Close to 70 vehicles turned out on Saturday 19 September for Powerlines V, an open-invite run through the Mundaring Powerlines.

Ricey from Dicey Ricey Offroad hosted it, with Raz from Osborne Park 4WD and Zak from Ember Adventure Gear along as co-hosts. The turnout was a proper mixed bag: people doing their first day of four-wheel driving in near-stock vehicles, people who have been wheeling the Powerlines for years in heavily modified rigs, and plenty in between. Nobody seemed too bothered about which end of that they sat at, which is more or less the point of the day.

The run

The convoy met at the Flynn Road Powerlines entrance and worked its way out through the public tracks around The Lakes and Chidlow, heading toward Great Southern Highway. All the major obstacles got a go. There was a lot of spotting, a lot of radio chatter, and a fair bit of waiting at the top of hills to make sure the back of the convoy caught up.

A good chunk of the afternoon was drivers who have done a climb dozens of times standing at the bottom of it, talking someone through it for the first time. Stock wagons and built trucks went up the same lines.

Roughly $5,000 in gear went back out to the crew

Halfway through the run the crew pulled up, dropped the tailgate and started handing out close to $5,000 worth of prizes donated by businesses that back the 4WD scene over here. There was no competition attached to it. Number plates went into a wheel spinner and the winners came out at random. Five Carbon Offroad recovery kits were in the pile, along with gear from a handful of other brands.

A Jimny owner had spent the night before the run Googling UHF radios, then won an Oricom UHF and handheld bundle. A 79 Series owner who had not been able to settle on an awning drew a 2.5 metre Deltawing. A 105 Series owner won the $100 fuel voucher and told the crew to spin again, on the grounds that he was doing alright and someone else could use it more.

One fella in a heavily modified Patrol had left his tyre deflator sitting in another vehicle before the trip. He won a Carbon Offroad recovery kit with a digital deflator in it and made it fairly clear that one was not leaving the Nissan again.

The younger crew were the best of it, though. A lot of them had just come along for a day of driving and went home with gear they were not expecting.

Coffee and a look over the rigs beforehand

Before any of that, Auto One Midland put on a Coffee & Shine from 8am until 10.30am. People rolled in early to have a look over each other's vehicles and a coffee before the drive, and three $100 vouchers went out on the day. There was also 40% off selected Nulon and Meguiar's products through the Dicey Ricey Offroad event.

The headline prize was a Nulon "Chill Ya Bastard" mini bar fridge, which gave everyone a fair idea of how the rest of the day was going to go.

From Midland the convoy headed for the Powerlines, running from midday through to about 5pm, with optional camping afterwards at Northam RV Park for anyone keen to keep the weekend going.

Why we got involved

Powerlines V is about getting more people out four-wheel driving. Newer drivers mixed in with experienced ones, stock vehicles on the same tracks as built ones, and enough people standing around that having a crack at something unfamiliar is not much of a gamble. Put a decent prize pool on top of it and you have yourself a pretty good Saturday.

We were glad to be in on it, and glad to get five recovery kits into vehicles that will actually use them.

Thanks to Ricey, Raz and Zak, to the other businesses that put gear up, and to everyone who came out.

Footage from the day is below.

There is plenty more where that came from on the Dicey Ricey YouTube channel, and @diceyriceyoffroad on Instagram is the spot to watch if you want in on the next one.