Offroad-Express

Anyone back from the "Hanmer Thermal Thunder Winch Challenge" yet????

I was gutted i didn't have to time to call in and watch on the way down south from Nelson to Chch this avo.

I heard 21 trucks competed. i think the prize giving is on at 6 tonight so I guess we'll hear more of the final results later. Just wondered if anyone on here managed to trip over and watch it? What did you think??

Pictures and vids PLEASE.

Are you blind
http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13787

PR wrote:Are you blind
http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13787

I guess so smart ass! Gimme a break Paul!
Oh and thanks.

It was a great but hectic weekend for those that put the effort in to running it. Saturday was cold wet and very windy, you could hardly stand up and the caravan and shitters all blew away. The wind stopped at about 3 and the rain at four. There were 3 stages on saturday afternoon, a speed challenge arond up and down a hill and a circuit side by side that all the competitors thought was a race against each other, egos hey. First half hour saw carnage plus, broken toyata ( ), broken tie rods, heads through windscreens, tyre beads popped and plenty of trucks doing wheelstands. The marshalls spent the night at the pub, bad move, most of us got pretty liquored , I was seeing double at one stage, PR was so pissed (or was he??) that he fell through a hedge and into the creek walking home.
Sunday shaped up fine and clear skies. 9 stages run on sunday. Three through the hills as speed runs, and the rest on the flat for the specatators, three of these were very challenging hill climbs with bogs in them. Only one truck managed to complete stage four without winching. On sunday Rick and I had to do a recce of the back hill speed sections and we were the fist on those tracks for the day. We were surprised we managed to actually drive them as it was some pretty slipppery clay, some of the drivers were impressed we had gotten around too. All in all the day was a success, big thanks to the marshalls that helped me out and a big thanks to all involved in the running of the event. Can't wait for next year and it would be good to see more Canterbury/Christchurch 4WDrivers supporting this event in the future to come.
Al

Got the results Al?

They should be on 4x4events at lunch time. Rick is still driving back. Will get them online as soon as he's back.

albundy wrote: PR was so pissed (or was he??) that he fell through a hedge and into the creek walking home.

Very quick way to sober up that ice cold mountain water but was still drunk

I had a great time. On Saturday drove up to hamner had the pleasure of Marshalling no 1 for the day we have a few bruises and a cracked window and a DNF other then that it went all good the competitors were great to work with the course was a lot of fun.
Sunday wasn’t so good due to major hangover (really I was still pissed) felt like real crap everyone noticed. Thank god no one grave me any Greif, as I was not my bubbly self.
Thanks to everyone who was involved it was a ball ill be in again next year (MIGHT NOT DRINK SO MUCH NEXT TIME)

Bubbles wrote: Sunday wasn’t so good due to major hangover (really I was still pissed) felt like real crap everyone noticed.

Thats what happens when you sleep in the shower curled up into a little ball

I went along on sunday for a look.
From a spectatators point of view it was ok.
Things seemed a little unorganised especially later on in the afternoon.
it wasnt possible to see a lot of the courses as they were so far away.
From a spectators point of view a trial is much more enjoyableto watch.

I mean no disrespect to any of the organisers etc....just how i saw it .

First time we have done it, an d yes it was a big learning curve. Three of the stages you could not see as they were in the valley and behind the hill. I sat up on the spectatrors hill for a while and thought that yous had a very good view of the stuff on the flat and hill climb sections. They were the most exciting from my perspective. What feedback people can offer will be taken on board. We are having a debrief meeting this wednesday nite so feedback to me all you spectators that went.
Al

tallsam66 wrote:I went along on sunday for a look.
From a spectatators point of view it was ok.
Things seemed a little unorganised especially later on in the afternoon.
it wasnt possible to see a lot of the courses as they were so far away.
From a spectators point of view a trial is much more enjoyableto watch.

I mean no disrespect to any of the organisers etc....just how i saw it .

how many winch challenges allow spectators???

I had a great weekend up there marshaling. Got to take the 60 on the hill tracks cleaning up at the end of the day's and thought they were well set out, Next year will be great after a few new tracks were made this time.

Huge respect for the driver of the Yellow Double Cab Hilux who bent then broke his gearbox crossmember on sat, to drive back to CHCH overnight replace it and return for Sunday and I am sure he completed the event!

At the end of the day spectators could pay $10 to get a ride around some of the tracks in the competition vehicles, the two ppl brave enough to jump into the Milne V8 buggy loved it (just needed to change their clothes after the bog) Some marshals only had a view of maybe 10m of track and then could only hear the rest as the tracks were in bush!

With all the ACC, OSH regulations (it is on a commercial farm) saftey is a big issue. From the drivers view they could run harder at the hill climb's and on the courses and fall back uncontroled, go faster at the corners knowing there was no one wandering around below or in front of him (other than marshals) rather than drive the first section and just run the rope, it also ment there was an unlimited choice of safe ground anchor points for the competitors. I lost track of the number of times I saw 4wd's reversing back onto the track after running a 4wd length or 3 past the tape, broken pegs and markers flying and the odd stone being thrown.

Perhaps having a central area open will be something to look into but once there you would be stuck there until lunch and then from lunch till the end of the event, maybe something to look at for the next one.

Results??????????

I just checked the 4x4events website and the results aren't up yet. I will see what the problem is and try and get them out today sometime.
Al

Results:

http://www.4x4events.co.nz/?q=node/52

BIt hard to get accurate results off that but I take it
Open,
Mark Harvey
Richard Robb
Karl Townsend

Clubmans
Sav
Justin Hayes
Tom Hayes

How was the scoring done?

I got within a hairs breadth of posting the scores per stage and IE crashed on me... will have another go tonight.


Outlaw results were:

Stan Van Heswitck
Craig Bellamy
Francis Linwood

wjw wrote:I got within a hairs breadth of posting the scores per stage and IE crashed on me... will have another go tonight.

Ha ha no worries, Bill (Gates) strikes again!

albundy wrote:First time we have done it, an d yes it was a big learning curve. Three of the stages you could not see as they were in the valley and behind the hill. I sat up on the spectatrors hill for a while and thought that yous had a very good view of the stuff on the flat and hill climb sections. They were the most exciting from my perspective. What feedback people can offer will be taken on board. We are having a debrief meeting this wednesday nite so feedback to me all you spectators that went.
Al

Yeah Al great event well organised, enjoyed the day with great spectator points. It all went pretty quick though, I reckon there would have been a bigger turn out if it was advertised more? All in all a good day!!!!!! Cheers to you and the boys for organising it.