#7231 Torchmate Coverage

[SuperRanger]

We are getting ready to head to the race after a round of testing. It was so much fun I actually considered screwing the team and running off into the desert with the coolest toy I have ever played with (well, almost).

I will be doing updates on Facebook for "Lovell Racing" as I can. Delayed and more thorough updates will be on "Torchmate Racing". We will post on Pirate as possible and can be tracked via IRC (racetheworld.net) as #7231 Bill Kunz.

For those that know Nick Socha, he will be navigating for 1/2 the race!

[Big Rich]

Good Luck guys.....

[RP Films]

Good Luck guys! Maybe Ill see you around Yerington???

[Wilson]

Right on, now Nick will scrap his toyota build for something faster

[lxh0318]

Good luck guys!

[wckedyota]

Right!!

Originally Posted by Wilson

Right on, now Nick will scrap his toyota build for something faster

[Wilson]

Didn't catch if you got it repaired after the roll? Everyone make it out ok?

[Scooterloo]

Originally Posted by Wilson

Didn't catch if you got it repaired after the roll? Everyone make it out ok?

Yes, Ran and finished on Day 3 I believe.

[ToyFamily]

A run down of my view of the last few days as I come back from delirium (so excuse punctuation and spelling).

Day 1: Greg Jones (driver) and I started the race to run the first 210 (ish, I don't recall right now) of the day to then pass it to Bill Kunz (driver)/Brad Lovell (co driver). I think we started 7th in class. I had never ridden with Greg and he told me he needed to be put in check cause he gets tunnel vision when in the chase and beats the truck..We both had the plan of "this is a marathon, keep a moderate pace", which is exactly what we did. There was several times that Greg asked "am I going to slow"?? Which I told him our pace was great, we were going great. We were passing people even at our pace and no one passed us most all day.

The problems we encountered was a little miss/power loss mid way so we switched the to the secondary ignition, we were worried the governer was failing, it seemed to go away. At one point we were right on someone's bumper in a tight section, we came to a switchback right and the truck in front glanced off a truck stuck in the turn, we split the difference between the two and stopped to back up and finish the turn but got stuck. I jumped out to see how verticle the ravine was in front of us and as I was running down it I slipped and fell right on my hip, instantly bouncing back on my feet running to the top of the other side and singaling it was good to come through. Greg motors through and I get in and while we carry on I am laughing telling Greg I just ate it. Then 30 mi to the driver change (rm180) we developed a vibration that limited us to about 55mph about there it felt like it wanted to rip itself apart. Luckily the next 20mi was technical moderate rocky sections and where were under 50mph and we only lost time in the last 10mi to the pit where is was running a pole line on a ridge going 55mph where we could have been at a comfortable 65mph, this is where a 7200 truck caught us and passed, the only car all day. Greg was coming apart a little after the pass, I could hear some mumbling angrily for a few miles. I tried to make him realize it was a long race and not to forget we were limping and still maintaining a pace, by the pit he came around. I later heard we came into driver change in 2nd or 3rd. We had radio'd to change the drive shaft during the fueling. A misplacement of one of the u bolts cost a little time but was found and Bill and Brad were off.

During their run they caught a rock in the drive shaft limiting them to 35-45mph and were experiencing fuel pump issues due to the heat. We changed the drive shaft at one of our planned fly bys and gave Brad a spare fuel pump to hold and crossed our fingers they'd hold up until the end of the leg. We also heard from friends following that our IRC was on the fritz.

Bill and Brad brought it to the finish in the top 4 (not official). During our hour of pit time the crew got after replacing a fuel pump and going over everything in our planned maintenance. We had no more spare drive shafts and the closest place to get some was Bishop. So we called Jesse Haines in the morning at the shop to run by Driveline service in Reno, with the mangled shafts we didn't bring and run by Summit for extra fuel pumps.

Day 2: Bill and Brad started the day and Greg and I were going to finish the last approx. 150mi. We fueled them at BFG 1 and soon after they left got a call from a family member that they weren't moving on tracker. They had lost a tire and changed it and were back on the road. We had a planned splash 2 pits later where I tossed a good tire on the back rack. Then trouble struck! They were leaving the silty pits following out a buggy in the dust and got stuck in ruts at the end of the pit!!! They recovered and were off. Greg and I went up to driver change and were ready.

We hopped in and made our way around 1/2mi long sitly, bumpy right 180 turn and a couple miles later things were just straightening on the GPS we began to pick up speed coming up the last rise and things hardened up and we launched. In the air I could feel the tail end pitch to the left, the driver rear hitting first, I was hoping it would settle but it swapped out and flung us hard passenger, perpendicular the road and then the impact on my side. I instantly saw dark and dirt in my window, light, dark again and again, hit after hit. I remember thinking as the impacts slowed and paused it was done, but that was just in the air. Then the last jarring hit, I heard Greg over the intercom saying "I need to get out, somethings wrong". I too saw stars on that last hit.

