Bubba Rope's 'Gator-Jaw' Snaps Up A 2nd SEMA New Product Award

With two SEMA New Product Awards in only five years, Bubba Rope is able to proudly display the hardware back-to-back. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014)


Bubba Rope's 'Gator-Jaw' Snaps Up A 2nd SEMA New Product Award

Maybe this isn't as winning a record as baseball's San Francisco Giants with their recently garnered third World Series Championship in five years, but the Giants only have to compete against 30 other teams or enterprises.

Bubba Rope, which started in 2009, won its first SEMA New Product Award in 2010 for the 2011 product year, has to compete against hundreds of new products from about as many 'teams' or enterprises, won its second New Product Award in five years for Gator-Jaw™ soft shackles.

Good thinking leads to an additional threaded strand product solution that really changes the playing field. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014)

Bubba Rope's first SEMA New Product Award was for their lead product ... the Bubba Rope. "The whole thing is branding," said Jim Flowers, a manager in Bubba Rope's business development team. Introduced to the consumer market in 2009, the nylon, military-spec recovery strap's packaging took Best New Product Packaging honors at the 2010 SEMA Show.

At a rated 32,000 pound breaking strength, combined with a property that allows the Gator-Jaw to float and weigh just a few ounces, steel shackles not only bend apart but become an old technology solution with functional problems to overcome. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014)

Bubba Rope is a professional snatch rope that features military-spec quality and strength that surpasses any vehicle recovery strap on the market. Bubba Rope is a durable kinetic energy recovery rope (KERR) that outperforms typical recovery ropes, snatch straps and chains because it stretches, using its own kinetic energy to help recover your vehicle from the stickiest of situations. If there is mud, sand or snow where you drive, then you need a Bubba Rope!

"If you have a clear idea of what your brand is, it's a lot easier to figure out what doesn't fit," Flowers said. "It all starts with an extremely clear vision of what you want to communicate with your brand."

Just find a strong tie-down or tow point and the flexible Gator-Jaw will hold strong to anything it is attached to at a rated 16 tons of stress. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014)

This excerpted and edited from Bubba Rope® -

Gator-Jaw™ soft shackles are made from Plasma® rope which is the highest strength synthetic rope available. These rope shackles are stronger than comparable steel shackles. Gator-Jaw™ shackles won't rust and are so light they float. Towing applications include: 4x4 off-road, agriculture & mining equipment and various marine uses - wherever a connection of a rope or tether needs to be attached to another heavy equipment object (or even connecting two ropes) without the possibility of the connection coming loose.

Advantages Over Steel Shackles:

Stronger than steel - 32,000 lb. breaking strength!
It floats - no more losing shackles in the water or muck!
Flexible - easily wraps around the most difficult pulling points!
One piece construction - no pins to fasten!

Uses:

Off-Road Recovery
Marine
Farming
Industrial
Mining
[Reference Here]

Bubba Rope's Gator-Jaw™ soft shackles are the perfect compliment to the well outfitted off-road emergency tools kit - perfect for any situation where attaching a rope or tether to a specified tow or anchor point without the weight or multiple part downsides to metal D-rings or clevises.

Be on the lookout for a Bubba Rope® "Gator-ize" type of solution for use with front and back mounted hydraulic winches.

Who knows ... maybe there might be another SEMA New Product Award in the offing.

... notes from The EDJE

Kimi Raikkonen Joins Lotus Renault GP for 2012 F1 Season

Image Credit: lotuscars.com

Kimi Raikkonen Joins Lotus Renault GP for 2012 F1 Season

Last year, Kimi Raikkonen came across the pond to keep his skills fresh by driving a NASCAR truck in the Camping World Truck Series. Further, Kyle Busch Motorsports built a car that former Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen used to make his debut in NASCAR's Nationwide Series. That one-time entry proved to be a springboard toward a full-time effort on the circuit that Busch's organization will undertake next year ... but this effort will be without the services of Kimi.

Kimi has decided to campaign the Green and Yellow of Lotus Renault GP for the 2012 season and the ambassador of Group Lotus, Jean Alesi, couldn't be more pleased as expressed in this Lotus interview release.

Jean, are you excited about the news that Kimi Raikkonen is returning to F1 next year with Lotus Renault GP?

