe than sorry.

The road along the Fraser gains and looses huge elevation as it follows the contours of B.C., finally intersecting the road coming up from the reaction ferry, some 3,000 feet ( 937.5 meters ) below. This would be the start of the true four wheel adventure. The area had been logged, much to my surprise, so we proceeded another ten kilometers before the actual and original four wheel drive road left the logging road. It was here our first disappointment was leveled at us. A sign was posted on the Forest Service road sign, that our route was washed out at Davey Jones Creek, with no access through to our intended next destination. Damn! After a discussion that we would go to China Head regardless, stay the night, then come back, we headed up. Instantly we were in four low, grinding up and up, the trail just slightly wider than the Tracker. It did level off a few times, as it followed the edge of a ridge, or, into a dip in the mountain side. As we gained the elevation, the mountain flowers are in full bloom, huge splashes of colour, scattered in the black and green of the pine forest.

After an few hours or so of driving, we spotted the summit of China Head Mountain through the trees, a summit of 7,000 feet, our destination for the night. The weather was looking sketchy, very low clouds, dark, looking like they might carry rain. I was concerned we might be too exposed should it really come unglued. A small spur trail cuts off from the main trail and doubles back to the summit. On the way up we realize this trail has split where an enormous forest fire had come up the mountain from the south, burning the trees on one side and leaving the other side untouched. Maybe the Forest Service used this trail as a fire break.

Arriving at the top is always spectacular, a complete 360 degree view for a 100 mile radius. Today the clouds and some hazy smoke from Northern forest fires muted things, still incredible though. We decided to run our tarp from the Tracker over the tent, to the ground on the far side, giving us a bit of shelter should it really start to rain. As there was a campfire ban, it did not take us long to fire up the trusty old Colman stove and get our steaks and rice going, an ice cold Sleemans taking the edge off the day's long drive. The mosquitoes, mites and fly's were something else though, you could not standstill or you got covered. I finally conceded to put some DEET on, I hate that slimy feel bug spray gives you, but, to put some on was the only relief from them. After dinner we wandered back down the trail, to take some pictures of the fire weed, the deep, rich purple of the flowers a stark contrast against the burnt trees. Then, there was the silence, true, deep quiet, no wind, NOTHING! We stood there, not moving, only our ears trying to make sense of hearing nothing. Here we are not under any jet flyway either, so at no time was our silence disturbed by the outside world.

At the point that we climbed into the tent, the sky was starting to clear and there was virtually no wind. I woke up at 2:00 Am, climbed out of the tent and was greeted by the "Super Moon" and a starry sky, incredible. The moon was so bright I could still see the outline of the ridges and mountain all around us. It was even warm, considering that we were at 7,000 feet, maybe 53F (12C). There were even some bloody mosquitoes still up, buggers still looking for fresh blood.

We woke up about 6:30, a slight wind starting to rattle the tarp, making me wonder what was coming. Exiting the tent I see some very heavy clouds coming, with that tell tale rain trail coming out of them. Really looks like we are in for it, with other squalls pending. In our discussion, we had planned to maybe head to the next ridge and then drop down to Davey Jones Creek, just to check it out. We had enough fuel and thought it would at least give us something to do on the Wednesday, then head back out mid day. With the rain starting though and hard winds coming up, we elected to break camp fast and head out. No sense getting soaking wet as we still had two days to go. We literally had things packed in 30 minutes, thinking we would just snack on the way out. The rain hit hard for awhile, the wind even ripping one of my grommets out of my tarp, as it tried to turn it into a large sail.

As we dropped elevation, Matt and I then planned our next step...lets drop down to the ferry and see if an indicated road on the new map, really did exist. It did NOT make sense to me that it would actually exist. Knowing the surrounding geography, I could not see that a logging company would lose HUGE elevation, then, have to head right back up to the junction of the road we had just come down. Arriving at the reaction ferry found the "Captain" waiting for us, seems he saw us slowly coming off the mountain and waited to see if we were needing to cross the Fraser. I grabbed my map and ran down to the ferry, to ask about the road. He just laughed and said no road. Only thing I could see was a small ranch house had been built onto what was the foot trail we used to take, which led to a real commune back on the hills in the seventies. This answer made our next decision easy, head back to Lillooet, re-fuel, then head up the Bridge River, then, make a right turn and try to access our destination loop by going up the Yalakom River. This route intersects where the Davey Jones Creek comes off the mountain range.

