Build GCRad1's 1992 ADV80 LAND CRUISER

[GCRad1]

PROJECT: Desert TT Mission - continued

The Falken Wild Peaks float us out of the desert sand over the tarmac and into Rattlesnake Canyon!

This place is simply cool.

The ADV80 just looks home here!

I can't help it, Rattlesnake Canyon is just simply cool!
I think I am running for Mayor of Rattlesnake Canyon! HAHA!
It was either a Monday or Tuesday on this trip and Pappy & Hariot's was closed! No buffalo burger today!

Also my "little compressor that could," couldn't no more! Yep, my Master Flow Tsunami MF-1050 Portable Air Compressor has been a good one right up to it's last breath! I just didn't know that the last time I used it, that would have been it.
So, I will have to creep down the hill into Yucca Valley and get some air and FOOOOOOOOOOOD! Yes, yes yes - I KNOW!!! I need to get another compressor and actually put those "air lockers" to use!!! SERIOUSLY!


We stop into this place!

Papa's Smokehouse BBQ Yucca Valley, California

Check'em out if you are passing through!

It's all an illusion... Actually actual size. Persuasive perspective is elusive...
Results of this non-disclosed trip:

Yes, I'm honored and stoked to call Axial R/C Inc., my "playce" of employment!

 

[GCRad1]

Road testing a couple of handsfree i6phone mounts. Both of these are from iOttie.
I chose the one on the left, the "Easy One Touch" for my rig and the one on the right "Easy View Universal" went into my wife's vehicle.
Here is the link via Amazon to: iOttie Easy One Touch 2 Car Mount Holder for iPhone 6



I've recently been introduced to the iPhone app called "GPS Kit" for our navigational needs on our off-road trips.

Its not too complicated and we can easily share tracks and plots.
Thus, with the purpose of digital navigation, I now wanted a way to get my phone up and visible for viewing.

and also tuning into the METALHEADZ via Soundcloud.

 

[GCRad1]

HOOD VENTS!!!!! I WANT THEM!!!!

Found a lot of examples while IG-stalking, but I really like these:

Recently I was visiting a long time buddy who was also into the whole rally thing with us, the GravelCrew.
Seems as though we are all on the same wavelength as he now has a Land Rover and doing the dirt course in slow speed.
This is his Land Rover, but that is aside the point. LOOK AT THESE LOUVERS!!! Now that is some
hood venting ability that I am looking for!

He had these made by Dave of Rod Louvers. This may call for a change of plans!

We all know what a stock 80-series hood looks like...

 

[GCRad1]

Somewhere through all this, I picked up a set of hood vents off fleabay:

Look great right?!

BUT...

But upon closer inspection it seems as though these are very decorative.

I get it..

Water goes into the vents, onto the catch pan and off the back.
But for the amount of air inlet space, the air outlet space looks as though back pressure will build.

These may have to go in the out pile. Not quite what I was looking for...
I'm looking for more functionality and looks.

The function is the fashion!

I think I've heard that before somewhere...
"Racing is the ultimate inspiration; Racing never goes out of style and function of racing is the fashion."
rodney wills / The Pursuit of Function DVD

 

[rblain82]

Somewhere through all this, I picked up a set of hood vents off fleabay:

Look great right?!

BUT...

But upon closer inspection it seems as though these are very decorative.

I get it..

Water goes into the vents, onto the catch pan and off the back.
But for the amount of air inlet space, the air outlet space looks as though back pressure will build.

These may have to go in the out pile. Not quite what I was looking for...
I'm looking for more functionality and looks.

The function is the fashion!

I think I've heard that before somewhere...
"Racing is the ultimate inspiration; Racing never goes out of style and function of racing is the fashion."
rodney wills / The Pursuit of Function DVD

Most people take the backing plate off and just have the vents... they don't worry about water getting in...

if you decide not to use them, i'll take them off your hands..

 

[GCRad1]

Hey RBLAIN82, I figured as much. I will get to working with them at some point, but its going to be a lot more labor intensive than a louvered panel. Most likely these will accent a center mounted louver panel. But who knows... Thanks for chiming in!

Most people take the backing plate off and just have the vents... they don't worry about water getting in...

if you decide not to use them, i'll take them off your hands..

 

[GCRad1]

Time to re-configure the ADV80's rear area for a quick mission! Everyone OUT!

time to get to work! See, I really do live in a town home! Not an ideal workspace...
but it is what it is.

I am installing three FrontRunner Outfitters Single Jerry Can Holders into the floor of the ADV80...
But why when you have that FrontRunner Slimline II roof rack?!?!?!? More on that in a bit.
While FrontRunner makes the Double Jerry Can Holder, I personally don't like un-hooking two cans
with one strap, having one loose while wrestling the other. I'm just nit-picky like that.

