AWCC 2011 - SCX10 G6 Challenge Sat Night Stage: 2

While you are sitting around in cold of January 2012, its time to start planning for that one thing you said you wanted to do in the spring of last year. Let me show you these images from the 2011 edition of the AWCC to persuade you to start planning today to come hang out with us at the 2012 AXIALFEST!

At the 2011 Axial West Coast Championships, I think the most anticipated portion of the event had to be Stage: 2 of the SCX10 G6 Challenge. It STARTED in the evening under the stars of night, starting in the darkness thats surrounds the mountain of which the Cisco Grove Campgrounds sit within.

When the pre-event intel report suggested headlamps for your person, as many lights on your rig as you wish and one additional light on your radio; you know this is going to be something completely different for the R/C community! Its going to be a adventure challenge and ALL OUT FUN, not under the sun, but under the stars!!!

The follow is a photo-essay, so get you friend, wife, kids, granny or a hamster to auto-scroll your mouse for you so you enjoy the images! Better YET! There are lots of images so stop now, go get some milk and cookies and give the images time to load so you can have 100% viewing pleasure!

Yes, that is snow on the ground!

Look closely, or better yet, slide back a little bit and look on the right side of this image and you will see a ghost image of someone’s designer jeans rear pocket as they walked in front of the camera.

This guy wins the Best use of use what you got - award! Hard hat just happened to be rolling around in the bed of his pickup, put a high powered flashlight on it with duct-tape… G6-DO WORK-style! COOL! He came up on a whim as his brother was in town, or we should say “in camp” and he came up to hang with his brother and I think he and his stage buddy had the best time ever!

Axial’s president, Jeff John’s is not missing the action! You will see Brad “Bender” Dumont [grey sweatshirt] in trail-buddy action mode for Jeff as they negotiate the star-lit trails. When was the last time you got to hang out with your favorite brands president? Do you even know who any of your other favorite brands president are!? Jeff will be back again at AXIALFEST for more FUN!

Matt Kearney [yellow bib] and Brandon Coonce, working the trail in a thicket-of-the-sticks section. This was one of those area’s where everyone would be stacked up and then there where sections where you would be out alone on the dark trails… To you and I, they look like every other team driving navigating along the trails… but with these guys being the core of Axial’s Research & Development team, they are more than just driving along. They are thinking about future Axial products, mathmatical calculations and material formulas, thoughts on how to improve current products with lots of ideas gathered during there time out on the trails. With them present at the event made for great campfire discussion between the Axial team later that night. Also back during the time of this photo; they where thinking about those EXO prototypes sitting back at the office too.

Screwdriver, scapula, crescent, pliers,.. I’m going to make a tiny incision,.. fishing line,.. now hold your finger here…

Your all alone in the thick of the woods, dark surrounds you and you must thread the trail markers with all your attention focused in front of you. Noises from the bushes are trying to break your concentration! No worries, It’s probably just Parker in gorilla suit.

*Quick question: Just how far can Parker go into the woods? Or anyone far as that matters?

Hey dude, can you show me where the rave is?

Wraith midnight madness blur.

They are within sight of the last trail marker! You could here them saying, “we are almost home, we are almost home!”

This is the final few feet of the trail course. Parker wanted it to be a “control zone” to slow their roll.

What he got was the pedal-to-the-metal Bucking Bronco Billygoat zone!

The van was rockin!

The van was rollin!

Sir Scotty G with some large scale lights rigged up on his visor.

His son Jake was there too:

Jake was driving this AAA Off-Road accident insurance inspection team Jeep. He reported all of Scott’s accidents to the Recon Crawler Authorities.

Basecamp was a happy place for Skeeno!

Axial SCX10 Jeep - It’s like a Timex, takes a licking and keeps on ticking… but it’s no Toyota! I can hear Parker snickering already!

Thomas Dolby’s Blinded Me With Science < insert that soundtrack right there.

JK Slinky slinkin’ across the rails.

NOW THERE IS THE WILD WEST BRONCO - BISCUITS FLYING EVERYWHERE!!!

