Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hi Oelie I am not saying that the 4.5 cant do the high speed bit, but just saying that is not the way I drive, I am selling my Disco 3 which I have had for the last 7 year and I can say with confidence that it has never been over 140km/h this is just the way I drive. I think with regard to towing I agree with Cedric on a nice open road the Patrol will run away from the 4.2 BUT lets put some steep and long hills in the mix and I think the 4.2 may catch up! When I came back from KNP a few weeks ago I drove the Hazyview/Sabie route (with the off road trailer behind (over a tonne)) and on the steep sections I was between second and third constently revs in 2nd too high and revs in 3rd too low I could have done with a whole bunch more low down grunt!!!

I dont often go fast only now and again...lol
The challenge it not really a drag race between petrols and diesels more about diesel against diesel and petrols against petrols .
The diesels will do better on some and petrols better on others
Its a fun day.......period....for the guys that love their patrollies
Me and Marnus spoke about the load and had a chat to change it to pulling some sort of heavy slead like a frame with 1000 liter of water ....
We can do it over 50 meter or so
I think this makes more sense. .....
Seeing a lot of patrols together playing is wat it is about
Also will be nice to see everyone again

@ Ian-I know that is not what you where saying but I thought that I was the only non clever guys but now realize that I'm not alone

And just for the record, mine is not true speed

I am not saying we all need to go and strip out our packing systems. While mine is relatively easy to remove, I am just as lazy as the next guy.

But if the trailer/sled is heavy enough, a bit of extra weight might actually come in handy, to generate some traction. It's for this reason I recommended adding some weight on the rear seats (jerry cans full of water is what I had in mind).

I also spoke to MArnus earlier and recommended that we keep the drag events down to 800m. In that we we will probably limit the top speed to under 120 (except on the really fast cars).

As for diesels being undisputably better in rocky terrain than petrols, sorry, I dispute that. I may stall more often than the 4.2 Diesel crowd (and what does that actually matter anyway), but I can crawl all the way down to 200-300rpm, and have enough torque that I can prevent it from stalling even at very low revs. Yes, I can't just leave it to do it all itself, I have to drive it, but I have more control over my speed and can take it a bit slower on the really tough bits...

If you want somebody else's opinion on this, go see what percentage of the serious rock-crawling pipe cars that take part in the challenges have diesel engines...

Hi Peter,

You do have low down torque but not nearly as much as our diesels especially with turbo,s. In addition the high compression rate that we have also gives us the ability to crawl better than the petrols. Not sure but a 4.2 petrol makes around 320 NM at 3200 rpm, and my diesel turbo's makes around 320 on the wheels at 2500 rpm.

Only concern I have about going to such low revs is the oil pump performance.

Why 800 meters ? Lets limit it to 1/4 mile or 400 meters. This will give us a closer competition and more action. Beware of our diesels as we have the ability to feed a little more fuel which will improve our chances.


Real trucks don,t have spark plugs.

Hi there
Be it as it may ... I will be there, even if it is only to have a good giggle of this diesel vs petrol love/hate rivalry. Everything for it own purpose is what I say but personally I love my spark plugs.
Patrol's don't quit but let's see what happens to the owners/drivers??!
See you guys there.
It is going to be a blast!
Graham

Just checked my Dyno that I did last week on the 4,5 together with a mate on his company's dyno so there was no "dyno skullduggery" but they are all slightly different. Hit 300 nm at 1520 rpm and came below it again at 4070. Max was 332 @ 3628 rpm.

When we started it only hit 300 Nm @ 2990 and was below 300 Nm @ 3900 Nm and max was 315 Nm @ 3507 rpm.

I have the luxury of owning a few variants and can offer open minded opinion on ability.

When I drove my 4.8 back from Cape town(no number plates ) I kept it at 210 on the odo from Drie Susters to Kimberey. Rock solid and no issues.
I think the cops are still looking for me. The 4.8 engine seems to "come alive" from 4000 to 5500rpms.

Cedrick, It might be the state of tune on my 4.5 petrol , but very few people bothers me with pull away or top end. It will run at 160 all day long. And you know how well it crawls.
The 2 4.2 diesel pickups are non turbo and don't really count here. They use the same or more fuel than the 4.5 especially when towing equipment.

I used to do many long trips in my old Safari with the motor way into redline 6500rpm and the speedo off the bottom. On 33 muds. It would run like that for as long as I could stay awake. It had a branch , electronic ignition and a warm cam. The transfer gearbox oil used to boil out of the gearbox and I had to replace it often.
Used that same vehicle to tow (In Kruger) a broken Landcruiser rig(4 ton) a 4 wheel rig(2.5 ton) and two Jurgens site caravans (1 ton each) ALL AT ONCE.
Had to move equipment around over large distances offroad and only had trouble to stop for game. Snaking around herds of buffalo with a train pushing from the back EISH.

So who is bringing a souped up Safari?