It’s amazing what the Rock Bug can do with a perfectly tuned Scat v4. Tracy Jordan and the Rock Bug were absolutely on fire on day 2 (not literally) and secured a well deserved Pro Mod 1st place spot with a final lead of 40 points! Once again, teams running Spidertrax Spider 9 axles and/or components also proved they run with only the best axles on the planet. All in all, Spider 9 axles & components took home 7 of the top 12 positions in Unlimited & Pro-Mod classes. Here are your top 6 winners from both classes:
W.E.Rock Round 2: Pro Mod Top 6 1st: Tracy Jordan – 99 pts *
2nd: Troy Bailey – 139 pts
3rd: Brad Lovell – 139 pts *
4th: Craig Thompson – 152 pts
5th: Bill Kunz – 176 pts *
6th: Nicole Johnson – 192 pts
(*) Teams running Spidertrax Spider 9 axles and/or components
Enjoy the Rock Bug videos below from Day 2 which includes all 4 courses plus the final shootout. Tip: If you have a fast connection and computer, hit the “HD” button in the video window when playing to watch the movie in full High Definition.
Tracy & The Rock Bug were in amazing form today, dominating Day 2 and paving the way for one of the most incredible comebacks in W.E.Rock history. The Scat V4 was running great and, with the exception of the Dana 300 t-case “splitting” issue as described in Day 1, the Rock Bug was working fantastic. Tracy finished yesterday in 10th place but, by the end of Day 2, he was sitting in 5th place and secured a spot in the final shootout.
When it was Tracy’s turn in the shootout, the t-case “splitting” issue caused the Rock Bug to roll hard on a bonus descent, locking Tracy into his 5th place position. Although we’re still blown away by the amazing comeback and overall performance of the Rock Bug, the Dana 300 will be replaced by an Atlas in time for the next competition. The issue of t-case “splitting” is not just hurting the performance of the Rock Bug but is creating dangerous situations like that seen in the Shootout roll over video below. It is the opinion of the Rock Bug team that time spent swapping the Dana 300 for an Atlas is better used then trying to fix the “splitting” issue in the Dana 300 itself.
Last, but certainly not least, a special congratulations goes out to all the teams running Spidertrax Spider 9 Axles & Components. In W.E.Rock’s Round 2, Spider 9 Axles & Components have secured 7 of the top 10 spots including both 1st place positions in Unlimited and Pro Mod classes!
W.E.Rock Round 2: Unlimited Top 5 Running Spider 9 Axles & Components 1st: Jesse Haines 3rd: Jason Paule 4th: Brent Bradshaw 5th: Matt Messer
W.E.Rock Round 2: Pro Mod Top 5 Running Spider 9 Axles & Components 1st: Brad Lovell 2nd: Bill Kunz 5th: Tracy Jordan
Enjoy the videos below of the Rock Bug in action on Day 2. Tip: If you have a fast connection and computer, hit the “HD” button in the video window to watch the movie in full High Definition.
Tracy & the Rock Bug were back at it for W.E.Rock’s Round 2 in Cedar City, UT. It was a tough start to say the least, with electrical issues haunted the Scat V4 for nearly the entire day. It all began right from the start of the Rock Bug’s first course, B2. Right after crossing the start line, the Scat V4 lost almost all power. Tracy’s incredible driving skill got the Rock Bug through the course with a solid score, but it was off to the pits immediately after.
At this point, no one knew what was going on with the Scat, so a call was made to use 45 minutes of breakdown time. With everyone focused on the motor, a bad coil pack was found causing the Scat to run on only 3 cylinders. So, the coil pack was swapped and the Rock Bug was back in action. Or was it?
Now up on B3. Once again the Rock Bug crosses the start line and once again the Scat begins running on 2 or 3 cylinders. Tracy does his best but can’t get the Rock Bug through the course. Immediately after the Rock Bug exits, the team quickly replaces the rest of the coil packs in fear of further problems.
Now up on B4. The Rock Bug crosses the start line and guess what? The Scat begins running on 2 to 3 cylinders! Tracy works his magic and manages to get the Rock Bug all the way through the coarse with a fair score. After finishing, Tracy races back to the pits hoping to shed some light on this never ending problem.
