shooting the finale of mad-max 4

Big thanks to the good people at Sun Buggie Fun Rentals for this one: #93: “Ride through the desert in a dune-buggy” has been officially crossed of the list. Crossed off in style too. We headed out to their shop on our way to Vegas and spent an hour ripping the dunes in Nevada. For all you motor heads out there, this one is a must. There is nothing you can’t drive over: rocks, bushes, sand, bolders.. the world is your playground in these beasts.

spot the one that got demolished. no just kidding, it got towed.

But it was not all fun and play. Dave got cocky after ripping around for a bit and put the gas on a little too heavy as he came over a lip. Next thing he knew his front wheels were the only thing on the ground, then just his roof, then his side and on and on. The crew said that they had never seen such a brutal accident - 5 spins head over heals, rolls, a broken axel, pieces of the machine everywhere. Dave, fearless as always, did everything right inside the buggy and walked out unscathed. It was a spooky experience but thankfully everything turned out okay. If anything, it put death (and life) just that much closer in view. No pictures were taken after, but the final rolls were caught on camera so you will be able to see it one day. Don’t forget that this whole adventure is being turned into an epic documentary, premiering one day in a theatre near you..

just four fellas and some sand. some really epic sand.

dunc wrist deep in 1969’s greatest mechanical achievement

And it was bound to happen eventually: 8 hours of driving from Las Vegas to San Diego and suddenly you hear it.. put.. put… puttt….. put. Running out of fuel in a 35′ foot diesel is not the same as in a Prius. It sucks. Hard. The airbrakes don’t work without the motor so you can’t push it and even if you could, it weighs 12 tonnes (though Dave has been doing at least a dozen crunchs every morning). The final ‘put’, ironically, left us about 20 yards from a fill up, but because it stopped on an angle (and the fuel-sensor is on the rear end of the tank), we had to fill it gallon by gallon, hand by hand in the only gerry can we had. Then dunc had to mess with the filters for forever and in the end we made it out.

While this was all happening Ben was across the road eating dinner at the pull-in diner chatting with some local folk. He wants to tell the story himself of what happened there, so you can expect it soon.

Thanks again to Kyle Jewell for the awesome photos!