The truck settled pass side up. I told him to wait until I could get out and help him. I got out, he unclipped the belts and dropped to the ground and sat up, he turned up at me with a "deer in the headlight" look. I helped him out the passenger window and he was a little wobbly and I told him to get away from the truck and track and sit down and get the helmet off to breathe. I tried the radio but nothing, so I took off my helmet and as I looked around it was a yard sale, a spare tire was 40ft away, the jack 20ft and misc. body parts all around, including the gas filler tubes. It was raining gas, filling the lower bedside, so I killed the batteries, I got the strap and attached it for a recovery. Since we saw no competitors coming anytime soon (their the only ones who can help) Greg and I gave it an effort to try to flop it over. It was a 10deg. decline so what the heck, Greg pushed the roof and i pulled the strap, we'd get it 6-8" off the ground but it wasn't happening and no one was stopping for us.

He was still hurting, so I told him to sit down away from the truck, I was going to run back to the pit for help. About half way back a quad with EMT/official saw me, I pointed them to the wreckage and we both kept going. I got back to the pit to explain it all to the team and an EMT checked me out. He asked me if I felt anything pain or dizziness, I said ,"yes, but I don't know if that's from hucking a truck at 50mph or running 2mi in the desert or both". We heard on the radio that Greg wanted to go to the hospital, so things got tense. The official came back from dropping off the EMT and told our crew we had a pile of junk out there and the drivers gone crazy, he's got a jack and the spare tires under it trying to right it. I took off on foot with some water in the direction of the wreck.

When i got there the truck was almost over and due to the fuel spilling out the officials helped pull it over with quads. We collected all the pieces and the only way to get Greg back quickly and comfortably was for him to drive it back. We made it back to the pits, I got out and once the EMTs and Bill were looking after Greg I started letting Brad and the crew know what I saw wrong. Bill was going with Greg to the hospital but gave Brad the go ahead if we thought we could get the truck together.

The crew, BFG crew and everyone in the area jumped in and got it road worthy...enough. The upper Y link was bent pushing the rear axle 2" over and there was barely any body left. Brad asked me if i wanted to go and I said yes (that's my PC answer). Brad hopped in the driver seat, having only driven it a few minutes with me at our shake down at Moon Rocks days before. The two of us having only worked with each other as driver/spotter at the WE Rock Reno rockcrawing event. We strapped in and were off.

The truck felt good but was getting hot due to the deep gravel sections, so we had to stop a couple times. We were motoring on and Brad started noticing the lack of low end power...The stop and go check points almost got us stuck, so we knew we needed momentum for the silty sections and hills. We eventually came to one with no option for a run at it and deep silt. I jumped out and tried to find a "low road" around, stumbling through the dark in knee high bushes, sand and rocks. It took a while but found a way around it and were back in business. Things were looking up, I'm calling turns Right 3, Left 3, COW COW COW!!! We narrowly missed that, it made for good laughs and a few jokes. We carried on until we came up on a buggy stuck on a silt hill at RM 690. We came to the base of the steep hill with it plugged, crap! We knew we needed a run at it so we tried to back up to get a run at the side only getting stuck time and again in soft, deep gravel...being only 8mi from the finish of day 2. We were heart broken sitting in the dark stuck with 3 other vehicles.

After hours of waiting, a crew came for the Trailready TT and they yanked us out. We made our way backward down the coarse to get back to our crew and the pits. From there it started. They got Brad and I out of the car and we made Brad get some sleep. They took me for some food and clothes and went to work all night, having the sunrise before it was all together. Our chase guys John and Eric, Jesse (Haines), Torchmate tech Mike and sales Joe, transport driver Dave, our photographer Chad Jock and some VORRA friends battled all night. In the morning I test drove it and it seemed good but we woke Brad and had him test drive before taking it to impound and he come back with a smile, it was all good to go, we were on for Day 3.

Day 3: Brad and I had the jitters waiting so long in line for the start. The first 10mi was looking like silt for the whole valley, and it was. We charged hard and noticed a drive line vibe still, engine temp problem came back hard! We had to stop and when we did we got stuck. We got recovered and had to make a new game plan, keep the wheel speed down, stay out of the RPMs and ease up to speed. It was working but we noticed the temp was all over erratically. We radio'd the crew at the next pit and had them go to it. The guys added coolant and pulled the side panels on the tail section and Jesse burped the system. We were off again and it worked. There were no problems and Brad was getting comfortable, we were MOVING. We got word Bill might drive back from Reno and be at pit 5 for Driver change, we had a plan if he wasn't there but didn't need it.

Bill got in taking a few miles to get settled, I was already in my groove having been in the car for hrs. Bills' final run is the boring part, if fast is boring, we had no problems. The last part had a lot of fast sections we were hitting 90+ at times and Bill was setting up for corners nicely. We made our way to the last 10 mi. and I was getting excited but nervous, I didn't want a replay of last night so I started calling corners more conservatively and adding comments like cliff on right/left.