I can hear your thoughts now... That is going to smell bad! Well, let me tell you! I did a quick initial test
with a FrontRunner Fuel Can filled and sudo-strapped inside the vehicle as I was doing a quick friendly family
member roadside rescue and thought the same thing. But you know how it is when you are rescuing
family... anyhow, I was rather surprised when I didn't smell any fumes!

Then an opportunity arose quickly, ideas sorted and I popped into action. Hence the start of this
post topic. I'm committed at this point and this can be "temporary." Carrying on for now...

Just incase... with the cans going to be sitting on the inside, there might be some vibrational noise.

So I added some FrontRunner Outfitters Jerry Can Protection Kit made from foam padding.
Now it's installed and READY!

PACKED - LOADED - READY TO GO!!!

 

[GCRad1]

With additional fuel tucked into the interior of the ADV80 and PACKED, it was time to hit the road
for a quick trip! But where to?

MEXICO! We are headed down for the 2015 SCORE International BAJA 500! It has been 16-years
since I have gone down to Mexico for the races. Way too long away! But with Axial's sponsorship
of the event, it was time to go down and check on our visual assets, see what was going on and meet up
with old and new friends.

Lots of surveillance going on down here! We make our way through all this action, cut around town
get out to the coast to that familiar scene looking down the coast!

Just into Ensenada we spot this Ford Ranger-Raptor pre-runner.

HERE IT IS - THE OFFICIAL START LINE AREA:

OH YEA! I see our logo!
But before we stop in to HQ:

We head on to our hotel to get all that sorted.

And make our way back to grand central.

AH YES! Our company logo is up there with the big boys! Almost brings a tear to our eyes! So crazy
to have been around this event for so many years and to be here at this level now is not normal. My co-worker
has worked on various race teams and myself worked with various publication and just a fan. In fact, my first
trip I just decided to go and jumped in my Toyota pickup (2WD pre-runner style) and went. I didn't
know anyone and still don't know a lick of Spanish, but that didn't stop me!

The sun is going down...

But the excitement level is going up!

The fans get to see all the rigs up close. When they are on the start finish,
its just hard to not get that victory feeling and get their pose on!

An the party is getting started curtesy of Monster Energy.

Casey Currie actually raced his King of the Hammers 4400 Rock Racer in this desert race!
Yep, a little Axial logo on here too! Thanks Casey!

We meet up with the Tempt Media guys and of course its always a gear discussion.
They do some serious camera/video work!

Following day:

Contingency is nuts as always! So fun to see all the enthusiasm and so great to see that all is well
on Mexico's Baja peninsula when all we see is the media to brainwash us. Yes, that stuff is real but
the Baja peninsula seems like it is own its own island.

Come across the Brenthel Industries team representing my favorite tire company, FALKEN TIRES!!!

Gotta'love Class-11 (Rather stock VW class) It's the underdog class that a lot of folks love.
It's personally one of my favorite as well!

While all the contingency commotion is going on outside...

SCORE International is prepping for the events press conference.

 

[GCRad1]

Roger Norman is the masters of ceremony, but second from the right (seated) is the man, the myth, the legend;
IVAN "IRONMAN" STEWART !!!

Back outside, headcount is growing:

The sea of people!

Yea, we are in Mexico!

Its always cool to see all the rigs and see how they prepare their them for the unknown.
Nice idea: sledge hammer and shovel.

This isn't Burning Man... But while viewing the most insane race machines on the planet, you
have this type of stuff going on around you.

WANT!

No worries about over-driving your light on this one! WANT!

The Honda XR650 is made for the desert!

After running through contingency a few laps we chose to spend some time scoping out the race
course along the coast and start to head out of town.

Always simply amazing rigs running all around!

Chase trucks are always cool to check out as well! Notice the dual swing out tire carries on this rig!

Always have my eye out for these too! In fact, I would love to have one of these!!! Notice the roof rack and
the lights on the front!

We may how way down the coast:

About 100-miles south of Ensenada.

 

[GCRad1]

The ADV80 in all its glory looking rather at home here!


While we are here and checking out the coast we realize neither of us have had this kind of relaxed time in our previous endeavors
at the event to just hang out and explore. Even though its just for a couple of hours, we are stoked to have this time...
But we somehow seem to find a way to turn it into "fun work."

We get our "tiny trucks" out and shoot some photos and video clips for later promo use. Yes, this is
a 1/10th scale Axial SCX10 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited Electric 4X4.

Moving along...

The Falken Wild Peaks are right at home as well in BAJA!

