Hey guys, Rob from Ultimate Diesel Tuning! Today I'm down at the Gold Coast store and we've got a
2014 Ranger PX1, and about 18 months ago we custom tuned this car down at the Dandenong
store in Melbourne. And I've got the owner, Ross, here today and he's actually going to
talk to us about what he's done in the last 18 months, which has been pretty cool and exciting.
ROB: "So Ross, we tuned your car nearly 18 months ago,
and you've embarked on a journey that everyone would love to be doing at the envy of you and
your family. Tell us, the last 18 months, where have you been in your lap around Australia?"
ROSS: "Well, we've done a full lap. We left home in
early last year, we've been right up to the tip of Cape York, all the way to Western Australia,
spent six months in Western Australia and there's some amazing places over there.
ROB: "Yeah"
ROSS: "It's just, uh it's just spectacular! Right across South Australia, back home,
we're now coming back up the East Coast."
ROB: "Yeah, so that's why you're on the Gold Coast, you're doing your second lap?"
ROSS: "Yeah, second lap now, so year two, lap two, and just genuinely loving it!"
ROB: "I can understand - some of the places you're going to would be just absolutely
amazing! But I mean, personally, everyone's got a favourite place you know you mentioned
Cape York - everyone dreams about going to Cape York. But tell us - six months in WA,
there's got to be a place over in WA that really had a soft spot in your heart?"
ROSS: "There is, there's probably - it's not super well known,
it's not a huge one, but it is quite well known for a lot of people that
do just travel. It's called Francois Peron National Park, it's just up from Monkey Mia."
ROB: "Yep"
ROSS: "We went up there and went camping,
and we actually snagged really good weather, to be honest at the time"
ROB: "Yep"
ROSS: "and it was just spectacular! Like you throw the drone up, you take a photo.
The aerial photography is sensational; the fishing is fantastic; the marine life is
next level, it was just..."
ROB: "Pretty remote?"
ROSS: "Very remote."
ROB: "So, what - would you go a couple days and you wouldn't see anyone?"
ROSS: "Ah look, we were at a main campsite there and there were a lot of people there,
but when you go out, you know, there are so many places that you can go and,
you know, there's not a lot around but there's still enough travelers out there
should you ever get in trouble, you know. There's always help there so it's not that
bad. But it is remote - you've got to go well prepared, you've got to carry
everything with you and mate, take everything with you when you go, leave nothing behind."
ROB: "Yeah. So Ross, you know, I've been absolutely drooling over your pictures
through your Instagram account, what's the Instagram account so
you can tell everyone and Dave will pop it down the bottom for you?"
ROSS: "Ours is Road Journey Around The Country. So, um"
ROB: "So, Road Journey Around The Country?"
ROSS: "Which is RJC, which is R for Ross "Road"
and "Journey" for Jacinta (my wife) and "Country" for "Codi", our daughter. So yeah,
that's how we put it together - Road Journey Around The Country."
ROB: "Unreal, so we'll put some of those pictures up so people can see exactly what you've been
doing and check it all out. But the exciting part is, tell us how you got to the point of
packing up your family and doing this trip and preparing for it with your equipment?"
ROSS: "Well, you know, it's a long story. Probably the best way,
in a nutshell, we started having caravan holidays for like two weeks here; a month there. We started
not long after buying the Ranger in 2014 - we bought our first caravan, which was a Jayco"
ROB: "Yep"
ROSS: "and we instantly loved it! We just loved the lifestyle and,
you know, the freedom to go and move into what we wanted to do. We then went and brought a New
Age caravan because we liked it so much, we stepped up a little bit and then..."
ROB: "That's not the van you've got now?"
ROSS: "no, we've actually gone to a bigger van now, hence why we got the tuning work done.
We had that for a little while and then we decided to basically plan on doing a lap around Australia.
Long story short, last 10 years I've been a General Sales Manager at a Ford dealership"
ROB: "Yep"
ROSS: "and I've missed out on basically most of my daughter's childhood.
And my wife and I, (were) just sort of sitting on the couch one night and said 'Well let's
make it a thing, let's go and do it!'"
ROB: "Yep"
ROSS: "And from there we pretty much planned. We spent two years in planning basically,
where we lived off of my wage, put all of Jacinda's in the savings"
ROB: "Yep"
ROSS: "and left with a lot of annual leave so that we could go and do the trip."
ROB: "Yep"
ROSS: "We got around and we decided when we're sitting at,
at Esperance I think, yeah at Esperance, at Lucky Beach in Esperance"
ROB: "Yep"
ROSS: "and we decided 'let's go home and sell up.'"
ROB: "Wow!"
ROSS: "So we went home, shot straight across from Western Australia back to Victoria, put the house
on the market - 10 weeks later it had settled and we were back on the road, here we are!"
ROB: "Yeah wow! What an experience. So, tell us about your new van.
Because you're right on, when you've got the GCM and GVM upgrades in the Ranger"
ROSS: "Yep"
ROB: "So you're close to the seven-tonne mark when it's fully loaded?"
ROSS: "Yep"
ROB: "And even you said you're out there with some timber in the back;
you've got fuel on board as well."
ROSS: "Yep"
ROB: "So that's really important, you've obviously taken care of
that (the GVM/GCM upgrades). The van - what's your new van, your size again?"
ROSS: "So, it's a big off-road 22-foot Lotus."
