This is the event most Top Truck Challenge competitors anxiously await—or dread. The Tank Trap is a quarter-mile-long course designed to force each competitor to fight for every inch of forward progress. The Tank Trap is a standard feature at the Hollister Hills SVRA, but for TTC, it’s modified to our specs using heavy equipment and water. As in previous years, Tank Trap (located in a deep, natural valley) had an approximate 195-foot climb in elevation from start to finish. Due to water restrictions from the 2015 California drought, we had to cut back on the number of water holes, though we used the same numbering system as in previous years. A few yards into the course, competitors had to navigate the 5-foot-deep Water Hole 2. From there, they entered the infamous 100-yard-long “Canyon” that contained steep rock walls in excess of 7 feet in height, slippery steep rock waterfalls, nasty ledges, and generally inhospitable terrain. If they made it through the Canyon, it was onto Water Hole 3 and then a series of deep, slippery, dry climbs and descents. Provided they were still moving, they came fact-to-face with the deep, off-camber “Crevice” before dropping into Water Hole 6 and Water Hole 7.