2008 Challenges in brief (who am I kidding)

February 2^nd saw our first winch event of the year, at the Challenge South west night event held at Bampton.  There were 14 entries in total and 3 BWORC members where flying our flag, Myself and Steve in my car and Jason changed roles and showed he is successful out of the car as well as in, he acted as co-driver for martin houndsell a very good and experienced competitor.

We arrived Saturday afternoon and didn’t have to wait long for it to get dark. We started about 5.30 with a finish time of 12.30 there was plenty to get stuck into.

Jas and Martin had the fastest time on SS 1 with us in second. On SS2 we hit a tree on the down hill heading for the finish and got another 2^nd by 2 seconds, the fastest time went to Dan Channin who was competing for the first time as driver. As well as the SS we had plenty of punches to find each of which had reflective tape to spot them in the dark, finding them is one thing, finding a route to them another.

Jas and Martin took 1^st with me and Steve 2^nd.

Two weeks later on the 23^rd we were back at Bampton for the first of the 4x4 Adventures winch challenge series. This time our club was out in force with Keith Knight and Simon Elvins in the standard class, Shaun Houghton and Ben in Std +1 and Jason, Lardy, Steve and myself in Modified.

With 18 teams in the Mod class, six in Std+1 and 3 in Std we all had a tough day ahead of us. Steve and I dropped into the quarry for our first punch and a branch went up through the front of the car ripping off the front locker pipe and shredding the fan belt. Not a good start 2 hours later and thanks to Keith Knight for a fan belt and Simon Buck for a pipe connector we were back in business but playing catch up. We re-paid Keith later after he dropped into the river and buried the front bumper in the soft mud making it impossible for Simon to get the winch rope out. We ended the day in 9^th place, Jason and Lardy where 3^rd with Shaun Houghton and Ben 4^th in std+1 an Keith and Simon 3^rd in Std.

The next event on the calendar was round 2 of the 4x4 Adventure series held at Wellington the home of BWORC’s own event “The Scott Williams Memorial Challenge”. This time the club was represented by Steve Williams & Dan in Scott’s truck, Jason had Rich Simms along side him as Lardy had injured his back. They were in modified class and Shaun & Ben in std +1. All club members picked the pace up with Jas & Lard taking 2^nd Seve & Dan &7^th and Shaun & Ben also 2^nd in their class.

Challenge South West were our hosts for the next event on the 11^th of May. This was originally planned to be a two day event but with limited entries (11 in mod. 4 in std.) the organisers changed it to 2 events, special stages held on Saturday evening / night, and a punch challenge on the Sunday with another 4 SS. The night stages were based more on driving this time with little need for winching. Three stages were laid out around Chris Bolts fields and woods with gates marked using bean canes to pass through and some strategically placed logs and river crossings thrown in for good measure. After a poor start to the year it was our time to shine with fastest times on each stage. For the punch challenge on Sunday we were in preistlands wood with special stages at Lardys wood (you will have to ask him) Jason & Rich, Roger Pardy (from Devon) and Steve & I all cleared all 40 punches so it was down to the SS to decide the positions. We took 1^st with Jas & Rich 3^rd.

The following months battle commenced at Uplowman on the 14^th June. This was the time Steve & I had been to this site so it was new territory for us. Based on one side of a steep valley with a stream running the length of the site there was plenty of climbing for the co-drivers and the winches worked nonstop, again we fell foul to fan belt failure after just 3 punches, even though we had a replacement of our own this time our batteries had taken a pounding trying to get the car to a safe place to replace the belt, this was to prove fatal for our front winch motors a bit later with both of them burning out. Jason & Rich had a storming day, being the only team to clear every punch they were clear winners, Shaun Houghton with his cousin as co-driver (his first time challenging) cleared up in std+1 and we came 3^rd.

12^th and 13^th of July saw nearly all of the BWORC club members in Wellington for the second Scott Williams Memorial Challenge. This it was our turn to marshal and organise the event along with other committee members. It was great to see everyone throwing themselves and there cars head on into the event with some surprising results. A full report can be seen on our club web site and 4x4Adventures.co.uk

We were all in unfamiliar territory for round 4 as Slindon in Sussex was the venue. This huge site was partly wooded with gravel pits giving the site a completely different make up to our previous challenges the ground was a mixture of sand, clay and stone and was very unforgiving on the drive train. We shattered a rear half shaft on our first punch and soon after Jason did the same to a CV which locked up putting him out for the day. Shaun Houghton took first again in Std +1, we got a 1^st at last in the mod. And Jas & Rich was 13^th.

