A confused rock crawler: rally time!

[napsta]

Anyway, the car has been tested and come up good:

Randy:
Took the bomber out for a little test rally in the back forty this after noon. It seems to be very stable and perfectible.
I like the tires and the limit straps make it sit nice and flat. I think you have a good chance of placing well at the hill climb.

Pumped. This race will be interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDvZ_d87QBg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Gwagensteve]

Never mind the 39's, I really, really, really want those 35" "hillclimb" tyres

Even a used set... how used could they be???

Steve.

[toughnut]

Never mind the 39's, I really, really, really want those 35" "hillclimb" tyres

Even a used set... how used could they be???

Steve.

Yeah I really like the tread pattern. It looks like a very stable tire but with decent tread blocks to give some decent grip. It'd be interesting to get your ideas on how these go napster.

[brooksy]

Very cool vid, very jealous of what you do Ben. Pretty sure my wife & kids would love to support me to do the same .................. not !!

Best of luck as always.




brooksy

[bru21]

keep safe mate - thats a pretty wild climb!

can you use a gps / nav and pre run?

[St Jimmy]

Anyway, the car has been tested and come up good:

Randy:
Took the bomber out for a little test rally in the back forty this after noon. It seems to be very stable and perfectible.
I like the tires and the limit straps make it sit nice and flat. I think you have a good chance of placing well at the hill climb.

Pumped. This race will be interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDvZ_d87QBg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That is cool, what a sweet sound

[def90]

So the KOH car has gotten a bit confused and thinks it's a rally car:
Specs:
10" belly
4" of up in the front
5" in rear
on 35" BFG's - these tyres look awesome!

We are taking on a Hill Climb next weekend in Colorado, should be fun.






Bring it on!
Ben

sweet never seen this tread before, are they the common for hill work napsta?

BTW love the beadlocks, i got the same........but lame in comparison to what you're doing

[napsta]

Bru: Yes we can use a GPS, but will use pace notes, as the lag in the GPS can be a bit much.
The road is a public road, so if we get there early enough on the Friday we will do a couple of runs up in the tow vehicle. On the Saturday we will hopefully get 4 practice runs in the race car. Sunday you get 2 comp runs, best time wins.

Def 90, the raceline beadlocks are awesome, and the company really support out sport.
The tyres are actually designed for short course 'CORR' style racing. Hopefully they work well for the hill climb.

[vanbox]

This maybe a stupid question. But is that a blue light at the rear? Or blue tinged reverse light? And only one indicator? Or do they all do something totally different

[napsta]

The lights are part of the desert racing safety requirements. The yellow is always on, and is a dust light so people can see you from behind. Outer red lights are brake lights. The blue light is to show the Class 1's and Trophy Trucks that we are a slower vehicle, and hopefully not nerf us too hard when they catch us. This is really for lap races when they start coming through the field a couple of laps in. Altho we can get to 185km/h in a rock crawler, we are still considered a slower class in the desert!

[sierrajim]

While I understand that Desert racing is almost always in the dry, how do you go with surface rust on the unpainted frame and axles?

I'd assume that at some point it would get wet, either transporting, cleaning or racing.

(yes, also add me to the list of people who would love to be able to do what you're doing)

[napsta]

yeah, you have to be carefull. We wipe it down with WD40 regularly to keep on top of it.
It's unpainted so we can easily check the frame and housings for any cracking or stresses during the prep process.

[napsta]

Well the buggy is loaded in the trailer and we are ready to roll.
Not sure if I'll be able to get on here again in the near future, but here is the thread to follow us on pirate:
http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=909345

[toughnut]

Good luck man. You'll probably end up being really slow with all of us riding along with you. I hope you do great. Insanely jealous.

[bj on roids]

Bru, I dunno if we are looking at the same picture. I would use a couple of tyre plugs also, not just a tube by itself. Just for safety.

[WICKED]

Benny got 3rd in the hill climbs

[brooksy]

WELL DONE Benny !!! congratulations on a podium finish.




brooksy

[bru21]

Awesome!

Sooooooo................ How was it?

[80's_delirious]

footage??

WE NEED FOOTAGE





PS

[napsta]

ok, so made it on line. What a weekend.

We got there and set up and drove the dually up the road a few times Friday morning, then it was time for tech and a pretty relaxed day.


Saturday morning came and we had 4 qualifying runs for the day. We decided to take it easy for the first run, however once the green flagged dropped, I gave it a fair bit.



We got to the top and thought it was a solid effort, and we'd scared ourselves enough, then realised we were over a minute off the pace. Over the next 3 runs we bought the margin down a bit, but were still off the pace, and the best cars continued to improve too. My car runs a stock standard 8 year old LS1, and was really down on horsepower compared to the majority of the field.

We went into race day on Sunday seeded 10th out of 14 Ultra 4 cars. I spent the night dissapointed and wondering how I could go faster. We rolled up to the start of our first race run and I decided to give it everything. We had an awesome run and got to the top and thought we had improved a fair bit. We came back down the mountain to find we had shaved 30 seconds off our previous best, however this still only put us in 7th. JT Taylor and Easy Rick Moonyham were well out in front, however the next 7 competitors were within seconds of each other. I decided that with another improvement that 3rd was not out of the question. We rolled up for our final chance to put in a good time and I let the motor eat. We braked later and red lined the engine to the top of the hill. As we came over the finish line the temp guages were maxed out, but we thought we had improved on our time. We had to wait for all the other cars to come up and then got to go down the hill. As we came into the pits people were saying we came third. I jumped out of the rig and looked at the scores and found we had shaved another 12 seconds off and had jumped the whole group.