Come on! We got this!

The sign says it all! This is not a race rig, but I know a bunch of years ago there was an race prepped 80-Series
from Southern California that drove to the BAJA 500, raced and drove home! That had a huge impact
on me as when I raced my first rally race we drove the car from Southern California to Laughlin, Nevada
to compete in the event and drove it home. The guy with me on this trip was the builder of my rally car
and co-pilot for that event. Long live the GravelCrew!

We do some more exploring around the coast.

And we start our trip back to Ensenada via the race course. This section is SO RALLY! This section
will be a blazing fast section and we contemplate the differences between rally cars and desert trucks.
Our dream has always been to run some type of hybrid rally-longtravel rig here! Everyone has to dream...

We make it back to the highway and are heading up Mexico's HWY1:

And the sun is peeking through the ridges. Such an awesome sight!

I think this is the area of Los Malcriados along Mexico's HWY1. What a great way to end a great day in Mexico.
There are better ways to end the day, but we are very satisfied with our trip so far!

 

[GCRad1]

We make it back and head to downtown Ensenada for the Monster / Papas&Beer festivities.

Next day, we are out for some action on course!

16-years later since my last visit to Mexico and VW's are still all over the place! And I love there "BAJA FLAVOR!"

We make it out on course for some sand wash action.

Standard issue Baja Mex Equipped.

The secret spot!

Deep in the city. If you know this team, you know this team.
Mr. Anonymous doing good things behind his closed mask.
This was at the corner where the rigs come out of the mountains and into the city and drop into the wash.
We hung out with the locals to see the rigs flying down the streets at night and drop into the wash
way back inside Ensenada. That was the coolest experience!

On our way home:

We find a R/C shop and track!!! And they have some of our rigs on the shelf too!

Some things never change... and the line time getting out is forever!
Make sure you have enough gas to sit 2 to 3 hours!

 

[GCRad1]

Got a call from a couple of my buddies about some plans that turned into a very loosely organized campout.

LOCATION: GOOSEBERRY MESA, UTAH
Making paper map notes for a location I have never been to and most arriving in the dark.
I need details! Why yes, I should be using GPS... but I'm OLD SCHOOL!

Packed, sorted and ready:

Early morning out from Southern California for the 400+ mile / 6-hr trip to a mesa just outside of St. George, Utah.

As I approach the Cajon Pass, I see a little sugar sprinkles.
Its November and we've already received a little snow in Southern California! (2015)

We start making the long grade in route to Las Vegas on the 15FWY.
It was sunny all morning... then it gets cloudy... and then it start sprinkling.
You're ok with it all... then you notice that tell-tell sign... those sprinkles are
hitting your windshield in a way that makes you pay a bit more attention.

I ask my co-pilot, "do you see that?! I think its going to snow on us!"
You can see the snow is covering the ground and is snowing hard! It's hard to show it in photos,
but its coming down!

You can see the snow flying in the air as I shoot out the side window. The ground was covered!

First dirt road I could find, exited and got some photos of the ADV80 in the snow! Yes, living in
Southern California, I don't see too much snow, so I am easily excited!

The look and feel of white-winter on the green Axial M90 window visor.

Why not... We are here, may as well get the tiny trucks out for a romp!

After a little play time it was time to slosh on down road!

Just passing through!

By the time we get to Las Vegas the sky is clearing up a bit. No stops here, we keep on trucking!

 

[GCRad1]

We make our fuel stop Muddy River Bar & Grill in Moapa, Nevada. This kind of fuel!
Hamburger's with bacon and egg and IT WAS GOOD!

I say it every time I pass through here:

I need a couple of days exploring all the little dirt roads I see alongside the 15FWY outside of Littlefield, NV as it criss-crosses over the Virgin River. There is a little campground called Virgin River Canyon Campground that might make for the first nights stop. Simply need more time to explore and so so many places to see!!! Carrying on...

Quick stop into St. George.

We stop in to visit with Dixie 4Wheel Drive as they have been carrying our product!
This is a full size hobby shop that also carries our toys!

If you are passing through St. George, it's always great to know a good off-road shop!
You never know when you need help even if they specialize in Jeep products.

Of course we went out for a little trail run with the Dixie 4WD R/C aficionado.
He knew right where to take us! It was full on a mini-Moab!

My little Axial Honcho posing in a small pool of water. I am a true Axial SCX10 fan!
No other chassis does it for me like the SCX10's!

Next stop, GOOSEBERRY!

It was a wild muddy dirt road making it to our camp location.
All part of the fun, but luckily we didn't get stuck! Came close a couple of times...

You might ask, how do we through down so much light way out in the middle of nowhere?

