Maxxis-sponsored Team Gigglepin’s Jim Marsden talks you through Maxxis King of The Glens from his point of view…
Scotland is a place of mystery and utter beauty interspersed with the worst peat bogs known to man and the starting point for the first round of Europe’s Ultra 4 offroad race series.
It’s a long 530mile drive to Griffin Forest from the south of England and its long gone 8pm as we are greeted by the sight of the best high end Offroad race cars in Europe waiting to do battle.
Gigglepin Team driver Jerry Hunt is there before us and has saved us a space. Before long our pit marquees are up and Camp Gigglepin has arrived!
Scotland is not known for its clement weather so its big smiles the following day as we wake to sunshine and clear skies “Awesome!” We are all buzzing as we work on the rebuilt team car, and it’s a monster! New chassis, New 40” Maxxis tyres, New Spidertrax axles, New Quaife Transmission, New Fox suspension, New LS3 6.2 V8 engine, my favourite Odyssey batteries and Gigglepin winches finishing this mental package. It’s all new and I have only driven it about 1 mile. The coming event is going to be one hell of a test drive!
With both Teams cars through scrutineering, its time to travel the extra 4 km into Griffin Forest for the prologue and the start Ultra 4 Europe series. The cars are awesome with Axel Burman and his Bruiser, Jaap Betsema with Fireant, Walter Phillippo with his JHF buggy, Nicholas Montador and his Rover powered racer, the list goes on as more and more cars head to the start. But two notable cars are missing, the Eurofighters driven by Rob Butler and Levi Shirley have had some problems and as we line up they are still fighting UK traffic and trying to make it to the start line.
“What start number you got Jerry?” I ask, “I have drawn a pearlier” he replies, “Number 21, so looks like I‘m going to be last off the grid”. I can’t help but chuckle, no one wants last place on the prologue and everything was looking great until my co driver Mark Birch draws 22 from the hat! “How the hell did you do that?” Jerry is killing himself laughing at our misfortune and we can only smile and pray the course works in our favour.
First car out is Mike Robertson of Letz Roll and he posts a fast time but comes over the line with a flat. Looks like its going to be tough. The next few cars all come in with punctures and its clear this is not going to be a walk in the park. The weather changes and its bloody freezing and I have to steal Iain’s jacket. I call it a jacket but you have to understand
he is a big chap and it could house a family of four for a camping holiday. Everyone is in a great mood and very happy to point out how stupid I look as I walk round with the circus tent dragging round my knees.
The clock drags on as a couple of cars take maximum times after breaking their steering in the difficult technical sections. Then all of a sudden we are on the line, the engine is purring and Mark and I wonder what is going to happen. Will the car work? Will it break? Will it blow our socks off?
The flag drops and 525 horse leap from the line “Oh my god! This is Awesome!” we charge up the metalled track and turn into the woods blasting up the fire break before a sharp turn into the tight trees the other teams had warned us about. Then I nearly throw it away. I am trying to use high box and get caught in trees severely burning the clutch.
I can’t believe my stupidity as I change into low knowing that I might already have destroyed our chances. We exit the wood and game plan goes clean out of the window. It’s now foot down and have some fun. With the big smiles and a very smelly clutch we cross the line and take first place from Axel Burman by a steady 4 seconds, a good start. Now its time to check the car and get ready for the real event the following morning. A quick spanner check finds no problems and its off to bed for a well earned rest.
9 am arrives all too fast and with tired eyes we head once again up the hill and into Griffin forest for the start. Both Eurofighters have arrived and they look and sound incredible with big Maxxis tyres and hungry American V8 engines supplying the sound track. It’s a testament to Ultra 4 that many international drivers have travelled so far with the furthest travelled honours going to Levi Shirley and Terry Madden, Team Lucky dog from the USA, now that’s commitment.
Drivers briefing is short and sweet with the marshal’s calling us up for our start position. As we won the prologue the honours are all ours and we run through our final checks as we wait for the flag.
The Maxxis Babes have the flag and ten seconds later we roar from the line sequential gearbox and engine screaming in harmony as we power uphill to the first obstacles.
The course is fast and technical as we charge through the forests down amazing fire breaks and tracks. Mark is strangely silent as we power on until we reach km 4…. “You have got to be joking” we both say together “We have got to go through there?” I’m not sure it was a question or a statement of disbelief as we arrive. Before us is a 200 metres run through the tightest trees you have ever seen! The car barely fits through and we bounce our way through until finally getting caught on a large tree half way down the ride. We try winching, pulling, breathing in and everything else we can think of but she is just to wide to get through the gap. By this time Axel and Jerry have caught us and are stuck behind us. “Mark! Get the saw and lose that tree!”
It’s no small tree at 14” across but it’s cut it down or stay there all day. Out comes the Silky saw and seconds later Mark and the other co drivers, James and Tom are pushing the tree out of the way.
Love those saws! Freed from our tether we resume our charge and fly out of the tree’s like a cork out of a bottle. It’s short lived as we travel only 150metres before submarining straight into our first peat bog of the weekend. I could have cried as our team-mate Jerry buzzed past on the highline and disappeared. Lesson learnt and before long the Gigglepin winch has pulled us free and we are in hot pursuit. We catch Jerry as he crosses the moor and he pulls over to let us start our charge. But leading a first lap is never easy and we keep losing our way. Jerry and James catch us again as Mark and I desperately try to find the route in some heavy trees.
