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A Live Update from the Rebelle Rally with Team Velocity!
A Live Update from the Rebelle Rally with Team Velocity!
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About this episode
Team Velocity shares a live update from the Rebelle Rally, highlighting their progress and experiences in this all-female, no-technology navigation competition. They discuss their transition from the Baby Bronco to the Ranger Raptor, praising its comfort, speed, and off-road capabilities. The team reflects on their growth over four years, improved strategy, and time management skills, especially in challenging terrain like the White Mountains and Ridgecrest. They also touch on the rally's increasing popularity and the unique challenges of navigating by heading alone. The conversation offers insight into the rally's demanding nature and the team's camaraderie and determination.
Topics:
rebelle rally
team velocity
ranger raptor
off-road navigation
time management
all-female competition
vehicle transition
off-road terrain
rally strategy
ford performance
Karisa Haydon and Trista Smith from Team Velocity, factory backed by Ford Racing, join us on the show for a live update from the Rebelle Rally! They'll be joining us again when the rally finishes, but we were lucky enough to have a quick call with them during the heat of the competition!
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Ford Bronco
"... we originally started way back when as Team Baby Bronco for the Revelle Rally."
Car
Ford Ranger
"...ved on to a full-size Bronco, and now you're in a Ranger Raptor. Ranger Raptor."
Car
Lucid Air
"... you guys can have traction boards and an onboard air. Can you do air if the truck didn't come with it?..."
Select text to request an explanation
We got to shower today, so we feel exceptionally good.
Oh, I'm going to leave that part in for sure.
There you go.
That's staying in.
From roasting to cold, yeah.
All right.
Well, welcome.
How are things on the Ravel rally?
They're good.
They're good.
Yeah.
It's been wild, but it's been good.
Yeah.
We're feeling strong this year.
All our competitors are also very strong.
So strong.
It's a battle.
We have four days left, and I feel like it's anybody's game at this point.
Especially with the top 10.
I will say this.
I don't know if the technology changes this year, but I've been watching today, everybody
through the maps and trying to figure it out, and obviously, Team 131.
My favorite.
Don't get me wrong.
I've been watching you guys go, and then like, it's interesting to watch.
It's like, I can tell how fast you're going, where you're going, the direction
you're going.
It's really cool to kind of follow that and be able to follow along.
So yeah.
We jumped right in for the listeners, so I'm going to stop real quick.
So Team 131, we originally started way back when as Team Baby Bronco for the
Revelle Rally.
Then you moved on to a full-size Bronco, and now you're in a Ranger Raptor.
Ranger Raptor.
My people!
Yes.
So Chris Hayden, Trista Smith, what is the official name again?
I'm sorry, because you guys changed your name on me, and it's Forever Baby
Bronco in my head.
Yeah.
So we are Team Velocity officially, but you know, 131 works too.
It's usually what people refer to as by.
Welcome back.
We love your updates from the road.
Thank you for fitting us in.
I know we have a very short window.
So just thanks again for keeping us in the loop.
Talk about the rally this year.
If some of our listeners haven't heard this before, all female rally.
No technology.
You have to navigate by the stars.
They're out there with their, you know, like they're on a ship.
But how is the rally going this year?
Oh, it's going so good.
It's like so leveled up, though.
We are playing a better game.
I think we have better strategy.
We're moving faster.
We're, it's kind of a game of who makes the least errors.
There is no perfection that's really possible in this game.
And we're technically having least errors than we've ever had.
And yet we're still just, you know, working really hard to hang on.
And I don't know, just keep fighting the good fight.
You guys are doing good.
I mean, I think I watched you all.
I mean, you were floating all over the top 10 today.
Well, I looked at one point and I think you were in second.
I haven't checked as of the last few.
I don't know where you're at, but yeah, so.
We don't know where we're at either.
Oh, sorry.
We haven't posted the scores yet.
Not for today.
So we knew we were floating around 5th.
So we knew we were floating around 5th officially
when we left this morning, but we don't know how today shook out.
Today was wild.
We covered a really, really long amount of distance.
