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Superior Pro Truck Challenge 2008
SUPERIOR ENGINEERING PRO TRUCK CHALLENGE
Round 1
The round 1 event was run over the weekend of the 10th and 11th of May at Rover park near Tenterfield, NSW. This round saw some new faces to the scene as some of the vehicles from the previous round could not make it due to being broken or repairs being carried out and Mother's Day stopped a few coming out as well.
Day One - Saturday
This was out the back of the Rover Park running next to the teams Winch Challenge run by Dave Metcalf so there was heaps of action to be seen from both sides. At times the rockcrawlers were saying to the winch challenge guys winchs shouldn't have to be used on 4x4's and the winch challenge guys were saying ski ropes are only supposed to be in a boat not on a 4x4.
Saturdays courses were over a series of drop offs and step ups some up to 1.5 Mtrs. The terrain was all rock with water and slime over some of it so tyre choice was important for traction, although having drop offs and stepups the courses are all safe with no chance of serious damage to the vehicles and recovery for the few broken trucks was easy as the repairs were mostly carried out on the spot. One section was a series of small waterfall step ups with water flowing over them so the correct line had to be taken and the water certainly made it all the bit harder again. The courses were reasonable tight so the smaller trucks like Steve's Suziki made the turns look so easy but after each turn was a gully or step up which then tested the little Suzi to its near limits. Tim and his navie had a good run on Saturday with no problems.
Most of the trucks were running 35-37 inch tyres but 44's were the choice for Bartso's big GQ with a nice V8 rumble breaking the silence of the bush, the little Suzi only running smaller tyres but still outdriving some of the bigger tyred trucks. All vehicles had lockers so the combination of grippy rock under cut ledges heavy full body trucks some breakages happened. Nick in his blue MQ had a few problems, the front shaft falling out due to being to short and to much flex, Brad in his V6 powered Hilux broke a CV and cracked the sliders on some damn hard rock. The Superior GQ snapped a tie rod when Tamara was driving it (I think i broke it previously on a step up) so she DNF that stage and Bartso managed to show up a bit late after Ryano slept in late so they missed the first 2 stages only to then have steering problems the whole weekend making it near impossible to steer the big 44's.
The Superior Truck had a bit of a sleep on its side after some over confident driving from myself thinking it could drive 70 degrees sideslopes and Shayne's buggy also thought it would have a rest on its side during Saturday. The drivers all proved themselves on Saturday with some outstanding driving not to mention the navigators as without them we could not drive the courses.
6 Coarses were run over the Saturday so there was heaps of driving time as most of the courses were from 10-15 minute timeouts. The comp kicked of about 8.30 and finished about 4.30. The end of Saturday seen Brad's Hilux being towed back after running out of fuel on the drive to the campsite then out came the 2WD Ramp competition on the 30 degree RTI Ramp. We had 2 competitors Dave in the Hilux and Mad Scotty in the Laser. oth cars had issues with bumper bars fouling on the ramp while trying to drive up so after some careful navie work they got them on and the hilux won. Probably got a score of about 10. Not to be out done scotty than proceeded to do front wheel digs in the car park just to show Dave his Laser had what it took to be a tough 2 wheel drive.
Day 2 - Sunday
Sunday kicked of about 8 am down at the creek near the main campsite.
First track for the day was a drop of approx 1mt high then a sharp right turn over a large rock that Outlaw Class had a sharp right turn than up a steep rock face, Pro Truck had a couple more turns. This tested the nerves of the drivers during the dropoff and the rock outcrop. Everyone drove the stage very well but Steve in his little Suzi breaking a CV and Bartso's big GQ having yet more steering problems.
Stage 2 Outlaw was a extremely tight sqeeze through a waterfall section with some rock rash to Mick's GQ on the rock doors, Bartso's 44's proved to much for the standard rear Nissan axles to turn snapping the drivers side then the front tailshaft snapped through the uni's leaving his truck one wheel drive, this is where bartso thought he would have a underbody check so he put it vertical over the lip. During the long recovery of the big Nissan, Dave and Greg setup courses further down the track.
Track 2 for the Pro trucks was a fairly easy course down a rocky part of the creek to the right hand side of the Outlaw Class, with no cones taken by any trucks it was more a course set to get the trucks lower down the creek for the final 2 stages.
Track 3 included a drop of against a big gum tree where an exo cage was very beneficial to have you set up for the tight right hand turn than a 90 degree step which than proceeded to branch of into a bonus stage or standard stage. Both stages was a steep climb on solid rock but the bonus line was a lot steeper.
Final track was extremely tight and the bigger trucks found it extremely hard to not hit the cones, Mick's big GQ broke the rear axle attempting a rear bun but combined with the punishment the axles had taken over the weekend with sticky's it was time for the axle to snap, still trying to drive they timed out before getting to the final gate. After a quick race back to camp Mick and Shane replaced the axle ready for Tamara to do her final run. Brads V6 powerd Hilux had problems with the crank angle sensor so he had a DNF on the last stage.
All drivers and navigators proved great competition for each other and everyone had a great weekend with heaps of seat time.
CHECK OUT THE VIDEO OF THIS AWESOME EVENT HERE www.youtube.com/watch
Superior Pro Truck Challenge is an event that was run by Greg and Dave from www.teamdgr.com introduced to cater for the gap between the more advanced rock crawling buggies and the less capable everyday 4wd's. Run over 2 days this event tests the skill of both the driver and the navigator to drive their vehicle through a start gate then a series of progession gates and finally to exit through a finish gates.
Basic ruling was as follows for:
PRO TRUCK CLASS
- 35"min - 40"max tyres
- F&R Lockers
- OEM chassis from centerline of Front diff to centerline of Rear diff - dimensionally unchanged
- Full bonnet, firewall and floorpan width (ute sizing as minimum) minor alterations accecptable. guards preferred.minimum of half doors and window nets
- Full rollcage as per most comps - and all the usual safety stuff (extinguisher, kill switch etc)
- Winch and sufficient recovery equipment - self recovery!!!
- No portal or drop-reduction differentials
- No rear steer
- No rego required
Scoring System:
- As per XRCC rules but without the "point out" system. Instead, we'll use a 8-15min time limit (depending on course)
- No stopping penalties
- Cone penalties
- Reverse penalties
- Out of course penalties
- Fluid loss and safety penalties
- No rock stacking penalties
This Year a outlaw class was introduced to cater for the more modified trucks to keep it even in the pro truck class.
OUTLAW CLASS
- Tyres 37"min - NO max
- F&R Lockers
- NO Chassis requirements
- Full Roll Cage as per WEROCK/XRCC
- All the usual safety stuff (full harness, approved helmets driver and nav, extinguishers, kill switch etc)
- Winch (min. 6000lb) and sufficient recovery equipment - self recovery!!!
- Any differentials or steering F&R allowed
- No rego required
