The crawler event was fantastic. About thirty to forty rigs and a real diverse cadre of drivers, from little kids to old men, all classes. Very fun and educational, everyone is very helpful. I was so surprised it was so much like riding observed trials - something I did on motorcycles about ten years ago. The courses, gates, and scoring are so similar I couldn't help think how similar, it was remarkable.
I was a little disappointed in that my virtually stock K10 Ascender went in the box-stock class as Class2 and there weren't any other rigs in the class so I was the first to run the two courses. A couple of gates were so tough I timed out and no one else could get through them, even some expert 2.5 guys that came along afterward just to check it out and test the course. Since no one could get through they had to modify them. Oh well, next time I'll do better.
Oh, and my new Wrangler I decided I didn't want to completely demolish in the rocks so I didn't run it in the comp, just drove some courses and a lot of crawling all over the rocks in the area. Had an absolute blast just doing that - we spent about 3 hours driving up and down the mountain of rocks there. They call it 'mini-Moab' since it's all slick rock and a fantastic crawler area. No wonder they have the comps there. I'll post some pics from the event below.
The 2.5 class was also so difficult in a couple of the gates that most of the drivers could not get through without rolling their rigs completely off the course, tumbling down to the bottom of the rocks. I felt sorry for a few of the kids - they simply could not drive their rigs through the course, that was a little disheartening. Even the experts were having trouble.
So although we had fun, and learned a lot, I also decided that a purpose built rig with the ultimate of what you can do for an unlimited rig with 4.75" tires is the ticket. So I need a new project and don't really want to donate either of my two trucks to do it, but a full-WB short overhang largest tire and wheel combo is what I want to build for that.
Give me some ideas please. I'm thinking of a proline 66 Chevy body with an Ascender rear flatbed from the K10 RTR and all the hotest drive train components to make it competitive. Looking for a roller chassis to build.
My K10 may end having to be the donor...we'll have to see.