But needing to do that while multiple mountain passes,
we went through the White Mountains opposite of like Inyo Forest,
the Arnavada.
Gosh, then we dropped down.
We were on route, on time enduro's.
An on time enduro that we did our very first year
in the Baby Bronco that was absolutely wild.
Like they call it like the Pikes Peak Drive of this rally.
And it is just like up on the hillside, crazy.
We did very poorly our first year,
and we did very well this year marked improvement.
Yeah, we came in, we were second off the line today.
So we came in, we actually came in first to base camp today,
but we finished with this tough segment.
That was very tricky distance heading measurements
that you needed to take through.
We're in Ridgecrest right now.
So huge just OHV area open to Rome.
And we just had to take these headings,
go a certain distance, take something else, go.
And then we collected all of those points today.
So we had a really strong day.
I did make an error on us at the beginning of the day,
zeroed us out on something.
So we left some points out there.
But that's, I mean, it's kind of like the game
of least error possible.
Really just trying to triage your points
and get them all as best you can.
I know last year we talked about your transition
from the Baby Bronco to the Bronco.
I obviously being the Ranger Raptor owner,
I was so happy to hear you guys got that.
Talk about that transition,
how you guys ended up in that platform,
how it's working for you.
Yeah, so for those of you who don't know,
we are officially on the Ford Performance team.
So we have been in the Wildtrak last two years
and then got put in the Ranger Raptor this year,
mainly because they are celebrating
the 15 year of Raptor anniversary with Ford.
So we want to make sure that all the five of us
were in Raptor platform.
So there's three Bronco Raptors
and then the two Ranger Raptors.
And we love the Ranger Raptor.
Like it is love, love, love, love, love, love.
It will go anywhere we want it to.
Like it will go everywhere that the Wildtrak could go,
but in more comfort.
Yes, and faster.
Oh, yes.
And you can tell things like
the doors aren't meant to come off.
Yes, they're meant to be stay on and closed.
Yes.
Yeah, we've been in situations for sure
where we're like, oh my gosh,
are we going to rattle apart?
So it's been it's been amazing as Chris's professional passenger.
I definitely enjoy the ride in the in the Ranger.
It's been it's been nice.
Yeah, and it definitely I think marked speed as far as like,
I mean, this is not a rally for speed,
but just to be able to travel faster over rough terrain
when you're going off road is huge.
Big deal.
The faster you can get somewhere
within the like managed speed is huge.
So it's been awesome.
I definitely know what you're talking about.
Yes, I get to be at the first like daily rally.
I'm like, hey, Chris, what like suspension motor we in?
He's like, oh, shoot.
I'm like, oh, that feels so much better.
Thank you to off road.
Oh, please.
Off road, little comfort steering, maybe the Baja mode.
Come on, hit that R button.
Let's go.
Yeah, awesome.
Yeah, it's really great.
I'm so glad to hear that, guys.
Yep.
I was going to ask you the main thing.
How was being how is managing your time
with all the extra power?
Because it is a huge it's a big bump.
I mean, you're you've got a lot more throttle to put down
and a vehicle to handle speed so much better.
Are you finding yourself overestimating
your under estimating your times?
We had a next we were in or we had
we had three more hours today that we could have two more hours.
Yeah, we were two hours early.
We came into base camp and actually had to wait for it to open for us today.
Chris and I have always been really good at time management.
It's one of her really strong suits as well.
So we get to work together as a team really well on managing our time
or if I'm taking a long time on checkpoint, she'll help us move forward.
So that has just been amplified by the truck being able to cross the train.
We have speed limits in place.
So no matter what we can we have a top out for on road and off road.
But we are able to maintain so much closer to that speed
that we are moving.
I feel it a better a better clip overall.
And today showed that today is coming in with
the top competitors and coming in early and hitting every checkpoint.
We didn't let anything go. Nice.
So it's showing that the Rangers doing really well.
Good. So now when you guys started this many, many years ago,
how many years ago was the first rally you guys did with the baby?
Baby Bronco.
So that was in 2022.
So this is our fourth year.
