I have recently returned from a 14000 km trip into central Australia. This comprised of crossing the Simpson Desert W to E, exploring Lake Eyre, going north into Queensland and finding an amazing pelican rookery, further north to Katherine, Kakadu Nat Pk, Darwin then across the top to WA, the Gibb River Rd and then south back to home at Perth. I can report that the Syncro didn’t miss a beat and proved to be so capable in some amazing terrain. The highlight, from a driver’s point of view, was the Simpson Desert crossing. This started at Oodnadatta where we filled up with fuel – the recommended quantity is 150L for the 600km crossing – my syncro has a 2nd tank which gives me a total of 160L. I actually used about 130L on reaching Birdsville as most of the crossing was in 1st and 2nd gear. The actual sandy desert starts at Dalhousie Springs where we deflated tyres down to about 20psi which needed to go down to 17psi as the sand, we discovered at the first few dunes, was very dry and powdery. My syncro has both diff locks but I used the rear diff lock only on most sand dunes as the track often skirted the slopes at an angle at the tops and this prevented spin on the inner higher radius wheel. At Big Red I deflated to 10 psi and managed to climb it at the first attempt. My friends in a Toyota HiLux couldn’t make it and had to take the Little Red track to get through! Success often can be attributed to having correct deflation pressures, sufficient momentum and choice of track. The Simpson is really “Syncro country” – red sand wilderness, bright blue skies and vivid stars set against dark ink nights. Five days of challenging adventure and comradeship around campfires in the desert. If you ever have the opportunity to do this trip, do take it. Perhaps a group Syncro trip in the making. The following YouTube clips are samples of the Simpson crossing. If you are interested in other photos of the trip I can post them on our Yahoo site. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_e7VyrDgYE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rES73E8OaQo
Yurik