2006 Top Truck Challenge XIV: Course Overview Video
Check out the 7 obstacles that make up Top Truck Challenge XIV...
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00:00 Welcome to 4-Wheeler Magazine's 14th Annual Top Truck Challenge.
00:04 I'm Stephen Cox.
00:06 Top Truck Challenge is the most intense off-road competition on the planet.
00:10 Now here's what we'll be seeing.
00:12 Ten teams from across the U.S. and Canada, voted in by the readers of 4-Wheeler Magazine,
00:17 will compete on seven ruthless off-road obstacles here in Hollister Hills Off-Road Park in California.
00:24 The obstacles are designed to push the limit of these built 4-wheel drives.
00:28 And it's all about to begin.
00:29 Here's Bob Bauer.
00:30 This is the pinnacle event for off-road enthusiasts.
00:34 So these ten teams are going to hold nothing back once that proverbial green flag drops.
00:40 Helping me piece together this 72 hours of insanity here at the Hollister Off-Road Park
00:45 in Northern California is Tony Becker, who is right now checking out the first of seven
00:50 tough obstacles these drivers are going to compete in over the next three days.
00:55 All right, check this out.
00:56 This is the first event.
00:57 It's the frame twister.
00:59 These guys got to make a big right-hand turn.
01:01 They got to drop into this squeeze.
01:02 There's three rocks.
01:03 One of them's over five feet tall.
01:05 If they make it through that, they're going to make a big left-hander and drop into this
01:08 trough.
01:09 Now the judges have placed some stuff in there, and these guys can't see.
01:12 Then a dozer went in, dug this out, filled it full of rock and mud.
01:16 That's nothing.
01:17 At the end, they got six logs, two feet in diameter, covered in mud.
01:21 Good luck.
01:22 The Fram Frame Twister.
01:31 Here competitors have a maximum ten minutes to complete the course.
01:35 Now there are penalties for winching or hitting a marker.
01:38 You get completely out of control and off course, and it's a DQ.
01:42 With the advances made to four-wheel drives over the years, building challenging obstacles
01:47 is a job in itself, but they may have got the job done here.
01:51 The new mud pit is a 143-foot pit of evil California muck, formulated to be the perfect
01:57 consistency and resistance.
01:59 The idea is to travel as far as possible in the fastest time.
02:02 Now there's no time limit, but once the competitor stops forward movement, it's over.
02:07 Okay, check this out.
02:08 This is a hill climb.
02:10 Last year I came up here and I said, "Forget about it.
02:12 No one's getting to the top."
02:13 Don Bram did it in just about 30 seconds.
02:16 So this year, they're going to try to match that.
02:18 Once again, I just don't see it.
02:21 So all I can say is good luck.
02:24 When you add up all its twists and turns, the all-new obstacle course may not look fast,
02:29 but it is a quarter mile of intensity, especially from the driver's seat.
02:34 With a ten minute time limit, speed will be critical.
02:37 Factor in two large bowls and several gnarly mud holes that are designed to put these competitors
02:43 in some very off-camber tilts.
02:45 Now here's Bob with Jerry Duffy.
02:47 It's a tight course.
02:48 You have to be very cautious.
02:49 Finesse.
02:50 How do you mean?
02:52 Throttle but not throttle.
02:53 Does that make any sense?
02:54 In other words, all these guys will have to play it smart if they're going to win this
02:58 thing.
02:59 The tow test.
03:00 Now this is the only top truck event that doesn't include big rocks and mud or water.
03:06 It's a test of raw horsepower, durability, and traction, as four-wheelers project Titan
03:10 demonstrates.
03:21 Competitors hook to and then attempt to pull a 40,000 pound cement truck up a steep 175
03:28 foot course.
03:29 Each team gets one run.
03:31 This challenge weeds out the weakest driveline parts.
03:35 So the next one up is this.
03:38 The mini Rubicon.
03:41 Well if that's mini, then I've got to get a dictionary.
03:44 The last challenge of the day is perhaps the most difficult since it takes solid teamwork.
03:49 The Mickey Thompson Tire Mini Rubicon is 125 feet of boulder strewn intensity bordered
03:54 by sharp drop-offs.
03:56 Just getting started is in many ways the most difficult part of the course.
04:00 Teams have 20 minutes to compete and speed is not on their side.
04:05 This is the beginning of the tank trap.
04:06 Looks fairly harmless, right?
04:08 It's a steep canyon with seven water holes.
04:10 Oh hang on, there's one more here.
04:12 This is zero.
04:14 If they get to the top, they might be champs.
04:17 That's if.
04:18 So far this whole event has been nothing but punishing.
04:21 This thing right here, in the words of Jerry Duffy, is just plain cruel.
04:25 The tank trap is a quarter mile long natural gorge that's prime breeding ground for some
04:31 of the most vicious poison oak on the planet.
04:33 From start to finish, it's a 190 foot climb in elevation.
04:37 It's loaded with canyons reaching 35 feet high.
04:41 There are seven water holes, some large enough to swallow a truck, so each team is given
04:46 30 minutes to complete the course.