The H.O.F.S. Ladoga 2008 Blog

[D9OSV]

in all seriousness Jim there doesnt seem to be any averages

a SS might range from 6 - 67km with a 6km day taking waaaaaaaaaaay more time than a 67km day, each day comes with a handy difficulty number (from 1-9), 9's mean its going to be a tough day at the office, its all relative though.... ask the Ukrainian/Lebanese team that spent 37 hours trying to get out from a level 6 stage.

meeting the support crew every night is also up to the race team, if they make it out and the car is in enough of a large piece to drive to camp then yes off you hustle down the transit and look forward to a hot/lukewarm/freezing shower seeing friendly faces and coffee. If you are very late out then simply drive straight to the next SS

camp occassionally stays in the same place for 2 nights, in a way thats nice but in others its not so nice - it means that when the camp finally moves its going to be a hard day to catch them up.

the first 3 Ladogas for me were wide eyed and wondering what the hell we're going to be hit with next, now its sort of wry smiles and "come on then" its just a question of relaxing and getting used to the Russian sense of humour.

that isnt deep by the way, thats pretty normal. in terms of how much water in a stage? once again, no averages - one stage might be bone dry, another is waterworld. in the end it doesnt really matter, you cope with whatever comes.

Surreal (to me) is realising the route dictates you have to drive through a lake - not round it, you pile in and floor it, its maybe 3/4km accross so sending a navigator to walk in front of the car isnt an option, you have to have faith and hope you dont hit a car sized hole and press on the loud pedal - it adds a certain spice to the proceedings.

its as tough as you want it to be - you cant fight the terrain, only negotiate with it.

Now that is a the answer i was looking for.

I did not realise that many teams went straight to the next ss.

What do you do for fuel? do you pick it up in villages or does support have to source it and then you fill with jerry cans?

Am i right in thinking that the better teams tend to come in at sensible times (Before dark) and it's only the poor soles that have broken down or are clueless that have a long night?

Once again, Thank you for the answer.

Jim

[dollythelw]

you can do either for fuel, theres always a risk, whatever happens you can guarantee when you really need fuel there wont be a station near by or the tech truck with your cans is 3 hours away

I wouldnt say its a hard and fast rule that better teams come in early - lucky seems a more appropriate word, if your start time is early (random draw for the day), you have a good run and nothing breaks then theres a good chance you will be back in time. Some very good teams this year were still in a world of pain well after the sky goes dull and then bright again meaning straight to the next SS carrying the previous stages fatigue. Clueless (us the first time round) arent so lucky - mostly thier cars die.

daylight is 22 hours long, it will mess with your head.

[CosZuki]

"tech truck" twas the smallest chase tech truck ever i think! but it did have fuel!! time from end of stage to base can also be a little squeeze on occasion!

[D9OSV]

Sorry for so many questions?

So each day your start time is drawn from a hat? or does your finish time from the day before have any bearing on it?

I know it is not an easy question to answer, but what is the approx start time each day and vague finish time if all goes well...Ish?

Do they have English translations on the briefings or is it a wing-it type of thing?

Thanks once again

Jim

[protoprincess]

So each day your start time is drawn from a hat? or does your finish time from the day before have any bearing on it?

First day is by start numbers, then random

I know it is not an easy question to answer, but what is the approx start time each day and vague finish time if all goes well...Ish?

Varies and varies again - cant answer this one - all the info is on the info board each night

But not shorter than 3-4 hours I think except of the Dune and Beach race

Do they have English translations on the briefings or is it a wing-it type of thing?

They do have a translator in the camp, who you have to find and most of the organisers speak english

[dollythelw]

start times for the following day are posted on the notice board by 10pm(ish), notice board also acts as the Ladoga ebay/swap shop for parts, daily results and penalties are also there

although start times can be from 8am onwards, transit to and from the stage can make a short stage long or vice versa, time ceases to have any efffective markers so I have no idea what time we ever got back to camp, I'd guess at 7pm being a very short day but as camp is a 24 hour mobile village its hard to tell. As to what other classes get up I have no idea

The tourists seem to have a bit of R&R but sport class crews of all classes seem to have the same hagged look

ahh but Skirt Monkey - small but always on call, engage despatch drive

[protoprincess]

quote name='D9OSV' date='Jun 19 2008, 11:10 AM' post='279364']

I did not realise that many teams went straight to the next ss.

