xxxtreme22r

Got the chance to go help out on this one down at Rausch Creek Off-Road Park. Left Thursday night to be there bright and early on Friday to help with starting line up qualifier run to determine starting position.

All packed up. In the tote is all my firewood. Included in my bed is my completely full main tool box, 2 other tool boxes, 2 smaller ammo cans full of tools and extra nuts/bolts, a large ammo can with my sleeping bag and pillow, a grill, cooler full of 2 12 packs of soda, a bag of ice, hotdogs, hamburgers, and lunch meat and my spare tire which I had to have mounted before running down there. Lets put it this way, with the almost 2" rake of my truck, there was enough weight to level me out.




My usual camping spot at the park. And my vantage point of the rest of the parking lot on Friday morning.






Photo of 1 of 3 Baja 1000 cars you get the chance to ride or drive. They are currently running a $25/lap ride along special. I am so gonna do that if they are running them during the EC4RJ.



Promo video of the experience. Video was shot at Rausch Creek by the later mentioned HeavyMetalConcepts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQhb0qD9fAg


Weather down there was nasty rainy all week long including Thursday night into Friday morning. It did stop by the time we started the qualifier run but the course was still soupy/muddy from all the rain. After the qualifiers, more on and off rain came and rained the entire night into Saturday morning.

Only 19 of the 28 car field ran the 1.5 mile qualifier course on Friday. To my surprise Shannon Campbell, last year's KOH winner was there to run in the same Monster Energy IFS rig that won that race. There were a few other major teams there as well. But I don't follow the KOH trucks all that much so I don't know too many of them.

2011 KOH winning Shannon Campbell driven IFS rig.





Our Vantage point during the Friday qualifiers. Hardest of 3 hill climbs a few hundred yards down the trail from the bottom of "Stairstep". Photos were taken during the prerun not the race. To save time I rode with my counterpart and pulled course down "Stairstep" and parked offcourse. Funny thing is with this photo on the top were the thoughts of that Toyota sitting in the bushes waiting for something bad to happen in a TopGear episode.







One of the hazards of taking these videos is getting sprayed with mud as one of the drivers goes by. Out of the three of us on that corner, the HeavyMetalConcepts photographer and his camera were the only ones to get hit by the flying mud that came from 8 or so feet away from the course. My counterpart that was standing less then 3 feet away from him did not get 1 piece of mud on himself.

This is the vid of the splash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScXuoqG7IZo



My counterpart telling Shannon Campbell during the Friday qualifier run that this was the hill they were talking about during the drivers meeting. The drivers were told to not try to crawl this hill, they would have to hammer the hill and just drive it. Not 1 got stuck or had to winch up the hill. They all made it without issue.




I kinda like the blue digital camo on this rig. I had to take a photo.




For those who do follow the Ultra4 races this is the list of the ones who ran the qualifier on Friday and their starting position for Saturdays main 5 lap (2.5 mile/lap) brutal race.

Start Vehicle First Last time
1 4495 Shannon Campbell 04:15.2
2 4421 Erik Miller 04:31.5
3 4420 Derek West 04:34.3
4 4498 Rusty Bray 04:44.2
5 18 Brian Shirley 04:48.7
6 81 Levi Shirley 04:49.5
7 4418 Mike Collville 04:50.9
8 816 Lucas Murphy 04:52.1
9 327 Jim Lambert 05:13.9
10 366 John Sweet 05:14.1
11 5252 Bill Bard 05:14.9
12 513 Craig Jerson 05:15.8
13 108 Tim Smoluk 05:28.6
14 4461 Ben Napier 05:35.2
15 5454 JT Stephens 05:35.7
16 13 Doug Bigelow 05:36.5
17 231 Lou Levy 05:44.6
18 328 Matt Noually 05:55.5
19 4407 Cotton Rod 06:18.8

More details and full lineup for Satuday's race can be found here on pirtate4x4. Camo from Pirate4x4 was also there doing a live feed of the event as well as HeavyMetalConcepts taking video and photos. If you get a chance, look at their site and support these great guys. Excellent videos. Before this race, I never knew about them. They need more exposure and are well deserving of it.

A short vid of someone prerunning "Devil's Den" on Friday afternoon while we were hanging banners. I was standing on like a 5ft rock when shooting this. It might seem like I am too close but if that rig flopped the rock woulda stopped it and I probably would have been able to put my foot on the side of the truck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_j2WVsVfwI


Next up was the big race on the newest NorthEast section of the park. Obstacles included, going up "Lower Talisman, down "Upper Talisman", Going across and down "Devil's Den", Outer Limits and a small hole on Trail 32 where I was stationed. We thought some rigs might have an issue due to the soft ground, but not one had flopped into the hole unlike 1 that did during a prerun of the course on Friday afternoon as the evidence is shown in the below photos. Our section included Trails 31, 32, 34 and 37 which were actually two parts of the course that kind of crossroad together. One in the beginning of the course and towards the end of the course. We figured a split time from the end of the course till the time they came back around to the beginning of the course was roughly 20 minutes if they didn't have to stop in the pits prior to their next lap.

This is the official Course map.




Towards the beginning of the race is a hair pin narrow turn (Trail 34). Out of the first 6 or 7 drivers, Shannon Campbell was the only one to make the turn on his first try without having to backup and correct.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TImkVRYoVTQ

How alot of drivers including your 2nd place starter took this corner a few times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjWDBo89zJQ


On their way towards the finish line.





Prior to the hole there is also a rocky trail they must navigate. Most rigs were hitting the same rock near us with the front and bottom of the front diff.






From the other side of the hole.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_HodZ31KYY


A little bunch up and some racing towards the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3D4TAVsRA8


Only carnage on the trail was this guy. I believe it was the A to Z Fab rig. On his one and only lap. He was winching almost the entire day. This was almost 6 hours from the start of the race. Ran most of the course in 3 wheel drive. Notice his passenger side rear tire not spinning. Kinda felt sorry for these guys. Especially the Co-Driver. It could not be easy pulling cable all day long. The vid is 24 minutes long and about 100ft if that. Notice the stupid short winch cable after breaking it earlier in the course.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzMkjpvRxKQ


Some trail carage from previous runs up this hill.




I have alot more video I am gonna put into one. These were just to showcase our section.


Me at the end of the day. Overall the truck rode well, but I really need to get my driver side frame above the bumpstops fixed. I no longer trust hitting the bump stops too hard.

RBX

very cool, but i have to view this on my phone cuz stupid job blocks photochuckit

xxxtreme22r

Still working on my vids not near the quality of this one, but here is your winner. His video shows the conditions we had to deal with with setting up and what the drivers had to endure.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/news/torchm...eek-qualifier/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajAvmhOdg74