Ken's Journal
No. 4 - Summer 2004
Cedar City, Utah - 07/08 - 07/13/2004
Days 12-17 on the road. Part II.
A lady in the Jeep class and a typical obstacle on the Jeep course.
Look underneath this machine and you'll see someone down there doing something. That's the Spotter and he's piling rocks at the base of this obstacle to make a sort of ramp for the rear tires to get on the rock easily. This is all allowed in the rules. If you can lift it, you can move it to your advantage (Bigger Spotters are better!).
Of course, this all takes time and while you're doing this, the vehicle is sitting still. And if a vehicle sits still for more than five seconds, it'll cost five points. So it behooves you to work quickly or allow enough room for the vehicle to move every few seconds.
And so the next team doesn't have an advantage, a team will remove all the rocks they used after they finish the Stage.
This driver has pulled the front of the machine down on the suspension to keep the center of gravity low in the front.
Typically, you'd lower the front when you're going up an obstacle and lower the rear when you're going down an obstacle.
