Desert Racer vs. Rock Racer @ KOH

[rockstacker]

Well Mikey (TT#57) blew another motor at RM9 and has comissioned a top desert guy to fix it...Baja 500 will be the first test...Forgot about Schaffer, BTW he is legally blind and won the 1000 3 times...Just say'n

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[nimrod]

What I don't understand is how so many people think it validates their team, sport, car, existence to put others down.

Putting down desert racers does not make KoH any cooler. It's already cool, just be proud of that and stop making yourself look stupid.

Running a race car to La Paz is the big leagues. It takes more effort than you can dream if you've never done it. Just getting 750 gallons of race fuel across the border and set up in a pit every 130 miles is mind boggling.

Sorry but if you haven't done it you'll never know. It's kinda like thinking a rock crawler is going really really fast if you've never stood on the side of a course and watched a TT scream by. Only thing in the desert that still gives me goosebumps.

[pappawheely]

What I don't understand is how so many people think it validates their team, sport, car, existence to put others down.

Putting down desert racers does not make KoH any cooler. It's already cool, just be proud of that and stop making yourself look stupid.

Running a race car to La Paz is the big leagues. It takes more effort than you can dream if you've never done it. Just getting 750 gallons of race fuel across the border and set up in a pit every 130 miles is mind boggling.

Sorry but if you haven't done it you'll never know. It's kinda like thinking a rock crawler is going really really fast if you've never stood on the side of a course and watched a TT scream by. Only thing in the desert that still gives me goosebumps.

Sounds like you are puting down everyone who has not raced a TT or the thousand!?

[dhardesty]

I've attended and participated in hundreds of desert races in the past 30 years. Not to mention many short course off road races and supercross events. Plus I’ve been to about 20 NASCAR, Cart, NHRA, and Oval races. This year we decided to check out KOH and see what it’s all about. I witness things at KOH I’ve never seen in any other motorsports event.

KOH was the first time I’ve ever seen a race vehicle with the co-driver banging on a COW BELL while the driver has one arm on the wheel and the other resting on the door (window nets down) both of them listening to Bon Jovi on the stereo system! Yes this was during the race driving thru a spectator area going 4 mph on a flat wash area with no rocks or bumps!

Also the first time I’ve seen a driver (during race) get out of the vehicle, take off his helmet to look at an obstacle. Then proceed to get back in race vehicle throw his helmet in the passenger seat and drive down rock obstacle no belts and no helmet!

There was one vehicle that ran out of fuel right in the middle of 1,000 spectators and the driver and passenger sat in the vehicle cranking the thing for 10 minutes until the battery was dead! Not the driver or the co-dawg got out to check fuel pressure, coil wire or anything. I don’t think they ever did figure out they were out of gas. The pick up on the fuel cell was mounted in way were the last couple of gallons of fuel didn’t pump when they were going down hill! Once they were on flat ground the engine would fire, until they went down hill again. I don't know the rules but maybe fuel pressure guages are illegal, it was kinda comical.

I know this is going to piss off some of you hard core rocker, and I don’t mean any disrespect because I love to go wheelin myself. BUT, there were only a handful of entrants actually racing (10 to 15 at most), and those top teams were very impressive!! The rest of the field was Hill Billy Circus at its finest!

With that said I will be there to watch the circus again in 2013!

I give major props to the promoters and sponsors of this event, great job. (I'm being sincere)

[Rock Donkey]

Nobody's bashing eachother. The rock racers respect the desert racers and vice versa. Coming from a rock crawling background, it's fun to see desert teams take on a race like KOH that mixes in technical rock trails. I'm sure the desert guys get a chuckle at seeing some of the rock racer rigs hit the high speed whooped out sections. I think it is easier to learn how to go fast in the desert vs. be fast in the rocks. Both take seat time and strong parts, but IMHO the learning curve is shorter in the dez.

I also agree that there is only a small percentage of entrants battling for the win. The promoters did it right this year, they let the teams qualify for starting positions. If you didn't qualify very well you risked getting caught in a traffic jam or bottleneck on the course where it enters the rock trails. This year the dust was so bad I think it stunned a lot of rock racers who are not used to thick dust just hanging in the air for hours.