Ivan Stewart came out of retirement to have some fun too! Please tell me that you do know who Ivan “IRONMAN” Stewart is! If you do not know who he is then this is REQUIRED READING! Yes, that is a link for you to go read on Mr. Stewart. This message was brought to you by the Axial History Knowledge Learning Center for FUN located in the Nucleus of wikki wikki.

TAZZILLA!

As you can see clearly, this competitor has been taking the G6 Challenges very serious! Spotlight - Oh no, not by the size of his spotlight… It’s the 24 Hour Fitness shirt that gives is away!

This guy, with an ice chest packed full of brewski’s on the roof, thought there was going to be time for a picnic out on the trail.

What is going on here!?



He stated that he went into that last corner HOT and got all jacked-up, backed out of the brush and into the tree he just ran over. The tree tried to attack him. I SWEAR! It was actually doing a good job and the tree held on all the way back to basecap. Maybe I didn’t hear that right or it was the bit about “bring back a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree for a 20-second time bonus.” WHAT!?

Look at this guy… looking all cool, calm and collected as he has survived the trail…

He was sitting in the cab, playing a little quick game of Angry Birds when all of a sudden - BOOOOOOM!

I got your angry bird right here dude!

OH SNAPS! It’s a real downhome WRESTLE OFF!!!

When was the last time you saw a good Ford VS Toyota no-holds-barred throw down!?

I told you the Toyota was an angry bird! Look at that logo on the side of his door! Noooo dork, that is a DRAGON! Dang, that is ten times worse than a pack of angry birds then!


The DRAGON’YOTA picked up the burro-Bronco-donky and dropped it back to the dirt floor knocking its air from its air filter already stuffed full of crusty dust.

The burro pins it fastforward and spins itself trying to get back onto its hoofs.


Dragon’yota swoops in for a bump-peck.



The burro did what any good donkey does and gave the Dragon’yota a D-KICK clipping its wing and dragging him to the ground. Then the regal Bronco began his quick hee-haw dance over the fallen victim claiming himself the victor. But in the jungle, there is no claiming… no victory. It just surviving or it’s to the DEATH! They called a truce and went on about their evening of licking off dust and mending branch slaps.

The night grew quiet but the hunger was still in the air much like a lion after a weeks worth of gazelle attempts.

A different type of battle would ensue much like we had we had previously witnessed between the Bronco-Burro and the Dragon’yota. The heyena’s grew excited as they saw these two from higher-up the wild kingdom’s food-chain stroll out into the evening air glancing at one another - sizing one another up. Luckily for me I was positioned in the high-plains grass sitting on my roof rack with the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Lens on the mil-spec carbon tripod with my finger on the trigger button in snipper snapshot mode.

A moment is a moment… and in a “moment” I was swatting mosquitos with the right hand and left hand was opening the bite-valve cover so I could slurp some water from the Camelbak and in a blink of an eye - it happened!

RANGO TANGO its was two Toyota’s fom different tribes in a tangle!

I ZOOMED IN FOR A CLOSER VIEW!

The local bushmen where obviously not afraid to be close to the action as they stated this was a battle of territory and possibly the evening’s dinner.











That Honcho just knows how to bull around and forcing his opponent to put his belly at risk.















As it seams the Honcho is keeping the dominance… In another moment and a blink of an eye the Honcho is belly up on the BBQ!


Dinner time!

One of the natives from Backyard Boyz does the ceremonial spit-fire by first taking a ceremonial drink of some special sauce, then sticking his finger down into the burning carcass of the Honcho:


And quickly spraying the sauce into the air and onto the fire-finger forming a large fireball light:

THE END! For the moment… Yes, more to come!

Check out the AXIALFEST 2012 event as the Axial family would like to invite you and your family to come camping with us June 22-24th, 2012 in the Tahoe National Forest!
Link: http://axialracing.com/wordpress/2011/12/23/axialfest-2012/

*You can only go into the woods half way. The other half is going out of the woods…