(upbeat music)
- [Host] Hello and welcome to the
2016 Diesel Power Challenge presented by XDP.
We begin here at Bandimere with the
trailer towing obstacle course.
This is one of the most fun
events of the entire competition.
You get all those orange cones out there,
you get an 11,000 pound trailer
hooked to the back of your truck.
You got to hustle the thing through the course
as quickly as possible, there's turning, there's backing up
and there's always a lot of orange cones laying
dead on their side by the time that we're done.
Before we move on with that, let's take a look
back at what happened yesterday at ATS Diesel Performance.
That's where Ray McClelland showed up with
his powered Ram and laid them all to waste.
The big numbers put down by that truck
on both the horsepower and
torque side got him the Dino win.
We then ran our fuel economy challenge
on those same dino rollers.
A simulated driving experience that Neal Torley domindated.
The most fuel efficient truck, he won fuel economy.
It was also Neal Torley that got himself
into the first thrash of the event.
Torley and his crew ripped the transmission
out of his truck, basically rebuilt it that afternoon
and plugged it back in to get it ready for today.
Unfortunately, there was one competitor that
will not continue on in the contest
and that is Jake Patterson.
He suffered a broken piston during his dino pulls,
it is catastrophically damaged and that truck
will not be part of the trailer towing obstacle course
or, we think, the rest of the event.
(revving engine)
(honking horn)
So, Kelsie is off the starting line.
One of the things that maybe gets not as much attention
here during the trailer towing obstacle course
is the fact that you have to have a truck
that's functional really well at
low RPM to get this weight moving.
So, Kelsie kind of methodically working a way
back through that long backing section.
Always better to take your time
through this thing and not panic.
When you start hitting cones, the penalties rack up quick.
Couple of alterations from years passed.
They have moved, they meaning the Diesel Power
Magazine staff has moved this gate
in the back of the course farther back
so you can see Kelsie setting herself
up absolutely perfectly there.
She's going to drive almost straight through that thing.
(revving engine)
Now, this is the higher speed portion of the course.
She's going to come through now the
slalom portion of the shacane.
She's going to come to one side, nice.
Working her way through there now.
Very nicely done there by Kelsie Epp.
Now, she's going to come to a stop in the box.
This is where the rubber meets the road,
this 90 degree backing movement has thrown
more people off over the years than nearly anybody else.
Now, can she put it back into the
stop box without touching any cones?
The run ends when the front of the trailer,
the front of the actual cargo portion
of the trailer crosses the white
line and it looks like we may have.
(honking horn)
She's in there.
Wow, nice run by Kelsie Epp.
So, the next truck on course belongs to Travis Koller.
Koller going to leave the starting line.
Got to remember Koller has that small variable
geometry turbo in his truck and that's
going to help him get the weight moving.
He's through that first turn, squares himself up nicely.
And again, this is not a horsepower game out here
so this is one of the events where he is really
on pretty even footing with everybody else.
Yes, it helps if you've got some extra oomph
to get the acceleration going but the reality is
smoothness and skill are the name in the game out here
in the trailer towing obstacle course, not brute force.
Nicely done by Travis right here.
Backing through that entire column of cones
not touching anything, you can
see him looking in the mirrors.
Now, he's going to set himself up to get that thing
going in the right direction and he does a fine job of that.
Koller makes a beautiful transition there.
Kicks the truck into first gear
and into drive and he's gone.
Again, he comes through the high speed portion,
now lays on the throttle a little bit,
comes through the shicane, is he going to be clean?
I don't see any orange cones flying quite yet.
That was close coming through there.
Now he's going to dip the nose in here to the stop box
and here comes the 90 degree back up.
This is the make 'em of break 'em moment
and right now he's going to try to rotate that thing.
Has he waited too long to turn
in, oh, it appears he might've.
Here comes the trailer working its way across
but is he at a good enough angle?
Is he going to be able to bring it back,
oh, he went too far, over rotated the thing.
Koller pulls straight ahead, almost straight ahead.
Now, he's just trying to recover and get it in there
without hitting any cones and it looks like
he's going to be able to do it, he's in clean.
Wow, that was a very nice clean run.
(cheering crowd)
- [Cameraman] Alright, Travis, man, you
were hustling out there, 1:27 but
you did catch one gate cone in there,
so total time of 1:37 which puts you in the
lead right now by about 20 seconds, that's solid.
What was the most fun part about the thing?
You were laying on it pretty hard over
here coming through the slalom.
- Going with the rhythm and had her pinched the whole time.
- [Cameraman] If there's one advantage
or disadvantage that this truck
has, what do you think it is?
I mean, you're up pretty high, could you see the cones?
- Yeah, I could see the cones but I just
kind of, my eyes just let them go but
the advantage of this thing is I got
a small VGT turbo so, it's pulled up pretty quick.
