I personally believe there’s a lot more give, and take in Bouncing, than there is in Crawling. In some cases the buggy wins, and in others, Mother Earth slaps the taste out of your mouth, and allows you to live to tell the tale. Watching these mechanical animals fling themselves to the mercy of an un-moving section of Mother Earthis something to behold every single time it happens. Of course there’s more tire smoke, and flying dirt, and the occasional love seat sized boulder that may roll down a hill, but that’s what makes it interesting. If you think about it for a minute, a Bouncer may seem a lot more brash, and brutal in his methods, but in retrospect, he, or she does what a Crawler does, but in much more intense rate of speed. I don’t personally know any of the drivers, but in watching them in interviews, and seeing how they drive, their skill levels are equally matched, if not higher than the crawlers. Bouncers have been chalked up to back woods rednecks that have some how managed to figure out the mechanics of life work, and then got lucky enough to make something that everyone else can enjoy while guzzling down a beer. The Crawlers sort of represent the, “Slow & Steady Wins The Race” mantra, and the Bouncers, are the complete opposite of the same spectrum. You have the Rock Crawlers, and the Rock Bouncers. In this world wide sport of sorts, you have two main sets of drivers who participate. Here’s where we explain the, “Why” factor. Tire size varies, and in this case, “Mine’s is bigger than yours” doesn’t always make it work. Tire choice is imperative in order to have a moderately successful buggy. Most of these guys run a single spring coil over with a piggy back reservoir set up, and this allows their rig to soak up any hit the hillside can dish out. The last two main components of a successful Rock Bouncer are, suspension, and tires. I mean you could find a Dana 60 axle off of a 1970’s Ford pick-up, and then that same piece of equipment would be over built in order to retain the strength it needs to survive 20 or so runs on the rocks. A lot of these drivers build their buggies out of old military truck parts, and such. In these cases, technology doesn’t mean much here. All of that power is sent to the ground via a die hard, bulletproof 4 Wheel Drive system. Power for these unyielding brutes seem to float anywhere between 500 to 750Hp, and the torque numbers are just as ridiculous. These three items are what make the buggy move from point A, to point B. The only real thing that could separate a driver from their buggy is either a really destructive crash, or enough money to make a better one.Īs you can see by the video posted above, many of the Rock Bouncers tend to be powered by GM crate motors, and then those are mated to custom transmissions, and transfer cases. No matter how you slice it, a driver’s buggy is their own pride, and joy. Some drivers prefer a longer buggy that lowers the center of gravity a touch, and others like a shorter wheel base that allows for awesome maneuverability in tight places. Each driver has a buggy that suits him, or her. Each Rock Bouncer, or Buggy if you will, is not the same. Your typical Bouncer is made of hardened steel bars that have been mandril bent to very specific, and exact angles for the sole purpose of providing strength, rigidity, internal parts protection, looks, and above all driver safety. It can climb near vertical walls, pull itself over boulders the size of Fiats, and even survive massive rollovers, just to keep clawing it’s way to the top of the hill. A Bouncer is a custom made 4 Wheel Drive monster that can virtually do just about anything the driver wills it to do. For those of you who really don’t know much about this, “Sport” you should really pay attention to this part. Let’s examine what goes into creating a Rock Bouncer.
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