Winch Challenge events don’t get any longer, or tougher, than the final round of the 2018 RFCGS (Rain Forest Challenge Global Series) in Malaysia.

The route took the  participants in 150 vehicles from Kota Bahru to Tumpat on Nov 24 then to Tanah Merah, Kuala Krai and into the deepest jungle of south Kelantan before ending at Gua Musang on Dec 04, a total of 12 days (instead of the usual 10 days of RFC).

Due to the long off-road sections beyond reach of towns or villages, all race and support vehicles had the extra challenge to carry enough fuel from day three to end of the event.

The competition stages of the race were aptly named “Predator,” “Terminator,” and “Twilight Zone” which reflected the progressive difficulty as the days progressed for the 300 participants (racers, support crew, officials & media members) from 30 nations including Russia, Czech Republic, the Philippines, Mongolia, China, Korea, USA, Poland, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Ukraine and Ecuador.
Obstacles included – but were by no means limited to - navigating the endless steep downhills and uphills, crossing narrow log bridges, driving across swamps, maintaining control on treacherous slippery terrain and crossing the mighty rivers at Bering in the interior.

“The jungle terrain was unlike any that you have ever faced before. Here, in only two kms of track, you will find numerous types of natural obstacles which would need hours to get through. Programmes and schedules are only guidelines once we start the ground operations. In the jungle, the tracks can change from easy to extreme hardcore within hours of heavy rain resulting in landslides, erosion and floods,” said Luis J.A. Wee, Founder & Creator of the Rainforest Challenge & RFC Global Series.

For the race teams, the fight for 4x4-supremacy was fast, tight and furious across mud, water, rocks and undulating terrain, at times with monsoon rains. “It was also the closest fight to the finish for the top five teams. Only the last day was the decider of who will claim the championship crown for Prototype and Modified Production categories respectively,” said Thomas Foo, the Event Director.

The awards ceremony was held in the jungle, for the first time in the history of RFC with the main awards going to Team 104 (Russia) winning their third prototype title and for Team 117 (Malaysia) who won their sixth championship title in the modified production category.

However, this was not the end yet. By Dec 04 the transport stage out of the jungle to Gua Musang town was made more difficult by monsoon showers. In fact, getting out to civilisation turned out to be the toughest ever task for most of the convoy lasting from 24 to 41 hours with the last group of sweeper, chuckwagon, medic and crew finally making it out at 5.00pm on Dec 05.

To read the full story in the March 2019 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (February 18) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.