Here is a write up that Skyhiranger did on: May 07, 2011, 10:30:07 PM over the event. I didn't take a camera with me but his wife did some video of the event. I'll try to get them posted when I get a copy.
~~~~
There were 14 rigs entered in the stock class. Here are how the 5 samurais that entered did.....
1st...Me with -6 points, with the help of an excellent spotter (once again).....Lift-Dr.
2nd (tied)...Smuz with -4 points, (Lift-Dr spotted for him as well).
5th...Manning with 8 points, (ASI H8 spotted for him...and I think Lift-Dr spotted one course for him).
9th...Lift-Dr with 17 points, (I spotted for him).
11th...ASI H8 with 88 points, (Manning spotted for him).
Most of the other rigs entered in the comp were some sort of jeep vehicle, I think.
I was really surprised that the overall scoring was as low as it was. The courses were definitely more challenging this time. Even though they were challenging, they were still fun. Inphobic did an excellent job of laying out the courses.
Once again, the trophies that they gave out for the 1st place finishers were really cool.
I had an interesting experience on the last course I ran for the day (unfortunately, it was on the backside of the hill and down in a trench, so my wife didn't get it on video and I don't think anyone else there was taking video or pics at the time).
I dropped down into the start of the course, which was a wide (well, kinda wide...for smaller vehicles) trench filled with various sized rocks. Once I dropped in, I needed to turn hard right, to go down the bottom of the trench, while avoiding big rocks on the right and left sides. I was cranking the steering as hard as I could to the right, trying to squeeze in between the 2 big rocks, but the left front was running up on the big rock on the left side. I didn't want to back up, so I just kept going, thinking I could drive/ease over it without much issue. I was easing forward, and the tire was about to the top of the rock, when I felt the samurai tip a little more sideways and the tire come up off the rock. So I instinctively (sure, that's what I'll say) blipped (or maybe I hammered it...don't really recall) the throttle and the tire came down on the other side of the rock and one of the judges said, "nice save". I thought to myself, "holy shit, did I about flop it"?. Afterwards, I asked around and sure enough, both left side tires were in the air, and they said if I wouldn't have hit the throttle, it probably would have went over.
ASI H8 had his really nice samurai with a 16V, 30" tires and NO lockers. I, for one, was really impressed on how well he did on the courses. With them being harder than the other times, you really had to rely on the driver and spotter, with a open diff'd rig and just 30" tires.
He did end up timing out on one course, which cost him about 40 points, I think. Still, pretty impressive overall, with the samurai setup like it was.
I think he will be looking for power steering and a rear locker in the future though.
~~~~
It was my first time at an event like this. KRRP said, "CRAWLFEST is a NOVICE rock crawling event,.." "Courses will be designed to challenge Novice drivers," Challenge!!! More like a kick in the seat. I had a F"N BLAST!! LOVED IT!! After looking at the courses I thought, "there is no way in hell I'll get my tinker can through that." The courses (the two I ran) were a bitch, all things considered. Had they been anything but challenging I wouldn't want to do it again. The event was well organized, with out injuries and a blast. I think my rig was on the smallest tires, shortest lift, minimal gear reduction and open diffs.
I think KRRP is having their fall event 20 Aug. You should come out. It is a great time.