Hill Stage Race Day The test was run in the order the teams left the build. Maximus were off first, just 50 seconds ahead of the Rally Dragons, who were 31 minutes ahead of the Staffordshire Bulls, who were 20 minutes ahead of the Chainsaw Clan. Maximus and the Rally Dragons made easy work of the first test, with both vehicles handling the steel boulder hill climb with ease. However, the Dragons' Capri was slightly quicker over the ground, so heading towards the dip carrying test, the gap between the two had closed from 50 to 25 seconds. With the dip carrying part of the course too narrow to allow more than one vehicle at a time, the Rally Dragons were put in a holding bay, with their clock stopped, while Maximus hit the test. 'Hit' being the accurate word. The snowplough on Maximus' camper van had very little clearance and they kept grounding the front of their vehicle as they drove over the bumpy course. Worse still, as they approached the sheep trough with their first load of dip Dennis hit a large boulder, jolting the van heavily, spilling dip all over captain Paul, and leaving the van with a puncture. To the joy of the watching Rally Dragons, Maximus had to replace their front wheel before they could continue. And Maximus’ problems weren’t over. They had insufficient dip to fill the trough on the first run, and on the second run their grounding problems got worse. While racing over the bumpy gravel course, their snowplough blade dug into part of an uphill slope, and further runs at the slope only dug them in more. Drastic action was needed and the team called for cutting tools to hack down the offending blade. Catch up By now the Bulls had joined the chase. The steel boulder made a bit of a mess of their roller, but the extra gears let them make short work of pushing it uphill. They too joined the Dragons in the holding bay, while Maximus struggled to cut down their plough. Even the Clan were in with a chance of catching Maximus, as