Coverage

This is debatable, I mean the issue of cost of the rig. Much of the cost of rigs is the labor to build them, and how high dollar the motor is. Easy Rick built his own rig, Randy Slawson built his own rig. The cost of the tubing, the axles, the trannies, the shocks, the wheels and tires, gauges, seats, are all about the same.......paying someone to do the labor or buying a high dollar Turnkey motor will drive up the cost.

With all of the rigs with coilovers and bypass shocks, and the rigs with fancy air shocks, it's pretty amazing how well some of the rigs did that just had coilovers and air bumps. Randy Slawson was awful fast, and he has a stock LS1 motor (junkyard) and coilovers with air bumps, and he built the rig himself......and while he's an excellent fabricator he's a local JV guy and does not compete nor has he built rigs profesionally for other racers.

It's also nice that two seat cars did very well. To win, you need an excellent car and excellent driver, but a pretty normal car can esily get into the top 5 or top 10 if driven well and they have a good day.

I'd like to see the format changed next year so that if you're the 50th car off the line, you're not stuck behind 49 rigs trying to single track through the rocks. I think the way the initial course played out, if you built a fast baja truck with a so-so rock capability, you got to the rocks first and were in those leading groups. I think the 5 or so groups that the rigs finished in shows that they get stuck in one place and finish together.

It's a monumentally impossible challenge to start and finish 90 rigs in one day, but maybe some thought should be put into how to alleviate the traffic jams.

Well, actually it wasn't as much of a problem as it would seem. All the cars left the starting line within 23 minutes, and the first rock trail was at mile 33, so there was plenty of chance to spread out. Basically, those who had any kind of issues in the early part of the race were subject to traffic jams. Out of the top 10 finishers, 7 of them started lower than 50th starting position. Traffic jams were definitely a part of the race and effected the outcome, but I don't know what could be done about it.

FordGuy said:

I would have to respectfully disagree. First of all if you look at the top ten, for the most part all pretty pricey rigs, and yes The most expensive rig did lose a trans, which was a total fluke. If the trans would not have broke, he would have smoked the field so bad it would have been unreal.

The best Race Cars do break, but also win the most races.

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I would disagree with your disagreement.

Look at the F-Toy's.

Goatman said:

Traffic jams were definitely a part of the race and effected the outcome, but I don't know what could be done about it.

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I don't either. It just seemed to me as though those guys who were really fast in the desert section at the start had a clear advantage for the rest of the race.

Of course, all I've seen is what's on the internet. Everything's true on the internet right?

RedHeep said:

I don't either. It just seemed to me as though those guys who were really fast in the desert section at the start had a clear advantage for the rest of the race.

Of course, all I've seen is what's on the internet. Everything's true on the internet right?

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It was my understanding that no one was 'fast' in the desert. It was more "People who didn't break in the desert section had a clear advantage".

I think 3 "home built" rigs hit pit 1 before the first "high dollar" build.

FordGuy said:

I would have to respectfully disagree. First of all if you look at the top ten, for the most part all pretty pricey rigs, and yes The most expensive rig did lose a trans, which was a total fluke. If the trans would not have broke, he would have smoked the field so bad it would have been unreal.

The best Race Cars do break, but also win the most races.

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I'm not sure that Randy would have 'smoked' the field, he certainly might have won, but there are a lot of ???

Easy Rick started 86th & caught Jason (1st place) on Wrecking Ball. Had Rick not have broke his ram & had a couple of flats he probably would have motored right on by.

Paul

All you need is an ultra fast desert car, killer 4X, great driver, luck, and some more luck.

Hummmm.....two out of five isn't so good.

RedHeep said:

I don't either. It just seemed to me as though those guys who were really fast in the desert section at the start had a clear advantage for the rest of the race.

Of course, all I've seen is what's on the internet. Everything's true on the internet right?

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I think it's true that getting through the desert reasonably quickly is an advantage in avoiding traffic jams and overall finishing position. (edit...I had heard something that evidently wasn't true). Reading the winners account of the race, their strategy was to pass as many cars as they could before the rock sections. However, if you're going for the win you have to push hard, if you're going for a top 10 finish you can save the car some and push when you think you need to.


According to Dad and Carol, who were parked at check point one at mile 23 and were counting cars as they came through, we were the 12th car past check one. Actually the 15th to the check point but 3 cars headed into the pits (I need to confirm this when the check point times get released). We passed one more car at speed before the shock broke, which means we were the 11th car before hitting any trails and started 27th. Except when we rolled, and when we were stuck behind another rig in a traffic jam, I only remember being passed by one rig on any of the rock trails. We had the ability to have another top 10 finish if things had gone our way, and that's with a garage built cut down XJ. I think we could still get a top 10 finish next year regardless of what other rigs are in the race, but like anyone else in the top 10 things have to go your way. So much can go wrong, and the harder you push it the more chance that something could go wrong.