Vermont Overland Trophy Challenge

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Just received notice that my 103 year old grandma passed away today in FL. After recruiting Scott to do this with me, I am now out. Unfortunately, he still needs a partner in order to participate. Posting here first before hitting the rest of the interwebs. Half Price $250.
 
I believe one of the guys from the FJnortheasters is looking for someone also:meh:
 
103 and still played the piano... I lost my other grandmother 2 months ago and she was 93. Anyway, crisis averted. Scott found another partner, a Toyota mechanic no less. Good luck Scott and Jason and shame those rovers and heeps.
 
I am going to help with recovery of vehicles. I just went to the get together and saw what was there for vehicles. I got my spot picked out for tomorrow. Pics to follow...
 
Sorry no good pics- too busy
A real interesting variety of vehicles;
3 tacomas, a forerunner, a beautiful 60, Scott's 80 and his friends 62 and a nearly new 100 that was almost stock.
A ton of Land Rovers- I never knew there were soo many different kinds. Some of them had 1/2 of everything they own on the roof rack, made for some interesting spotting on off camber situations
some jeeps, some brand new off the floor some mildly built
A Pinzgauer, did not see it on the trail
A Unimog, what a sight seeing it come down a trail, the tires are huge and stiff- he didn't have to worry about banging the diffs on rocks
and 2 Volkswagen Vanagon syncros- that's a 4wd Volkswagen bus. These guys were cool !!! and very dedicated and very prepared. they are known for breaking axles. One guy had 6 rear and 3 front axle spares with him. They bypassed the tough stuff but covered the whole route. It was a sight seeing they coming down through the woods.
Carnage after 2 days- front axle shaft, transmission pan, transmission lines, 4 or 5 tires, a few rims- not too bad.
I meet some really nice people that are really passionate about there riggs.
But I will take a Land Cruiser any day !!!!!
 
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I heard a couple FJcruisers came in 1st and 2nd.
 
It was not a race. Winning was finishing the entire route. 15 of 24 teams finished the route. There were 2 well built FJ Cruisers
 
rapovt said:
It was not a race. Winning was finishing the entire route. 15 of 24 teams finished the route. There were 2 well built FJ Cruisers
Click to expand...

When do we get to see pics and/or videos?
 
So it was a rough few days for the fj62. It was the trucks first real shakedown run and there are plenty of things that need to be improved before it hits the trail again. We completed 2.5 days with fairly few issues (mild overheating and a severe leak in a transmission fluid line)

Day 3 was our nemesis though. Couldn't keep the truck's temperature down, lost four wheel drive and the master cylinder. Not being a mechanic (my friend didn't make it just loaned us his truck) and it not being my truck we called it a day with the loss of "go" and "stop".

It was a well run event with a some really good people. Gary's post is a pretty accurate summary of the trucks/people.

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scottymarks said:
It was a well run event with a some really good people. Gary's post is a pretty accurate summary of the trucks/people.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Difficulty level was on par with an intermediate TY run. Some tough conditions that 32" tires had to winch thru, but rigs with 35s and lockers just backed up and bounced thru with a bit more throttle. I don't think anyone didn't winch at some point, and some needed to have winched more....
  • Truck/driving challenege was very good.
  • Navigation challenge was, unfortunately, nonexistant--just follow the blue dot.
  • Camping was a bit cumbersome, first and last nights at Lily Farm were great. (kinda like Field and Forest)
Good variety of trucks but, oddly, a tad lean on Land Cruisers. Wish I had had my FZJ80 there. But my RRC performed very very well.

Overall a great time; despite loosing 10lbs of body weight to the mosquitos...
 
FYI....2014 VOT is already sold out.... (yes 9 months before the run date)

Based on the format proposed for 2014, we are/were not planning on running it. But for those who have interest, rumor has it there is a wait list.
 
I was thinking about going and setting up as a vendor...bring my smoker and maybe sell pulled pork sandwiches/ribs/chicken.

Note to self....

Don't forget the Yuengling dummy..
 
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