The sound of metal grinding on metal is enough to make the hair on anyone's neck raise up. The metallic surface being ground to a pulp starts dispensing showers of sparks flying as the friction produces more and more heat. The friction, sparks, and heat all combine to create a rather combustible situation. Smoke soon follows and where there is smoke, there is fire.

“Looks like we lost the bearing in the right rear tire. We are going to need to stop here and make a quick repair before this becomes a real problem.” Confident in his resolve the driver brings the rover to a halt.

One of the members speaks into his radio. “Big Bird, Big Bird, this is Red Rover, we need the maintenance team on station ASAP looks like we lost some bearing on one of the tires, need repair. Expedite!”

Just as the rover literally grinds to a halt, the sparks stopping and smoke still present as a Cutlass Black makes a landing just behind the rover. As the landing gear touches down, the back and side hatches of the ship open and 2 men jump out, laden with repair equipment.

“Get it done boys, only 96 more Kilometers to go and it will be dark soon!”

Everyone knowing their place, everyone knowing what needs to be done, and everyone on the same page it takes no time for this repair. A quick change of the tire, some welding in a few key points, a few replacement parts, and some preventative maintenance on the other tires complete. The two-man driving team re-enters the rover and speeds off as the Cutlass dusts off and takes it position ahead of the rover.

As the ship pulls just ahead of the rover to continue its sweep of the path in front of the ground team, the pilots both notice something in the team's path. The Co-pilot on the Cutlass relays this information to the team.

“Okay Red Rover, you have what appears to be a box canyon directly to your 12 o'clock at about 500 meters. You probably cannot see it from here but if you bear about 110 degrees you should be able to enter and exit quickly through a pass.”

The driver responds, “Roger that, 110 it is!”

As the day turns into night both the Rover and the Cutlass disappear over the horizon as they continue the last leg of their 300km trip. It has been a day of mishaps, gunfights, dead ends, box canyons, and equipment failures. This team is nearing the end of their long and exhausting journey across the barren red sand seas of Daymar.

Teams, they are the driving force behind what makes the Daymar rally experience happen. One does not venture out on a 300km+ trip alone, blind, and without any support. The teams that are training and preparing for the Daymar Rally know this, better than anyone else. They know that depending on each other to get the job done is the only way they are going to be successful.

Going out on a race like this solo means you are relying just on your own eyes, ears, and technical ability. You are going to have to push yourself to a lot more extreme levels and in order to be truly competitive, you are going to have to cut a lot of corners. The corners cut are safety, reliability, and ultimately winning. You simply will not have the backup for when the race turns full “Fury Road”. How can you defend yourself against others alone? They will see you coming, outclass and outgun you. Is it possible to win alone? Sure anything is possible, but that does not mean it is likely or even remotely favorable.

If you are alone, you are going to be blind. You will not have a flight team ahead of you scouting and mapping out your path. You will not have that early warning letting you know of the changes in terrain, weather, and other driver teams. When you are alone and approach a box canyon, you will need to find your own way around, chose the wrong direction and you just added a lot of time and unnecessary distance to your trip. You will fail to even finish the race let alone win.

You will fail alone because simply put you have no support. Breakdowns, fuel, oxygen, food, and even moral support is essential on these extended overland hauls. Sure you can bring most of what you need with you on the ground, but you will be forever handicapped by only working with what your rover can carry. Which is not enough.

We need the support of teams in order to make the races happen and the teams need the support of each other in order to win races and compete. It is truly this circle of dependency that will keep and maintain the Daymar Rally for many years. So to give thanks to all those teams out there showing their support, doing the training, and everything associated with the preparation of an extreme, dirty, and gritty race. We have decided to chose a few teams to highlight and showcase in an upcoming series of articles dedicated to the teams behind the Daymar Rally.

If you haven't heard from a Daymar Rally organizer already please contact Abshire (Zeb Vance) or Cᴏʀ5ᴀɪʀᴇ over at our Daymar Rally discord.

I look forward to telling your story.

*In-game image by Mr_Hasgaha