Bundaberg Laser Cleaning

03/09/2026

These alloy rims came in for sandblasting, but with softer alloys we don’t want to dwell too long in one area trying to remove heavy coatings and risk unnecessary damage to the surface.

For this job, we’re using the laser first to remove the bulk of the coating, followed by a very light sandblast to give the surface the profile needed for recoating.

Sometimes the best result isn’t about choosing one process — it’s about using the right combination of processes for the job.

02/09/2026

Unfortunately, that’s the end of the Ultimate for Coyote Racing.

Stage 13 brought a pretty serious wall climb. Before they could even attempt the climb, teams had to use their ground anchor to break away the sheer face of the bank and give the truck something it could actually climb.

This one was particularly hard on the navigators, who were continually running the winch line and ground anchor out, setting it, recovering it and repositioning it, sometimes taking it right out to maximum distance to anchor the vehicle. All while the driver and truck were working just as hard trying to make their way up the wall.

Unfortunately, both Cooper and the Coyote truck suffered the consequences on this one.

The truck has cooked the transmission, while Cooper also ended up pretty cooked himself and needed some time with the medics getting fluids back into him after the stage.

Cooper is okay, but sadly, from the information we have at the moment, that’s the end of the 2026 Ultimate 4x4 Challenge for Brendan and Cooper. They don’t have the ability to repair the transmission or a replacement available to get them back into the competition.

It’s a bloody disappointing way to finish after the week they’ve been having, but they certainly haven’t gone out without giving it everything.

A huge effort from Brendan and Cooper and one hell of an event. 💪

We’ve really enjoyed following the boys around the outback this week — even if half the time it involved staring at little arrows on a map trying to work out what the hell was going on! 😂

Not the finish anyone wanted, but plenty to be proud of. ❤️

01/09/2026

Bit of a different view for this one, followed stage 12 on life 360 lol so it would show their course

01/09/2026

A few little Coyote Racing updates from behind the scenes…

Remember the stage where we spotted #7 with coolant spewing out and wondered what had gone wrong? Turns out they’d lost the earth to the thermo fan. A bit of repair work and they were back into it.

They’ve also collected a flat tyre along the way and managed to lose their compressor, but thankfully they’ve got another one sorted.

So, a few running repairs and little dramas along the way, but nothing that’s stopped Brendan and Cooper so far. Considering the punishment these trucks are taking day after day, they seem to be holding together pretty bloody well. 🤞

And now back to Stage 12 — take-off should be shortly. From what we can gather, competitors will be leaving at 2-minute intervals, in the order they completed Stage 11.

Given we completely missed Stage 11 while we were sleeping 😂, this might actually give us our first little indication of how the boys went overnight once we see where they slot into the starting order.

Now we just have to catch them leaving! 👀

01/09/2026

Stage 12… we think! 😂

We’ve woken up this morning to find the boys already out at Stage 12, so apparently the Ultimate waits for no one — and we managed to completely sleep through Stage 11!

Stage 10 last night had another interesting start, with competitors lined up in groups of around 10 and released together. #7 Coyote Racing got a great jump off the line and took the early lead, although unfortunately we weren’t able to see where Brendan and Cooper eventually crossed the finish.

We then made the mistake of going to bed… and Stage 11 came and went without us. 😂

This morning the competitors are gathered around the start of Stage 12, although they’re scattered rather than lined up. At this stage we’re not sure whether they’ve started and stopped almost immediately to enter their GPS coordinates and plot their routes, or whether they’re still waiting to get underway.

Normally upcoming stages show as “Not Checked” before changing as competitors are heading towards them or just before they get underway. Stage 12 is currently showing “Amber” instead.

We haven’t managed to find a definite explanation of what “Amber” means on the tracker, so for now we’re going to assume it means they’re at the stage and waiting for it to go live — unless someone following along knows otherwise!

So it looks like we might have caught this one just in time. 🤞

Stage 12 — hopefully coming up shortly!

01/09/2026

** Update, this stage was run in a random order, little bit of a delay with the live feed as there was a rollover (no injuries reported) so they paused while the track got cleared, but Coyote racing had already gone through and finished by then so they were unaffected.

