Bainloch Extreme Jan 2022

Bainloch 2022 wow! Amazing venue and we had a great time!

You tube vid of the weekend here

We had done loads of work on the truck to try and sort all the problems we we had during he 2021 season. Fuel, cooling, intercooler, rear axle, steering, wheel bearings etc. So Bainloch was always going to be a big test for the truck.
We loaded up and set off Friday morning, took about three an half hours. We were told to unload the trucks at the entrance to the deer park and drive them up to the car park. We unloaded trailer and Jack and Reece jumped in the truck. Next minute black smoke everywhere and truck cuts out, boost hose popped off! Limps truck to car park and sorts boost hose then we noticed one of the rear brake pipes was leaking! Good job I got 4 spare off Pioneer 4×4. Next is scrutineering, no major issues. Trucks attracting a lot of interest…. Wots an U4 truck doing at a winch event
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. So it’s off to the lodge for a chill and some scran.
Early start sat. Starts truck up checks everything couple of last minute jobs. We forgot all the straps and the winch blankets 😂 so Mikey brought his an rolled up to sign on about 7.30. We have tons of stuff we have to charge up for every event. Go pro’s senna’s, snap on lights, phone charger packs, snap on gun, Leisuire batteries, spare phones, radios… this divvy charged everything but forgot to bring the go pros!

So we work our way up the mountain. Quick talk from Dougie and it becomes apparent this is going to be good! Lots of laffs and a great relaxed atmosphere.
So Dylan and Mikey take off in opp direction to majority of the trucks and disappear into the distance along the tree line border, we follow the trucks into the forest. Brilliant event for spectators, u can watch the trucks doing the punches and follow them round the forest. We walked for about 2 hours right round the site then wow! We saw our truck right up in the trees, we was all made up it was running ok and sounded great so we climbed up the hill and took the lads some dinner.
We discovered that they were doing really well. They had about 15 punches and truck was running perfect. It was great to follow the lads round, videoing and talking to other people. People were commenting on the truck and how well the lads seemed to be getting on. We were impressed at how good Mikey was, it was great to watch them at work and see our truck in action.
When we was on the top of the mountain I heard Mikey say into the headset “no don’t cos u might roll it…,” apparently Dylan said “Narr I won’t, watch this!” Next minute trucks on its roof!
Was proper funny, everyone laughing! They got it back on its wheels an cracked on. About 3.30 and they had around 35 punches and couple of golds then there was another roll but this time more serious. Mikey was trying to get the rear diff past a rock by winching down a hill but didn’t realise the front diff was also caught on a rock. When the winch pulled the truck free the front flew up and the truck rolled over a couple of times and down the rocks into the trees. I heard stuff bursting an I thought it was the rad or the swirl pot, thought race was over. Mikey didn’t seem too phased, mr cool. Had to winch the truck back onto its roof so it could be winched back onto its wheels, jack ran off to get help. Another truck winched it upright and surprisingly there wasn’t too much damage. The hissing noise was a fire ext going off. Bit of bar work damaged nothing major. Lucky escape. So we heads down the mountain to the pits. We spent an hour jet washing the truck, checking it over and straightening out some panels then went to our lodge. Was great not kipping in the van. We all went for a meal, the Riley crew and Sam came too. Had a good laff in the lodge then was up early doors and back at the pits.

Great atmosphere, was talking to few other teams and then we was up the mountain an the lads were off again! Wasn’t long before the steering packed up! First problem we had had with the truck. Me an Ged drove down to the pits to get the spare pump and all the tools to change it. Took us 30 mins but when we got back the lads had the old pump off and we’re waiting for the new one. Jack changed the pump in about 10 mins!! And they were off again. Steering seemed very noisy. Lads cracked on and were nailing the punches. Then we had an electrical problem. Batteries were sparking and truck cut out. Turns out one of the terminals was loose, probably from when it rolled so Mikey sorted it. Next minute steering’s gone again! Let the truck cool down for 15 mins and steering’s back but we got a water leak. Overflow outlet snapped on expansion tank, 2 min fix. Me an Ged goes to see if we can borrow a ps pump off anyone. Don’t have to go far.. Joe Thompson “ me vans open, there’s 3 in there!” Nice one joe! I’d said exactly same thing to him and Sam when they snapped their rear output shaft the day before..”vans open”. That’s wot it’s all about. So Jack changes power steering pump again. It’s still noisy but it’s working so they crack on. We had had a good couple of hours down time now and was feeling bit fed up and was thinking maybe it was over for us. We had about 2 hours left then the lads found a gold punch, then another, then another an it was like wow! 4 gold punches to add to the 2 the day before and they were back on it! Working their way thru the forest smashing punches one after the other! Was a great feeling. We knew that even if truck broke down we had done well and we cracked on without giving up in fact the opposite, the lads smashed it right till the end! Mikey was knackered, was a hard weekend for him.
So we makes our way to the pits, the event is over. Speaks to more people, jet washes truck, loads van and trailer then for the results. We came 8th and we were made up. Only 8 points between us and 4th place! Imagine us scruffs coming 4th
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. 1st, 2nd and 3rd were miles ahead! It’s hard to imagine how Tom Hiron and Sharpy got so many points but well done to them and well done to our team! Already Looking forward to this event next year hopefully with same 2 scruffs in the truck. Hopefully have the steering sorted but we always have one prob or another cos the truck takes that much stick! Goal for next year … 100 points!! Thanks to Dougie and his team for putting on an amazing event
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