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.
Silverado Strikes Gold – Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71
By Jon Thomson There is probably a reason why our cousins in the US call vehicles with a tray behind the cabin, trucks and not utes as we do. That is probably because, unlike our utes, their pickups are mighty big and are trucks in reality. While climbing aboard Chevy’s Silverado 1500 for the first time can be a little daunting for Aussies used to a dual cab one tonner or a Holden or Falcon ute, [...]
Middle of the Road – Hyundai Tucson Active 2.0 litre Auto
By Jon Thomson At some point in our evolutionary history our DNA was corrupted and as a race we decided that SUVs were a better proposition for personal transport than small hatches or wagons. It must have been a quirk of evolution, because, if you apply logic, there could be no reason why we would swap smaller more efficient cars with ones that are heavier, offer no more space internally and have a higher centre of [...]
Monaro Stages to decide Champion
This year’s Kosciuszko Automotive Monaro Stages Rally is set to be one of the best the NSW State Championship will witness. Being the final event of the series, the battle between the leading teams is set to be intense. Held over some of the best roads in the Comma and Bombala area, rally teams can expect some fast-flowing shire roads combined with well maintained forestry roads. The battle for the championship win will between the NSW [...]
Rally of the Bay – Review Part 2
This is part 2 of our review of the 2020 AMH Automotive Group Rally of the Bay. When we left you in Part 1, the Toyota Team pairing of Harry Bates and John McCarthy had built up a significant lead after three stages to be leading the rally by just over 26 seconds. And it was the other Toyota Yaris, driven by Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin that was sitting in second. Richie Dalton and [...]
Redhead Ready for Redemption at the 2025 Lazer Rally of the Bay
After a tough start to the season, young gun Josh Redhead and experienced co-driver Ray Winwood-Smith are looking to bounce back in a big way at the 2025 Lazer Rally of the Bay, one of the most anticipated rounds of the Shamrock Haulage NSW Rally Championship. Redhead has shown flashes of serious speed in 2025 but has also had more than his fair share of bad luck. At Round 1 in Canberra, he banked some points early but saw [...]
MacDonald Valley – NSW
The MacDonald valley is an easy trip close to Sydney with some great scenery and simple river crossings. Suited to any type of 4wd, and even the adventurous 2wd, the track follows the MacDonald River from St Albans. There are a number of crossings of the MacDonald River along the way and some of these are bridges, whilst towards the end they become open sand based river crossings. I would certainly not attempt this trip [...]
New Brinkman–Newell Pairing to Debut at Possum Bourne Memorial Rally
On the Brink Motorsport will debut an exciting new driver and co-driver pairing at the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally on 21 March, with Australian competitors Glenn Brinkman and Kaylie Newell joining forces for the first time on the renowned New Zealand gravel stages. While the pairing is new, both Brinkman and Newell are well known within Australian rallying circles. The two regularly compete in separate teams within the Australian Rally Championship and NSW Rally Championship, bringing [...]
Putting the new Kumho MT-71 to the test
For those who follow our YouTube channel or regularly read our articles, we recently reviewed the Kumho AT51 all terrain tyre that we’ve been running on the OTD Pajero for some time. We really like the AT51, so when Kumho released a new Mud Tyre, we asked them if we could have a set to test them out and they were generous enough to provide a brand new set of their MT-71’s for us to [...]
Team Ranga – Nissan Patrol Winch Truck
They say only a "Ranga" can call another red head a Ranga, but when your team name is Team Ranga, we may need to make an exception for these two blokes in their Nissan Patrol GU. Paul Semmens and Nathan Mills have had a few thrills and spills in their 4.8 inter-cooled turbo Patrol, sporting a few different coloured panels after repairs from previous winch events that didn't go according to plan. The truck features [...]
