Knockout rock bouncer racing
September 23, 2016 6:44 AM   Subscribe

KNOCKOUT ROCK BOUNCER RACING IS INSANE (20 min youtube video, but 5 minutes will give an good understanding of the sport as a whole). A rock bouncer is a vehicle designed for driving up and over difficult terrain and obstacles. Races are normally run as time trials with the biggest cheers coming not from finishing but for any vehicle that rolls and lands back on its tires. Racing head to head up a section of bolder strewn mountain ... pretty much what it says on the dented tin.
posted by phoque (33 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Wouldn't it be faster to just walk up the hill?
posted by Marky at 7:03 AM on September 23, 2016 [7 favorites]


Clearly they need wheels that move independently.
posted by dhruva at 7:06 AM on September 23, 2016


I love the vroom vroom as much as anyone, and maybe this is me getting old, but I look at that and think "god, I'm glad I'm not camping or hiking anywhere near those bull-in-a-china-shop jerks".
posted by middleclasstool at 7:08 AM on September 23, 2016 [21 favorites]


Noisy!

I liked how they learned the course. The first few competitors seemed to just go straight ahead, but after a bit, they all figured out it was a bit easier going on the left. Then the starts became critical as drivers jockeyed to be first to get to that line.

I feel bad for the trees, though.
posted by notyou at 7:19 AM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


Soon this will all be electric.
posted by biffa at 7:28 AM on September 23, 2016


This seems like it should probably come with a side of pointlessly firing thousands of rounds into the hillside and any available trees while swilling shit beer and throwing the cans on the ground.
posted by brennen at 7:55 AM on September 23, 2016 [3 favorites]


No. Just no.
posted by uberchet at 8:05 AM on September 23, 2016


middleclasstool: "I look at that and think "god, I'm glad I'm not camping or hiking anywhere near those bull-in-a-china-shop jerks"."
The event was held in something called the Adventure Off Road Park, not just a random forest.
brennen: "This seems like it should probably come with a side of pointlessly firing thousands of rounds into the hillside and any available trees while swilling shit beer and throwing the cans on the ground."
No alcoholic beverages or mind-altering substances which may impair a person's judgment are allowed in the trail area. The discharge of firearms is STRICTLY prohibited within the park.

But hey, why let 20 seconds of cursory googling stand in the way of dumping your ugly prejudices on the rest of us.
posted by brokkr at 8:07 AM on September 23, 2016 [29 favorites]


But hey, why let 20 seconds of cursory googling stand in the way of dumping your ugly prejudices on the rest of us.

People like to punch down man, what can I say. Good on you for providing facts.

I'm no huge fan of oil guzzling motorsports in general but I understand that it's a first world problem that pales in comparison to other things that we humans do that are much, much bigger deals.

But, I mean, lolz rednecks, amirite?
posted by RolandOfEld at 8:29 AM on September 23, 2016


I'm guessing a faster quali time gets you lane choice? Cause the left lane at the start had a distinct advantage. Going later also, because once the puzzle's been solved it's more of just a race than it was before.
ORV parks are definitely contentious in some parts, my hope is that this event brings a ton of money to the local community and everybody has a great time.
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:45 AM on September 23, 2016


There are two types of outdoors people in the world: those who enjoy muscle powered sports, hiking, canoeing, sailing, horseback riding; and people who like gasoline powered sports, snowmobiling, jet skiing, motorcycling. They will forever be in conflict.
posted by Bee'sWing at 8:54 AM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


ORV parks ought to be contentious, because they are a blight. That said, these guys are using, like, an acre of ground. Their impact is concentrated to a small area, not spread over thousands of acres. That is the best that humans can hope for, going forward.

As for there being only two kinds of outdoorspeople: I like hiking and paddling in nature. I also ride ATVs for work (not in parks), and think that is fun, too. I hate mountain bikers on my hiking trails, and dislike horses. Actually, come to think of it, I hate a lot of the other hikers on my hiking trails, too.
posted by agentofselection at 8:58 AM on September 23, 2016 [7 favorites]


It seems like bigger vehicles would have an easier time of it as would tracked vehicles. I wish there was more money in this sport so it would just be modernized 1,000 ton Landkreuzers.
posted by GuyZero at 8:59 AM on September 23, 2016


I like really slow races, so this is great.
posted by swift at 8:59 AM on September 23, 2016


"We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win ..." - JFK

This would be an "other thing"
posted by srboisvert at 9:09 AM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


The other things were, specifically,
  • climbing the highest mountain
  • 35 years ago, flying over the Atlantic
  • Rice playing Texas at football
posted by zamboni at 9:41 AM on September 23, 2016


They need another drivetrain and set of wheels on the roof of the cars. But then all of the minions standing around wouldn't have anything to do, I guess, and if minions need anything at all, it's something to do.
posted by vverse23 at 9:48 AM on September 23, 2016


agentofselection: "ORV parks ought to be contentious, because they are a blight."