It’s fantastic news. Kimi has more natural speed than just about anyone who has ever raced a Grand Prix car, and if he’s coming back it’s because he wants to do it, he misses F1, and he believes he can do well. He has had a short break, which was a little bit forced by Ferrari. I think he was fed up with the system and wanted to take time out, which I can totally understand. But now he’s coming back, with Lotus, so it’s really exciting.

Kimi’s speed was never in question, but there were concerns he failed to develop the car as Michael Schumacher had done before him. Is that a concern for you now?

Michael was brilliant at that, but it isn’t working for him now at Mercedes and I think this is a reflection of how F1 has developed in recent years and re-prioritized. Now you just need to focus on having a quick driver, someone who does the job. The great thing with Kimi is he extracts the maximum from a quick car. When the car was good at McLaren and Ferrari he was always winning. LRGP will expect him to extract the maximum from the Lotus as well.

It’s sure to fire up the workforce at Enstone, isn’t it, having a world champion in the car?
F1 teams need a driver who will consistently set lap times that are 100 percent on the edge. That is what a driver of Kimi’s caliber can do, to dance on the edge and never fall off. From that, the engineers get a baseline. They understand the true speed of their car and can make changes accordingly. It eradicates any doubt. I expect Kimi will be a very valuable tool indeed. But I don’t expect a lot of talking outside the car! I’m sure he hasn’t changed a bit.

Let’s talk about the Sao Paulo race. Bruno Senna was given a drive-thru penalty after he came together with Michael Schumacher. Did you think that was unfair?

Definitely, yes. It was a 50/50 accident, so why penalize one of them? Both cars were compromised – Bruno with a broken front wing and Michael with a rear puncture. To then penalize one of the drivers in this situation kills the spirit of racing. The stewards should have let it go.

Vitaly Petrov started the year on a high with his podium in Australia and finished the season tenth in the Drivers’ World Championship. How well do you think he did?
He’s been very competitive when the car is quick, and it’s been more difficult for him in the second half of the season. He did a fantastic first grand prix but he seems to suffer more when the car is not perfect.

Lotus Renault GP started the year on the podium but struggled towards the end. Did the designers take a few wrong turns?

The R31 was extremely aggressive in terms of design. At the start of the season, Red Bull’s designer Adrian Newey said that the most creative car out there was the Lotus Renault GP. When the best designer in the world says that, it means a lot, and at the start of the year LRGP were brilliant. Then the exhaust-blowing rules changed, and that hurt the team a lot. We were penalized more heavily than any other team. To finish fifth in the championship is superb.

How did you rate the F1 World Championship 2011 generally?

Even though Red Bull Racing was dominant throughout, I thought it was a very interesting season and I enjoyed the races very much. Out of those 19 races, only three or four were a bit boring; I was on the edge of my seat for the rest. We’ve seen lots of overtaking, lots of incidents, and there was tough competition out there, particularly between McLaren and Ferrari. Lotus Renault GP were very competitive at the start of the season as well, so overall I really enjoyed it.

Which race stood out for you?
My shoes are still drying after the Canadian Grand Prix, so that was memorable not least for the incredible race we saw. I could have done without the two-hour red flag delay in the middle, but that race was really exciting and it’s always great to see a change of the lead on the last lap.
Sebastian Vettel was the class of the field, but who would you nominate as your Man Of The Year?

Apart from Vettel, who did an unbelievable job, the award should go to Jenson Button. I was not surprised by his performance, because he’s been a world champion, but the way he managed to be there all the time, even when he was struggling with set-up, and still get good points was impressive. He also pulled some great overtaking moves, so he was aggressive when he needed to be and smooth when he needed to be, adapting to the Pirelli tyres quicker than most. What a mature performance, and all the more impressive when your team-mate is Lewis Hamilton and Jenson is still, essentially, the new boy. I believe 2011 was even more impressive than his championship-winning year, given that he didn’t have the best car and his team-mate was Hamilton.
(ht: Lotus Motorsport and Group Lotus)

... notes from The EDJE


<first seen as Kimi Raikkonen Joins Lotus Renault GP for 2012 F1 Season at Motorsports Unplugged>