Some photos by Christina Worthing and Cody

Prologue

The Event

The event was laid out in three stages. Since I was only able to stay from 8:30am to 1:30pm, I saw only the first and second stages. Each team (driver and "swamper") put $40 into the pot, so that's $400 right there. Spectators were asked to donate $5 per person and half of those donations were put aside for future events, while the other half was added to the pot. The total pot (about $450) was split on a percentage basis among the top three finishers: 1st - 50%, 2nd - 30%, 3rd - 20%. Jo-jo welded up a trophy for the winner, and Lordco kicked in a $25 certificate.

Stage One

The first stage was basically a series of tank traps which should have been wet and muddy. Unfortunately, the recent cold snap froze the water and hardened the ground. Traction was much better than the organizers had planned for so the competitors completed this stage much sooner than anticipated.

Ingo / Shad	Jesse / Chris	Matt / ?
Alex / Brady	Artur / Dave	Dave / Shawn
Luke / Craig	How cold was it? It was so cold that Luke blew a bead when he drove into the frozen ice edge ringing one of the mud holes.

Stage Two

Stage Two began with the mother of all tank traps. It was a steep, 25 foot berm which dropped down into a deep pit on its far side. While in that pit, drivers had to somehow turn their vehicles 90 degree to the left, drive up a steep wall which ended in a vertical lip, drop into a trench and turn hard right, and then turn hard left, then right, and drop off into a bowl which emptied out into the same trench.

Jo-jo (black jacket) walks the ten teams through Stage 2.

Introducing them to the big berm.

A photo from the entrance to Stage 2. Turn hard right, climb up and over the big berm into the bowl on the other side. Climb out of the bowl, then turn hard right to go up the trench leading away from the photo. Then left into the woods, make a u-turn and take a steep drop back into the trench, and then hard right and straight back towards the camera.

The first berm falls squarely into that category called, "photographs don't convey how steep it is." It was steep! It was "use your hands or fall on your ass" steep. Although the freezing temperatures made climbing it a bit easier, the patches of crunchy snow made climbing it harder. I thought the first vehicle would be at a disadvantage because it would have to dig through the snow patches before getting traction. The luck of the draw chose Dave Warner and his Cherokee as the first attempt. I've seen Dave climb steep obstacles before and if anyone could do it, he stood a good chance, but the snow patches made me (and everyone else) very doubtful. Another confounding factor was the fact that Dave rolled his Cherokee 4 times and then finished with an end-over-end about two weeks ago. This presented the possibility that he wouldn't use as much "go pedal" as before.

So he entered the timed area, positioned his Jeep at the bottom of the berm, and then launched it! His Intercos flung icy rooster tails as he made what looked like a very controlled, high rpm charge up an impossible berm. And to the shock and amazement of everyone watching, he beat it on his very first attempt. And once he crested the sharp ridge of the berm, he went downhill. I mean that literally and figuratively. The downhill side was just as steep and his Cherokee's longish wheelbase was a disadvantage in the narrow bowl at the bottom. His front bumper ploughed into the bowl's opposite wall and in his attempts to rock the Jeep back and forth to adjust his position, his front diff chewed up its ring gear teeth. That put him out of the competition for the rest of the event.

Dave Warner entering Stage 2.	Launch!	All the photographers/videographers were caught off guard because NO ONE expected Dave to climb this hill, especially on the first attempt.
Unfortunately, Dave chewed the teeth off his front diff pinion while tracking to back up in the bowl.	Matt's big Chevy was called in to pull out the Cherokee.

Rob Brooks was up next. He tried to fast crawl his way up the berm but the traction just wasn't there so he opted to winch up and over the berm. Once he was nose down in the bottom, and after a few back-and-forth attempts in 4wd, he shifted into 2wd (rear), hit the gas, and with his "swamper," Jay, pushing on the Toyota's back end, they were able to swing the back end around to the right. This set him up perfect to climb out the left side of the bowl. Of course, it wasn't a matter of simply driving out. There was that vertical ledge, after all. Rob got his front wheels over the edge and then Jay hooked up the winch and they quickly pulled the Toyota out of the bowl and into the trench.

A good try, but Rob ended up winching.

Rob in the bowl.

Climbing out of the bowl.

These two unsavory characters (Dave / Artur) are devising a cunning plan based on what they've seen.

The trench required a short bit of sidehill driving before veering left into the bush, and then u-turn to the right where there was a steep drop-off right back into the trench. This is where Rob's Toyota came very, very close to rolling over. He got some magnificiently photogenic air under his right rear tire which freaked us out because at that moment, Jay stumbled and fell into the trench, right underneath that tire. There was a collective sigh of relief when Jay quickly crawled out from under the Toyota and then began slaving away at the rear mounted winch to stabilize the truck. Once the rear winch was in use, they were able to relieve the extreme downward pressure on the front wheels so Rob could regain steering control and drive out along the trench. Rob and Jay were the first team to complete Stage Two. It was a great accomplishment but it also meant that the guys behind them learned some very useful information.

