The Trophee Cevenol 1999!
Gastric Wombats were there, and we caught some of the action!

Late May in the Cevenne mountains in southern France saw some 70 or so vehicles gather for the 11th annual Trophee Cevenol.
Organised by the Grand Randaneurs de Motrieses of France, this three day event pushes even the most well prepared vehicle to its limits.
My poor old series III didn't know what hit it! Richard faired a little better in his V8 NAS Defender 90 with the extra power, but both of us were surprised at how much we could do without any of the tricky gadgets employed by the professionals. We had no diff locks, no wheel specific braking systems, no raised or stiffened suspension, other than a steering guard, we had no under-body protection or roll cages, we used standard tyres and had no snorkels or winches either...

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All Photographs: Mari Numada
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Day one saw us line up for scrutineering, and plastering. With stickers that is! Once that was all done, we had to do a small map reading exercise to ensure we could navigate with a roadbook, and then have a bash at the prolog course to prove we could drive. The prolog was a short but interesting section all taped off with lots of axle-twisters and off camber climbs in loose dirt with trees in awkward positions. The Jeeps faired well, but my poor series III made a real meal out of some of the tight corners due to the distinct lack of steering lock! I also suffered a little with lack of power, something Richard had lots of in the 3.9 litre V8. back to top
We all made it through, and Richard and I learned some valuable lessons about letting air out of tyres! Some of these guys had their tyre pressures down to 500g or 15psi. Unbelievable! But the extra traction gained was amazing, seemingly difficult hill climbs became so much easier with only a bit of air left in... back to top
The following day saw us split into three groups and each group head off to one of three different courses, which we all rotated through over the three days. That's why you'll only see a few different vehicles shown here, as they were in our group, and the only ones we really saw much of. The other problem was that our photographer was also the Naviguesser and so on really demanding sections, she was busy naviguessing and not photographing. So these shots don't really do justice to the true difficulty level of the event. back to top
The French guy in the blue Range Rover above was a cool character. He had a damn good try at just about everything, but definitely knew how to drive. We didn't encounter very much mud on the trip as most of the event was across rivers, or heading up well dried dusty dirt tracks. The few spots of mud we did encounter weren't too much bother, except for one place we had to dig Richard out! I suspect that without Dick's (Richard's naviguesser) advice, Richard might still be there! back to top
Richard comes powering over the top in the bright yellow Defender from hell! A couple of more shots here show Rich attempting top do a spot of white water rafting in the Landie! The red Defender (L2 MUD) was a very cool vehicle, equipped with every gadget known to man. They still got stuck of course, but not as often as we did, or for as long! The poor guys in the Lada Niva on the far right of these shots had a water line along the middle of all their windows where they spent an extended period of time stuck in a river. They never did quite get the car working properly again... back to top
And here we have the majestic Team ANZAC Series III charging through the water! Not as deep as we went on later crossings, but the naviguesser still freaked out at the water pouring in through my door seals and out her side! Some great axle twisting action here as we struggle up this hill. The photo doesn't do this justice, as the hill itself was very steep, and these little ruts put the vehicle close to 45 degrees! You get a better feel for that in the photo below... back to top
Without the extra suspension lift a lot (most) of the other competitors had, we bottomed out and did a fearful amount of damage to the gearbox chassis cross member getting over this on, but we did get over it. Phew! Lunch was a boxed affair on two of the days, and typical French style, the package came with a personal bottle of red wine, some mineral water and a small baguette, yum! The tyre pressures I was talking about earlier proved to be this guys undoing, he had so little air in the tyre that it popped off the rim. Still, he had a huge tank of compressed air in the back and promptly re-inflated the tyre back on again! back to top
The looser pictured above drove his Pajero up this dirt track, all wheels spinning (so no traction) and when not making headway, stopped and rolled back into this tree with tremendous force. He did this seven times (we counted) in a row, and on the last go, the spare wheel buckled the rear panel and shattered the back window. He dug so many deep holes in the track it was now impossible for me to get up without a winch assist due mainly to the prolonged nature of the climb. These old Jeeps were just amazing! This particular one was a 1952 vintage, and in all those years had only required a new fuel pump! There wasn't anywhere that the thing couldn't go either, steep hills, and very sharp turns, the old Willies Jeep just ate up the course! The next photo shows a shot of the very simple engine bay, no fuel injection here! The last shot shows a pic of me and the Naviguesser on the way home (scenic route) at the French - Italian border.
The Trip Home!
Having dealt with the Trophee Cevenol, we went the long way home via Italy and back into France through the French Alps, very spectacular. With Richard and I driving everywhere in convoy, we got a lot of odd looks from passer-by, as we drove everywhere with our stickers and event registration plate still attached! All in all, a lot of fun, but I've since had to replace the ball joints and both track rods, one of which was bent, my shock absorbers don't anymore and I think the springs need a holiday in the Caribbean. Still, if you've nothing better to do with three days in late May, you might like to have a bash at the Trophee Cevenol yourself! back to top

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