Rain Forest Challenge (RFC) 2011
Rain Forest Challenge (RFC) 2011 edition kicked off on the 3rd of December
for the 14th year at Kuala Terrenganu, with a weather forecast of rain and consequent
flooding. Terrenganu State notorious for flooding with its many rivers
networking along the hills, find its way to the South China sea of the eastern
cost of Malaysia, had the organizers plot a safer but tougher route through the
highland region.
The teams that braved the weather and the forecasts were from Russia, China,
Philippines, and Australia, along with their counterparts from Malaysia. Sri
Lanka, has been represented since 2008, and for this year, there was no one to
contend under the Lankan Flag.
The prolog started with six special stages (SS) on Day 1, and out of which
three were very demanding, where the use of the winch, in some case multiple
times, was required to get through the stages. The Australians Peter Mahiloff
and Dave Camron on the Nissan Patrol GQ’s put on the display that showed the
might of the 4.8 Litre Turbo and the 5.0 V8 Supercharged respectively. Mervyn
Lim, 1st Runner Up RFC 2009 and China Sanya 2010, was struggling with his SR 20
Powered Suzuki, where he had to settle for a DNF (Did Not Finish) in the early
stages of the game. Markus Ozwald and Brett McNamara, in their Jeep XJ was the
only local Malaysian team that was applying any sort of pressure from the local
teams. The Philippine Team , defending 1st Runners up from 2010 was putting on
a steady show with Father Larry and Son Harriyan, combination. China’s
favourite Ruwan Ning “Little Buddha as he is known” Team 127 was also making
some top ranking scores, giving a glimpse that this year’s RFC title would be
clinched by a foreign team.
After 12 Prolog SS in the first 2 days of the RFC the convoy moved to camp
site 1 by a Water fall off Kuala Berang. Six more technically demanding stages
were awaiting the ones who graduated from the Prolog on to the predator Stage.
These stages were not easy as they required slow technical winching that
brought the competitors up to speed on a quick physics lesson, that required
some innovative moves to contend with gravity. Further to this the previous
night rains have made the ground conditions soggy and wet footing for both man
and machine. The local star Mervyn Lim aced all six stages as the conditions
around him did not seem to perturb his driving style, moving him up the ranking
bagging 600 points. Closely behind was Markus Ozwald, where end of the day he
had to attend to a crippled vehicle that needed a coil over shock to keep the
chassis frame in place with the axles. The Australian Dave Camron went from
four wheel drive to three wheel drive after shearing his rear axle, and was at
the mercy of his rear diff lock to get some drive.
The convoy moved to Camp 2 by the picturesque Sungai Low (River Low) and
four days of the RFC has rolled on and already 18 special stages were complete,
and the results were put up in their ranking order before the Teams attempted
the Terminator Stage, where the Special Stages was to live up its name
separating the men from the boys. An interesting feature this year was that the
SS running order was set up vertically and not horizontally, i.e the first to
the 4th ranked were running SS19, and not spread out among the 6 SS set up for
the day giving them the first chance at each SS that they would be privileged
to open. This was mounting pressure on the top ranked teams as the ones
contending to move ahead had the chance to watch the leader take his line and
also learn from his mistakes. SS 19 starting order and the ranking was as
follows: Team 129 (Malaysia) –Mervyn Lim / Hamizan Hamid, Team 137 (Austria
/Australia)- Markus Ozwald / Brett Mcnamara, Team 139(USA/Australia)- Rod
Cladwell / Aaron Ward, Team 151(Australia)- Peter Mahiloff/Clinton Sharpe, and
the 5th ranked Team 108(Philippines) Larry Medilola / Harryan Mediola ,
starting at SS20 without subjecting themselves to the pressure cooker.
This SS19 was a highly technical SS that required the patience of the
driver, to go up hill get over a log, and sharp turn to the right downhill, and
then around the hill, winch back up the hill and to the finish box passing over
the same log on return. The first victim was Team 129, got lodged on the log
and a wrong anchor point flipped his vehicle over. With many attempts to
recover it was near impossible to salvage this SS with a PTO winch as the
engine cannot be started with the vehicle sitting on its side, where he had to
succumb to a DNF. Second in Line Team 137 saw the opportunity to move ahead and
corrected the line approaching the log, but his sharp turn down hill resulted
in him tipping over to the side and the windscreen stopping the momentum of the
roll, however they recovered with the aid of their back up electric winch, and
completed the SS before the set 15min DNF time. Team 139 watching the
proceedings, was confident with their electric winch, however decided to take a
different approach by reversing down the hill, but their choice of using the
rear winch to align the rear downhill cost them time. Last in Line Team 150
after having many demonstrations in front of them decided to think out of the
box, where the rule book said that all 4 wheels outside the track will result a
disqualification, where the co driver held the course maker up high and the
driver drove the front of the car up to his front door with only two wheels out
of the track and lined up in reverse to go over the log and line up to go downhill
with his nose forward. The Best timing and technique was achieved by Team 108
by which time they came to the SS on the end of the day the route plan was
already established by many.
Five days have already gone and 24 Special Stages have been completed, and
there were no concrete plans for the last remaining 6 SS that traditionally
takes place in the RFC after the dreadful Twilight Zone where most vehicles
just limp through, and compared to the last year’s ordeal of 10 kms this year
it was 50 kms with 3 days planned to complete. The Scout vehicle which left
with the excavator on the 29th of November had yet to reach campsite 3 when the
convoy set out entering the Twilight Zone. The Day after the scout team reached
to Camp 3 and confirmed the track to be clear, but not expect the arrival of
the competitors for the next two days, which proved to be true. The trail was
clear, but it was the highlands of Terrenganu, a typical roller coaster ride,
with winching over 35 times, some even winching downhill.
As the teams were rolling in after 3 days, so was the Sugai Nippah (River
Nippah) was rising around the campsite, and the risk of getting stranded was
likely as the Palm Olive plantation that need to crossed has been going under
water in the past months. The tired convoy of the Twilight Zone was let out to
the tarmac on the 11th of December with a day ahead of the award ceremony.
Champion: Team 129 (Malaysia)-2,353 pts
no.2: Team 137 (Austria/Australia) -2,337 pts,
no.3: Team 108 AA-LR (Philippines)-2,302 pts,
no.4: Team 151 (Australia)-2,290 pts,
no.5: Team 139 (USA/Australia)-2,210 pts,
no.6: Team 127 (China)- 2,025 pts,
no.7: Team 111 (Malaysia)-1,986 pts,
no.8: Team 138 (Malaysia)- 1,938 pts,
no.9: Team 150 (Australia)-1,789 pts,
no.10: Team 102 (Russia)- 1,710 pts
Sean Hameed