Rob's Toyota performed a beautiful tripod on the last tricky section of Stage 2. Jay worked like a dog to stabilize the Toyota and winch it backwards.

Matt's big yellow Chevy was one of the biggest trucks there. He made a strong attempt to climb the berm but ended up slipping to the right and decided to winch before he hit the trees. Everything was going well until he crested the berm and tried to drive down the other side. Right in the middle of the crest, just a bit on the bowl side, there was a rock and a short stump. Matt's front driveshaft hit the stump and sheared off its CV joint. The berm had claimed its second victim. The broken shaft wasn't noticed until Matt had gotten his rear axle over the crest so he was stopped, facing downhill, while waiting for Dan's Toyota to be brought up to winch him back over the berm. Meanwhile, the Chevy's brakes were losing pressure (I don't know the details) so it keep inching forward while Matt was trying his best to keep up the pedal pressure. Suddenly, the inching forward turned into sliding forward (despite throwing some narrow logs in front of the huge tires) but it stopped after three feet because the winch line had finally been hooked up and the slide had taken up the slack. So the mighty Chevy was helped off the berm, just as it had helped Dave's Cherokee.

Big iron making the climb.

A broken CV joint ended Matt's day.

I didn't know Dan but the locals seemed quite excited when they saw his red Toyota drive up to the starting line. It didn't take me long to figure out why. He drove fast and he and his swamper paid close attention to Dave's and Rob's attempts in this stage. As soon as he lost forward momentum up the berm, they quickly winched up and over, and once they were in the bowl, they quickly did the 2wd burn out to slew the rear end around. And just like Rob, after bumping the front wheels over the bowl's edge, they immediately winched the rest of the way into the trench.

I thought Dan's receiver mounted front winch would be a problem but although it was abused as a plow, he never got hung up on it.

In 2wd with the rear end lit up, Myles flexes his rippling muscles to slide the Toyota into an exit position.

Dan's about to make the hard left into the bush (near Myles) where he'll do a u-turn and drop back into the trench.

Their performance in the u-turn and drop back into the trench was similar to Rob's and Jay's, too, but much faster. Dan's Toyota didn't get into as precarious a situation as Rob's, either, but I'm not sure if that was due to the line they chose or due to the suspension differences. I don't mean to take anything away from Dan and Myles' performance by saying that they learned from the guys ahead of them. That's what you're supposed to do! Sometimes being the first vehicle into a stage can be an advantage, too. In fact, I think it would have been here except that the ground was frozen so hard that the traction stayed consistent for everyone. I wonder, though, if the competition might be made more fair if competitors weren't allowed to watch how the others performed in each stage? Of course, it would be less fun for the competitors (watching is half the fun) but for a more serious competition, I think it would be a good policy. Speaking of which, Jo-jo ran all the stages sequentially so that the spectators could watch every truck run every stage. The downside was that it took longer to complete the event than if he had run some stages concurrently. But he wanted the spectators to enjoy themselves and they certainly did.

Like Rob, Dan got some air here but not nearly as much.

Once again, they employed the 2wd burn-out technique so Myles could pull the Toyota around.

With the hard part out of the way, it was a simple drive back to the entrance/exit of Stage 2.

Dan and Myles were the last team I was able to watch before I had to leave to catch my ferry home. They were also the fastest through Stage Two when I left. The rest of my report and photos will be from information and contributions from Jo-jo Poole and the other Island4x4 folks.

The Results

Dan and Myles won this lovely home-made trophy. My guess is that Artur's Sidekick parts will someone make their way into next year's trophy.

Much carnage ensued after I left. They eventually had to run Stages II and III simultaneously in order to finish in time. By the way, I'd also like to point out that the "swampers" contributed just as much to the team as the drivers did. In fact, I'd say the drivers had an easier time except for when they flopped their vehicles...but that can be kind of fun some times, too.

The winners of the Redballz II were Dan Bushwick and Myles Schafer. Congratulations, guys. Here are the complete results:

Driver	Swamper	From	Vehicle	Total Time
Dan Bushwick	Myles Schafer	Saltspring Island	Red '87 Toyota PU - 36" Swamper	22:06:55
Rob Brooks	Jay Krieger	Sooke	Black/Red '81 Toyota PU - 38.5" Swamper SX	27:10:87
Alex Hinds	Brady Melville	View Royal	White '82 Toyota PU - 36" Swamper TSL	34:47:25
Shane Hemsworth	Rod Silva	Sidney	Black '87 Suzuki Samurai - 33" Swamper SSR	42:27:16
Ingo Bladau	Shad Lievesley	Kitsilano	Yellow '88 Suzuki Samurai 36" Swamper SX	65:23:38
David Warner	Shawn VanKleef	Delta	Black '92 Jeep XJ - 36" IROK	69:44:23 DNF
Artur Pasternak	Dave McCluskey	Port Coquitlam	Grey '89 Suzuki Sidekick - 36" IROK	69:47:91 DNF
Jesse Skulmoski	Chris Foreman	Victoria	Black '69 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 - 36" Swamper	69:55:86 DNF
Matthew Mudie		Victoria	Yellow '48 Chev PU - 42" IROK	71:00:21 DNF
Luke Byrne	Craig Good	Victoria	Black '89 Toyota PU 37" MTR	74:57:68 DNF