Regardless of conditions, if a desert racer wants to win KOH they better practice the rock sections and build a car strong enough for bashing boulders.

I just hope we don't lose Johnson Valley priviledges since it is a diamond in the rough for off-road racing.

[Nessy]

Didnt Shannon Cambell finish KOH in less than 4 hours?This is an awesome race and better spectating than desert racing but there is no way you can compare it to a Baja race.

[Rock Donkey]

Didnt Shannon Cambell finish KOH in less than 4 hours?This is an awesome race and better spectating than desert racing but there is no way you can compare it to a Baja race.

Finish times for the top 3 guys were around 4.5 hours this year I believe. I think the DNF rate was at 55% this year and teams had till midnight before they cut the closed the finish line IIRC.

Baja races are different but I think you can compare the phyical side of KOH vs. racing B1K. I bet racers felt more physically exhausted after racing 160 miles @ KOH vs 800 miles of Baja. $.02

[Nessy]

Finish times for the top 3 guys were around 4.5 hours this year I believe. I think the DNF rate was at 55% this year and teams had till midnight before they cut the closed the finish line IIRC.

Baja races are different but I think you can compare the phyical side of KOH vs. racing B1K. I bet racers felt more physically exhausted after racing 160 miles @ KOH vs 800 miles of Baja. $.02

4.5hrs of mild whoops and some rock crawl sections compared to 16hrs of 4 ft whoops and knarly rocky mountain trails. I am willing to bet Baja is a little harder.

[on the rcks]

4.5hrs of mild whoops and some rock crawl sections compared to 16hrs of 4 ft whoops and knarly rocky mountain trails. I am willing to bet Baja is a little harder.

I think they're pretty comparible. I've raced both 4 times. It also depends on what you are driving in Baja I suppose and for that matter I guess what you are driving in KOH as there is a wide variety of cars for a single class. I've done Baja in a JeepSpeed (brutal) Trophy Truck (adrenilne) and BC Car (pure fun) as well as some other races in BITD. Hitting your chassis on rocks in the trails is 10X the impact of hitting 4' whoops even if you bottom out a bit...so it does even out the challenge physically. And the knarly trails part of the statement it goes to KOH hands down...drive acrross the top of Jack North someday! Mentally Baja is LONG and has changing conditions but so to does KOH when you go back and forth through desert at 60MPH and then into rocks at 5MPH...They are both a great challenge of man and equipment. At some point both races have their "rest" sections of long lakebeds (gratned they are longer in Baja) but KOH has no long roads and no road sections to recoup. The biggest difference is that most teams have multiple drivers/co-drivers for Baja so except for the few that ironman it it's a pretty fair mix between the two if you are in the car 1/2 the race.... but after Baja I can still party all night, after KOH I have trouble eating dinner...

[Nessy]

I think they're pretty comparible. I've raced both 4 times. It also depends on what you are driving in Baja I suppose and for that matter I guess what you are driving in KOH as there is a wide variety of cars for a single class. I've done Baja in a JeepSpeed (brutal) Trophy Truck (adrenilne) and BC Car (pure fun) as well as some other races in BITD. Hitting your chassis on rocks in the trails is 10X the impact of hitting 4' whoops even if you bottom out a bit...so it does even out the challenge physically. And the knarly trails part of the statement it goes to KOH hands down...drive acrross the top of Jack North someday! Mentally Baja is LONG and has changing conditions but so to does KOH when you go back and forth through desert at 60MPH and then into rocks at 5MPH...They are both a great challenge of man and equipment. At some point both races have their "rest" sections of long lakebeds (gratned they are longer in Baja) but KOH has no long roads and no road sections to recoup. The biggest difference is that most teams have multiple drivers/co-drivers for Baja so except for the few that ironman it it's a pretty fair mix between the two if you are in the car 1/2 the race.... but after Baja I can still party all night, after KOH I have trouble eating dinner...

Wow,you raced Baja in a Jeepspeed and still got back in time to party all night?My Baja experiences I had to chase and work on the car when I wasnt driving so sleeping and eating were rare.