Ben Olson at the Morningside Tough Truck Challenge

On the last section, Al flopped his Suzuki onto its side just after climbing this greasy hill. Shortly after that prior roll, Al rolled the Suzi onto its roof after trying to extricate himself out of a bad position. Clearly, this wasn't an improvement. Wyatt adds some penalty points to Al's score sheet while Al contemplates the damage.       Murray's driveshaft snapped as he was trying to crest this hill. Once that happened, the Suzuki rolled backwards and then began its sideways roll. Here you can see a bit of Murray sticking out of the side window. Fortunately, he pulled himself tight into the steering wheel. Here you can see that the rear driveshaft is missing. Look at that roof. He was extremely lucky that he didn't sustain any head injuries. A little shaken but he was fine.       Ben Olson's adjustable air suspension came in handy to un-highcentre himself from this rock.

October 16, 1999 Written by Larry Soo, photos by Larry Soo & Rob Mullen Without a doubt, the Morningside Tough Truck Challenge is the scariest 4x4 event I've attended. People who have been to the Dakota Territory Challenge, Rubicon, and other trails have said the same thing. What makes it tough is that the trails are either wet or they're covered with moss. You can't slowly crawl through any of the sections. What makes Morningside so scary is that there are lots of off-camber sections and hill climbs where you have ample opportunity to put your truck on its side. MTTC is the twisted creation of Paul Cooper, a resident of the Sooke Point reserve on Vancouver Island. The event takes place on reserve land so Paul has a free hand when he designs the course. With each passing year, the event draws more and more spectators and drivers. At this year's challenge, there were close to 30 drivers and around 200 spectators. That's pretty impressive when you realize that Paul was trying to keep the number of spectators down this year and did absolutely no advertising of the event on the island. Mr Morningside himself, Paul Cooper From the beginning, it was apparent that Al was going to do very well in the competition. This long wheelbase Suzuki came amazingly close to flopping over on its side but the driver saved it by getting off his brakes just in time. This is a scored event where the driver with the fewest points wins. Penalty points are awarded for stalling, backing up (or engaging reverse gear), going out of bounds, not completing a section, and not attempting a section. The competitors' vehicles fell into two distinct categories: Not fully locked-up so I'm going to use lots of throttle and beat the hell out of my truck. Fully locked up so I don't have to beat the hell out of my truck...as much. The first category was well represented by severely abused Suzuki LJs and SJs that had been trailered to the event. They were usually equipped with a welded rear diff, open front diff (so they could still steer), modest mud tires, considerable fender trimming and that was about it. The second category had a mix of vehicles, all of which cost considerably more than the first group. Front and rear lockers, minimal dents, large mud tires and tall suspension lifts typified these vehicles. Most of these vehicles drove to the event. I had heard all sorts of horror stories about the MTTC trails so I thought the beater trucks would have the advantage. If you're driving a beater, you don't worry about rubbing up against trees and can use the throttle to get you over difficult parts without worrying about expensive damage to your daily driver. That was my mindset when the competition began. Paul's finding it to be a tight squeeze on his own trail. Here's another famous island 'wheeler, Jason Dumont and his monster Ford. Jason also hosts a 4wheeling event called the Dumont Poker Run. This year's run is rumoured to have some rather insane sections. This Samurai driver was doing well up until he lost his bead on this hill. Here's section #5 which caused difficulties for a lot of contestants. Al scrambled up here without missing a beat. Dean Bradley did a great job of driving his immaculate TJ. It takes a lot of confidence to enter a shiny 4x4 in this event. The downhill part of section #4 gave Rick Gammie a scare. The first section made me re-consider my thinking. As I mentioned before, the terrain was not traction friendly. Wet rocks, moist earth and moss require momentum and wheelspin. Or front and rear lockers and premium mud tires. Even with momentum and spectacular amounts of wheelspin, the low budget guys immediately ran into difficulty. Speed and minimal traction resulted in hopping, sideways sliding and smashing into rocks. That explained why the low budget vehicles were severely dented. In comparison, the built trucks were able to get through with much less speed and had much more control. It goes to prove the adage about spending the money on upgrades or repairs: you're going to spend it one way or the other so better to do the upgrades. All the top-placing drivers had extremely capable vehicles with front and rear lockers. They did not require a lot of wheelspin to climb the obstacles. Ok, now that I've finished my technical analysis of the competition, let me give you my gut response: the guys with the beater vehicles were more fun to watch. I'm sure I speak for the majority of the spectators when I say that we were a bloodthirsty lot, hungrily waiting for vehicular carnage. I was reminded of a computer show I attended where an attractive woman in a tight, EXTREMELY short mini-skirt was sitting on a stool, legs crossed, giving a product demo. During her presentation, she dropped one of her props and there was an collective, audible gasp from the males in the audience as they realized she would have to uncross her legs to get off the stool. That kind of edge-of-the-seat lust and expectation hung in the air whenever a beater vehicle appeared. We were seldom disappointed. The number one bit of carnage for me was watching Murray's green polymorphouse (because I saw it change shape before my eyes) Samurai scream and thrash its way up section #5 only to snap its rear driveshaft and come rolling down the rock face towards me. Running a close second was Al Berikoff's THREE rolls: twice on his side, once on his roof. What can I say? Al's a spirited driver. His Suzuki/Toyota creation was unstoppable and even with his rolls, he managed to take first place and the "AWESOME" award. A distant third was Ben Olson laying his Suzuki on its side yet again. I didn't see it happen so it didn't place high on my list of favourite Doh! occurrences. Al's Team 4Offroad Suzuki also got a lot of attention, especially after people saw it in action and wondered how it could perform so well (personally, I think it was due to its Jeep YJ grill...but then again, I'm a YJ owner so maybe I'm biased). I think next year, there will be other Morningside entrants with vehicles based on Al's recipe of simple but elegant engineering and use of off-the-shelf parts. What would you do if someone gave you a FREE Bronco? Why, destroy it at Morningside, of course! Tim drove this poor Ford with a mad vengeance and did pretty well. Laughing in the face of physical laws, Rob Brooks manages to avoid sliding off this mossy slope and was able to finish the section. Here's something you don't see every day (you generally only see it every four months): Ben Olson's Suzuki on its side. Once the tire melts, his traction should improve dramatically. Watching him drive, I got the sneaking suspicious that he was actually borrowing someone else's truck. The funniest thrashing was produced by a guy in a grey Chevy. Aside from his built motor, the truck was virtually stock. You know that saying, "when all you have is a hammer, the whole world is a nail?" Well, it describes this situation quite well. Without the benefit of a locked rear end or aired down mud tires, the driver leveraged his only resource, HORSEPOWER. There is a certain hysterical beauty in watching someone burning out on a rock face with his tires spinning 60mph in the forward direction while the truck is actually bouncing and sliding backwards. I noticed that many of the spectators couldn't help flinching when watching this die hard continue his attempts to conquer section #5. Shortly after blowing off his engine breather filter, he fragged his hub or axle shaft u-joint and called it quits. His 15 minutes of fame ended in a choking cloud of tire smoke. Team 4Offroad and the spoils of victory (ie: a broken foot and trophies) The top finishers were as follows: Al Berikoff (Suzuki/Toyota) Rob Brooks (Toyota) Dean Bradley (Jeep) Vern O'Connor (Jeep) Congratulations, guys! Having finally seen the event for myself, I no longer believe it would be mechanical suicide for me to enter my daily driver Jeep. Yes, the risks are there but body damage and drivetrain destruction is not guaranteed if your vehicle is properly built with at least 33" mud tires, a flexible suspension and front and rear lockers.     ...lars