The Carnage

Dan	Broken drivers side window.
Rob	1 front axle u-joint, fan hit rad and took it out on Stage I.
Alex	Broken headlight, smashed hood, massaged roof + doors, bent front axle housing.
Shane	Blew two birfs (Stage III), ripped an SSR into two pieces (Stage I), smashed front fender (Stage I), bent front leaf pack (Stage II), bent/broken rear leaf pack, bent steering stabilizer (Stage I).
Ingo	No damage. If you know Ingo, this is truly amazing.
Dave	Stripped Dana 30 pinion gear.
Artur	Blown short side front Dana 44 shafts (u-joint and yokes), severe passenger side door and body damage, bumper ripped from frame, multiple frame cracks on both sides, steering components stressed and worn, blown ball joint and steering knuckle (all Stage II).
Jesse	Seized Chevy V8.
Matt	Destroyed cv, bent front leaf spring, and a few self clearanced fenders.
Luke	Nil, withdrew after Stage 1.

Some Comments

Jo-jo: Rob Brooks had the most insane/impressive run on Stage III. To give you an idea, Ingo ran it in about 35min., and Rob's run was under 6min. A jaw-dropping run.

Jo-jo: I'll let Artur explain what happened (on the course) because I wasn't there, but I was there for the aftermath. Artur and Dave didn't get out of Victoria, until 8:15pm tonight. They were stranded on the island. lol
We started with welding the cracks on the frame, and then patching it. Then fixing the bumper, only to find that a ball joint was extremely loose. So Artur and I drove to Lordco while Dave pulled everything apart and replaced the destroyed short side shaft.
We get back to replace the ball joints to find that the knuckle is FUBAR'd. So there is lots of discussion on what to do. A quick look around the various Dana 44s in the yard didn't yeild anything useful. Then I remembered that Ibby had a set of flat top knuckles that he had previously sand blasted. They were the correct Dodge part and Ibby said it was no problem to use it (of course).
So great, a big relief, but then we find out that it is not tapered on the top or even the right size hole for the TRE. I think Chad had showed up around this time, and we had another dilemma to work out. Chad called a few people, and Cody ended up saving the day (night). He called up a machinist friend of ours, drove out and picked up a reamer, and drove to our shop to help us get the truck back together.
Of course whenever you take anything apart, you end up with problems getting back together, but thanks to Artur sweating his nuts off, Dave givin'r, and Cody, Chad and I helping were we could we managed to get them out the door just in time to catch the last ferry home.

Artur: The bumper came of indirectly as a result of losing the front axle shaft. After losing the short side U-joint in the first hole we decided to complete the course in 3WD. We made it all the way around the course to the last obstacle, where the SWB trucks needed to winch up the vertical bank (after a stylish spare tire stand). Turns out that the pass. side wheel (the one without drive) was stuck in the undercut and as I was winching with the nose up and cable at nearly 90 degrees I needed this wheel to try and drive up. Instead it was stuck in the undercut and the winch simply compressed my suspension into the bank and proceeded to act on the bumper mounts in the least desirable way, “torquing” in down in relation to the frame and simply ripped the nuts out of the frame. I am pretty sure it contributed to the number done on the rest of the frame and laid the bumper down for a little nap. It cracked the front cross member in the process and tweaked the frame inwards cracking it in a few spots for a good messure.
In addition to testing the Dana 44 limits my continues study on the strength of Sidekick frames has yelded some interresting results. Lotsa fun.

Jo-jo: Just wanted to thank everyone that helped out:
Dana, Cara, Connie, Janet, Beefy, Chad, Mike, Alex, Trevor, Jenny, JP, (hope I didn't forget anyone).
Also like to thank the teams. You were all good sports and put on a great show. Well done Dan and Myles, you deserved that win. Great driving, and Myles really put in a hell of an effort. I think the most insane run of the day goes to Rob Brooks. Shane and Rod were very impressive, too. I have to admit to being a little bit happy that only 5 trucks completed the course. I'm not happy that you guys broke, but just glad that it was truely a challenge.

Extra Photos

Artur goes sideways on his climb on Stage 2.	Ingo wheelies up the big berm.	Ingo flops in the bowl.
Dropping back into the trench.	I'm not sure how this happened, but Jesse flopped his big 'Cruiser at the foot of the big berm...	and then again on the other side of the berm, in the bowl.
Artur's poor axle shafts.	"Everything's gone egg-shaped!" Nice job on the knuckle, Artur!	It seems like Ingo spent a lot of time of two wheels.

Epilogue

The really amazing thing is that this event took place on a bunch of tank traps that were built to de-activate a road. Why is that amazing? Because the Island4x4 guys visualized an awesome course which most fourwheelers wouldn't even recognize as being drivable. It just required some creative thinking. Some of the mainlanders who participated have been inspired so we may see something similar here later this year.

...lars