ABOUT US
ON THE DIRT was created as a YouTube channel back in the first year that YouTube came into being, 2007. In those days, it was the personal YouTube account of John McCredie with a few little videos of some 4WD trips he had done with family and friends. John had always had a passion for gravel rallying and even won the Australian Rally Championship for pocket rockets in the front wheel drive 0-1300cc category. From there, this passion extended to four-wheel-driving and in 2009 John and his two sons Nathan and Jacob filmed their first 4WD Winch Comp.
The YouTube Channel soon started to grow in both popularity and size (number of videos) and was changed from the name OHM26 to ON THE DIRT. With more videos being produced and more 4wd and rally content being uploaded, the channel now has over 14,000 subscribers and almost 5 million views.
Shannon’s Rally Heartland – Live Blog
🕒 Update at 17:24 - 26.04.26 Car 23 absolutely living up to the number plate here 😅💨 A consistent run across the Shannon’s Rally Heartland has paid off for Jamie Lawson and Darryl Obrien, taking third place in the classics and second in ECCRS 2WD. After all the dust, rocks and hard kilometres north of Burra, that is a tidy result and a well-earned spot at the pointy end. Podium presentation is about to happen in town, so it’s [...]
4WD Winch Challenge Heats up in Cold Conditions
With overnight temperatures dropping into the negatives, about the only thing hot at the recent round of the Comeup Xtreme Winch Challenge (XWC) series was the winching action! 12 teams lined up on a bitterly cold Friday night at the Springvale property in the small country town of Wallabadah, just south of Tamworth for Round 2 of the popular series. With three stages set to challenge teams in the dark, it would be the Toyota [...]
Hill’s Unique Subaru H6 Set for Rally of Bathurst Debut
One of the most intriguing cars set to debut at the upcoming Rally of Bathurst will be the unique Subaru H6-powered rally car of Woolgoolga driver Sam Hill, who will team up with his daughter Mikayla Cooling for the event. Originally planned to run alongside Australian rally champion Molly Taylor, Hill will instead share the car with Mikayla, creating a special father–daughter pairing for the car’s first competitive appearance. The Rally of Bathurst will mark the [...]
80 Series Landcruiser – stuck in a tree!
With Round 2 of the COMEUP Xtreme Winch Challenge series coming up on the 24th of June, we thought we'd take you back to round 1 for a quick re-cap. In this video, Luke McNicol gets stuck into the Saturday stages. Unfortunately he gets a bit too "stuck" and ledges himself onto a tree. The only way to escape the clutches of the undergrowth was to enlist the help of event organiser David Metcalfe and [...]
Arnhem Land – NT
By John McCredie In the North of Australia is a land area called Arnhem Land. It is an Aboriginal reserve that covers almost 100,000 square kilometres and has some of the most remote communities in Australia. You could say that the Aboriginal people own this land and whilst that is essentially true, the idea of ownership has quite a different meaning in their culture. Recently I was privileged enough to be able [...]
2014 Nissan Xtrail – Review
I recently had the opportunity to hire a car for a trip around Queensland so I asked for a Midsize SUV. I was given a Nissan Xtrail and I was quite impressed with it so I thought I’d provide a quick review of the car for those who might be looking to get one. First off, I didn’t really take a lot of notice of the version I was given, but I’m pretty sure it was the [...]
Redhead and Winwood-Smith Win Coffs Coast Rally Finale as NSW Titles Decided
The 2025 Quality Accounting Coffs Coast Rally delivered a thrilling finale to the Shamrock Haulage NSW Rally Championship, with Josh Redhead and Ray Winwood-Smith taking a hard-fought outright victory after a day of challenges, comeback drives, and championship drama on the Coffs Coast. The Redhead Motorsport crew’s weekend didn’t start smoothly. In Heat 1, their Hyundai i20 suffered engine issues that forced the team to turn off the anti-lag system, robbing the car of valuable turbo [...]
2026 Ada River Rally – Live Blog
🕒 Update at 22:14 - 22.08.26 ECCRS done and dusted at Ada River Rally, and the gravel delivered the goods 👊 Jake Bramble and Phillip Bonser took the ECCRS 4WD win in their Nissan with a total time of 1:56:15.0 🏆 Luke Sytema and Renee Sytema claimed the ECCRS 2WD win in their Ford Escort, stopping the clocks at 2:00:51.1 🚗💨 Also in the mix on the provisional classification were Dennis Stanford and Luke Stanford in second 4WD, plus [...]
All in the Family – Brads 1978 Range Rover
This article is the first of our user submitted stories. If you want to be featured, just send us an email or contact us via our Facebook page. Brad Clayton’s 1978 Range Rover is the two door variety and has been affectionately named ‘sofie’ ever since it was registered. The name doesn’t have any real significance other than a reference to the number plate. It’s been a daily drive since it was registered and has been in the family [...]
