We came in last.
Well, not exactly last. We beat the guy who was broke.
But WE HAD FUN! FAWKING AWESOME FUN.
6 events:
Day one
Tow test. Needed big heavy, or, high horsepower. We had neither, and sucked.
Frame twister. We were second in line, and the first guy DQ'd right away. So we were first to the X dug hole, and got swallowed. Done. The later rigs tore up the hole, making it a giant, but managable, mud hole. Easily driven by the later rigs.
Mud test. Huge tires, or high horsepower. Again, we had neither. However, we did make good progress, and would have full-pulled, except that the 53 inch tire rig immediately before us got stuck, and dug to China. Once we hit his 'hole', we lost all momentum.
That ended day one. We knew we were in bad shape, but the 'driving' events were the next day, and we felt good.
Day two
Obstacle course. We were mid/late pack. Several early rollovers, including a SMASHED CJ7 of Geby's (the IFS/IRS rig). We did good, and seemed to make a nice smooth run. We didn't jump the jump, instead crawled thru the hole, which costed us a little time. It was hard to guess the correct speed to hit the jump. Geby hit too light, and rolled. Several rigs hit too fast, and went off course. Overall, felt really good about my drive.
Hill climb. We were number 6, however we went 5th as a rig was missing. Three of the four in front of us rolled, or DQd. Only one guy made it, and took a lot of time. We rocked it! No winch, no rolls. On three wheels most of the way up. Huge huge huge holes, berms, etc. Felt great. Big smiles. It wasn't till the end of the day, that we found out that everyone AFTER us also made the complete run, most in better time. At this point, we pretty well knew we would not be in the Tank Trap event.
Mini-Rubicon. We sucked.
At the end of day one, we found we did not have any power steering assist, when we tried to turn right. On jackstands, it would turn both ways, but under steering pump boost, it would lock up. So we switched steering boxes, to a spare we brought. Then, after the obstacle course, we snapped the pitman arm. So we swapped it also. However, the 'crash' that snapped the pitman arm also caused the lower sector shaft bearing in the replacement box to crush. That allowed the sector shaft to wobble in the box, destroying the seal. So we had no power steering.
Overall, was an absolute blast.
Saw more $100+K rigs than I had fingers. Only a couple of us were low budget.
Randy Ellis is a awesome driver! More typing later.
Tony