P
pokeyYJ
Guest
The beginings of the revolt!
Having just gotten the new mags for this month I proceeded to read each all the way through. The editorials of a few of the more popular mags caught my attention. The editors talked about the increasing popularity of rock-racing and how it may one day reach stadium level. There were some good point brought up by John Cappa in JP. He said that in a few short years these rigs have gone from full steel bodied vehicles to wild tube creations that bear no resemblence(sp) to any real vehicle manufacturer. He also makes a good point that without a brand that the audience can relate with the interest will eventually die out. Like NASCAR, the vehicle are touted as Ford, Chevs or Dodges but in reality they are far from it. This is what keeps a lot of fans, the fact that Ford beat Chevy or visa-versa. Rockcrawlers need to have this kind of assosiation with the fans, if more started to have recognizable brands more car guys would get interested in it and the sport would stick around for longer.
The second thing that I found interesting was Jon Thompson's editorial in Four Wheeler. He starts off by describing his recent trip to the Rubicon, and how much rougher it is now than it was a few years ago. He says that part of this is due to the guys that take their overbuilt rigs there and try to make the trail harder. I happen to agree with him when he says that I these guys wanted a challange why didn't they bring their stock vehicles to the trail. This is not to say that you shouldn't build you rig, but like John says Dont overbuild it.
I quote John when he says "Seems like overbuilding a rig is seem as amoung other things, perhaps an antidote to poor driving skills." It comes done to what he says is the difference between ahcievement and acquisition. Achievement, where you reach the goal through skill and driving abilities, or acquisition, attacking the goal by spending.
You really don't need a huge overbuilt rig to get you through the trail. I have two friends, who will remain anonymous, each of them have Jeeps and I go wheeling with them regularly. The one has done reasonable modifications to his and the other felt the need to spend 40g's building his. Both do the same trails, although the one is capable of far more difficult trails. My friend that spent 40g's building his is not the most elegant driver and has resorted to using the skinny pedal to get him over the obstacle more than once. Befor he built his Jeep he had a hard time keeping up with my other friend on the trails. So he spent A LOT of money to make up for poor driving skills.
It comes down to where the limit will be? With bigger and bigger vehicles going out the need for harder and harder trails becomes present. This can result in enviromental damage that may one day shut down our sport forever. This has been discussed on RME before, look for the Rock Rolling thread.
Lets hear some of the opinions of the members here, and please no name calling
Having just gotten the new mags for this month I proceeded to read each all the way through. The editorials of a few of the more popular mags caught my attention. The editors talked about the increasing popularity of rock-racing and how it may one day reach stadium level. There were some good point brought up by John Cappa in JP. He said that in a few short years these rigs have gone from full steel bodied vehicles to wild tube creations that bear no resemblence(sp) to any real vehicle manufacturer. He also makes a good point that without a brand that the audience can relate with the interest will eventually die out. Like NASCAR, the vehicle are touted as Ford, Chevs or Dodges but in reality they are far from it. This is what keeps a lot of fans, the fact that Ford beat Chevy or visa-versa. Rockcrawlers need to have this kind of assosiation with the fans, if more started to have recognizable brands more car guys would get interested in it and the sport would stick around for longer.
The second thing that I found interesting was Jon Thompson's editorial in Four Wheeler. He starts off by describing his recent trip to the Rubicon, and how much rougher it is now than it was a few years ago. He says that part of this is due to the guys that take their overbuilt rigs there and try to make the trail harder. I happen to agree with him when he says that I these guys wanted a challange why didn't they bring their stock vehicles to the trail. This is not to say that you shouldn't build you rig, but like John says Dont overbuild it.
I quote John when he says "Seems like overbuilding a rig is seem as amoung other things, perhaps an antidote to poor driving skills." It comes done to what he says is the difference between ahcievement and acquisition. Achievement, where you reach the goal through skill and driving abilities, or acquisition, attacking the goal by spending.
You really don't need a huge overbuilt rig to get you through the trail. I have two friends, who will remain anonymous, each of them have Jeeps and I go wheeling with them regularly. The one has done reasonable modifications to his and the other felt the need to spend 40g's building his. Both do the same trails, although the one is capable of far more difficult trails. My friend that spent 40g's building his is not the most elegant driver and has resorted to using the skinny pedal to get him over the obstacle more than once. Befor he built his Jeep he had a hard time keeping up with my other friend on the trails. So he spent A LOT of money to make up for poor driving skills.
It comes down to where the limit will be? With bigger and bigger vehicles going out the need for harder and harder trails becomes present. This can result in enviromental damage that may one day shut down our sport forever. This has been discussed on RME before, look for the Rock Rolling thread.
Lets hear some of the opinions of the members here, and please no name calling
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