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Race number 4 in the series came along slowly at first glance, but snuck up on us pretty fast. It caught me kind of off guard. There were a lot of things to do on the âto doâ list that were undone a week ago.
The main thing was the skid plate. Race 4 was to be held at Devilâs Playground. We had watched the race there last year. Many vehicles were casualties of the big rock gardens. Our vehicle was built around this course and its obstacles, but I never fabbed up a much-needed skid plate for the belly.
So, Thursday we spent finishing that and doing a lot of the pre-race maintenance, checking the bolts, fluids, tires, etc. This ran over to Friday morning and was followed up by loading the trailer, tools, and spare parts. Finally at high noon, I rolled out.
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DPG is up near the Lexington or Asheboro, NC area which is only about an hour from here. A short time later I arrived and began to set everything up, all the while monitoring the conflicting and usually inaccurate weather reports.
Clay got there a couple hours later. I had pre-run the course and was walking the course when he arrived. We walked around for a little bit and ran 2 more laps. The course was mid-sized, probably about 2 miles at my best guess. It had two sections of high speed field running, a few hills to climb, one nasty mud hole (ie- cesspool) that was brutal to the nose, and the main feature, a heavily wooded section with plenty of small rocks, medium sized rocks, and a few BIG rocks.
My first impression of the course was that it was rough. Even the fields had their share of hidden surprises, ready to jerk the steering wheel of my hands at any moment. It wasnât a course where you felt âsettled inâ at any time. What made it worse was the dust. It was insanely dry. Visibility was almost none right behind another vehicle.
After that, we pretty much took it easy. It felt weird to not do anything while everyone else around was busy wrenching on their stuff. Even just pre-running had folks breaking things and having to find creative solutions to improvise (call that what you will).
About time it got dark, we got together for the driverâs meeting and a pig roast. Driverâs meeting was standard stuff. The pig was good and I was hungry! It hit the spot. After that we went back to our pits and hung out and traded war stories and speculated about the weather and what the next day would hold.
All Friday night there was a steady breeze from the north. The hurricane was pulling clouds toward it all night long. It cooled the temperature down nicely and kept the bugs away. About 6am Saturday, the wind really started to pick up. I got up soon after and broke down the sleeping gear, ate, and got ready for our heat race, scheduled for 9. We would be starting in the last row of the 2nd heat. It was nice to have a little time to get everything sorted out and to collect my thoughts.
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The running for the day would be the heat races for the UTVâs (side by size vehicles like the Polaris RZRâs), us in class A, class B, then class C followed by the main events for each in that same order.
Our heat race was only 3 laps and went without incident. I ran a bit conservative but wanted to run hard enough to try and get a good starting position for the main. I didnât pass anyone but did catch up to a few vehicles right near the end of the heat.
The day went very long. There were a lot of pauses between races due to having the race course changed some for each category, extracting broken rigs, and getting thing coordinated.
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Our main race finally was called about 4pm. We were to start on the outside of the first row! Talk about a surprise! I figured weâd start mid-pack, at best. On our inside was a little 4 cylinder Toyota Tacoma. We chatted amongst each other. I figured weâd dust him at the start and never see him again. 30 seconds to start, 20, 10, 5-4-3-2-1. We are off! The green flag flew and I hammered down. Nothing! The engine spat and popped a few times and slowly took off. It cleared up some and I grabbed 2nd gear. By now we were in the yotaâs dust.
I had no idea what was wrong. It ran fine during the heat race. But it was running and driving, so I figured weâd just keep on going and hope for the best. We gave up a few places during the first few laps, with me letting a few faster Heeps by. After the 4th lap it felt like I was trying to baby the engine to keep it happy and that we were driving a basketball. The shocks had ceased functioning as shocks. It felt like we were just bouncing between rocks, gulleys, ruts, and stumps. I heard my neck crack a minimum of 3 times, not to mention my middle and lower back. The jarring was incredible. I think that sitting in a clothes dryer for an hour might be good training, though it might be cooler and less abusiveâ¦
In the end we finished sixth. There were 4 minutes between us and first! It was very tight. We did have to bump a lapped vehicle once. They didnât move, despite Clay laying on the horn for about ½ a lap and me following right behind them. I nudged them a few times until the finally moved over. No harm, no foul. With that though, we lost valuable time and a place or two.
It was a good race and a learning experience. For the final race I hope to have some good shocks, the engine issue fixed (I think it might be fuel cell foam breaking down and getting into the filter), and a set of spare kidneys! Thanks to Sharon and Nick H coming out for support and for snapping some pics. Till next time.
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Thanks for another great write up. The pictures look awesome! Sounds like all you need is a new fuel cell, shocks, and a good Chiropractor to put y'all back in first. Good luck at the next race! :xyxthumbs:
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Thanks man. Working on securing some shocks and I'll have to look into the fuel cell siutation soon. Got it all cleaned up- had to pressure wash it twice! It was a mess! Now it is time to check it all over and see what all it really needs...
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