Apart from the 4x4Adventure series we try to compete with Challenge South west as much as possible. The main CSW event for 2009 was the De-Cider, with Devon 4x4 as the main sponsor and entrants from all over the UK and also from Belgium this was destined to be a great challenge to enter. Being held over 2 days and 1 night it was to be a tough weekend.

Saturday had 24 special stages, each with different layouts and against the clock. At the end of day 1 we were in 3^rd place with Jas in 4^th. There were 2 stages set up for the Saturday night but after Jason & Rich rolled out in spectacular fashion SS 2 was closed just leaving SS 1. With Jim Marsden’s Td5 flying around we had plenty to do. Another Td5 rolled into the river just before we started SS1 so our hearts were in our mouths as we set off into the darkness. Again we were let loose around Chris’s fields and woodland and putting the crashes out of our minds we managed a respectable 2^nd fastest time.

Sunday was to be a different kettle of fish, after completing one SS and winching backwards through a bog after getting a punch we ripped off a front flexi brake pipe, we removed the pipe and crimped the copper pipe but couldn’t get a peddle, this time the brake master had gone this meant that we couldn’t do any more SS but as we were in a a tight wooded area we decided to carry on. Unfortunately after an hour we dropped into a garage punch and without brakes couldn’t steady the car and flipped over into a bog, the front of the car was under the water and again we shredded the fan belt. An hour later and with limited battery power Steve managed to write the car and we were recovered by one of the marshals. We only managed 16 punches and one SS but with Jason on form even without a windscreen he got 23 punches and did all of the SS putting him in 2^nd place with Steve and I in 4^th. All was not lost as prizes were given for fastest times for Saturdays SS and as we had 6 fastest times (the most of any competitor) we came away with an Odessey battery and an ARB compressor. Jason won some clothing and Intercooler hoses as well as his trophy.

Round 5+6 were held at Wellington as a two day Steve was away so Lardy stepped into the fold as my co-driver. We had a successful day on the Saturday but on the second SS on Sunday we broke a front shaft halfway round, we managed fastest time but our weekend was over.

Exert taken from 4x4 Adventure web site.“Team Gigglepin and Team OEC were having a good day and managed to clear all the specical stages plus all 30 punches in good times. Shaun Harris, from Cheddar signs, with Paul Milsom kept them on their toes though chasing them throughout the day, putting in some good times on the special stages, giving them a creditable 3rd place for Saturday which despite their less fortunate luck on Sunday with drive train issues secured them a sound 3rd overall for the weekend.”

Jason took 1^st on both days making him outright winner for the weekend, we had 3^rd on Saturday 6^th on Sunday but enough points to give us an overall 3^rd for the weekend. Shaunus Bananas had 2^nd on Saturday, 4^th on Sunday after retiring early and 3^rd overall.

Our final event of the year was held at Bampton the standing points had Jason and Steve Gittins in joint 1^st but as there had been so many early retirements during the year it was still open to anybody. James had gone all out on the last event with the positioning of the punches and he definitely saved the best for last. Lardy was again in Steve’s seat and It didn’t take us long to realise that as we were not carrying waffles we were at a major disadvantage to those who were. We were having a good day but when we went to do the special stages the exit was blocked by a vehicle with a broken steering box trying to load onto a trailer, we went back into the wood cleared a few more punches and tried again about ¾ of an hour later the car was still blocking the exit and as the SS closed at 2pm we went back to get as many punches as we could. This time we ripped off the rear brake pipe but sealed it and carried on. We passed a section where Jason was on his roof in some deep mud. The day finished just before dark so we all loaded up and went for the prize giving.

BWORC was well presented through the series and at other club events during the year. The final results put Jason and his co-drivers Lardy & Rich in joint 1^st with Steve Gittins, Shaun Hougton who had 3 different co-drivers 1^st in std+1 and myself with Steve & Lardy co-driving 3^rd in modified.