Did I mention the dust? By arriving back into Lillooet, some two and a half hours after leaving the ferry, we have now done over 250 kilometers of gravel road, great clouds of flour fine dust boiling up behind us. We tried the usual technique to keep dust out, but, it was also 80 - 90F (27 -36C) outside, cooking us in the Tracker. We had packed the Tracker with this in mind, our sleeping gear and tent buried in the middle, to keep them as dust free as possible. Dust had come in at every vent, door handle opening, speaker grill, seat belt retractor, door seam, you name it. Did I mention wash board? If you have ever traveled on gravel roads, specially with hills, you will know wash board. In some places, it would try to walk the Tracker sideways, where you would have to slow down to a crawl to regain traction.

During this loop to and from Lillooet we counted over one hundred deer, three black bears, one brown bear, a small Grizzly, and other misc. wild game birds. The whole area is teeming with wildlife!
After re-fueling we headed up the Bridge River valley, then turned up the Yalakom River, another gravel secondary road. It's about noon when we leave Lillooet. As we climb higher, we are quite excited that we will be up on the plateau again. This will be in an area where in 1998, on a 510 Club 4 x 4 trip, one of our long time members had a head-on accident off road, he was on his dirt bike ( NO helmet ) and he runs into another motorcyclist coming the other way on a blind corner. Very scary incident.

After about two hours of driving, we come upon two ATV riders who inform us of a slide a few kilometers ahead, saying they did not think we would be able to get through! Sure enough, we come upon a large rock slide blocking the road...CRUD!!! We get out to scope it out. It is steep and very loose.

The other side looks to be a bit of a nightmare, it being even steeper and looser. We make a tough but correct decision. IF...we got over it...AND...we had to come back this way, we could possibly spend hours trying to dig it out enough to get the Tracker up and over it. As it turns out, we made a very good decision. While this set back was very disappointing we very quickly made the decision to soldier on and head to the third entry point, up through Mud Lakes. Back down the Yalakom we go, make the right on the Carpenter Lake road and head to the climb up to Mud Lakes.

As we travel along Carpenter Lake, we see the signs of massive debris flows having come down off the steep ridges above the lake. We then come upon a road crew clearing one of these. As it turns out, in early July a monster rain storm hit this area, dumping huge quantities of rain. This is the reason Davey Jones Creek and the Yalakom are washed out. This would have been the same weekend the rain hit Vancouver and I cancelled the 510 Club drive. It now raises the issue of what else would we run into?

The route to Mud Lakes had totally changed, the logging company having put in new roads up the valley. I had my original map with me, so we could kind of relate, and, we had our GPS.
Now, a word on modern gadgets like the GPS. While it can theoretically pin point your location ( within the tolerance of the GPS ), it cannot THINK, NOR, tell you what the terrain is like. Sure, it can show some contours, but that's it. I had purchased the B.C. Map books chip to load into the Garmin, yet as we saw, the map book was WRONG! How many people get thrown off by these sorts of errors?! If someone was not wise enough to carry extra fuel, looking for some of the phantom roads, you could be dead in the water at some point. The screen resolution on the Garmin was only as good as the map book, and, very hard to get a sense of the whole area, due to the physical size of the screen. Nothing like a proper 1:50,000 map..PERIOD! Batteries do not die on a map and compass either. At least we had both, and, a third being my fading memory of doing these trips many years ago.