Seems less blighty than the housing development a couple miles to the west. No pavement, no permanent structures, no pesticides, no fertilizer run off, no light pollution except of the most occasional, intermittent and transitory nature.
posted by Mitheral at 10:21 AM on September 23, 2016 [2 favorites]


But hey, why let 20 seconds of cursory googling stand in the way of dumping your ugly prejudices on the rest of us.

Good lord, all I said was I was glad not to be enjoying nature near all that noise and fumes. I come from hillbillies and country people who are into this kind of stuff, and i get the appeal, so maybe we could hold off on the "lol rednecks" accusations. Seems there are more than a few assumptions and cartoonish reductions going on here.
posted by middleclasstool at 10:21 AM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


On review, the "jerks" bit was unfair and unwarranted and I apologize for that. People tearing up nature for sport tends to send me to angry thoughts and I can get ugly.
posted by middleclasstool at 10:31 AM on September 23, 2016


Liked the video. I am a racing fan in general and had not seen these before. It sort of reminded me of what I was visualizing in my head when I was panicking when I first learned to drive a manual starting on a steep hill.
posted by AugustWest at 10:47 AM on September 23, 2016


I prefer this
posted by HuronBob at 11:38 AM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


I totally thought this was going to be real-life MotorStorm.
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:40 AM on September 23, 2016


ORV parks ought to be contentious, because they are a blight.

I mean, isn't the point the designate an area to get fucked up? Not everything should be an ORV park of course.
posted by atoxyl at 12:49 PM on September 23, 2016


This is what video games are for.

In the sense of "shooting characters in video games is a much better outlet for the impulse to shoot guns than shooting people in real life."
posted by straight at 4:16 PM on September 23, 2016


The USA is just under 3.6 BILLION acres. And you're worried about this one?

The outdoors is more than big enough to include the crazy event.

This isn't a fly ash pond or a tailing pond or a superfund site contaminated with solvents or any of a million other actually terrible things.
posted by GuyZero at 5:11 PM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


ORV parks ought to be contentious, because they are a blight.

They concentrate the impact, which is usually a very good thing. Done right, they are good for local economies and a are a great way to use large and low-value degraded parcels land that might have been heavily logged or mined back in the day.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:39 PM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


Meh. I'm more into belt sander racing.
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:15 PM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


Soon this will all be electric.

When the technology gets to the point where electric is viable, it will be killer for these kinds of uses. Lots of torque, and and electric motor doesn't care if you roll upside down. At some point the electrics will be straightforwardly better for a bunch of these recreational uses, like ATVs. The decline in noise pollution alone will be heavenly.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:51 PM on September 23, 2016 [2 favorites]


There are two types of outdoors people in the world: those who enjoy muscle powered sports, hiking, canoeing, sailing, horseback riding

ha ha hikers, bicyclists, and horse riders fight each other over trail access basically constantly
posted by ryanrs at 8:15 PM on September 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm just mad at the ORV park I linked to because they are in the process of annexing and spreading into the undamaged adjacent area, which has considerable biological resources. Also the ORV agency in California stashed millions in a slush fund while the other state parks were closing due to budget cuts.
posted by agentofselection at 10:32 PM on September 23, 2016


I would enjoy this more if all of the ORVs were driverless autonomous robots who live only to crush trial times. Which, incidentally, is the premise of the next Transformers movie.
posted by belarius at 11:11 AM on September 24, 2016


But hey, why let 20 seconds of cursory googling stand in the way of dumping your ugly prejudices on the rest of us.

I guess I'll take a pass on this particular guilt trip. I spend some time in the woods; the overlap between loud-ass rock-crawler engines, gunshots, and beercans / shell casings / busted glass is pretty reliable in a whole bunch of the woods.

Come to that, plenty of my friends and acquaintances are interested in some or all of the above. Sometimes I pointlessly shoot at stuff and light things on fire. I thought it was kind of an interesting post. lolrednecks usually irritates me 'cause to a first approximation I am one. I think I'll stand by my earlier observation.
posted by brennen at 12:03 PM on September 24, 2016


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