Mark then spots the arrows and once again its time to fly. The rest of the lap blurs as we concentrate on getting round and not breaking the car, and what a car it is! We are awestruck at how she covers the ground and uses its staggering power to clear hills and bogs with an ease that is jaw dropping. 29km later and we cross the line in a cloud of dust and make our way to remote pit one. We have an hour to service the car, grab some food and fuel and get back out for our 2nd lap. We were rather surprised when 30 minutes later still no one else had arrived back. Then we heard rumours of the carnage that was taking place. With stories of cars rolling, multiple breakages and many stuck in deep peat bogs.
With our hour up and only 2 other cars having come back we start our 2nd lap. This time the course is clear but it’s carnage as we pass broken and stuck cars. We drop a barrel of transmission fluid to Levi and Terry , wish them well before powering onwards once again. I love this lap and even manage a smile as we pass through the fields of tree stumps I hate so much. Why is it forest workers know to cut trees at just the right height to hit your axles? Coincidence? I think not, and none are on my Christmas card list. The car pulls on and on and it’s a flyer of a lap, over 30 minutes faster than the first. It’s back to camp to clean down, service and get ready for the following day. But plans rarely go as they should and we soon find ourselves back on the moor rescuing cars that had been stuck in Peat bogs all day. Armed with cake, Mars bars and soft drinks for the crews, we got in and out as fast as possible well aware that the extra wear on the car could be fatal.
Back at camp and its an awesome dinner cooked by Karen who has travelled up to look after us. Nothing beats good food and some proper banter after a tough day in the office. It’s gone 11.30pm before we are satisfied with the car and head to bed.
The next morning it’s a 9am start and we are happy to see so many cars lined up ready for the off. Our previous days efforts have put us in a commanding position with a 40 minute lead over our nearest rival. Jerry had some bad luck breaking a radius arm, but with that fixed he was confident of a good day. Nicholas Montador was 2nd off the grid with the impressive Fireant chasing his tail. Many cars had worked long hours to make repairs to ensure they arrived at the start line.
At 9am the Maxxis Babes drop the flag and once again 525 angry ponies drag us up the hill to the first obstacles. It’s a great start for us and we take advantage of the drying conditions over night to nail the lap and put in the fastest so far. Then it’s another one hour pit run to get ready for our final lap. We check the car and can find no faults, not even a loose nut or bolt…. This is all going far to well.
The clock ticks over and as we head off for our final lap still no one else has arrived back from the first run. This is worrying.
I know we only have to finish with a sensible time and this lap is about survival and getting to the end. We get 4km in and arrive once again at the tight trees, we take our time don’t risk breaking the steering. We are through! No problem. Then its into the bog and what the hell has happened?! It’s like the Somme but worse. The heavy peat is incredibly deep and tears the steering belt from its pulley. It’s not a good place to make a belt change but we have no choice and less than 5 minutes later the bonnet is back on and we are winching over the crest. We work our way around the bog and then to both our amazements I drive the hill climb. It’s 100 plus metres of hell and looked impassable. Step forward the Maxxis Trepadors. What a tyre! Where they found grip I have no idea, but they dragged us to the top of that impossible climb, jaw dropping stuff.
How anyone does this without a windscreen or mud guards is a mystery to me and Mark and myself work hard to keep it clear so we can see. The Kilometres are being ticked off but we can not believe the difference in the course, places that only an hour or two earlier were drivable had turned to hell and I was having to work the car hard to get through. We arrive at one bog and find we have an audience.
Ultra 4 founder, Dave Cole and Jose are watching along with my girlfriend Karen. Now I have already driven this bog three times before so it’s going to be simple, right…. It never works that way and we are advised by a marshal that the car stuck at the end of the bog had already been there 1.5hours without moving. No problem, I got this covered. I reverse up 50 metres and let fly in low 4th with everything locked up. Bang! We hit it and hit it hard. End result? Very stuck and not even halfway! Mark tries the ground anchor, but no luck. Then we spot a tree line that although really in the wrong direction is perfect for a recovery. The Gigglepin winch pulls us free and we run out our rear cable to rescue the stranded truck. Philon and Anthony have been stuck for so long that they are at the point of despair. Although we are racing we can’t leave a friend like that and a couple of minutes later we have them out of the mire and on hard ground. It’s a quick beep and a wave as we unleash those 500 horses once again and charge up the heather covered hills.
The course has really changed and I am using every bit of knowledge I have to keep those wheels turning. It seems to be taking forever as we fight our way through. The course then quickens as we break back into the forests and we are back up to speed and flying with the Lazer lamps showing the way through the dark tree cover. Mark is calling the lines and talking me through the course as we power to the finish.
Then its there! The finish line! We cross the line in a full four wheel drift with big smiles. What a weekend! What a car! What a result! First time out and it’s a win! We have won every stage and finished over 4 hours ahead of the nearest rival against a world class field. Not many teams take out a new untested car and win an international event. It’s something we have done more than once and it makes us very proud.
Jim talks you through their winning vehicle…