Jim

Not just to the next SS - if your lot have moved on with the traveling camp (circus ) you have to catch up with them too

in 2006 I competed in the TR2 class, with a russian guy Andrey (great bear of a man ) split from the Proto team and camp on Saturday and never seen them till about 4am on Tuesday, and about 360 miles further ahead.

We were only about 5 km from end of the stage, and only about 30-40km from the closest village, managed to find a dry (meaning above the water level) 5x5 meter island in the middle of the swamp, time was spent on stage repairing the vehicle, then trying to out run the extracting team that was saving the broken crews littering course, because they have to pull you out. But once they do that is the end of your race. Once we got out on to a road I split from Andrey who went to try and find a new radiator and I hopped into a Italian car to drive 200 miles sitting on a middle console of a very small and smelly vehicle in a very wet and smelly clothes.

Got to the camp, could not find the guys (camps are big and mobiles dont always work) and after walking what felt like miles and miles I found them all asleep!!

And Jez's reaction ? Oh you back ? You smell ... snore snore - great

[D9OSV]

Not just to the next SS - if your lot have moved on with the traveling camp (circus ) you have to catch up with them too

in 2006 I competed in the TR2 class, with a russian guy Andrey (great bear of a man ) split from the Proto team and camp on Saturday and never seen them till about 4am on Tuesday, and about 360 miles further ahead.

We were only about 5 km from end of the stage, and only about 30-40km from the closest village, managed to find a dry (meaning above the water level) 5x5 meter island in the middle of the swamp, time was spent on stage repairing the vehicle, then trying to out run the extracting team that was saving the broken crews littering course, because they have to pull you out. But once they do that is the end of your race. Once we got out on to a road I split from Andrey who went to try and find a new radiator and I hopped into a Italian car to drive 200 miles sitting on a middle console of a very small and smelly vehicle in a very wet and smelly clothes.

Got to the camp, could not find the guys (camps are big and mobiles dont always work) and after walking what felt like miles and miles I found them all asleep!!

And Jez's reaction ? Oh you back ? You smell ... snore snore - great

Sounds awesome

I take it the different classes do different courses?

When on course do you have to pass check points or anything or is it just A to B style stuff.

So you can start anytime between 8am and what 10am? dependant on what it says on the board?

Does each class start in there own groups?

Once again sorry for the questions....

It does sound very good.

And vast B)

Jim

[Daan]

I hopped into a Italian car to drive 200 miles sitting on a middle console of a very small and smelly vehicle in a very wet and smelly clothes.

Got to the camp, could not find the guys (camps are big and mobiles dont always work) and after walking what felt like miles and miles I found them all asleep!!

And Jez's reaction ? Oh you back ? You smell ... snore snore - great

I have a feeling that Jana wouldn't be up for this kind of thing zuz- but I am!

Daan

[protoprincess]

Sounds awesome

I take it the different classes do different courses?

When on course do you have to pass check points or anything or is it just A to B style stuff.

So you can start anytime between 8am and what 10am? dependant on what it says on the board?

Does each class start in there own groups?

Once again sorry for the questions....

It does sound very good.

And vast B)

Jim

yes to all above

and you can find more on www.ladoga-trophy.ru

[dollythelw]

latest start this year was late o'clock, Priit pulled a 10:45pm, Ive pulled a 9:30pm - its not normal but it can happen.

[FridgeFreezer]

I knew I'd seen the answers somewhere before:

Plus

The answer to the TR class system.

How hard is it?

You've missed the opportunity to have your arse kissed this year.

Etc...

[FridgeFreezer]

For those asking about camp sites etc., this may illustrate the scale a little:

At least the noisy bugger had a camera with him! We're the last camp he flies over, he probably pulled up as we were just working out what we could throw at him to shut him up

[smo]

You can see your 109, the white disco and possibly mouse in the fly over right at the end

[protoprincess]

I wan to see, I want to see.....

Can't watch youtube on works pc . Grrrrrrr

[Seva]

Many photoes from Ladog Trophy 2008

http://www.ladoga-trophy.ru/index.php?opti...ory&catid=4

[protoprincess]

Nice picks there Seva

One of my favourite ones

[protoprincess]

Just an another day in the office

[dollythelw]

nice one Seva!

stumpy nav's should take a snorkal

Priit giving it large

.....after being decorated by James..

Tommi's turn to scare Tapsa for a change

the mud's a lot of fun

lash up dropped into a stream..