As we approached the Mud Lake area, many hours after leaving the Yalakom, I realized that the logging road went higher above the Lake. Sure enough we came to a junction where the original road entered, cutting back to the lake. This is what I remembered, the road literally going right along the edge of the lake, which would become flooded in the spring, thus turning the road into a deep series of mud holes, testing the limits of traction and forward motion. We turned down, instantly becoming a single track again and within half a click we were at the Mud Lakes campsite. There was no one else there, the site was as clean as a whistle, and, miracle of miracles...NO BUGS! Go figure, at 7,000 feet they were eating us alive, yet at the lake, with marsh's around, virtually nothing. This was such a bonus as we could take our time setting up camp and cooking a nice dinner. Matt got shocked when he went down to the lake's edge to take some pictures and large beaver wacked his tail right beside him. Then, as we cooked dinner, two nice deer wandered right beside our camp, grazing on the green grass. After dinner we went for a walk, spotting the two deer standing in the middle of a pond. When they spotted us, they jumped about four feet in the air, bounding across the pond to the edge, where they froze on the spot, thinking that if they do not move, we will not see them.

After a good night's sleep, we took the time to cook a good breakfast. Our decision for the day was to proceed up to the meadow, till around 1:00 PM, as that would be our turnaround time, looking at about 7 hours to get home. We broke camp in wonderful sunshine and warmth, even washing the windshield for a nice view. In about fifteen minutes of driving we were at the end of the new logging road and back onto the single track again. Right at this point the trail starts to climb big time and very steep, making us get into four low again. Pictures do not do it justice, suffice to say it becomes a case of picking ones way side to side, staying out of the loose stuff, making sure you miss the jagged, oil pan eating rocks. The Tracker is not bad as it has some skid plates, but, the front transfer case is vulnerable, so we need to take great care. After maybe 20 minutes we dropped down to the next series of lakes, then, started an even steeper climb up, finally peaking at what appears to be a plunge down.

We get out to check this situation, so here I am, standing next to the Tracker, looking at this impossibly steep trail heading DOWN. The word vertical comes to mind, but of course it is not that, yet, it feels like you are looking straight down. I'm thinking how do vehicles do this? We go from our flat land lives to these crazy trails, seemingly defying the traction laws. We had been down this once before, in 1998, in a rented Geo Tracker, me letting Matt drive long before his license, he was 13 at the time. That trip is what really impressed me with the Tracker, real transfer case, good high/low range and gearing. Then, the engine was a four cylinder, ours is the 2.5 litre V-6, a really nice power plant. I walk carefully down, examining the width of the trail, the loose material, and...what will it be like coming back UP? The problem as I saw it was that the widest point, it was too wide for the Trackers width, putting one side or the other into the loose material, at the steepest point. Should we lose traction there, we would be DONE! You cannot get a run on these chutes, and backing up can be perilous to say the least. My memory came back at this time, as we also faced a big creek crossing, at Churn Creek, some kilometers ahead, and, we knew that the Yalakom was blocked for getting out that way. After a few minutes we made the decision to reverse and head out. Maybe next time, with a support vehicle and people, we could do it. I have no doubt that the Tracker can come up that hill, but, to be all by ourselves, it would not have been a good decision. It would have been a two day hike just to get back out of there, to the closest people.

From where we had stopped, still very steep, Matt was able to back up with my guidance, then, execute a four point turn. This is where the automatic transmission is nice, no trying to feed the clutch in and not spin either the tires or, slip the clutch badly. Soon we were back on the logging road, dropping back down to Carpenter Lake, where we stopped for lunch and Matt went in for swim. At this point we had a 6 hour journey back to home, deciding to go back down the Fraser Canyon thus missing Vancouver rush hour. In travelling the Lillooet to Lytton stretch it reminded me why I have scratched it off the 510 drive route, it is rough and the way the pavement breaks, it makes the I-5 look like a billiard ball table.

We ended up doing a total of 1,200 kilometers ( 758 miles ), going from sea level to 7,000 feet, traversing pure desert conditions, to high alpine ridges, seeing healthy wildlife populations, and very few people once off road. The Tracker was amazing in what it did, even giving us 19 MPG in four wheel drive mode, not bad. We will head back up here again, likely up the Yalakom, as I'm sure that slide will be cleared or leveled. The Poison Mountain plateau awaits again.

Any takers as to who would like to come..........?

Keith Law
August 18, 2014