Date: 2/01/2008

OFF ROAD MAGAZINE MONEY SHOT

Off Road Magazine awards Carli Suspension, Inc with their cover of the February 2008 issue. Not that this feat wasn't earned... but nobody, not even us, expected the day to turn out like this. When the release of CT Mcdonald's 2007 Megacab first hit the dirt, it made history. The previous article A Monster is Released was published, and is a clear demonstration of suspension engineering. Sporting Carli's Dominator 3.0 System with a bolt-on hydraulic bump stop kit, a shot rang out. That of somebody doing things differently. The hallmark that we've all come to expect from Sage. Word spread quickly and eventually the media made a very welcomed invitation to the Carli family... "We'd like a write-up on your truck". CT McDonald wanted to wait just a little bit longer for the build to be complete. Since his first appearance in Lucerne Valley, the truck was outfitted with a chromoly axle truss, a hand tig welded rear bumper and another Dodge suspension first... bolt-on hydraulic rear bump stops. All that was left was to load up the cameras and hit the dirt. Again.

This article should be titled "Sage Carli and his 3 flying Dodge's"... Read on.

Rockstar... Part Dos'

CT is no newcomer when it comes to sick builds. This is his third truck. He has two world-class superbikes under his belt and wrapped up a chopper last year on top of all of this. What separates this from everything else is that it isn't a one-off custom build, this is all 100% install-it-yourself products that anyone of us can have.

CT and I met in the dark at Fuel station in Norco... shook hands and talked some smack. But I'm always on a schedule, so we hit the road. Excitement on a day like this is sometimes too much to hold back... only minutes into the drive north on the 15 we were letting those CTD's eat their breakfast and just enjoying the moment. We must have made it to our exit in less than an hour and actually got pulled over by an off-duty police officer in an unmarked car... not for breaking the law (when he stopped us) but he was dying to ask us some questions about the trucks. He started out by explaining that he wanted to pull up along side of us after a red light, but wasn't able to keep up with either of our rigs in a straight line... so he cheated... he turned on lights and a siren. It was informal and we all laughed a bit and bro'd up, still in the dark... and we were wished a great afternoon and we all went our directions. Just a mild pace setter for what the day had in store.

Jordan May from Off Road Magazine met us in his Tacoma riding 3.0 Sway-Away's and a motor that any 7S team would be proud of. Just boys being boys. CT and I wiped down the rig as we saw Jordan leaving a Baja style dust trail, entering the recreational area at the same speed CT and I were doing up the 15... so far, the day was perfect.

Sage arrived. The first word's out of my mouth were "Hey, you removed your tailgate, right on"... and he said "No I didn't"... and we all started to laugh hysterically. He left it somewhere in the desert on his drive in. Somehow, when you have a truck that can do it... you just don't miss the chance. Too many forklifts loading leaf springs had cashed his old gate anyway... not to mention the day he went down Zoo Road in 3rd gear.

So it was time to get down to business... Jordan and CT went over their end... while Sage and I scouted for our shot. The exact location was somewhere that I had in my head for this very ocassion... and just had to be able to get there in a truck. The last time I was there, we were splitting the desert on CRF 450's and you don't exactly take the same line on one of those. So Sage and I embarked on a miniature wheeling adventure. My maps were wrong... my memory mislead me and I got up at 0400 in the morning... so to put it lightly, it went great for about 10 minutes, before I had to get out and spot for Sage as we crawled our way towards our destination. Not like this was a big deal. The day prior to this, Mike and I were in Ocotillo scouting possible locations as well... and the Friday before that, Sage and I were in Barstow... a trip that cost me 4 tires, a set of wheels and some bodywork. We were just out using our rigs and mine wasn't ready... still on stock tires, but that's fixed now.

We found our location... and all we had to do was test it in a truck. Sage looked at it a couple of times... and hit it with a smile.

Now that we confirmed that Carli's flying Dodges were safe on the approach and landing, it was time to collect the rest of our group, my truck and a photographer. The trip back was 10 minutes of deep whoops and we found our party. At this point, all of the glamour shots were done and it was time to introduce CT to his next romp.

Sage boarded the Megacab and showed CT the line. Safety is always an issue so they started small and worked their way up. Jordan and I stood around BS'n until we got the signal from Sage that it was time to make a real run. First jump was nothing special... the second one was a little bigger... and as they drove past me for the next run, I said "Bump it down the lip a little bit" as I signaled like an NFL ref calling offsides... so the next line was deeper into the face of the burm.

Sage explained to CT the last minute strategy... but something else happened. They got their line, got their speed... and Sage said "Ok, that's fast enough".... and CT didn't lift. He hit a wall of dirt at 50 miles an hour and there you have it...

You know how they say that a photo is worth a thousand words?.. yea, well, I give this one only 3 "NO FUCKING WAY!!!" That is surreal... You try that with ANY other bolt-on suspension system in the world... I DARE YOU.

Watch the Jump Video

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