We had a twelve syncro event and a great time in West Virginia. Faces were connected to email names, vehicles got very dirty, and I hope everyone had a fun time. For me, the most memorable escapade was clearly the "Challenge Course", less than a mile long but it took the group about five hours to complete it. Unlike the wide open west, the Challenge Course was in hilly wooded terrain, with lots of narrow choke points made more difficult by the wettest spring in (my) memory. Some lessons learned: *BFG Mud Terrain tire make a lot of highway noise, but are superior to BFG ATs in these particular conditions. *Brady's infamous winch got lots of use - he never had to be pulled out, but others did. There must have been over half a dozen winch pulls set up and executed. *The weak point on syncros may not be the wimpy stock engine or the VC, but the axle/cv joints. Only one was broken, but that was one too many. *Spare axles from an automatic trans vanagons will not fit syncros. There was a lot of work involved in learning this lesson, so please remember it. *On trail body damage is not a defect,but a badge of honor. (Many folks aquired the badge). *It was a good thing no 2WD Vanagons showed up, because just getting in and out of the campsite required 4 wheel drive. *If you have a Westie, provision it with food and water. You may think you are going off for a twenty minute off-road romp, but may end up back on solid ground hours later and very, very hungry.
There is a picture album setup under "events" in the syncro group at yahoo. Participants, please post your photos and video. There is a place for syncro de mayo west, as well. How was Hollister? Tom F.
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