We made it! It felt awesome, the feeling overcoming the stiff neck, battered body, painfully chapped lips and exhaustion. We rolled into the spectator area with the crew Brad and Greg (in a collar with a fractured vertebra and cracked sternum) waiting all with smiles. We made all but 8 mi of a 1000mi race....and today I think I hear we got 4th, not bad for the looks of the truck mid way through Day 2.

We had an awesome, dedicated crew and having driven with all 3 drivers in one race, I have to say a very talented bunch of those too. As the experience is gained learning from every race, Team Torchmate will be harder and harder to beat.

P.S. I've can't remember ever being more tired and sore. I slept all day Sunday and am still tired. Thanks to Bill and Greg of Torchmate for this chance, it was awesome, I hope I get another ride.

Nick

[camo]

simply awesome !!! congrats to the whole team for the accomplishment

[RedBullJeep]

Was a blast watching it all unfold and obviously, it was heartbreaking seeing you guys SO CLOSE on day 2. We were cheering you on and hoping for the best but even without that one section finish, you guys still came away with a solid story, a good finish, and a big fan-following!

How is Greg doing now???

[BigWoodyWag]

Saw the truck and talked to Brad the monring of Day 3. Man that roof bar was caved.
Heard Matt "Jabnasty" Enochs 4406, did a bunch of welding on the truck after you guys got it in on Day 2. What all was tore up aside from the top of the cage.

[Lance]

Congrats on the effort guys. I'm glad Greg is ok...

[ToyFamily]

Originally Posted by BigWoodyWag

Saw the truck and talked to Brad the monring of Day 3. Man that roof bar was caved.
Heard Matt "Jabnasty" Enochs 4406, did a bunch of welding on the truck after you guys got it in on Day 2. What all was tore up aside from the top of the cage.

Jabnasty had his work truck there and since we only had a 110 flux in the trailer he stick welded a limit strap tab on the front end. We pushed the truck to finish, it held. Thanks to everyone that night who jumped in and helped. I heard Jabnasty might have taken offence to something I said jokingly that night. I didn't realize that, it was a long day (and night) I'll take this time to apologize, I was just talking some friendly Tx/Ca smack like I did with my Tx buddies while and lived there and like all our crew does with each other to lighten the mood in stressful moments.

Nick

[CHOPS]

Nick:

How many of the 1000 miles were you in the truck?

I told Brad, but the entire Torchmate team are my heros! You guys naver gave up, never quite and it paid off. And it sure is nice to hear about others teams jumping in to help!

I couln't get away from the computer. My wife about killed me becasue of mood swings.. Between the 7200 and 4400 class I had plenty to watch. I did alot of net surfing for info, best was right here on Pirate!

[gp_frk]

Good read Nick. Thanks for the story it goes along way with us web wheelers.
Congrats on the finish and for sticking it out.


Oh and Texass is better than Cali everyone who lives here knows that

[ToyFamily]

Originally Posted by CHOPS

Nick:

How many of the 1000 miles were you in the truck?

I told Brad, but the entire Torchmate team are my heros! You guys naver gave up, never quite and it paid off. And it sure is nice to hear about others teams jumping in to help!

I couln't get away from the computer. My wife about killed me becasue of mood swings.. Between the 7200 and 4400 class I had plenty to watch. I did alot of net surfing for info, best was right here on Pirate!

I think I did about 650mi and the majority of that was after the crash, 3-4 mi on foot and 300mi straight the last day. Brad had about the same probably. We all worked together well, which was a good thing because we needed to do so to perservere. No one wanted to quit, Greg even was trying to lift the car with me after the crash and was jacking it up and stuffing tires under it while I ran for the pits. The team has heart for sure.

Nick

[pappawheely]

Congratulations, You guys earned it!

[ToyFamily]

Greg was out of the neck brace today and was said to have no lasting injuries.

7231 race, all is good

Nick

[napsta]

did you loose some HID lights?

[apeters89]

Originally Posted by ToyFamily

Greg was out of the neck brace today and was said to have no lasting injuries.

7231 race, all is good

Nick

That's good to hear!

[BigWoodyWag]

You guys hauled the mail!

Finally got my pics loaded.


Brad Lovell at Tech



Post Race

[HardcorewannabeXJ]

Originally Posted by napsta

did you loose some HID lights?

You mean these lights?? I heard some aussies got the punt from behind and were a little pissed off, so they came back later with a tire iron and busted out some HID's on the finish line, mad max style....

[RedBullJeep]

Originally Posted by ToyFamily

Greg was out of the neck brace today and was said to have no lasting injuries.

GLAD to hear it!

[BigWoodyWag]

Originally Posted by HardcorewannabeXJ

You mean these lights?? I heard some aussies got the punt from behind and were a little pissed off, so they came back later with a tire iron and busted out some HID's on the finish line, mad max style....

that sucks but is funny as hell. It means that at some point you got passed by a rock crawler!!!!