ROB: "Yeah, nice!"
ROSS: "So it's the best part of three and a half tonnes,
so which is why we've done the GCM upgrade, so that we're compliant, we're legal.
I've done brake upgrades, I've done an awful lot of stuff - cooling system upgrades;
transmission - just to make sure that everything's bulletproof reliable in remote areas."
ROB: "Yeah, and look I think that's a big point. You know,
a lot of people come in here and go 'I need to go and buy a brand new LandCruiser,
or I need to do this', but you've had this car for the last eight years."
ROSS: "Yep"
ROB: "You've traveled with it, you've maintained it well,
but you've also put the right upgrades (in it) to support what you're doing with towing,"
ROSS: "Yep"
ROB: "which is really important. Not just GCM and GVM upgrades, but also with the transmission"
ROSS: "Yep"
ROB: "your brakes, which is a good one - you know a lot of people don't do that. You then
come to the point where you're towing the brand new Lotus van, and you go 'I
want a bit more power.' Is that how you ended up coming to us?"
ROSS: "Yeah it was. So when I first picked up the Lotus caravan,
it wasn't so much bigger but it was definitely heavier"
ROB: "Yeah"
ROSS: "and I felt that straight away. As soon as I left the dealership for the first time,
we were pulling out of Melbourne and I sort of looked at the wife and I said 'Oh,
I think I may have made a boo-boo here, this is actually a bit heavier than I thought.'
ROB: "Yeah"
ROSS: "and, so then you know I was watching some YouTube vids and a video of yourself popped up"
ROB: "Yeah"
ROSS: "and I started doing my homework there and being from a Ford dealership, you know,
I've seen some failures where some tuners have used chips and all that sort of stuff and"
ROB: "Yeah"
ROSS: "um, that wasn't my go-to, I really liked what you guys did"
ROB: "Yep"
ROSS: "and so I invested my money with you guys, and, mate, I couldn't be happier!"
ROB: "Yeah right!"
ROSS: "Instantly, as soon as I bolted the van on the back, mate I was happy!"
ROB: "That's great to hear Ross! I mean,
obviously, what have you done, you said 40,000 k since we tuned it?"
ROSS: "Yep"
ROB: "Yeah"
ROSS: "Yeah, and pretty much at maximum capacity, that's seven tonnes!"
ROB: "Yeah, wow! So I mean, on average, we tune a lot of Rangers and that's,
you know, really important. But I think Ross,
you're a great example of a customer who's using this purpose-built vehicle
to support what you're doing, and it's become a lifestyle for you and your family"
ROSS: "Yep!"
ROB: "traveling around - which is outstanding. Tell me about, you know, you're talking about
a seven-tonne total combined mass (that) this vehicle can tow with the lovely van behind it.
How's it been in some of those hot conditions and some of those situations, you know,
in Central Australia where you're seeing 35 plus degrees temperatures - how's it been towing? And,
obviously, you've noticed it before, because you didn't have the tune,
and now since you've tuned it, what's different so, you know, some of the people that are
thinking about getting their car tuned, they can relate to it because they're towing as well?"
ROSS: "Yeah so probably the most thing. I built the car specifically knowing
that we were going to be in a lot of hot weather. We were always chasing the heat."
ROB: "Yep"
ROSS: "It was a summer holiday for a year basically"
ROB: "Yeah, yeah!"
ROSS: "and when you're pulling that kind of weight and the size of van that we are,"
ROB: "Yep"
ROSS: "heat is, you know, it's massive."
ROB: "Yes"
ROSS: "It runs quite well, I haven't had to worry about it, I've had no stress.
You put your foot down and it pulls away, so after,
you know, getting that tune done, it was just a totally different car - transformed it!"
ROB: "Well I think, on average we see around 30 percent gains in torque. Your car did a
little bit more, but I can understand what you're saying because it's really
pleasing to hear someone who's literally towing a van every day with their car, and
the experience it's (the tune) given you to make it so much easier to tow is great. And,
you know, to the point you don't need to go and buy a brand new car and just kit it out,
because you've been able to do this with a car that you bought eight years ago"
ROSS: "Yep"
ROB: "and obviously, you've had mechanical sympathy and looked after (it in) that time and
look where you are now - you're on your second trip around."
ROSS: "Yeah, second trip around, and
I think, other than basic servicing the only things I've replaced are tyres and wiper blades."
ROB: "Yeah wow!"
ROSS: "That's it!"
ROB: "That's great, great experience in traveling with this car."
ROSS: "Yeah!"
ROB: "Well Ross, thanks for dropping into the Gold Coast store on your
second trip around the country, which is the envy of me while we're working,
but have a safe trip with your family and enjoy it. Keep putting those pictures up as well and
we love checking them out. I know our marketing team send them through to me so I can see them!
Guys if you've got any comments to ask Ross, he has certainly had experience over the last 18
months and as you've seen over the last eight years traveling - put some comments below,
he'll jump on the YouTube account and comment as well. But also for you guys if you want to
see more of these style of videos, drop this in the comments as well and let us know because we
love to create content for you that you enjoy watching! Also, make sure you subscribe to the
Ultimate Diesel Tuning YouTube channel. And, if you've got any questions about custom dyno tuning
your common rail diesel, speak to one of our diesel experts or drop into one of
our performance centres in Brisbane, Gold Coast and in Melbourne. Have a great day!