And this rebel is very special
because this is the 10 year anniversary of the rebel.
So we have been for almost half.
This is our fourth year of the 10 years.
So but we are out here competing against a lot of competitors
that have either been in it for, you know, 10 to 9, 9 to 10 years
or that have competed in the original rebel
because they wanted to bring back as many original rebels as possible.
So we've got some really seasoned competitors out here.
So it's been fun finally feeling like we're getting out of the rookie
stage and moving into that more dominant competitive role.
Yeah, very pushing. Yeah.
Well, it's funny because after I was doing all the research today
and following you guys, a bunch of other people's competitive
videos started popping up on my YouTube and I didn't watch them.
Don't worry. I just watch you guys, you know, we're friends.
That's what you guys are in the stock class, correct?
Yes, which means really you can change your tires a little bit.
You can't change your tire size,
but everything else has to be stock, correct?
Yeah, basically you can change your tires and your lights.
But that's just about it.
Yeah. And all we've done is added some lights this year.
Last year, we had really, really intense silt for days.
And it was such a big deal and especially needing to run,
like Enduro's are on time and that stuff
that we made sure we had lights this year.
So we've been loving our Ambers and dust lights.
That's really helpful.
But really, yeah, otherwise, we've got an external odometer set up
just so I can see our distance and I'll look over her shoulder.
And that's that's it.
Awesome. Awesome.
Well, I mean, the truck platform.
I was going to say, it's funny because you guys are running in a stock class
where but Raptors, Ranger Raptors, but all Raptors now
are sort of running what trucks were 10 years ago on the track.
Yeah, they're fantastic.
And trucks 10 years ago are now a million dollars.
Yeah.
Race trucks, I mean.
Yeah, but you guys can have traction boards and an onboard air.
Can you do air if the truck didn't come with it?
We we did.
Yeah, because it's a it's a factory accessory option.
Yes. Yeah.
Yeah. So we had that installed.
We really, really loved it on the wild track.
It was something that we thoroughly enjoyed and we're thankful
that Ford put in under the hood for us.
The Ranger, it doesn't go under the hood.
So we were thankful that they were able to put it in that
like tailgate spot for us.
Yeah, real, real better.
Yeah, we'll have to talk when you get back
because I've been thinking about that mod for mine and I want to know.
And you guys are putting it through.
I always keep thinking it keeps getting beat up.
I don't want to go in a lot, but we will talk when you're back.
Now, you guys talked about being officially with Ford Performance.
I thought you guys were already with Ford Performance.
I thought that was OK.
I was checking. OK.
Yeah, yeah. This is our third year with.
Yeah, yeah, which is incredible, by the way.
That's just so cool to watch that program
and watch everything happen.
That's, you know, and it is it is Ford Performance now.
Correct. Yeah. OK.
It's Ford Racing now. Ford Racing.
That's what it is.
Exactly. Just changing.
We're just still branded for a couple of years.
It'll be SVT again. It's fine.
You know, hey, every time I open my door,
so I see Ford Performance, so it throws me back.
So yeah, coming from.
So now, four years deep, you know, different vehicles.
What do you think each one of you?
What have you learned so far?
Like, what do you think the biggest
difference is from when you first started to now?
What are the things you struggle
with early on that you're now, like, got this?
So much.
Good. That's the right answer.
You don't know.
You don't know what you don't know until you're in it.
The big thing for us, I think every year
there's something we want to work on differently
just to improve where, you know, improve our skills
and improve our performance.
The first year, we failed so horribly at the Enduros,
the on time speed, time speed distance Enduros
that we were determined the next year
to really up that game.
The one we did today, you know,
we got one second late, one second late,
one second late, and then an eight second late.
So it was near perfect score on that.
So we're, you know, we really improved those Enduros scores
just through practice.
I think that's as far as like
competitiveness goes in points wise.
That's one of my big things.
That's mostly driver when it comes to, you know,
speed modulation, things like that.
So I mean, we, the learning curve has been
unbelievably massive, especially coming from X Cross Broncos
4 when they handed us the Wild Track.