Well, in the haste of constantly installing new coil packs between courses, one of the spark plug wires ended up contacting the header, destroying the cable. This was easily fixed and finally allowed the Scat to run the way it should have from the start. Now up for the last course of the day, B1.
As it stood, only 2 teams were able to complete this coarse so Tracy still had a great shot of ending the day strong. Both he and his spotter Jason gave it their all, but luck would still not be on Tracy’s side. The Dana 300 t-case shifters unexpectedly “split” toward the end of the obstacle, causing the front to be in low range and the rear to be in high range at the same time. There was not enough time for Tracy to compensate for this problem and time did run out.
Somehow, despite all of these troubles, Tracy and the Rock Bug still managed to place 10th for day 1. The event is not over either. Tomorrow marks day 2 of this two day event and it is still anyone’s competition. We will be back again competing at 10 am, MST and don’t forget you can follow along live as described in our post “5 Must Visit Websites for Following W.E.Rock”. Enjoy the day 1 course videos below of the Rock Bug (despite all of the motor issues) and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.
We’re back at it with the Rock Bug, this time going over the entire vehicle without the pressure of a ticking clock. Our goal now is to have the Rock Bug ready for the first W.E. Rock Western US National Rock Crawling competition on April 4th, which will mark the Rock Bug’s ultimate debut. For those that followed along with our Rock Bug King of the Hammers updates, you may recall the Rock Bug was struggling with what we thought were motor and transmission issues.
To quickly recap, the day before the KOH race the team came to the conclusion that the stall speed on the torque converter was set to high and the low end torque of the motor was far from ideal for rock crawling. Although the Rock Bug could arguably run KOH, the risk of damaging the motor just weeks before the Rock Bug’s intended purpose of competing in W.E. Rock, the last minute decision to pull from the event was made. Whether this was the right thing to do is still a hot topic around here, but you have to do the best you can with what you have.
There is no question weeks of countless sleep and the pressure of race day may have gotten the best of the Rock Bug team at KOH and here is why. The Rock Bug was back at our shop this past weekend for a closer inspection of the problems experienced at KOH. It appears these problems were not as they seemed, which can be both good and bad depending on how you look at it. The stall speed on the transmission was not set too high as originally thought, but in fact set far too low at about 1000 RPM. This in turn gave the impression that the low end torque of the motor was far from ideal.
So the solution will be installing the right torque converter with a 2200 RPM stall and re-tuning the Scat V4 for rock crawling. The Rock Bug went back with Tracy on Sunday the 15th for some well deserved seat time. Tracy and his co-pilot for the day, Dave of Powerhouse Motorsports, had a chance to run a full trail with the Rock Bug this past Monday. Both agree the Rock Bug is in great shape for rock crawling and have since ordered the 2200 RPM stall speed torque converter. Once the torque converter is installed, the Scat V4 will be re-tuned for rock crawling and trail tested. Yes, this was indeed a lot of drama all because of a torque converter.
Tracy’s seat time is probably more valuable now then almost anything else we can do, so while the Rock Bug was in our shop this past weekend we took on only the absolute necessities. For W.E. Rock regulation, we had to build a very small & simple front bumper. I have included a few pictures below and do apologize in advance for the low quality photos. The camera is being repaired and all that was on hand was an iPhone.
Still to come for the Rock Bug are changes to make it even lighter for W.E. Rock. Due to time, these changes will not all make it for the first event but are coming. These changes include, but are not limited to, swapping the rear steer axle for a a chromoly Spider 9 full floating axle as well as replacing the fuel cell for a smaller & lighter version. King Shocks is building Tracy some custom air shocks just for rock crawling, which will not only perform better but will also save weight. Once we get all of these changes in place, we will make a point to weigh the Rock Bug which we have been dying to do since KOH.
Lastly, while at KOH we received a few dyno videos, courtesy of Tracy, related to our blog entry The Sultry Sounds of a Scat V4. These were taken around the 21st of February and will be included below.
