" TTC 2004 "
We were fortunate to be voted into Four Wheeler's 2004 Top Truck Challenge. What an awesome adventure!!!!!!!
We met some great people and saw some sweet rigs. The Four Wheeler staff is a superb group. It was great to meet everyone. Thank you for such a good time!!!!!! Several people have asked us... would we go back?........IN A HEART BEAT!!!!
Unfortunately, I cannot tell you about the event itself. You'll just have to keep tuned for updates on FOUR WHEELER'S WEBSITE . What I can tell you, is that YOU should pick up the 2004 TTC DVD as you will see some great action footage. It should be out sometime in the fall.
As for the drive down? I'd have to say that's part of the competition as far as we are concerned. It was a 3 day quest. Robin, myself, Rob and Brian took off Friday morning with the crew cab towing the Knight and Rob's jeep towing an enclosed 5x8 trailer with spare parts. The morning started by a gopher of sorts running across the highway, our trailer tire hit him and spun him within an inch of Rob's windshield. On we went. One thing I'd have to say, Montana and Nevada have some huge hills, especially when you're towing 8-10,000 lbs with a small block. We had huge overheating issues. At least 7 times, we had geyser's of antifreeze spewing out. Man, that was tuff. We had to drive with the heat on through most of the trip. It was especially tough driving through Utah, with the heat full blast and 98.4 degrees Fahrenheit outside. One of our "overheating" stops had a sign " Scorpions and rattle snakes". That was just swell.... Our last overheating episode was 3 miles from Hollister Hills... that was a hard one. We finally got to the camping area. It felt so good. Had a great week of competition. Our trip back was better, as the overheating issues were resolved. Luckily a tornado missed us by about 15 miles. The emergency advisory broadcast came through the radio . We could see some nasty clouds not far from us.
I can't wait to see Four Wheeler's coverage!!!!!
Need to pick up a valve cover gasket and we'll be at the Hooter's Show n Shine Sunday, Father's Day.
Page from Four Wheeler's Oct. 2004 issue. More to come in the Nov/04 issue.
Here are some pics of our trip down.
Here's welndmn and group ( the alternate ) holding up our hood.:)
The Havik team
**** Want to thank the guy from Pirate( sorry -misplaced your card) who saw us overheating near Hollister and stopped to help . He even offered to haul us the rest of the way to Hollister Hills. Showed us where we could get water at Casa de Fruta. He had an awesome diesel truck. He also belonged to a diesel club and said if we had trouble on our way back to call him. Want to thank, 76K5Blazer from Pirate who drove us around Hollister for parts for our hauler and stuck around for some fun. Want to thank Gokartego and JJ from Colorado K5 . Gokartego brought us wood two days so we could make a fire at camp. It was awesome. We busted a bump stop on Day two and JJ searched and got us a one. Didn't even want cash for it. Thanks guys, you didn't know us and stopped to help us out. The internet is awesome!!! Your USA hospitality was really appreciated. If you're ever up our way, drop us a line.
PART II- Feb. 9,2005
Just a bit of the story...................
TTC was a fantastic experience.
Robin (my husband) and I co-own the truck. We both wanted to drive so we
drew to see who would - he won. (Lucky guy ) Rob (a friend) practically
lived in our garage the 3 months before TTC helping us. I decided that he
should be co driver. It was hard but so exciting to watch. The trip down was
the trip from hell. We weren’t sure we would make it in time. We drove for 3
days-16 hour days-the tow truck overheating. We slept in rest areas on the
trailer because by the time we would stop the campgrounds were closed. It
was freaky to wake up (under the Knight) and have people staring you at the
truck. The final time we overheated was at the sign that said 3 miles to
Hollister Hills, we couldn’t believe it. That’s when we saw Jeepzilla drive
by with his motor home. He stopped, we said our hellos and told him that we
were okay; we just had to let the tow truck cool down. Got to the camp at
about 8; 00pm Sunday. We were toast.
One thing I must say, the atmosphere between competitors though out the
whole event was excellent. Everyone was friendly, everyone helped each other
out, and everyone wanted each other to do the best they could. It was great.
We decided to see how the truck was running at this new altitude. Carb was
way off, so we proceeded to try and tune it. It was getting there but we
never did get it where it should be. The four wheeler staff said their
hellos, met Robin and some of the judges. Everyone was really nice. First
events were the measurements, rti, engineering and photo shoots. On the slow
side which was good.
Acceleration and braking test at the airport. We ran around the day before
trying to get the tow rig fixed up so we could pull the truck to the
airport. Didn’t get it done. Made it to the airport. Did the acceleration
test. The truck run like a cow- Robin came back- only to find that the
throttle cable was seized. He did the acceleration at half throttle with no
nitrous. We thought we’d fair well at this event- there went this one we
thought to ourselves. Did the braking test and headed back to camp to fix
the cable. The tow rig overheated on the way back. F**k! Farted around with
the tow rig again. The gas pedal ripped off at the acceleration test so put
some duct tape to use as a pedal. Every one seemed to have issues at the
acceleration test except for Brad. He did great.
The hill climb. All competitors drove up to see this steep hill climb with a
turn and huge berms as obstacles all the way up. Robin heads up to the
starting line and the truck stalls. Great first impression……….duh!. Carbs
suck!!!! Yes, carbs really suck!!!!!The only way he was making it up this
hill was full throttle- no way out of that. Robin hammers it- over the first
berm up to the turn –slows down and almost stalls her, hammers her again-the
truck screams all the way up the rest of the hill. Robin said all he saw was
sky and trees- going from side to side. That looked like a trip and a half.
