HEADING_CONTACT_US_POPUP_TITLE

HEADING_CONTACT_US_POPUP_SUBTITLE

// similar behavior as clicking on a link
July, 18, 2011, "Silt Surfing". The USA 500 Race Report
  • July, 18, 2011, "Silt Surfing". The USA 500 Race Report

July, 18, 2011, "Silt Surfing". The USA 500 Race Report

Price:


It's Free!

Qty:

Product Description

Hopes of a high speed finish vanished quickly as the new MMS truck began to feel a power loss only 1/4 mile after the green flag was waived. The new Marked Motorsports truck needed more testing time to work out the bugs. After the team put 270 break free miles on it pre-running the course, the truck was torn down, inspected, and prepped for the 529 mile race.

The race gremlins had arrived early. The team was expected to be at Pit 1 within 30 minutes, but an electrical issue put the team in harms way on the rocky mountain climbs. Jake and Preston pulled out of traffic and tried to find the issue to no avail. They cruised into pit one over an hour behind schedule with a limping engine.

The cam positioning sensors had apparently failed putting the truck into shut down mode. Gabe Strouse MAGICALLY fixed the sensors with brake clean and the team was ready to run again. They left pit one while others were finishing there first lap, but they were racing again.


Jake left pit 1 pushing hard and trying to make up a little time. Approxamatly 1.2 miles from pit 1 they found a 80 ft drop off at 75mph. The truck launched about 200+ ft bottoming hard in the flats. The landing bent the front section of the trophylite chassis, smashed a rear brakeline, and bound up the steering shaft. "It was an insane jump, we flew so far and hit so hard, but were able to drive away" "It messed the truck up but I will have a permanent grin for a while". Said Jake.

Once patched together they went another 10 miles until the fuel pump quit. The pump was switched and they were on the way again. The next gremlin to appear was a stuck throttle at 90mph. They simply killed the ignition, pulled over and fixed the issue. Apparently it was just that easy because it wasnt a toyota prius? The shock tower had now contacted the throttle cable because of the bent chassis.

Mostly the next section of the course was uneventful until they hit the silt. "The section of silt we found was unreal". "I have never been surfing in the dirt before". "One slight mistake and we were hit by the wave of silt". Said Preston.

The white ghost made it to pit 2 with high engine and transmission temps. It was 4:00pm so the decision was made that enough was enough. They decided to call it and save the truck. It was found that the temps were caused by the trophylite chassis being bent. Forcing the engine and transmission to be jammed together.

"Maybe next time". "We had a lot of gremlins get us, but we will be back more prepared and have more test miles on the truck". "I also learned a valuable lesson about pushing the pace". Said Jake

Marked Motorsports would like to give a huge thanks to our team who worked day after day to get everything together. They sat in the heat all day not expecting the outcome that unfolded. Gabe, Shawn, Sterling, Chris, Angela, Trish, Preston, Evan and friends. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Also a big thanks to Sam from Samco. We are new to racing and even though we are his competitor he has been more than willing to teach us the ropes. Congratulations on the win Sam.

We also give our best wishes to our fellow racer Mongo from team 603. The Koenig team also hit the same roller at 60mph. The landing broke the front spindle and one of Mongo's lower vertebrae. Best wishes to you and your family. We hope you get better soon.

See you all in fallon for 24 hours of racing.

Features

  • 111 Units in Stock

Reviews

Be the first to write a review. Write a Review

This product was added to our catalog on Sunday 17 July, 2011.