A small generator and these four RIGID Industries Scene Lights! Yes, property transported in industrial strength Pelican Case for the industrial strength Rigid lights!

LIGHTS - FIRE - DINNER

Now we get down to the business nature of this trip!

 

[GCRad1]

Driving up to the Gooseberry Mesa in the middle of the night and checking out the sights the next morning are awe inspiring!

We are actually looking out onto Zion National Park!

Morning fires are always good, especially when its chilly!

Morning coffee and totally digging the AeroPress coffee press!

Morning food!

Asses the fun from last night navigation of the large mud holes.

Checked out the Yurt. Yes, you can rent it! GOOSEBERRY YURTS

We are waiting on our special guest to show up...

Killing time... Breaking out the vintage Corpsman 760, the heavy artillery!

Get in a pedal too! The trails here are EPIC!!!

Now, for the purpose of this trip! Mark Weir and the Cannondale MTB team invited
us up for a little friendly team bonding session, video shoot, product testing and R/C
trail running session! This is going to be epic in my book!

It's all his fault!

I've known Mark Weir for a few years now, since before working at Axial.
We have slowly built a relationship through our passions for R/C and bicycles
and finally the cultivation of all that has came to this weekend!
But who the hell is Mark Weir?

 

[GCRad1]

The Gooseberry Chronicle:

Evening fell on our second day, the whole crew was there and the festivities begins.

Next morning:

This was my single person tent.

Bikes are assembled..

Plans and objectives are laid out:

This is going to be a friendly competition among the team members. The trails will be timed and scored.
Then they will come back to camp and will have a R/C scale trail challenge and those points are added into the overall score.
This is going to be FUN!

Off we go!

The guys transit to their first trail.

Part of my mission here is to transport Cannonade media guys into
positions and I am also shooting video as well. This is super-photographer Matthew Delorme.
Yes, of the Delorme map family.

Matt of IFHT was creating the video. You might have seen this little gem,
Rap Battle: Camper vs. Glamper

The ADV80 looks right at home working here!

My work station.

They thought they were going to get rental vans back here! HA! ADV80 to the rescue!

Our exact location....

Back at camp, it's scale trail time and the guys get their personalization on!

The R/C portion of the event made some first-timer scale trail fans and went into the night!

We were impressed with our buddies single person tent!

Another round-the-campfire evening.

 

[GCRad1]

The Gooseberry Mesa trip was a great experience all around.
The ADV80 has proven champ once again! I am continually impressed with this rig!

We came, we saw, we did, we done it! We out!

If your ever passing through St. George / Hurricane, Utah, Gooseberry Mesa is a cool area.
If you are into mountain biking, its especially good!

Home we go.

OH YEA, the video results:

 

[GCRad1]

For 2015, Axial R/C Inc. (my workplace) is a sponsor of SCORE International. Home of BAJA Racing.
My co-worker and I attended the BAJA 500 earlier in the year after his 12-year and my 16-year absence
of attending the races. He worked for a race team and myself worked in motorsports media. That first
trip was simply for us to get our feet wet again. We all see and know what the media portraits yet the same
time all our friends are still attending the races and assured us we would be good. So we packed up and went.

As the 2015 BAJA 1000 approached, we wanted to take a couple of our office members down with us.

The ADV80 is packed, loaded and off to Mexico again!

You know you are going in the right direction of Baja when you see rigs like this in tow.

Just as we are about to cross the boarder:

Our backseat buddy thought it would be funny to sack the co-pilot. My buddy
in the co-pilot seat, ScottG went with me to the 500 earlier in the year. The other
buddy in the back seat, John Schultz is my desert motorcycle riding buddy. This is his first ever trip
to BAJA! Yes, he's the one who always brings the humor! Not pictured here is Jamie Seymour
and is Axial's Industrial Designer and also BAJA 1st timer. We would soon find out
he knows Spanish. ScottG knows a bit of Spanish, he calls it "yard Spanish." Myself and Schultz
have zero Spanish skills.

Here we go...

Racing and BAJA just go hand-in-hand! Its fun to see how racing is so
intertwined into the fabric of BAJA Peninsula life.

Its is practically normal and happens more often for kids to see Trophy Trucks
on their streets, more so than anywhere else in North America!

We check into our hotel and we go check out the sights & rigs:

Love this rig! He obviously has priorities and not letting "limitations" hold himself back. He got it done
and sorted and here. But "here" is not his only final destination... Note surfboards on the roof!

The stage for the greatest offload motorsport event in North America is getting set!
And our logo is in the mix!

We ask around for the taco spot in Ensenada. McTaco Ensenada is the SPOT!!!

