A new Challene to the 4x4 fundi's

Bridgestone's 4x4 Club Challenge

Bridgestone 4x4 Club Challenge – a new game of tough!

Tougher than ever, with a good helping of mud, sweat and tears, topped off with some new twists and turns that will test man and machine like never before.

This is the Bridgestone 4x4 club Challenge which is set to February 2015. The Bridgestone 4x4 Club Challenge evolved from Bridgestone’s original 4x4 Fundi Challenge. South Africa’s top 4x4 clubs play an integral part in the competition.

The 2015 Bridgestone 4x4 Club Challenge starts off with four qualifying rounds, or boot camps, where 4x4 enthusiasts will compete in their own 4x4s. The qualifying rounds will all be hosted at the Bridgestone Leeuwenkloof 4x4 centre, near Hartbeespoort Dam.

The Top 65 teams from the boot camps (five crews from each club) will then advance to the “Eliminator rounds” at 4x4 tracks near Johannesburg and Pretoria. There will be at least two new tracks included in the 2015 line-up. In the Eliminator rounds the bottom-placed teams in each round will be eliminated from the competition, leaving only the Top 30 crews for the FINAL, which is set to take place in November 2015.

Points are accrued in the Eliminator rounds as per the results for each event, so steady performances in all six knock-out rounds should earn a crew a place in the final – and a shot at the title.In another new twist all the obstacles at all the 2015 events will be designed by one man: Sakkie Coetzee. Coetzee is a legend amongst the 4x4 fraternity, and his 4x4 obstacles have made grown men shed a tear in the past. Obstacles will be short but very tough and technical. The current scoring system for obstacles will be retained.

Also new is the introduction of a “Drive-off” element. In some of the Eliminator rounds, the crews who finish in the bottom fifth and six places will have to drive a 4x4 supplied by Bridgestone. The winners of this “all-or-nothing obstacle” stay in the competition, and the losers are out. So teams will drive their own 4x4s in the competition, including the final event, but there may be one obstacle per event that will have to be completed in a supplied 4x4.

The prizes for event and overall winners have also been streamlined. In the qualifying rounds the Top 10 teams will receive prizes, with a R10 000 tyre voucher from Bridgestone SA as the main carrot in these rounds. In the Eliminator rounds the Top 3 crews of the day will receive trophies and the best environmental performer will receive that R10 000 Bridgestone tyre voucher. A new, more comprehensive scoring system for the Environmental prize will also be introduced.

Overall prizes will again be comprehensive, and will include off-road gear as well as big cash prizes. So there’s certainly a lot more to play for than just bragging rights.

“As before, we’re focusing on standard or near-standard production 4x4s, instead of heavily modified off-road machines,” explains Bridgestone SA’s Guthrie Blaine. “The 2015 Bridgestone 4x4 Club Challenge format brings new challenges for the teams, and will definitely add a new dimension to the dynamic of the competition. The competition will be tougher than ever before, and the overall winner of this contest will really have to be at the top of his or her game, all the time.”