Stage 9 coming up! 🏁

Brendan and Cooper in #7 Coyote Racing are lined up and ready to jump Stage 9.

And good news for everyone who has been following along with us — it looks like we’re actually going to have a live feed for this one! 👀

Hopefully we get to see a bit more than little arrows moving around a map this time. 😂

Come on #7! 🤞

Watch the Stage 9 live feed⁠

After a morning of hide and seek waypoint hunting a quick little bl...

01/09/2026

Stage 8 – DONE! 👏

#7 Coyote Racing has just crossed the finish line after the longest stage of the event so far — around 50km.

Now, before we get too carried away 😂 — all of this is our interpretation from watching the live feeds and race tracker with very limited official information, so our numbers and assumptions may not be completely accurate.

BUT… from what we could see, Brendan and Cooper appear to have been approximately the 11th vehicle across the finish line.

And here’s the impressive part…

Today’s competitors were mass-started in groups, and #7 left in the second group, nearly half an hour after the first group, which appeared to contain around 11 vehicles.

So to cross the finish line at around 11th means they appear to have made up a huge amount of ground over that 50km stage, catching or passing a good portion of the vehicles that started well ahead of them.

We noticed earlier that Cooper took a little longer than some to enter the GPS coordinates and get them underway, and wondered whether he was spending that extra time plotting their route. Watching how quickly they moved through the stage once they got going, that extra few minutes may have been very well spent!

We’ll have to wait for official times and any penalties to know how they actually placed, but based on what we could follow, that looks like one mammoth effort from Brendan and Cooper. 💪👏

Well done #7 Coyote Racing! 🏁

01/09/2026

A little insight into what we think is happening out there…

After watching the live feeds and race map, I think I’ve finally worked out a little more about how the navigation side of some of these stages works.

From what I can gather, competitors are given a race sheet containing the GPS coordinates at the start. Once released, they have to travel a minimum distance away from the start line before stopping to enter all of those coordinates into their navigation system and plot their route.

That explains why we’ve been seeing cars take off, travel a short distance and then seemingly park in the middle of nowhere for quite some time. 😂 Depending on how many coordinates there are — and how much time they spend working out their route — some teams will obviously be stationary longer than others.

Once they’re underway, there’s no bunting or marked track to follow. They have to drive through each GPS waypoint accurately enough for it to register on their screen before moving onto the next one, and some of those points can be hidden in some pretty tricky spots.

How they get between those points is entirely up to them. One team might go over a hill while another goes around it; one might follow a creek for 2km looking for a better crossing while another decides to cross straight away. So plotting the quickest route that the truck can actually get through is a huge part of the navigator’s job.

Today’s 50km Stage 8 – “Go Get Em” appears to have been a mass start in two or three groups. Our boys in #7 Coyote Racing spent a little longer stationary entering coordinates than some of the others, but once Brendan and Cooper got moving they seemed to be getting through them quicker than quite a few who took off earlier.

So my interpretation is that Cooper & Brendan may have spent a little extra time plotting their route before they set off — and from watching the tracker, that extra few minutes may well have paid off. 🤞

Certainly makes watching those little arrows on the race map a lot more interesting once you have some idea what they’re actually doing! 😂

01/09/2026

A stream from Grimace racing i think from one of yesterdays stages shows some of what they are up against.

31/08/2026

Anyone know what’s happening with Stage 8? 🤔

We were waiting for #7 Coyote Racing to head out on Stage 8, but this one clearly has something different going on!

A large group of competitors were released at around the same time and spread out in different directions. Most of them then stopped and have been sitting in roughly the same spots for quite some time, while a few have since moved on.

With Stage 8 listed as “Go Get Em” and around 50km long, we're wondering if there’s some sort of challenge or task involved — winching, recovery or otherwise — before they continue?

The first group doesn't appear to be based on placings either, with current leader #1 Dynamic Racing among them, while #7 Coyote Racing hasn't headed out yet.

Does anyone following the event know the format for this stage or what they're actually doing out there? 😂

We’re trying to keep everyone updated, but this morning we’re just watching little arrows on a map and taking guesses! 🤷‍♀️