Spidertrax | Thom Kingston | CC BY 3.0
Today’s “Photo of the Day” is back from earlier in the year, namely the 2012 W.E.Rock Round 1 competition. Featured is Tracy Jordan flexing out in none other than The Rock Bug.
It feels like only yesterday when the Rock Bug, in all its Scat V4 glory, placed 4th at the 2010 Ultra4 Stampede. Although quite happy with that finish, the little motor that could was certainly not helping the Bugs quest for 1st. So, shortly after that race, we made the decision to upgrade the Rock Bug to an LS powered V8 (as detailed here) and the rest, as they say, is history.
Today, we’re just about finished with prepping the Rock Bug for this years Ultra4 Stampede and with the all new LS powered V8, we’re feeling pretty good about the upcoming race. Although we’re likely to post a few more updates before race day, here’s a few things to get you pumped and ready for this years Stampede:
Schedule Of Events
Race day is September 10th from 9AM – 6PM at Exit 28 Motorsports in Reno, NV. The complete schedule can be found on Ultra4s website at http://ultra4racing.com/the-inside-line/torchmate-ultra4-stampede-schedule-of-events/.
What’s The Race Like This Year
Dave Cole, the man behind the Ultra4 series, posted a great update on the Ultra4 website discussing this years course and what to expect. It’s well worth the read and guaranteed to get you fired up for competition so be sure to check it out at http://ultra4racing.com/the-inside-line/torchmate-reno-stampede-update-from-dave-cole/.
Looks like we’ll have about 50 teams competing again this year so the competition will be fierce. More updates to follow so stay tuned!
Today marked our final day with The Rock Bug prior to KOH and aside for the obvious general assembly, we managed to finish up the LS skid plate, battery panels, & video camera mounts (cameras don’t stream live for the driver, instead they’re just recording action for promo use). As of 4am the morning of January 17th, 2011 the all new Rock Bug 2.0 is heading back to Arizona where Tracy will continue the work still ahead, namely wiring & plumbing. Back at Spidertrax HQ, we still have a few odds & ends we’ll work on and ship out to Tracy before race day. On that list are body panels & new sway bar arms which we’ll be sure to cover in a later blog entry. Until that time, enjoy today’s progress below.
We’re one day away from finishing up the 1st stage of Rock Bug 2.0. Today we focused on wrapping up the LS throttle cable mount & new dual battery tray. We’re running dual batteries this time around for added “starting” security. With the flick of a switch, we’ll be able to run either battery of choice or both together in parallel. Tomorrow, which marks the last day The Rock Bug will be in our shop before KOH, we’ll fabricate the engine skid plate and finish up with the remainder of general assembly. Until then, enjoy the video & photos from today’s progress and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.
Once again we’re burning thru the midnight oil working on Rock Bug 2.0, getting yet another step closer to V8 glory. Since our last update, we fabricated a new intermediate drive shaft to accommodate the length change of the Atlas. Aside from that, the rest of our energy has been absorbed in general assembly which, as you builders out there know, is a massive time suck. We’re looking forward to the weekend where we “should” have uninterrupted time with The Rock Bug, finishing up the balance of our checklist in time for delivery to Tracy this Monday. Up next, we’ll be fabricating an engine skid plate as well as a new set of sway bar arms to match the stiffer racing sway bar. Be sure to check in again this weekend as we wrap up this stage of the Rock Bug 2.0 project.