The unimog made it look like nothing. The 6x6 had a good run.. The burb
worked half way up spewing huge stacks of smoke. I believe 5 people made it
up the hill.
The frame twister- it looked short but nasty. It’s a hard strip. The thought
was to just go as far as they could and winch the rest of the way through. I
think this was pretty much everyone’s plan. The guys were checking the truck
just before they started for the frame twister. I drew number one and they
weren’t back. Stan (owner of the 6x6) approached me and asked me if I wanted
to trade- he was number 6. I thanked him and took him up on his offer. That
6x6 is a sweet rig and the owners are two of the nicest and funniest people
we have met. They work so great together as a team. We took out a bump stop
in the frame twister; The 6x6 blew a bead.
The mud pit- this thing was nasty. There wasn’t a running start and it was
really deep right at the beginning. Everyone just hammered it as far as they
could go.Ther was just a huge wall that no one overcame.
The mini Rubicon- Surprised we came in third there. Second time ever on
rocks- not knowing anything about them. Rob (the spotter) first time ever.
No bead locks and still at 22 lbs of pressure from the rti ramp. They did
the best could could with what they knew. The 6x6 had an awesome run. The
yellow jeep, Jeepzilla, had an unreal run. Those 49” iroks just walked right
through. He was so sure of himself; his co-pilot was reading an issue of
Four Wheeler as they drove through. It was hilarious. Too bad he hit a cone
at the very end that cost him a 5 minute penalty.
The tow test- Huge heavy truck. The nitrous worked great on there- the
heavier trucks did better here.
The obstacle course- excellent laid out course. Nice job by the Four Wheeler
crew. There were I believe 3 flops here – The unimog, the cut off K30 , the
burb and Jeepzilla put it on it’s side a couple of times Robin had a good
run. Broke one inner and one outer . They went back to camp to do the fix.
We missed some of the runs. Jason, the owner of the burb, had a lot of hard
luck with breakage . He broke a couple of shafts. Rob Ruttledge ( the owner
of the land cruiser) lent him the front shaft from his tow rig. Jason worked
through the night to modify it to fit his burb. He was working on the burb
again when we got back to camp again. He sliced his hand badly with a
grinder while trying to do the fix. He was told to go to the hospital as he
needed to get stitches. He would not go until the day was done. He insisted
on helping us. He was pounding away helping us while blood is dripping down
his arm. It was unreal. Everyone there did everything they could to help
each other out. Outstanding.
The tank trap- we felt this was going to be our event. It’s similar to our
type of trails. One thing you learn from competition is not only the faults
in the truck but that you can’t be lazy even if you’re burnt out. One
suggestion I would make to future TTC competitors is give yourselfs a couple
of extra days for the trip, especially if it’s a long one. You tend to let
things go that you know you shouldn’t. The gas tank wasn;t filled went into
the tank trap with ¾ of a tank - mistake one. The valve cover gasket was
worn, we knew it should have been replaced- too tired, didn’t bother-
mistake two. Off they start. I went and waited by hole 6. I was pretty
confident they would make it there within 12-15 minutes. Wrong! They winched
to hole two, were off camber and had fuel cell pick up issues. They didn’t
figure it out for a while. They tried the fuel pump and so on. Finally they
sloshed the tank . Bingo. Next, the valve cover gasket blows off, engine oil
starts pouring onto the header and a fire starts. Fuel is leaking from the
rear and there is a fire all along the headers. Fire extinguisher comes out
to put the fire out. Mistake three- no communication. They should have had
frs’s or something. Time is ticking. The guys are wearing out. They get the
truck going again finally. Throughout all of this , they didn’t realize the
winch was still hooked up. Rob is lying on the floor half dead. Robin is
frustrated at everything that has happened, time is running out , the judges
say – you have 8 minutes left. Robin tells Rob, I’ll meet you at hole three
or I’m going to go as far as I can, I hear over the radio- everyone, get out
of the way, he is coming through and he is pissed. Rob screams stop- Robin
doesn’t hear. Robin hammers the truck through the canyon full throttle, goes
about 80 feet and BANG!!!!!. The winch cable stops him. That was a super
hard stop. Thought the front diff got ripped off. More oil starts spewing
out of the engine. Oil pressure is now zero. Robin calls it. What a trip.!.
Sonny extracts the truck with the scorpion. They pass out on the floor at
the top of the hill. I watched Brad’s run. It was a beautiful run. Nicely
done. We head back to camp , depressed and happy it was over at the same
time . We heard everyone’s run, the screams, the hollers, the excitement……
The unimog destroyed one side of the beautiful job he did on that build up.
The 6x6 breaking shattering it’s window, Jimmy and his jeep just being so
excited to be there. Rob and Darryl, the cruiser, having a good run at the
tank trap. The event was amazing. We learned so much. We met fantastic
people. We’d hook up with them anytime. We were so close............. We felt we could have done
better but that’s the game. Every truck there had a really good chance to
take that event. We were impressed . We chased the pigs , the raccoons and
partied. . The staff at Four Wheeler was wonderful. We met people we only
talked through on the internet. This event has definitely opened our
appetite to travel down south more and check out different types of events.
We definitely need to learn a lot about rocks. The TTC tape should have
great footage of everyone there. Thanks to everyone for the votes, to let us
experience this great venue, to the staff, to the competitors, to our
FANTASTIC sponsors.........
We never had the chance to even see the beach , we had to fix the tow rig
and had another 3 day drive back home. That only means we have to come back
and visit. Bead locks are on . Fuel injection is coming
For anyone thinking of trying to get in, we say DO IT!
Here are some of the pics.. I'll try and get some vid up soon