As many of you know, not all things go as planned. Late Thursday night, right about the time I was writing our last blog post, a decision was made between Tracy, his support team, & Eddie that did indeed change the fate of the Rock Bug and its place at the 2009 King of the Hammers. The entire team planned on changing the torque converter as the stall speed was not properly set from the transmission builder. With some last minute rock crawling testing to absolutely confirm the torque converter issue, it was also realized that the low end torque of the motor, as it was built, was far from ideal for rock crawling. At this point they discussed the option of outfitting last years Twisted Customs rig to run on race day instead of the Rock Bug. This was mainly out of fear of severely damaging the Rock Bug’s Scat V4 motor before its ultimate purpose of competing in W.E.Rock’s Pro Class just a few weeks away. Well, to make this bad story even worse, on race day Tracy and Eddie suffered a serious 60 mph roll over crash in the Twisted rig which took them out of the race early on. The Twisted rig is in severe condition but thankfully both Tracy and Eddie are safe.
So as not to completely kill your day with this entry, there is indeed some good news in the end. Spidertrax Spider 9 Axles & components dominated this year’s King of the Hammers! A special congratulations goes out to two Spider 9 equipped teams: 1st place finisher, and the all new King if you will, Jason Scherer as well as Randy Slawson who took 2nd to Jason by a difference of only 5 minutes. Six of the top ten finishers this year were outfitted with Spider 9 Axles & components with even more Spider 9 equipped teams in the list of those who completed the race, an extremely high honor within itself. So, a very sincere THANKS goes out to all of the teams who have supported Spidertrax and our efforts with the Spider 9 product line. Congratulations!
List of Top 10 Teams Running Spider 9 Axles & Components 1st: Jason Scherer (4:42) 2nd: Randy Slawson (4:47) 5th: JR VanOrtwick (6:02) 6th: Brad Lovell (6:05) 8th: Adam Woodlee (6:19) 9th: Joachim Schwiesow (6:23)
It is just the beginning of the season and the Rock Bug still lives on. We have a few things to resolve so everything is as it should be in time for W.E.Rock. Until then, life does indeed go on and we will see you once again real soon.
To say this week went smooth and without trouble would be a flat out lie. As noted in “The Rock Bug has Left the Building”, Tracy and the Rock Bug headed back to Phoenix last Sunday to, and I quote, “wrap up the final details on the Scat V4”. Wrap up the final details my ass! What started out as final details turned in to everyone’s worst nightmare. The Scat V4 was pissed and refused to run.
Think of “Tucker: The Man and His Dream”, except in this movie everyone wanted to commit suicide. This pretty much sums up the week. Here is the break down as it happened starting from Monday. To kick things off, it helps to know just a little background on the motor. One area that makes this highly custom motor tricky is its “odd” firing sequence which single handedly created our biggest problems. Every time the motor would try to turn over, almost immediately the Scat V4 would violently shut down as the firing sequence was not in harmony with the motor. Repeat this violent behavior for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and you end up with a Scat V4 and transmission flex plate that are so badly damaged from the abuse they need to be completely torn down and rebuilt.
Its now Wednesday night, and Tracy is back wrenching on the Rock Bug, tearing out and replacing the destroyed flex plate so the Scat V4 can be completely rebuilt. Have I mentioned Tracy has not sleep in nearly a week? It was pretty obvious at this point Tracy needed some help and support, so Eddie (and his 6 year old son) booked the first flight out to Phoenix (Thursday morning) to hang once again with Tracy and the Rock Bug.
It is now Thursday and with a new flex plate installed, the Rock Bug and what is left of the Scat V4 are back with Dave of Powerhouse Motorsports. Although the clock is ticking, Dave is careful to take his time in fully rebuilding the Scat V4 as this could honestly be the last chance we are all going to get before KOH. The complete rebuild goes into Friday afternoon.
And here we are. Friday night and the Scat V4 is still pissed and refusing to cooperate. Luck will change however with the visit of a new face, at least in the eyes of the Scat, namely Gerald King of Finish Line Racing. For those new to the blog, Gerald wired up the entire Rock Bug as posted in “Rock Bug Weekend Update for January 24, 2009”. Gerald stopped by simply to tie up some final ends on the wiring, completely unrelated to the Scat V4. Hearing how pissed off the Scat truly was, he couldn’t help but jump head first into helping solve the firing order mystery. Wouldn’t you know it, about 1 hour later all of our luck had changed. The Scat V4 was running and man does it sound great!!!
