The
first round of the Australian Offroad Racing Championship
held over the Easter weekend in Hyden WA, is done and
dusted.
After racing
the grueling 450 km, Clayton & Adam found themselves in
first place in production 4WD in their Triton. This was no
easy feat on their part. They prologued quickest in class on
Saturday and started well. However after only 15 kms into
the fist lap the clutch throw out bearing failed which meant
that although they had drive, Clayton wasn’t able to use the
clutch to change gears. So he very quickly learnt how to
change gears without a clutch, just using the right engine
revs. The pit crew removed the gear box on Sat night to try
to rectify the problem to no avail. So it was up to the
start line on Sunday morning, wait for the green light and
take off in gear on the starter motor. Into the first lap
on Sun the transfer lever went into neutral, so they had to
pull over, remove the gear sticks, rectify the problem and
replace the gear sticks and then continue on with the race.
They were determined to get to the finish. The final 2 laps
of 160 kms were great, even though the track was
deteriorating they managed to come in with good lap times.
Rob
who raced his Pajero in extreme 4wd class, said the boys
deserve a medal to be able to race the Triton without a
clutch in the times they were achieving. The track was one
of the toughest tracks he has raced on.
Rob & Ross
also came home with a first in Extreme 4WD in their Pajero.
They prologued well and had a great run in the first lap on
Sat. After 30 kms into the 2nd lap the front diff broke,
meaning they only had 2 wheel drive. After a quick stop &
check, at the end of day 1 they found themselves trailing
behind Colin Hunter the current Extreme 4WD champion in his
Jeep, by only 10secs.
So with
some rear shock adjustments for traction they fronted up to
the line on Sunday keen to catch up the 10secs. After an
exciting race in 2wd at the end of the weekend they
succeeded and came first in class, winning by more than 5
minutes. Rob said his new engine performed like a dream.
The vehicles
are now being prepared for a couple of local rounds before
heading out to Alice Springs for the Finke Desert Race in
June.
Photos and video of the event
in Gallery
