What's interesting is that Marcos and I think now JP have that crazy IRS with the diff on the pass side cv axle. The rumor is that they went to Joe Thompson and asked for a v8 sxs on 40s
I think rauls success over the other 2 is pure driver. I don't think JP will ever keep a car together enough to win, he's too cocky
I'm not sure about Marcos though.
The 4ws on the lamBRO is an interesting idea to help with the shear size of it in the rocks. Although, it obviously hasn't worked out
As far as Joe Thompson, GBR didn't just have him design & build a car, they made him a deal so good Joe works for them full time. Him and Fishmouth Fabworks now work for GBR full time. These cars have been advancing since their debut 6 years ago, when they were sponsored by ProComp! GBR has invested and worked hard over those years to improve reliability of their cars and also their pit crew and staff. Them getting a clear back-to-back KOH win is astounding, but it comes from an approach of finding what the weak points are and engineering a proper solution. Not sticking to a "tried-and-true" type of thinking like many top builders do (Miller, Campbells, Slawson, etc.), they aren't afraid to advance their programs or methodologies. They have done lots research with portals, but have yet to make the jump due to reliability concerns.
They are now looking at making their own AWD Trophy Truck platform and I can't wait to see what Joe Thompson does in that arena.
The same drive for advancement can be said for Scherer. Keith Beam built an amazing chassis. The front suspension and drivetrain on his new car is cutting edge, no IFS has better travel, steering, and clearance. But he had to have a PERFECT day in order to be able to win. His 2nd place finish can either be attributed to his flat tire, a poor line choice in Kings Veto, or not pushing hard enough on Lap 2. Jason has quite an edge with his competitive mindset, his team's experience, and his desire to examine every part of his program. Jason was testing and tuning his live-valve programming seemingly every other week since December, leading up to Hammers. He logged the fastest time for Lap 1, even beating the UTVs. And he was beaten by seconds.
We are talking about two competitors who can internally develop and advance the sport. It's nothing short of amazing.
I make the "tried-and-true" comment about other multi-time Kings for three instances this year that hurt each one: Shannon Campbell's qualifying lap was stunted by one of his mechanical relays for his fuel pumps resetting when he bottomed out on the ridge, took him a bit to diagnose the issue, which lead him to overdrive his car and roll at the top of the last hill; Miller's car also had an electrical gremlin pop up in the race because of his desire to run mechanical relays in his overhead control board, similar issue to Campbell's; and finally Slawson was running his normal break-neck pace only to be hindered by a failed chassis-side upper link mount. The pace of the race has gotten to the point where these small issues are make or break, if you want to win. I am curious to see just how these three will address these issues as they are hard competitors.
The guy I want to be? John Webb, dude is there to blast his favorite tunes, ripping up JV in his bad-ass IFS. Guy nearly always finishes every year and he got 10th overall in an older IFS rig. His program is one that I think any of us could put together.