Hello All,

Just wanted to share with you that we just concluded the 2008 version of the Atacama Desert Raid here in Chile, with the illustrious participation of Jim Jackson from ARB USA and Rick Pewe of 4WOR.

I expect we will be seeing a lot of material from this event since Rick never stopped shooting (no, he wasn't carrying any firearms).

We had about 450 vehicles plus the organization's (so around 500) wheeling in the driest desert in the world  (we all know that Antarctica is not a desert; its just a conspiracy of cartographers) for 4 days (which, of course, translates to 5 nights of partying). The event was sponsored by ARB, JEEP (Chile), GoodYear, Yamaha, and host of other local companies (telecom and other garbage.... ummmm yeah)

Rick drove a superlifted, beadlocked WK Hemi with 33s (sounds a lot like a "command vehicle" huh?)to near perfection, as one would expect.

The event culminated in a hill climb up the face of the tallest dune in the Americas. Quite the spectacle.

Here is a link to a thread in our local forum with some comments on and photos of the event

http://www.twistedandes.com/foro/showthread.php?t=39705&page=103
and here is the official website of the event

http://www.raid-atacama.cl/sitio/default.asp

More to come,

Juan Carlos  

GREAT PICS...REMINDS ME OF GOING TO GLAMIS W/OUR JEEPS
BUT UH NO SPEAKO A WORDO SO COULDNT TELLO IF THEY WERE HAVING FUNO  

Last time I went to Glamis, Toyota SR5s with 33s were all the rage (about 20 years ago), so IDK. However, I was told that it is a lot like TDS... I will have to go and find out for myself  

WHEN WE WENT, AND IT WAS ABOUT 15 20 YRS AGO TOO, BUT WE WERE AT THE BOTTOM OF OLDSMOBILE AND SEEN A BUNCH OF FORWHEELERS GO UP AND A JEEP WAS COMING OVER THE TOP THE OTHER WAY AND THE DUDE ON THE 4WHEELER LOST HIS HEAD(LITERALLY) BECAUSE THE JEEP DIDNT HAVE A WHIP SO HE COULD BE SEEN. PRETTY GRUSOME!  

Awesome! Thanks for posting!

Now I just have to bug Rick to get all those unused photos from him to put here on the web...  

That would be great  

LUCKY,YOU GET TO PLAY IN THE WORLDS LARGEST SANDBOX! SOME DAY IF I WIN THE LOTTERY I'LL GIVE EVERY ONE AN INVITATION TO OUR LITTLE SANDBOX (Padre Island)in south Texas.100 plus miles of beach to drive on.A Bien venidos to all of you!  

Well, hope to see you guys around next year in the atacama desert. ur all invited to participate, hehe. I have some pictures in this link:
www.flickr.com/arriero4x4 not many, but some. most of'em are at www.twistedandes.com forum.

bye

arriero

PS: Yes rick, my YJ is Diesel