I mean, we were like, so what are lockers?
And why and how would you use them?
And that's a button like we really didn't know these things
knew about them.
We knew they existed, but really when, when do you use your tools
and how do you use your tools?
Well, so we've gone through a lot of special training
and coaching on that.
And today we went through an area that I don't think
the rebel goes through any somewhere,
anywhere harder on your vehicle.
It's rocky, it's off camber, it's tight.
There's trees, bristle cones are going to hit.
And we just like float through it in the Ranger.
You know, no, she didn't have to get out in spot.
Like we just chose our lines and we just cruised over it.
Yeah, it's just been great.
So I don't think we could have comprehended
that we could have confidently drive something like that.
And today I was, you know, talking to Nina Barlow
and she told me she was behind us
and she told me that she thought I was Shelby Hall
because of the way I was driving.
And I was like, I'm glad it's open.
Okay, well done.
That's the nicest thing you can say to somebody, I think.
I'm kidding, wow.
Say it again.
Hold on, can you say that on the radio?
Yeah, I'm going to need you to record that for me, exactly.
It's reported now, right?
Yes, there you go.
You know, you guys talk about what the Raptor is doing now.
But I mean, you have taken that baby Bronco places.
Nobody ever, I don't think Ford.
And I think that's how you got Ford's attention initially.
You took that places and did things
that nobody thought it could do, it obviously could.
It's interesting to see you guys on all these platforms
and have that range of knowledge now, you know,
and it is so nice to push that button for the lockers.
I will tell you, I mean, I found that out the hard way in Moab.
It was so nice.
They're calling me Turtle now.
We'll talk about that later.
Yes, Nick is now called Turtle.
So, yeah, learning how to learn.
I got to send you that photo, Ford.
The guys at Ford Racing will get a kick out of it.
As Nick's front locker proved
to be the only recovery method, not the rear.
You know, my rear wasn't touching anything.
So, yeah.
So, I mean, can you guys talk a little bit about where you've been?
I know you don't know where you're going,
but I'm where the rally has been this year.
Yeah, so we started mammoths like we have the last three years.
And then we headed east to Vada.
Her chest is better in directions.
Yes, she is correct.
We did go east.
We were, I believe, we were south west of Tonapop proper.
I think the closest town that we were kind of close to near
is like Coaldale, south of there, and to just say.
Nevada. Yeah, an open area in Nevada.
So they left us there for a couple days to do some fun stuff.
We ended up going up to like the
the ghost town that won't die, Belmont.
Oh, yeah, I know exactly where you went.
Yeah, and so we did like two different style loops around there,
like an east west.
Yeah, we dropped today was all the way from that base camp
in Tonapop to Ridgecrest, so that's what I mean.
It was a really big day.
It did involve multiple mountain passes
and then a long section through kind of like above Alabama Hills.
We dropped down by Alabama Hills.
So that was really beautiful.
We're in in California will be here.
This is our first night and they'll be here tomorrow night.
And then we head out on a marathon stage, which we don't know.
Then we'll head to base camp three.
Yeah, and then we'll head out to a marathon
and then we'll be back to base camp three before our finish,
which I'm nearly positive.
And when we know base camp three is in Needles, California,
but I'm pretty sure we're leaving here going to Needles.
This is all speculation.
Speculation.
And then we'll be doing our glamour sand dune stage as our marathon
and then work our way back up to Needles, California for our finish line,
which is like like have a suit.
OK, so you're going to love that truck out there.
Yeah, yeah, we've taken it through some of that stuff.
We tested it through the Mojave during the August heat wave.
It was a hundred and twenty two on us for multiple days and the truck did great.
So we kind of went through a lot of that kind of through the preserve,
through Razor, OHV, we took it.
I don't know.
We tried to get as many days off road in that truck as we could
because we got it in June.
So in our minds, we ran 12
basically 12 full rebel days in the truck before we brought it here.
Nice. I was you you answer the question I was going to ask,
like how long have you guys had the truck?
Because I know Ford usually gives them to you a little bit.
