KarlVP
Love that TOYOTA
We got there Friday evening and staked out our spot to camp. Got settled in and headed over to tech and walk the courses. Schmoozed with our competition and enjoyed some frosty libations. We learned what we were up against in our class. Mostly toyotas, a couple TJ's, and Terry with his full on rock buggy were all in our class.
Saturday morning we got out to the site to attend the drivers meeting. We drew 7th in the running and it worked to our advantage as we could watch other competitors and strategize. We got on our first course (C3) and did very well. I'll tell you Tom is one hell of a spotter. We BARELY touched a cone in the second gate. If I would have had 15psi in my tires instead of 10 we wouldn't have touched it. Nailed the bonus line and got through with time to spare. First score -5 which tied for the best score on the course.
Our second course (C4) we made a couple rookie mistakes. I took out a cone during a back up that was a total bummer. We had already cleared the gate and were trying to get lined up and I backed up about 1/2 inch too far. There was a big drop off that we cleaned and we took out a cone trying to get off the course with about 15 seconds left. Second score was a 20.
Course C1 we did third. We nailed both bonus lines putting on a great show for the crowd and ended up with the best score for the day with a -13.
Course C2 was HARD. 75% of the folks didn't even finish it including us. There was a bonus line that we were going to attempt but I got a little frustrated as we were way low on time and I Took out the cone on the bonus gate and took out another cone not paying attention to my spotter. We ended up almost rolling and timing out trying to extricate our selves from a sticky spot. We got a 34 which was a major bummer. We did put on a good show though.
Saturday was a long day and we finally got back to camp at around 730PM. At the end of the day we were in a solid second place with Terry in his moon buggy in first but he had broken the front ring and pinion so he was out. We got some dinner, went over the rig checking bolts and fluids and stuff. We enjoyed watching the flip cup championships (of the world) and headed to bed around midnight.
Sunday we got to the courses and learned we would be second on all of them due to attrition. 3 rigs had broken and were out.
Course C1 was first and we did a fantastic job on it. Scoring second highest of the day. It was nice being the shortest wheelbase there as it really helped maneuver around and get into spots most of the long wheelbase guys couldn't.
Course C3 was next and our strategy got us all sorts of screwed up. There was a bonus line on it which we didn't even attempt. We had started the course in reverse which ended up being our demise as I slid into a tree that made me it's bitch for about 4 minutes. In frustration to even finish the course we decided to sacrifice a cone on the second gate and finished gate 3 at full throttle. We ended up getting through the finish gate with about 10 seconds to spare. It was still an okay score but we had about a million backup points due to that stupid tree.
Course C4 had a really bad off camber section with about a 4 foot drop off. We strategized to just take the cone on gate one and it worked famously setting us up perfectly for gate 2 and the rest of the course would be a sunday drive. As I started up the ledge for gate 2 the rig got bound up and BANG! I took out my passenger side stub shaft. Since we had already taken out a gate winching was not an option so we only got one progression point. That was a bummer.
We drove back to camp and changed out the stub shaft. We got back to course C2 just in time to watch the one car in front of us go. We couldn't have planned it better. Watching them gave us our strategy and we cleaned house on the course. Due to my short wheelbase we attempted a line that nobody else could do and ended up with the best score for the day.
We celebrated by cracking some beers and watched the shootout. We learned that our break took us from first place to third with only one point separating second and third places. We got our trophy and got our payout and headed home. Stopped for dinner and got home right at 1AM.
We had an absolute blast. Tom is a killer spotter. We got a lot of compliments on how well we worked together. We learned a lot. Next year we are going back to win it.
Saturday morning we got out to the site to attend the drivers meeting. We drew 7th in the running and it worked to our advantage as we could watch other competitors and strategize. We got on our first course (C3) and did very well. I'll tell you Tom is one hell of a spotter. We BARELY touched a cone in the second gate. If I would have had 15psi in my tires instead of 10 we wouldn't have touched it. Nailed the bonus line and got through with time to spare. First score -5 which tied for the best score on the course.
Our second course (C4) we made a couple rookie mistakes. I took out a cone during a back up that was a total bummer. We had already cleared the gate and were trying to get lined up and I backed up about 1/2 inch too far. There was a big drop off that we cleaned and we took out a cone trying to get off the course with about 15 seconds left. Second score was a 20.
Course C1 we did third. We nailed both bonus lines putting on a great show for the crowd and ended up with the best score for the day with a -13.
Course C2 was HARD. 75% of the folks didn't even finish it including us. There was a bonus line that we were going to attempt but I got a little frustrated as we were way low on time and I Took out the cone on the bonus gate and took out another cone not paying attention to my spotter. We ended up almost rolling and timing out trying to extricate our selves from a sticky spot. We got a 34 which was a major bummer. We did put on a good show though.
Saturday was a long day and we finally got back to camp at around 730PM. At the end of the day we were in a solid second place with Terry in his moon buggy in first but he had broken the front ring and pinion so he was out. We got some dinner, went over the rig checking bolts and fluids and stuff. We enjoyed watching the flip cup championships (of the world) and headed to bed around midnight.
Sunday we got to the courses and learned we would be second on all of them due to attrition. 3 rigs had broken and were out.
Course C1 was first and we did a fantastic job on it. Scoring second highest of the day. It was nice being the shortest wheelbase there as it really helped maneuver around and get into spots most of the long wheelbase guys couldn't.
Course C3 was next and our strategy got us all sorts of screwed up. There was a bonus line on it which we didn't even attempt. We had started the course in reverse which ended up being our demise as I slid into a tree that made me it's bitch for about 4 minutes. In frustration to even finish the course we decided to sacrifice a cone on the second gate and finished gate 3 at full throttle. We ended up getting through the finish gate with about 10 seconds to spare. It was still an okay score but we had about a million backup points due to that stupid tree.
Course C4 had a really bad off camber section with about a 4 foot drop off. We strategized to just take the cone on gate one and it worked famously setting us up perfectly for gate 2 and the rest of the course would be a sunday drive. As I started up the ledge for gate 2 the rig got bound up and BANG! I took out my passenger side stub shaft. Since we had already taken out a gate winching was not an option so we only got one progression point. That was a bummer.
We drove back to camp and changed out the stub shaft. We got back to course C2 just in time to watch the one car in front of us go. We couldn't have planned it better. Watching them gave us our strategy and we cleaned house on the course. Due to my short wheelbase we attempted a line that nobody else could do and ended up with the best score for the day.
We celebrated by cracking some beers and watched the shootout. We learned that our break took us from first place to third with only one point separating second and third places. We got our trophy and got our payout and headed home. Stopped for dinner and got home right at 1AM.
We had an absolute blast. Tom is a killer spotter. We got a lot of compliments on how well we worked together. We learned a lot. Next year we are going back to win it.
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