What better terrain to thrash four-by-fours around than in small town Molong - the 'place of many rocks'.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Hundreds of people flocked to Pinecliffe Road in a first-time event for the small town, where a three-day Adventure Corp Rock Boss Ultimate Rock Crawling competition ran from July 28 to 30.
A huge sporting and camping event on its calendar, Ultimate Rock Crawling's co-director, Orange's Tony Richards said Molong was "the perfect place" for the high-energy activities.

"There's always carnage and action, we take four-wheel driving to the absolute extreme, so, the more rocks the better," Mr Richards said.
"It's a great spectator sport and we set some pretty wild tracks fairly close to the next, it's all really exciting and a real eye-opener for people.

"There's always someone rolling over or doing mad doughnut spins, there's lots of noise, wheels spinning for days, you name it."
With a handful of drivers from the Central West and as far as Queensland, 34 Rock Boss competitors were divided across three classes of experience, with four different courses running at once.
Six stages (or races) each consisted of five to six gates (or pairs of cones) per stage, where a points system dominates the ultimate score.

While very rare to grab a perfect score, Mr Richards noted that precision and tact is key to a good one - you just have to navigate the "ridiculous" angles first.
"If you get between the gate untouched and without any trouble, that's +20 points," he said, "but reversing over one is -2 points and if you run over a cone, that's -10 points."
Mr Richards said the lower class rock crawlers mostly look like small buggy-like Patrol or Hilux vehicles, but there "isn't much factory stuff" left in them.
It's a great spectator sport and we set some pretty wild tracks fairly close to the next, it's all really exciting and a real eye-opener for people.
- Ultimate Rock Crawling co-director and competitor, Tony Richards.
Most run Toyota or Commodore engines, with modifications rendering them nothing like their original state.
"They're buggies now, with rear-steering, different toys attached and hydraulics, but they all started life as something else," he said.
"They've got much bigger tyres and are expected to go anywhere, some of the cars in the unlimited class have 42-inch tyres. But basically, if you can dream it up; you can have it on your car."

Though not every competitor leaves with their buggies intact. In fact, it's pretty uncommon for a vehicle to leave any rock-crawling contest unscathed.
But in terms of personal protection, Mr Richards said the drivers themselves are extremely snug.
"People bust their cars, but we're very strict on safety and everything has to have a certified roll cage; drivers wear harnesses with helmets, glasses and gloves, the lot," he said.

"For the rolled-over buggies that can't make it back up, we've always got an excavator, bobcat and other 4WD's with winches to get [the cars] back on their feet."
Molong's first-time hosting the Ultimate Rock Crawling event may not be its first, with organisers hoping to get the tick of approval from Cabonne Council for regular annual gigs.
To see more of the action and for final results to come, check out the Ultimate Rock Crawling page on Facebook.
Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.
Sign-up to our latest newsletter:

