| Author | Message | ||
     Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Grand Master Username: soviet Post Number: 1270 Registered: 2-2013 |
My first thought is a Spirit/Spur Grille as the fall guy with strips of polished stainless either side. Rough dimentions are: Camargue 45.6 CM High (measured in the middle) 68.5 CM Wide Spirit/Spur 42 CM High 64.5 Wide Now provided (its unlikely) the curved profile where the radiator grills fit to the body are the same, the grills are such that a Spirit MAY fit a Camargue. I will let you know sooner than later as I have the grill out of the Camargue and for reasons that escape me the bottom passenger side grill on the Spirit is loose. Has anybody noticed just how quickly the grills disappear out of cars on the Flying Spares site? As there are no kangaroos outside of zoos lurking the highways and cobbled stoned lanes of the UK where exactly are these grills disappearing to? Of course the smashing of a Spirit grill is not inexpensive but the smashing of a Camargue grill is a world of pain. Alternatively, I could fabricate something hideous as suggested. Err no Russia machineguns or rockets mounted forward are totally ineffective against the Aussie Roo who can and often does seemingly appear from nowhere (like a taxman) but come in at insane sideways angles very fast. The ones in front can be avoided. The sideways attack is almost unavoidable and indeed I have had these things run into the side of the Pano often. Apart from that having such artillery as an accessory to your Rolls Royce in Australia would gather great rollicking mirth and scorn from the press, a smile but prison sentence from the Magistrate and the enviromentalists would pursue you indefinitely until you were struck from the book of life itself. Camargue is pronounced "Kamaarrgg" in French as far as I know but perhaps Brian can advise in a not so deep southern accent. I used a K instead of a C because C in English can sound both K and S and in Russian C is always S. And there you have it. Question for those of you who have been to France, if I say I drive a Camargue is that worth a free drink, dance or punch in the face? | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 2049 Registered: 4-2016 |
The big Roos can certainly make a mess of a big truck, but even the small fellas shown here can devastate a car.     | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Grand Master Username: soviet Post Number: 1272 Registered: 2-2013 |
Aww what a shot - straight through the windscreen. Ha ha. Wouldn't that break your neck! Plenty of free meat in the backseat though. Go the roos the mongrel things! | ||
| John Kilkenny Grand Master Username: john_kilkenny Post Number: 304 Registered: 6-2005 |
Recently seen at the Mt Coolon Classic Car Meet, fitted with a Mk 2 Roo Catcher. Most effective for small or supine animals.  | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 2051 Registered: 4-2016 |
Now THAT combines function with sheer elegance and class John. Vlad must be keeping his engineering skills secret from us. Naughty boy Vlad! | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 2052 Registered: 4-2016 |
While on the dark web (which Vlad gave me the password to. Boy o boy, you should see the stuff on there!!!!!) I found pics of Vlads country lair I think Vlad has been hiding this development mule. Looks like he has been Accessing all of our engineering knowledge through private messages and the like to come up with this anti Kangaroo engineering marvel.   This appears to be the test mule going through rigorous testing in Vlads neighbours back yard at Mt Coolon.  That is clearly Vlad driving, but I have a feeling that someone else has made a “secret” trip from the UAE to add his engineering expertise to the project. In fact If you enhance the image the rear facing roo shooter seems to have some sort of jacket on with lights?? | ||
| Paul Yorke Grand Master Username: paul_yorke Post Number: 2106 Registered: 6-2006 |
How about a more active grill and solution? Instead of a wooden or poor fitting grill maybe looking toward one of these would be helpful. I would suggest a PPG pack could be fitted in place of the grill. You'd need to get a pull prop instead of a push prop. Even better some kind of home made prop with a mincing or shredding effect would be even better. This is assuming you do Not have a big risk of running into pedestrians or cyclists. Although I guess the former would not be too much of an issue due to a lack of evidence that it was you. Cyclist however, can be a funny bunch and the metal bike may prevent proper operation of the said device. Once again they are designed to go in the boot when not in use. I see lots on eBay here in the UK. Not sure about over there. I'll try and find a link. Drive safe. Cheers. Paul. | ||
| Christian S. Hansen Grand Master Username: enquiring_mind Post Number: 1010 Registered: 4-2015 |
Vladimir... Realistically speaking, I would submit that avoiding a collision is preferable to mitigating impact damages. Based on the previous photographic evidence, in a worst case scenario you could possibly end up as an owner of one of the last known surviving detached Camargue grills and an irretrievably damaged Camargue. It would be telling if the animal/automobile collision data included speeds at which the vehicle was traveling at time of impact. It may well reveal that below a certain speed the animals are able to avoid collision whereas above a certain speed they are unable to realize the "closing speed of the vehicle" and hence "think" that they can get across the road in time whereas in the end, they are unsuccessful due to the intersecting trajectories and speeds of the "projectiles". . | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 3076 Registered: 4-2003 |
