TOTAL Trailblazers 4x4 Annual All Terrain Challenge:
Posted: September 24th, 2011, 6:34 pm
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By Narend Sooknarine of Zorce Magazine
The day began in earnest with a 7am call time at the Caroni Bird Sanctuary. Mitsubishi L200s, Ford Rangers, Land Rovers, Range Rovers Suzuki Jimnys, Toyota Hiluxes, Mazda BT50s, and even a chop-top, netted-door Nissan Patrol were gearing up for a taste of the TOTAL Trailblazers 4x4 Annual All Terrain Challenge event. Last year there was so much rain that the King of the Hill had to be cancelled but this year, things seemed off to a great start.
For our media crew things would be particularly interesting as thanks to TOTAL Lubricants and Meguiar’s Car Care Products, we were afforded the use of a Polaris off-road, roll caged, tractor-tyred dune buggy with racing seats and a cooler strapped to the back. One game of rock, paper, scissors later and Duane of TriniTuner.com was selected as the driver while we took turns taking photos, literally hanging on just to get photos of "mid-splash" action of competitors 'motoring through the mud', try saying that five times fast. Although our guide in the Jimny up front said that the first stage was an easy drive, nothing more than what the club considers a grade one or two, one of the 4x4s with huge tires managed to get fully sideways, albeit in the same spot spinning them. He ended up fully across the road and then corrected the situation by reversing and re-orienting the vehicle– so much for grades one and two.
The next major section for competitors, besides finding an issue of Zorce along with Monster-branded er, population control "packet" and other treasure-hunt items, was the King of the Hill mandatory challenge. This was divided into two courses– novice and expert, with a few competitors swapping expected positions. It was very entertaining to see many drivers reach the very edge, some even with two wheels atop the steep expert summit, only to slide back down again with wheels so full of mud that retries proved futile. But yet again there were some who persisted or even took another try and managed to succeed. One or two novices on regular road tires genuinely got stuck, but thankfully there was a recovery tractor on standby along with the marshal's' hardy little Suzuki Jimnys. It was precisely at this point when we fully understood that the Meguiar's wash bay back at the start was not put there for style and branding. These boys and girls were out to get down and dirty. But the majority of the action was yet to come.
Back at the Caroni Bird Sanctuary highway exit, two massive mud pits, one novice and one expert, which took mud to the bonnet level, along with a slushy hill and a tight series of curves meant that any vehicle not dressed in murky brown would certainly have a healthy coat. This venue proved to be quite the spectator spot as many highway travelers stopped in to see what all the fuss was all about. Highlights included Drag Racing champion Sheldon Bissessar with Rally champion Ainsley Lochan at the wheel getting totally stuck in the expert pit and needing a Jimny to pull out the Jimny that was pulling them out of the pit– yes three vehicles in tandem– TOTAL mud madness! After being pulled out and over the hill, they decided to engage in a bit of tug-o-war with the marshal's recovery vehicle. Also worth mentioning is the V8-powered Patrol that conquered both the King of the Hill and the mud pit at an unusually moderate pace. A few entries found out what it was like to have a mud flood and what it feels like to get pulled out backwards. All in all it was a day of total fun and after a visit to the Meguiar’s wash bay, it was time to start the prizegiving ceremony. (Results posted below the photos)
This event was sponsored by:
[nggallery id=452]
OVERALL WINNERS COMP. of Points Name of Driver Name of Co-driver
1st 61 640 Suraj Bissoon Kenrick Alexander
2nd 02 730 Latiff Khan Reshma Nanan
3rd 64 750 Kevin Ramroop Brandon Ramroop
4th 07 760 Ainsley Lochan Rajesh Jairam
5th 10 820 Rishi Maharaj Surendra Dhanraj
6th 25 830 Navin Ramdass Shivanath Rajnath
7th 71 880 Darron Dass Riaz Mohammed
8th 22 910 Barry Gowandan Sarah-Jane Gopaul
9th 49 960 Fawaz Mohammed Ishwar Patel
10th 31 1060 Marlon Birjar Keegan Sookhan
By Narend Sooknarine of Zorce Magazine
The day began in earnest with a 7am call time at the Caroni Bird Sanctuary. Mitsubishi L200s, Ford Rangers, Land Rovers, Range Rovers Suzuki Jimnys, Toyota Hiluxes, Mazda BT50s, and even a chop-top, netted-door Nissan Patrol were gearing up for a taste of the TOTAL Trailblazers 4x4 Annual All Terrain Challenge event. Last year there was so much rain that the King of the Hill had to be cancelled but this year, things seemed off to a great start.
