Hill Climber
 

This is the first contest to decide who will advance to the finals. The Mulewrights will be locked in a race against The McCarknow Clan to see who can build the better hill climber. The course is a 1 to 2 hill (about 66 degrees, I think) with each team getting three attempts to get to the top. If there is a tie in the number of times each team makes it to the top, according to official rally rules, the team that made it to the top first is the winner.

The McCarknow Clan are going to build a light-weight hill stormer that will rocket up the first part of the hill then crawl it's way to the finish. They'll need a small vehicle and a big engine, but not too big. Sounds simple but they plan to turn the engine sideways, put it inthe middle of the truck and have it run all 4 wheels at once. Essentially, they want to make their own four-wheel drive system. Their major problems will be finding an engine and over-coming an untested design.

The Mulewrights will stick with a tried-and-true hill climber design. With a big enough truck that has a beefy engine, they're going to attach tracks to it. Each track will be massively long and require a LOT of work to attach the treads and guides. Time will be the biggest obstacle they'll face...even bigger than the hill! 
 
 
The McCarknow's expert
Matt Lee
The Mulewrights Expert
John Deaville
 
 
Yup, this is basically the McCarknow's
entire design. Strip a chassis and
bolt an engine to it sideways
The Muelwrights more simplified
design is a truck with tank treads
 
 
The Clan will use this Suzuki Samurai
The Mulewrights will use this big
V8 monster. Looks like a Ford F150
 
 
Someone tell the McCarknows that
this V8 is too big for their tiny truck
The Mulewrights just need to get their
truck dislodged from the airplane
 
 
Look out!
The judge this week,
John Ackroyd
 
 
The Clan flip their Suzuki
That 56 foot long conveyor belt, split
in half, will be the crux of the treads
 
 
Carefully, they cut the conveyor
belt in half
Then, to each of the 56' treads must
go 56 tracks. Each track gets 2
holes for bolting. That's 112 tracks
and 224 holes!
 
 
This small 4 Cylinder engine will have
to do for the McCarknows
Oh no! Their expert just cut through
the wiring harness of their newly
acquired engine!
 
 
These tires will be very helpful. Not
only will they increase torque but
they'll also increase traction
Robert has a closer look at the tank
treads the Mulewrights have spent all
day on
 
 
This wheelie bar should help stop
their machine from flipping backwards
After attaching 112 flanges to help keep
the track on the tires...
 
 
...they have to bend each one to prevent
the tires from being shredded
The McCarknows hope their automatic
transmission, which also has a manual
feature, will give them an edge. I
believe this system is called a
"manumatic"

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