NB. This story is NOT
a reflection on Kenworth trucks, which I happen to believe are among the
best trucks on our roads, but rather a reflection of unauthorised modifications. Also
it's a tip for these young blokes with these stupidly long gearstick
extensions, today. Quite aside from the fact it looks stupid and not cool
(like you think it does), it also damages the selector gates - just a free
tip for you
This is another one of those stories
where you either had to be there, or else you need the scene set. Those
who KNOW Silvia's Gap, press START.
Silvia's gap is a PLACE and not
a part of an anatomy.... lets get this straight from the start! I may be
crude, rude and socially undesirable, but I do draw the line on a "family"
page.
Down south of Gundagai but a little
north of the Wagga Hill turnoff on the Hume Highway (Hwy31) was where Silvia's
was! It was a narrow, steep bit of road that dropped through huge rock
wall cuttings, through a very steep gully and up the other side with
an off cambered chicane at the bottom! Because the gully was so steep,
everyone used to get into it to minimise the gear changes going up the
other side! You better be careful when you did, though, as that damned
lazy "s" bend at the bottom would throw you about as it had a couple of
"hoop de do's" in the middle of it. I can say that this is one bit of road
that MANY are thankful was by-passed in later years! It WAS quite dangerous.
One
of the driver's of a company who shall remain UN-NAMED (for legal reasons)
had a cab over Kenworth. Now this company had the fastest trucks on the
road, way back before all this regulation came about. Mick's trucks ALL
had 84 M.P.H. or FASTER diffs in them, and at the time, had the biggest
motors! Mostly 350 Cummins's and a couple of GM's... 892's, I think! Hard
to remember. Anyway, this bloke had put this bloody great long extension
on his gearstick! He virtually had to reach UP to grab the handle! Why
in hell he would want to do that I will never know!
Anyway, we will call him "Fred",
was driving north through the cutting of Silvia's. Like all of us, he was
kinda going for maximum velocity, so as to reduce gear shifts. He had a
load of "rocket" on, so was relatively light, anyway.
Down through the cutting he roared.
60, 70, maybe even 80 MILES per hour on the clock. Swoosh. Into the chicane
he went. Even light loaded, that damned "hoop de do" was gonna make your
cab lean at that speed..... and it did! In the right hander, the cab leaned
LEFT and the great shaft of a gearstick leaned RIGHT. (Remember we are
RIGHT hand drive in Oz).
Well, the gearstick went up THROUGH
the spoke in the steering wheel with it on about 20 degrees right rudder
and about 70 MPH THROUGH a very narrow cutting! One MIGHT say that shit's
were trumps! All we heard on the CB was "Oh no! Shit no!" as he tried to
make a new path straight UP the side of the wall. Went pretty high, too,
before it came down again. Puts a whole NEW meaning on "rocket freight",
doesn't it?
Fortunately, the driver was okay!
Not too sure about the KW, though!
Moral of the story? If you have
a big stick, don't go too fast through Silvia's and for damned sure keep
it away from where it shouldn't be!
Copyright © Ian (Indy)
Rosser
Po Box 140
Griffith NSW 2680
Australia
8th August 1998
(Updated 20th August 2023)