We couldn’t make this stuff up even if we wanted to so there you have it, the complete timeline from Monday through today. For those, including us, dying to hear what an un-tuned Scat V4 sounds like, go ahead and play the video below taken a few hours ago. Just below the video is a small collection of photos showing off stills of this weeks adventure.
Finally, we can all sleep a little better (or for Tracy’s sake sleep at all) knowing the Scat V4 is indeed alive and happy. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, Tracy will “drive” the Rock Bug over to the engine tuner for some quality dyno time. As far as the rest of the schedule before KOH, the Rock Bug will hang out with Dirt Sports all day Tuesday for a “Master Piece in Metal” photo shoot (we are told this lasts for 12 hours!). This was kindly rescheduled from Friday the 20th due to all the issues of the week (thanks again Boyd for working with us). That’s it for tonight. Enjoy the video and pictures below and we will see you next time for some more, but hopefully less painful, Rock Bug adventures.
Well that’s a wrap, at least for now. The last bit of fabrication is officially finished and the Rock Bug is heading back with Tracy to AZ. With no time to waste and no sleep to prove it, once Tracy pulls into Phoenix he will team up once again with Gerald King of Finish Line Racing to wrap up some final wiring. Then, first thing Monday morning Tracy will work with his engine builder & tuner to wrap up the final details on the Scat V4.
Rock Bug coverage is far from over, actually we like to think it is just getting started. We will be following Tracy and the Rock Bug all year, covering competitions like King of the Hammers & W.E.Rock as well as updates on how the Rock Bug and all the new concepts are holding up. All of this will be posted right here on our blog as it happens. Who knows, we may even come up with some new concepts to test along the way.
Pretty sure this post will go down in Spidertrax Blog history as the shortest & quickest post yet. The clock is ticking with plenty to finish up, so we will keep today’s entry down to a minimum. Enjoy the very quick 33 second video taken today at 3:30 pm MST. As far as the schedule of things to come, we are wrapping up the body panels right now and will then move onto fabricating the engine skid plate, arms for the rear sway bar, shifters for the t-case, and finally head rests. Our goal is to have everything ready by this Wednesday the 11th. At which point, Tracy will take the Rock Bug back to AZ to finish the last bit of wiring as well as dyno the Scat V4. Be sure to check back tomorrow as the body panels should be wrapped up by then.
Consider this a “work in progress” update. Although I planned on writing the next blog post when all the electrical work was completed, there is so much going on at the same time today I couldn’t help but post some pictures and video now. Things are going as planned this week, with electrical being the major project to finish by the weekend. Since our last Rock Bug update on the 19th, some of the progress has included, but is certainly not limited to, fabricating the control section for the dashboard, chromoly mounts for both the fuel cell and battery, intake routing for the Scat V4, and a custom chromoly brake pedal. Enjoy the pictures and video here, but don’t forget there is more video at SpidertraxTV on YouTube and more photos in the Rock Bug Set on Flickr.
So no time is wasted, Tracy picked up the now fully assembled Scat V4 motor from Powerhouse Motorsports and drove it all the way back to our shop in Longmont, CO. The underlying theme this week is having everything fabricated and installed so all necessary electrical work can be completed. Today, Tracy is flying in his good friend Gerald King of Finish Line Racing to handle just about all the electrical work on the Rock Bug. Finish Line Racing, which can be reached at (602) 576-8332, specializes in electrical work for all types of performance vehicles all the way up to Trophy Trucks and has worked with guys like the Gieser Brothers & Dunebuggy.com. In order for Gerald to do his job, we will be busy supplying him with everything necessary for electrical such as fabricating and installing the Rock Bug’s dashboard, battery, fuel cell, Scat V4 accessories, and anything else for that matter that has wires running to it. We had a great opportunity weighing both the chassis and fully assembled Scat V4 motor during the assembly. As of today, the chassis weighs in just under 230 lbs and the Scat V4 motor weighs in just at 221 lbs. The Scat V4 is projected to produce about 300 HP, so the power to weight ratio as it stands should serve the Rock Bug well.