For our media crew things would be particularly interesting as thanks to TOTAL Lubricants and Meguiar’s Car Care Products, we were afforded the use of a Polaris off-road, roll caged, tractor-tyred dune buggy with racing seats and a cooler strapped to the back. One game of rock, paper, scissors later and Duane of TriniTuner.com was selected as the driver while we took turns taking photos, literally hanging on just to get photos of "mid-splash" action of competitors 'motoring through the mud', try saying that five times fast. Although our guide in the Jimny up front said that the first stage was an easy drive, nothing more than what the club considers a grade one or two, one of the 4x4s with huge tires managed to get fully sideways, albeit in the same spot spinning them. He ended up fully across the road and then corrected the situation by reversing and re-orienting the vehicle– so much for grades one and two.
The next major section for competitors, besides finding an issue of Zorce along with Monster-branded er, population control "packet" and other treasure-hunt items, was the King of the Hill mandatory challenge. This was divided into two courses– novice and expert, with a few competitors swapping expected positions. It was very entertaining to see many drivers reach the very edge, some even with two wheels atop the steep expert summit, only to slide back down again with wheels so full of mud that retries proved futile. But yet again there were some who persisted or even took another try and managed to succeed. One or two novices on regular road tires genuinely got stuck, but thankfully there was a recovery tractor on standby along with the marshal's' hardy little Suzuki Jimnys. It was precisely at this point when we fully understood that the Meguiar's wash bay back at the start was not put there for style and branding. These boys and girls were out to get down and dirty. But the majority of the action was yet to come.
Back at the Caroni Bird Sanctuary highway exit, two massive mud pits, one novice and one expert, which took mud to the bonnet level, along with a slushy hill and a tight series of curves meant that any vehicle not dressed in murky brown would certainly have a healthy coat. This venue proved to be quite the spectator spot as many highway travelers stopped in to see what all the fuss was all about. Highlights included Drag Racing champion Sheldon Bissessar with Rally champion Ainsley Lochan at the wheel getting totally stuck in the expert pit and needing a Jimny to pull out the Jimny that was pulling them out of the pit– yes three vehicles in tandem– TOTAL mud madness! After being pulled out and over the hill, they decided to engage in a bit of tug-o-war with the marshal's recovery vehicle. Also worth mentioning is the V8-powered Patrol that conquered both the King of the Hill and the mud pit at an unusually moderate pace. A few entries found out what it was like to have a mud flood and what it feels like to get pulled out backwards. All in all it was a day of total fun and after a visit to the Meguiar’s wash bay, it was time to start the prizegiving ceremony. (Results posted below the photos)
This event was sponsored by:
[nggallery id=452]
OVERALL WINNERS COMP. of Points Name of Driver Name of Co-driver
1st 61 640 Suraj Bissoon Kenrick Alexander
2nd 02 730 Latiff Khan Reshma Nanan
3rd 64 750 Kevin Ramroop Brandon Ramroop
4th 07 760 Ainsley Lochan Rajesh Jairam
5th 10 820 Rishi Maharaj Surendra Dhanraj
6th 25 830 Navin Ramdass Shivanath Rajnath
7th 71 880 Darron Dass Riaz Mohammed
8th 22 910 Barry Gowandan Sarah-Jane Gopaul
9th 49 960 Fawaz Mohammed Ishwar Patel
10th 31 1060 Marlon Birjar Keegan Sookhan
