2005 Treffen of the Haflinger 4wd Club of Great Britain
The Haflinger 4wd Club of Great Britain (
http://www.ccc.nottingham.ac.uk/~ppzcad/haf.html ) organised yesterday an off-road day at the Brick Kiln Farm, near Alton, Hampshire, UK and they invited us, the GWOA, to come along and share the day with them.
I am told that this was the first treffen organised by their club in the South so this was our unmissable opportunity to see more than 2 Haflingers in the flesh together in the same place.
Pinzgauer.UK (
http://www.pinzgauer.uk.com/Intro.htm ) was also invited so we also expected to see the odd Pinzgauer as well.
Here:
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse....;gridn=&lang=&db=freegaz is the map of the place. And in here, you will find the aerial picture:
http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.c...;gridn=&lang=&db=freegaz . The site is between Chawton Park wood and the A3, right after the tunnel that comes underneath the Watercress railway line (see the two oval tracks paralell to the motorway/railway line).
The site was fantastic, running alongside the railway line, which is not connected to the public network and only used for some fanatics to run their perfectly restored steam engines.
Within the site there is a track for races on grass and at the end of it a small forest, full of tracks which bear the wounds inflicted by many a Land-Rover.
The soil, as usual around here, very treacherous, a mix of clay with layers of chalk peppered with genuine lumps of flint, sharp as knives.
The attendance, very selective. There were a total of 10 Haflingers, 8 G-Wagens and a lonely Pinzgauer. It was incredible. A member of the Haflinger Club told me that some 1.200 Haflingers were imported into the UK, of which he reckons that some 120 might be inexistence and potentially in working condition. The Club has some 90 members but, to gather more than 10 Hafs is no mean feat, given that their top speeed on the road is between 52 and 64 Km/h (33 and 40 mph) depending on whether they are fitted with the 22 or 27 HP engine and the short- or long gearing. I mean, travelling in modern traffic the distances that you might find in a country like the UK at those speeds is out of the question so it's more a question of towing your Haf (or transporting it inside a Renault van as one of the members did).
The attending Pinzgauer is a 1989 model, fitted with the 6 cylinder, 2.4 litre Turbodiesel engine of VW origin. It is owned by Pinzgauer UK (
http://www.pinzgauer.uk.com/Intro.htm ) current holder of the manufacturing rights of the Pinzgauer on a global basis. I was told by the engineer who brought the truck that this unit in particular carries a lot of sentimental value for the company, because it was the first Pingauer imported by the company when they were still made in Austria. Despite being about the same lenght as a LWB G-Wagen, it has twelve seats. Also it looked to me that a bunch of parts of the car came from the G-Wagen parts bin.
In this link you will find the pictures I took:
http://foro.g-aventura.com/album_cat.php?cat_id=17 I hope you guys enjoy them.
Cheers