Christian, As a condition of being allowed to drive a vehicle at the age of 12 in the far-west of NSW, my first lesson was not how to drive but a visit to the local rubbish dump with a local property owner who had offered to teach me to drive to see the remains of vehicles that had hit kangaroos to reinforce the dangers faced on local roads. The next lesson was some hard and fast advice - "If you see a roo on the side of the road, always look for the second roo [they always graze in pairs] as this is usually the one you hit whilst you studiously watch the first one in case it moves into the impact zone". 58 years later with several million kilometres of country driving, I have only had one roo impact in the early 1970's in pouring rain at night on the Sydney/Newcastle freeway at Berowra when I came around a corner at 120km/hr and a wallaby [small kangaroo] was bounding towards me right in the centre of the lane. It was obviously blinded by both the rain and the car headlights. Swerving to avoid the wallaby was out of the question as a skid into the adjacent rock wall of the road cutting was inevitable so I lined up for a dead centre impact. There was a massive thump, the front end lifted up despite the weight of the 351CID Cleveland V8 and fortunately the car stayed straight and the carcase was minced by the front cross member and rear axle. Fortunately, there were no noises indicating serious mechanical damage, the oil pressure and coolant temperature didn't vary and the steering and brakes seemed intact so I continued at a much slower speed to an off ramp where I could check for damage. All I could find was a dent on the underside of the front bumper bar and assorted body parts embedded on the car underside. I drove on to Newcastle and when I checked the car in daylight the next morning, the only additional damage evident was a big dent in the front of the sump which fortunately hadn't come into contact with the front conrod big end. New bumper bar and sump and no underside cleaning necessary thanks to the wet conditions washing the detritus off the underside during the remainder of the journey. I bought a lottery ticket thinking my luck would continue and the win would pay off my car loan but Lady Luck only smiled once for me. The moral of my story is be aware, very aware when driving in country Australia especially at dusk and always look for the second roo when you see the first as I have done many times since to avoid a repetition.. | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Grand Master Username: soviet Post Number: 1276 Registered: 2-2013 |
So there we it: !. A slow speed through roo country 2. A detachable grill with suitable replacement 3. Spot the second mongrel jumping rat waiting to pounce. Thank you jetsetters for the advice and of course the mirth. Yes a Camargue with a 1800s circa locomotive front - eh no thanks but nicely photoshopped and I have seen that beautiful silver Camargue in another photo without the hideous locomotive front! | ||
| Harry Heuchan Frequent User Username: harry_heuchan Post Number: 93 Registered: 4-2010 |
Well, an interesting subject. With more than 50 trips over and back across Australia in mainly Peugeot's and many times in the Silver Shadow II, I thought I would add my two pennies worth.  Firstly, I aim to drive only in daylight from an hour after sunrise to about an hour before sunset. A good navigator is essential to keep watch in the passenger seat so four eyes are in effect looking for big grass hoppers. (In another life I worked out onthe Nullarbor for 10 years on the East-West Micro-wave system. I was present when the bitumen road across Australia was finally completed and filmed the opening of the road at Eucla. The following day I witnessed two girls in a car who hit a wombat and were tragically killed. Colliding with a wombat is like hitting a bag of cement which usually wipes out the steering and front suspension. Wombats are nocturnal and rather slow moving creatures to be avoided at all costs) I have the rule that if any person sleeping must be in the back seat not the front passenger seat.  I have fitted an electronic shoo-roo which emits a high pitched noise that humans can’t hear but Kangaroos can. It is said to frighten them off and I believe it does. (In the photo above it is the item between the fog light and number plate. It has the front cover on which is removed when in use) Note as well the air horns (in red) five of which blast out if the need be. Daytime running lights too are fitted but I only use them in the city. Everywhere in the country I drive with headlights always on regardless.  I have driven many times in ‘roo country at night usually when I had no alternative. This requires two extra disciplines I believe. Firstly, I drive MUCH slower in roo country at night. Say, 40 KPH slower than the speed limit. AS well an excellent set of Headlights are essential. (This picture above is taken in daylight no less.. Yes, four excellent HID lamps and they correctly dip so not to blind oncoming cars.) Finally, there is the coffee to keep awake. Now that IS another story… | ||
| ross kowalski Grand Master Username: cdfpw Post Number: 883 Registered: 11-2015 |
A technique that works quite well for me is limiting my driving to the northern hemisphere. Your chances of hitting giant long tailed jumping weasels here is about 1/100th of that of the South Eastern hemisphere. As for deer, well... yeah you're going to hit some of those of course, but what do you expect? | ||
| Harry Heuchan Frequent User Username: harry_heuchan Post Number: 94 Registered: 4-2010 |
Well the truth is stranger than fiction Ross. Down here in the South Eastern Hemisphere I often have to drive in the Alpine area of Victoria as my son has a hotel there and I regularly have been asked to drive at night where feral deer are a major problem. Here is a link that describes the issue. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-21/harrietville-project-looks-at-how-to-deal-with-deer/8732414 Many times I have had to drive at night from Harrietville to Bright and I can assure you the deer are just as big a menace as the kangaroos. | ||
| ross kowalski Grand Master Username: cdfpw Post Number: 886 Registered: 11-2015 |
Harry, in Massachusetts USA we also have flocks of turkeys, and like the sacred cows of india everyone carefully drives around them, often stopping traffic.  We have a couple of birds who live at a major intersection in my town, that makes for some exciting turns! |