- [Cameraman] Thank you, sir.
- [Host] Coming up next, Neal Torley in his white Ford.
So, Torley kind of walking it out of the hole here.
Taking a less aggressive approach than we saw earlier
and it may be part by design
and also maybe part by the fact that
the truck did not maybe want to spool that well.
(humming engine)
So, this is a very long truck obviously,
a full four door cab on this thing
and uh oh, he's getting these crossed up immediately here.
Now, he's going to get into that back and forth
swinging motion, tough to recover from
but it looks like he's making an attempt to do just that.
Man, with the amount of work these guys put in
last night and during the day,
he would love to come out of this looking strong
and of course he's one of the event leaders right
now recording the victory in the fuel economy challenge.
(humming engine)
Here comes Torley now working his way through the slalom.
Made it through the first two gates cleanly.
Oh, this one might be trouble though.
And Torley carries some good speed
into this last portion of the race.
Now, again, long truck, he's going to have
to start making that move early
and more importantly, the recovery end of things.
And oh man, Torley making this one,
man, he's sneaking it in there.
(honking horn)
Wow, well done, especially the last portion of that
was pretty much picture perfect.
(cheering crowd)
- [Cameraman] Well, Neal Torley, man,
it was a long day yesterday, you had
the transmission out of this thing, rebuilt it.
You go 1:11 and it's a clean run.
That is incredibly quick.
- Thank you so much.
Yeah, I had hard time spooling it
it really was a disadvantage to me
and I knew I had the skill, it's just
the turbos wouldn't light so we played it safe,
held out some power for the drag race
and we'll see what happens later on today.
- [Cameraman] The part you really nailed
was that 90 degree turn at the left.
This is a long truck and that's a long trailer
and you hit that pivot point perfectly.
- Yeah, that was my key thing
I didn't want to make a mistake on.
- [Cameraman] Well done man, that's going to
be a very difficult time to beat today.
- Thank you so much.
(honking horn)
- [Host] There goes Keeter, stands on the gas
still laboring out the hole a little bit.
Feeds the power to the truck.
Now's the time where he's going to have to
really kind of use his own intuition
and get this thing straightened out and backed up.
- Well, right now he's about to back through
with no trailer mirrors, no mirrors what so ever
so that's going to be interesting to see how he does.
He's literally just looking going over his shoulder
but he's backing up remarkably straight.
I don't see, he's not wonky yet.
No cones in danger.
Wow, pretty impressed for not having mirrors.
- [Host] Keeter starts to feed the power to it.
Oh yeah, he's heavy on the brakes.
So, the weight all really just
transferred to the back of that truck.
(humming engine)
So, Keeter, again big speed here through the shicane.
He's going to hit it with the power one more time.
This is where Neal Torley really shined last time
through and Keeter needs to do the same
if he wants to hang in there.
This is looking like a great run so far.
I've not seen any cones hit, no penalties occurred
at this point but it can all go really pair shaped
once you get toward this back up area.
(humming engine)
(honking horn)
(cheering crowd)
Wow, he came into the stop box hot, that's for sure.
- Hey KJ, any cones on your end of the course?
- Absolutely no cones on this end of the course, Sean
and I'm impressed, I'm not going to say I'm surprised.
I'm very impressed at a guy who can drive
a truck backwards with no mirrors like that.
That was pretty cool.
- Yeah, he had a 1:18 which is in second place right now.
The fact that he didn't have mirrors, super clean run.
It was fun to watch.
- Passes long to Charlie Keeter for now
and specify for now, he's my hero.
That's subject to change.
- [Cameraman] Well, Charlie Keeter with the
we don't need no stinking mirrors philosophy out here.
You got 1:18 man which puts you number two right now.
- Alright, good deal.
Surprisingly, there's a lot of weight back there.
- [Host] Ray McClelland will be next to attack the course.
(humming engine)
And look at that, smoldering the tires
with 11,000 pounds strapped to the back of the truck.
McClelland now sets himself up for the backing portion.
(humming engine)
McClelland with the four door cab truck,
doesn't have quite as much wheel base to work with
or to fight against I should say, as Neal Torley
did with his class leading one minute and 11 second run.
Rick looks pretty good, the chrome wheels
really shined up nice as he makes his
way back through this section.
And again, just a picture
perfect set up here for McClelland.
Tail of the tape, let's see how lazy the
truck is coming out of this section.
Oh, it is not too happy about that program.
Laboring hard, you can hear the turbos
start to come up and he is really going to
be trucking when he comes through here.
(humming engine)
Smooth as glass for McClelland.
Now, he's got the trailer perfectly set up.
It's going to start to already to kind
of walk its way in instantly, oh.
He may be one of the first guys to short side this thing.
And McClelland comes in on the throttle, oh.
A minute five but a couple of penalties
so you're final score right now is a
minute and 25, puts you in third.