We roll back to our hotel and I notice this 80-Series.
Standing at the passenger door of this 80-Series is IH8MUD's very own "Woody!"

 

[GCRad1]

We brought our own Trophy Trucks this time for the BAJA 1000.

We roll through contingency...

We get tech inspected by Brett King (middle) of KING shocks himself! That is Axial's Jamie Seymour on the right.

The rigs roll down through the maze of people and full size Trophy Trucks!

And our rigs caught attention!

Roger Norman, president of SCORE International is getting interviewed by the next generation of BAJA fans / media enthusiast.

We pack up and get ready to head out.

On the way out of town:

It was obvious that METHOD Race Wheels employed some local sign painters and had several of these
painted along the streets. AWESOME!!!

This time, we came to see the section of course on the beach with boulders!

Local Toyota owner posing on the rocky beach.

We get our Axial Trophy Truck pose on too.

Saw this way cool rig on the beach as well!

Its sunny one minute...

And the fog rolls in super fast the next minute!

We know we are in a good spot when...

We bump into my old buddy Curtis Guise of Dezert People DVD Series.

Fog is rolling in so fast!

 

[GCRad1]

BAJA1000 continuation:

My man Ryan Arciero / Troy Herbst - Monster Energy - kicking up heavy gravel!

Going for the heavy gravel pass!

BIG GRAVEL!!!

Ghost bird:

Here come my colors!

Team FALKEN / BRENTHEL!!!

We pack up and head further south:

It's rather dusty here as the rigs pass through.

I like how the light falls through the dusty.

Time to head further south.

In the wash at Ejido Eréndira Baja California Mexico.
DANG! Look at that rig! hehehe

 

[GCRad1]

Continuation of the ADV80 - SCORE INT'L BAJA1000 2015

We pack up from Ejido Eréndira and head out to Parroquia Santisima Trinidad. We know of a taco
stand there as well as a Pit Area. Further down HWY3 is a location that we want our first-timers
with us to see Trophy Trucks running flat out in the whoops!

By pavement its a 3-hour trip and we would have to drive all the way back north on HWY1 to
Ensenada only to come back down south via to HWY3. It's ideal to stay off the highway as much
as you can during the race, especially during the dark hours so... FORGET THAT! I have RIGID
Lights AND ICON suspension and we found a dirt road from HWY1 to HWY3 via Unnamed Road!
We figured this would be the perfect solution, great way to see the country side (with the last bit of light)
and test out these Falken Wild Peaks.

We are in search of this place:

The famed Asadero El Rancho. As you can see, I've recently mastered the skills of Google Maps
and marking my personal "Star Locations" of interest. Wish I would have learned this a lot earlier...
But, On any given Baja race weekend, its crazy the race team personalities you will bump into here.
The funny "not so funny" thing we saw is what we passed on the dirt road and came up behind us
in the parking lot. Obviously some team support trucks where using the same route. I passed one
of the team trucks on the road and another was in chase of us. Obviously by the loud exchange
of words the team truck i passed did not let the second team truck pass. That turned into a
heated argument with push and shoving and almost lead to blows. I was not apart to either team.
We flashed our lights and passed as courteously as we could. Obviously the race truck behind
was adding additional lights and extra horn blowing and most likely pushing aggressively.
I think they were rather upset because the ADV80 got away from them.
One of the veteran race teams pointed out the fact that they must me a new team.
Adrenaline flows high even with the race crews!

But hey, we all came for this!

Mega good taco's in the middle of BAJA! Load up on food and load up in the ADV80 and head
down HWY3 - Ensenada-San Felipe to our little straight line whoop section.

What, you don't recognize that spot? hehehe When its dark, you can't see anything! We've been
here previously on our BAJA500 trip so we kinda'have our spot marked.

We get a little fire going to hang out and let the racers know we are out here (still) and cheering
them on. I want to say this is around race mile 725'ish. South of us we can see the rigs come out of
mountains about 2-miles away and the race course comes over and parallels the highway. We can
see straight down the racecourse and just watch the race vehicle lights dance up the wash. It's
obviously rough, its whooped out to death! I had the most fun watching the motorcycles come through
this section! You know in the motorcycle racers head, though its rough, they are seeing this as
a straightaway, a moment to relax both physically and mentally. They know they are almost at
the next checkpoint. They might even have a driver change coming up. Its a emotional battle
between adrenaline and physical endurance! We are here in admiration!

We came, we had fun, we worked and made new BAJA fans for life.

We also made a little video for work, which is play...



Want to see all the photos? Here is my BAJA1000 2015 Flickr Page - its 12-pages deep:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rodneywills/albums/72157673106216875/page1