Race Report

First off I want to say thank you to everyone that came to help us out at our first desert race. We had a great time. 
Lap 1-The start went well and we came into Main Pit with no issues other than some loose rear fiberglass which the team removed (we will have to improve the bedside mounts). In Loop 2 we hit a rock at speed that broke the driveline. After pulling out our spare we were back on course in about ten minutes. Loop 3 we had a rear tire go out in the rocky section. When we made it to Pit B the pit crew found that we had lost a nut on one of the shackle hangers. The shackle was at an angle which was causing it to hit the frame. It took a little over an hour to change the hardware and a few other things. The welder came out and all the other suspension hardware was checked and then we were back on track. 
Lap 2- We lost the rear brakes at the start of the lap in Loop 1. We took it slow down the mountain using 4-low to keep us going down at a safe speed. At Main Pit we plugged the line with the hole going to the driver side. The entire brake system was bled and because the rear end is a spool, the loss of one rear brake was not a big issue other than a worry for overheating. Getting back into the truck we changed drivers. Andrew swapped with codriver Sean who was going to drive the second lap. In Loop 2 there were no issues and everything was working great. In Loop 3 we got a flat at the same spot on the course as the last lap (passenger side rear--same as the blow out in the first lap). We change it out and got going again. Then in under one minute we got another flat--same tire. Luckily, we had two spares on board. We made it to Pit B where we got two new spares on board. The pit was quick and we finished the lap strong.
Lap 3- Loop 1 went well and we made it to Main Pit with no issues as the sun was setting. We did a driver change--Andrew got back in the driver seat and Sean to the codriver seat for the remainder of the race. The team noticed the steering was loose so we change it out with a spare. The lightbar was installed and the truck took off. Loop 2 went great no issues making good time. Loop 3 went very well no issues at all, no flats in the rocky section this time. The truck made it passed the start/finish line with one hour to spare before the final lap cutoff time of 1:00am. 
Lap 4 final- Loop 1 was going well until we notice an issue with either a broken motor mount or transmission mount. When we made it to Main Pit the team noticed a broken driver side engine mount. We welded it up solid hoping it would hold up for the next 63 miles remaining in the race. We left Main Pit knowing we could finish the race within the time hack of eighteen hours. Loop 2 was going great, going fast and making up some time through the smoother portions of the course. There was a nasty uphill section that had become deep silt and was rutted out by all the race traffic. We took the same line as the last lap but we didn’t make it and got stuck. Both front and rear axles were buried. The truck was in 4-low for this section of the course but it still was not enough. There was brush under the truck which caught on fire because of the header. We were able to put the fire out using sand (Which we learned in Baja). We got out and started digging and using the high lift to jack the truck up and stuff rocks under the tires on all 4 corners. BC 6 stopped and helps us get the truck free and there was an UTV stuck right in front of us as well. We finally got it free but had lost about two hours in the race. We got in the race truck and started driving. We had no more issues and made it to Pit A where Weather Man said we had sixteen minutes to complete the remaining thirty miles of the final lap. We decided to call the race.
About a year ago, in May of 2012, we started the transformation of our 1991 Bronco into a race truck. We stripped it down to bare bones and set out to create a machine that we felt would be competitive in Class 3. Beforehand, countless hours were spent researching online and on the course. We had been supporting a fellow local team tackle the Baja 1000 since 2007 and had gone to an assortment of other off road races. We built multiple desert style suspension systems on a few different trucks teaching us a good understanding of what is needed. The Bronco was constructed in a year’s time because of many late nights and the sacrifice of most all of our leisure time. After it was on its wheels in early 2013 we took it out on a number of test runs and many issues were worked out. Before the truck ever saw a race course it was well tested. In April we competed in a short course race to really see what was working and what would fail under the extreme scrutiny of the Prairie City course. Our shocks were trashed and we sought out and acquired a sponsorship from Fox Racing. 
The Reno 500 was a total success in breaking our team into desert racing. With some experience under our belts we plan to continue moving forward and racing the entire HDRA series in 2014.