T
he Viking 4x4 Club travelled west to Buildwas, near Telford, for the second round of the 2022 Odyssey Challenge. Sponsored by Llama 4x4, this was just two weeks after another major winch event and
4x4 3pp Scene Odyssey Aug 22.indd 13
MOTORSPORT two weeks before yet another, so the organisers were concerned that numbers might be a worry – however their planning and hard work was rewarded by an excellent turnout of 24 vehicles. Buildwas’ terrain features a ravine which is the ideal place for setting out a winch challenge. Even when the ground is dry, it remains very boggy down here. The ravine is very tight and steep in places, too, putting a lot of strain on the vehicles. Despite this, there was a good variety of punches – some nice and easy, some nice and difficult! Each event in the Odyssey Challenge series also features a mandatory special section; for this event, this took the form of a trials course with European-style rules dictating a 500-point penalty for every cane knocked over. This forced competitors to balance speed with accuracy. Many of the teams had to take several shunts to get round without penalties, while others were very fast. About half the field picked up penalty points, which made for very interesting results. Trialling was of course the lifeblood of off-road motorsport back in the old days, when farmers would turn up on a Sunday to
compete in their Land Rovers. In today’s winching environment, a lot of the cars you see taking part are purpose-built bespoke spaceframe specials – however this even saw a good selection of Landies giving it a go, which was great to see. The Viking 4x4 Club prides itself on never losing touch with the grassroots and is always welcoming to newcomers. It’s brilliant to see some older cars still on the scene – not least because they’re a reminder of where it the scene started all those years ago. Holly Evans competes in one such Defender-based truck, along with co-driver Zac Dambraukas. She bought it late last year and this was only her second ever event. The first was February’s Nightmare Challenge, where she had a great result – and she looking set to repeat the trick on this occasion. That was until about halfway through the day, when the team had a small mishap. All competitors put massive trust in their equipment, in particular the ropes they rely on when getting to punches and pulling the car around. Holly had a rope snap – as they often do, but she was unlucky in that it happened when lowering down a hill to a punch. The car sustained some damage as a
result, bringing their day to an early end – by the time everyone else finished, they were already planning the fixes that will bring it back better and stronger. We will see them again soon! Round 1 winners Simon Ward and Leigh Jefferies were among the favourites going into this event and sure enough they were going very well indeed for most of the day, picked up nearly every punch to fill their first card and get started on a second. But they disaster struck when, on one of the hardest punches, they had a roll and ended up with their vehicle on its side. While it was there, with the engine still running, oil found its way into the air intake – and by the time they got back to the service area, the damage was done. Unable to cure what was now a poorly running unit, he had to call it a day. Scott Haines and James Watts, also in a Defender-based vehicle, were also doing well – until around midday, when they broke a CV joint. In an effort to keep running, they went off-site to get spares, losing a lot of precious time – but it was worth it, because they managed to fit a replacement part and get back out there for the last two hours of the event.
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04/07/2022 21:35