So you can kind of get used to it and make it yours.
So yeah, yeah, since June, yeah, it's been awesome.
Good training. Yeah, very awesome, awesome.
You should see the difference in you, too, that Nick and I have seen
since we first started interviewing you and like just the looks on your faces,
the confidence that we know what we're doing.
It's so cool to see and I love keeping up with you both
just to see how far you'd come.
Yeah, that means so much.
I feel like it takes so long just to not have like imposter syndrome
in this scene, even though we proved ourselves to be good competitors.
It just felt tough.
You have the confident look on your face of people who have done this
and you know what you're doing and you're still learning.
You're not cocky, but it's cool to see the experience
and hear hear the changes year over year of talking to you.
We've been very fortunate to be on this side of the microphones
and hearing the story directly from you.
If you don't know what you're doing, you're selling it really, really well.
Well, man, every day there's been a moment
where I clearly don't know what I'm doing.
Oh, you only have one every day.
Gee, it wouldn't be the rebel.
I was going to say, no, yeah.
When I had our first point miss today,
it was our sixth checkpoint of the day and Chris was like,
all right, that's your one next time you're walking.
Never mind, get back in the truck.
I need you to walk a little bit today.
Yeah, that's so awesome, guys.
Well, I mean, you got so you got another four days, correct?
We're four days in four days, right?
OK. Yeah, they've added a day to our competition this year.
I don't know. We're expecting something crazy.
You know, they always have some sort of plot twist
or something interesting up their sleeves.
We are really excited for Ridgecrest.
I think that might be something that we're wearing right now.
I've been looking forward to getting down here.
We took the truck through here in August as well.
Yeah, this is one I believe for me.
Chris can talk about the driving aspect.
Oh, sorry.
But I believe this is one of the hardest areas for me to navigate in.
It is just a tricky.
It's a tricky spot.
You lose a lot of your visibility
because we tend to be inside of some really tight topography.
So it gets really hard.
You can't take like a heading
a lot of time to get yourself out.
You can only use the heading to go in the direction
that you know, even if you can't see where you're going.
But we spent a lot of time here
and the Rebell wasn't here last year.
So we're really, really expecting a very full day tomorrow.
Every time we've been down here for the Rebell,
they give us more than we can actually do
in the amount of time that they give us.
So it will be a really dicey day tomorrow
of time management and quick, good decisions.
The Rebell has really grown
since even in the last four years, you have been there.
Like I've just the coverage.
I know it's growing because I've seen the coverage expand so much.
I've seen all sorts of automotive platforms.
It's on Facebook.
It's on a bunch of other Instagram.
It's coming up in my feet all the time.
I mean, not just because I'm following the Rebell more,
but I just noticed bigger headliners are covering it.
People who don't normally talk about it
are now it's getting their attention.
How much is it bigger this year,
noticeably for you as well?
Have you seen the differences?
Um, I don't know.
I was just like in real life when we're not here,
it has been it's been it's blown my mind
multiple times that if I'm wearing something Rebell
that someone stopped me to say something
and that has caught me so off guard
in such the best way possible.
So I do feel like there is more recognition,
more recognition, more awareness of what it is.
The, sorry, Theo was joining the I was at my driving
through and getting coffee
and the girl I spent this day on the other day
was wearing a Rebell rally sweatshirt.
And I was like, are you a competitor?
She's like, no, I just know some people that have done it.
And I was like, that is really cool,
but not where I expected to see this, you know.
So awesome.
Very cool.
We're, I mean, we're, we're your biggest fans.
We're, we're all rooting for you.
Everybody from the Avant's family is rooting for you.
We can't wait to see it.
You know, it turns out, obviously we're gonna have you
when you, when you guys are back in town
and we're gonna sit down and talk.
So I really appreciate you guys taking time.
I know you're probably tired and want to get some rest,
but thank you for taking for time for us.
Yes, awesome.
Great talking to you guys.
Yeah, so, yeah, so glad to see you.
Say hi to our families.
Will do.
We will.
All right guys, good luck.
Talk to you soon.
Bye.
Bye.
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