Hill climbing is amazing. It's only a short race but is unbelievably intense. The consequences of stuffing up a corner are huge and you need to be totally on your game. It took me a while to get used to this, but can't wait to do it again.

The car is now sitting outside back at full height and on 39's and we'll be getting some testing done this week before I fly back on Thursday. The next race is the Stampede at Reno, a rock and fast desert race in early September.

Ben

[bru21]

Well done mate!

Its funny with racing how much harder you go than practice - and still can go faster!

Great to hear some good motorsport news from O/S

[lay80n]

3rd

Was this hillclimb part of KOH qualification?

Layto....

[locktup4x4]

When is the Stampede?

Jason

[napsta]

The hill climb is not a stand alone qualifer, but is the 3rd event in the Grand Slam Series, from which the top 10 will qualify for KOH.

The Stampede is on Saturday the 11th of September.

[locktup4x4]

Are you going to need a hand that weekend? I can probably get to Reno Friday night.

Jason

[dave]

well done mate !

[Tazz]

Bloody well done Ben

[toughnut]

See. Without all of us riding along with you your time could have been way less. Thats awesome news for you and your buggy considering that both weren't really tuned to top notch for the race. An awesomw effort.

[napsta]

Here's our race report, thanks for all the support:

Sydney, Australia. 22 August 2010. For immediate release
BNMotorsports climbs onto the podium at the Lands End Hill Climb.

On the 14th and 15th of August the team from BNMotorsports were in Grand Junction, Colorado to compete in the Lands End Hill Climb, the third event in the Hammer King Grand Slam of Off Road Racing series. After a great weekend of close racing the team finished in 3rd place in Ultra 4, solidifying their position in the Grand Slam, with the final series event to be held in October.

The hill climb is a completely different style of racing to our previous events, consisting of a high speed sprint climbing a 5.3 mile dirt road up the Grand Mesa through hair pin bends and surrounded by huge drop offs. Engines were bouncing off the rev limiters as vehicles slide around impossibly tight corners above towering cliffs as they race to put in the best time as crowds cheered on. The event consisted of 4 qualifying runs on Saturday, and 2 race runs on Sunday, with the best Sunday time being counted.

To prepare for this unique event the race car was modified by Bomber Fab with the body lowered almost 10 inches and the King Off-Road Racing Shocks were limited to around 3 inches of active travel. 35 inch BFGoodrich short course race tires were mounted on Raceline Monster Beadlock wheels to significantly lower the centre of gravity of the Bomber. These modifications resulted in a very unusual looking rock crawler.

During Saturday's qualifying the 14 Ultra 4 cars took turns with the other racers to set the best qualifying time and learn the track for Sunday’s shoot out. For BNMotorsports’ Australian Driver of Record, Ben Napier and Co-Driver Chris Garrison, it was immediately evident that the event was a significant shift from their usual driving. Our first attempt was well off the pace of the other Ultra 4 cars, and whilst the guys tried to justify it as enjoying the views and learning the course, we really needed to make some big improvements to be competitive in the event. During the day we took 3 more runs up the hill, cutting down our previous times, however our best was still well short of the leaders. Going into race day the team qualified 9th and as the heat grew we knew it would be a tough day.

Whilst the Bomber is outfitted with some of the best racing equipment to tackle the extremes of King of the Hammers racing, the car is only equipped with a stock standard LS1 V8 and we were racing against several cars fitted with purpose built race engines producing hundreds more horsepower than the Bomber. To do well in this event our run required us to get every one of the 72 corners correct.

On the first run Ben gave it everything - cutting 30 seconds off his previous best to record a time of 6:03.46, however our competitors also improved and this only resulted in us moving to 7th place. Whilst racers JT Taylor and Rick Mooneyham were well ahead in the 5:30’s, places 3 – 9 were packed within 6 seconds of each other. Ben lined up for the final attempt of the race and completed the circuit almost perfectly, cutting a further 12 seconds off his time he jumped the field and recorded a 5:51.03 to place 3rd in the event, an amazing result for the team.

The team will now rush to prepare for the HammerKing Stampede event in Reno, Nevada on the 11th of September, where they will compete in a KOH style race, including rock trails and high speed desert.

BNMotorsports wishes to thank the following sponsors and supporters:
Wombat Crossing Vineyard – Gold Medal winning Australian Hunter Valley wines.
Bomber Fab, Raceline Wheels, King Off-Road Racing Shocks, BF Goodrich Tires, Superior Axel and Gear, Howe Performance Power Steering


Media contact: Ben Napier 2009 Vegas to Reno : 3rd Place
ben@bnmotorsports.net 2010 King of the Hammers Participant
+ 61 408 401 993 2010 Silver State 300: 5th Place

[coxy321]

Congratulations!!

Cutting 42 seconds is one hell of an acheivement - you must be one heck of a wheel man!

Top stuff - you're making all of us proud. Keep it up!