- Yeah, I mean, I'm happy with that.
I don't want to be at the bottom but.
- [Cameraman] I made an argument on your behalf
for style points for smoking the tires
out of the hole but they wouldn't go for it.
- Right, yeah, I tried to get as much traction as I could
but the truck comes on pretty quick
so I had to work with that too.
(honking horn)
- [Host] Okay, Nathan Stacy coming up next.
Truck on course that 2007 Chevy Silverado 2500HD.
No problem pulling the weight as he swings into
the first left turn and whoa,
he's living dangerously already.
That was real close to a couple
of cones just on the first left turn.
Stacy now gets the truck squared up
and he's going to head up to a backing section.
A lot of steering inputs being made already.
That's normally not a great sign
and that thing is heading off into no man's land
so Stacy is going to bring it back around
one more time, get it squared up again.
The one thing he's not done here,
he hasn't lost his cool, made any rash decisions
and that's what you can't do.
We often see guys kind of lose it in there
and once you start to lose it, that's
when the cones really start hitting the ground.
Stacy keeping the composure, keeping
the skill level up and he is cleanly making his
way through the backing area.
Can he get the trailer swung to the left?
No, trailer has gone to the right.
The only way he's going to get out of this
is if he actuall just does a giant U turn,
there is no rule against doing this.
The only problem is, you're driving a bunch of
extra distance and you're eating a bunch of valuable time.
You see Stacy one last goose of the throttle
there and he's going to give this thing full right rutter
and swing it all the way around.
That five ton trailer hanging off the back of his truck.
You can see how hard the truck's
working to get things moving.
This is the spot where he can make up some time.
He comes at the fast section,
oh he gets a cone right into it.
So, he has got a cone penalty there.
He is now coming through the shicane.
Stacy going to make that right hander right here.
He gets another cone with the inside tires.
Oh man, very tough break for Nate.
Now he comes into the stop box and he does it cleanly.
This is a defining moment for him, if he puts this
thing, if he sticks the landing, he's going to
make himself maybe some decent time here.
If he can't get it in, it's going to cost him even more
and Stacy looking like he's going to miss it.
So, Stacy is going to put it in drive
and pull the truck ahead, Nathan doing the right thing here.
Not going to try to force it through where it doesn't belong
and Nathan Stacy starting to creep in on it right now.
You see Sean Homan with the buzzer up
and Stacy is praying for this thing to be over.
He is almost done now and he is going to square
it up again to make sure he does not hit anymore cones.
And Nathan Stacy in reverse, creeping backwards,
driving, driving, driving and finally mercifully it is over.
Stacy completes his run.
(cheering crowd)
- I don't know, I just, I got nervous,
got thinking about it and it is what it is I guess.
(humming engine)
- This is our time.
We messed up on the dino, it's time to prove something.
(honking horn)
- [Host] And you hear the motor clean up a little bit
and yeah, he is off with power and again,
those, uh oh, Ferguson has completely missed
one of the gates, he actually turned in through
the middle of the course there.
That is going to be a major time penalty for him.
That is an unfortunate break right off the bat.
(humming engine)
Diesel Power Content Direct, Sean Homen
often refers to the cones as third graders
and if that was the case, David Ferguson
would be facing a lengthy prison sentence.
(humming engine)
So, Ferguson has worked his way cleanly back through there.
He is going to be mighty disappointed
if the rest of this run is as clean as that section.
He is going to be very disappointed when he gets the news
that he missed a gate and hit a cone.
Oh man, and again, the truck really not too happy
until those turbos start to light
and boy are they lit now, oh man.
Coming like a freight train here through the shicane.
Huge amount of speed, whoa he's got the thing,
he almost jack knifed the thing.
Totally crossed up, the good news for him
is the trailer ended up in the right spot
and it is inching its way towards the box.
And Ferguson able to stick the landing
so to speak, gets into the gate cleanly.
But that initial turn in is going to be bad news for him.
It was 1:47 but there was a penalty
when you came off the starting line,
you were a little early into that turn out there
and actually missed the gate but man,
once this thing got warmed up though
coming through that shicane section,
it was really carrying some big speed.
- Yeah, that big charger takes a little
bit to get going but that 30 jet really woke it up.
This all was just, I can't blame
anybody else but me on this one.
It's absolutely all me.
- [Cameraman] One question I have for ya,
this thing's got those MNH tires on the corners
which is certainly designed for the drag strip,
I'm sure you're looking forward to that?
- I'm going to let it eat there.
- [Host] So, Neal Torley and his lifted Ford
took first place in the trailer towing obstacle course
with Charlie Keeter and Ray
McClelland rounding up the top three.
Make sure you join us next time for
the eighth mile trailer show, one of the
most punishing events of the entire
diesel powered challenge, this one's crazy,
horsepower and torque at work.
(upbeat music)