...drives out

and acts as a ground anchor for Tapsa in Voldis

sexpest takes a bath

climbing made easy

Fritz enjoying the sun

ATV boys using new high grip satsuma's

constantly smiling makes bad things not so bad

Cyvas with a very unwell defender stranded on "waypoint island"

dont forget to pack your waffles and ground anchors

[smo]

Nice pics Jez, the blue one owned by Tapsa looks very like mouse in that pic above

[dollythelw]

form following function Smo

[protoprincess]

sexpest takes a bath

Aim of the game ? Is to have fun

[gibbon]

Well done guys!

Awesome truck and one hell of a build / inspiration to us all monsieur welding stig!

Gutted I didn't get to see mouse in the flesh at billing as we hit the beer tent and never made it accross to you guys after that!

Also stoked at the video from 2007 ladoga of petal - here she is!

Also loving the p*^^ & winding up of the estonians....... good lads!

So what mods have you got planned for the Vepsskii Les? and where are petal and pig now..... ?

[dollythelw]

beer tents are hard to pass - we never really made it further than Dan and Jens fridge

The team are lucky enough to have a fair few friends scattered about, including a number of the Estonian crews - mickey taking is cool but if it comes to it they are welcome to pretty much anything we have - just as we can raid thier camps, (it wont stop us from ramming the hell out of each other on stage though )

changes for Veppsskii will show up in the next couple of months (in other words right at the last minute)

Pig really wasnt up to the job, Russia ate it in the first stage but rather than go home when we finally got out of the carp (36 hours later) we learned. [excuse mode on] Pig was our first attempt at an offroad race car, our backround is in bike racing, so cars are a relatively new thing for us - bear in mind we hadnt a clue what we were going into and there wasnt anyone for us to ask, in fact all we got was carp from certain quarters when we got home..bless [/excuse mode off]. So pig ended up sold pretty much as soon as we got back to the UK.

Petal got 16th place in her first year, almost laughable - but still a finish! (even counting the DNF on the final stage of 2006 ), she morphed into Petal Evo in 2007.

Petal Evo was/is an all round tonka toy, great fun to drive and pretty much indestructable. The Russians and Estonians nicknamed her "F***ing English Yellow Tractor" (usually followed by "it wont die - why wont it stop?") she took 4th place missing out on third by 4 mins and 1 second It seems Evo made an impression, the Russian team that eventually bought her wanted to buy us out on day 3 - shes still up and rocking and will go head to head with mouse at Vepsskii. Petal Evos claim to fame was doing two level 8 Proto stages towing dead cars

We are a young trophy raid team so in 4 years the 2 top fives at Ladoga could count as pretty respectable - as a team the HOFS are still learning, we know we can do better in terms of tech and results but we score maximum for teamwork and we will always give it our best, so give us a bit of time and we will improve

[andylandy]

beer tents are hard to pass - we never really made it further than Dan and Jens fridge

The team are lucky enough to have a fair few friends scattered about, including a number of the Estonian crews - mickey taking is cool but if it comes to it they are welcome to pretty much anything we have - just as we can raid thier camps, (it wont stop us from ramming the hell out of each other on stage though )

changes for Veppsskii will show up in the next couple of months (in other words right at the last minute)

Pig really wasnt up to the job, Russia ate it in the first stage but rather than go home when we finally got out of the carp (36 hours later) we learned. [excuse mode on] Pig was our first attempt at an offroad race car, our backround is in bike racing, so cars are a relatively new thing for us - bear in mind we hadnt a clue what we were going into and there wasnt anyone for us to ask, in fact all we got was carp from certain quarters when we got home..bless [/excuse mode off]. So pig ended up sold pretty much as soon as we got back to the UK.

Petal got 16th place in her first year, almost laughable - but still a finish! (even counting the DNF on the final stage of 2006 ), she morphed into Petal Evo in 2007.

Petal Evo was/is an all round tonka toy, great fun to drive and pretty much indestructable. The Russians and Estonians nicknamed her "F***ing English Yellow Tractor" (usually followed by "it wont die - why wont it stop?") she took 4th place missing out on third by 4 mins and 1 second It seems Evo made an impression, the Russian team that eventually bought her wanted to buy us out on day 3 - shes still up and rocking and will go head to head with mouse at Vepsskii. Petal Evos claim to fame was doing two level 8 Proto stages towing dead cars

We are a young trophy raid team so in 4 years the 2 top fives at Ladoga could count as pretty respectable - as a team the HOFS are still learning, we know we can do better in terms of tech and results but we score maximum for teamwork and we will always give it our best, so give us a bit of time and we will improve

more J C B fast trac than tractor i always thought