This year’s King of the Hammers race was the longest on record (3 laps totalling 214 miles) and arguably the toughest ever – it was something else to experience the spectacle in person. There is nothing quite like 700HP+ Ultra4 cars, double locked and with suspension travel for days screaming through the desert then rocketing into technical sections where they smash and scramble up 8-foot ledges.
The 2015 Hammers had an incredible 129 Ultra4 cars start, of which only 17 had finished by the 10:00PM cutoff time. That should be an indication of the toughness of the racecourse. Furthering that point even the top 3 finishers experienced some pretty serious mechanical adversity. The winner, Randy Slawson ran most of the race on 7 cylinders, runner up Erik Miller (Maryland-based) nearly lost a wheel when all but 2 wheel studs broke on a rear wheel and also had to replace a blown power steering system. Third on the podium was young-gun Levi Shirley, who ran the race without a co-driver, and repaired his winch mid-race with “borrowed” parts from an old Toyota in the paddock.
On raceday we were on the move – going from one vantage point to another to see the drivers/cars tackle different parts of the course, ending up in Hammertown to watch the final moments of the race from the central jumbotron and greet the podium finishers. Here’s some of the action we saw during the day…
Racers starting in 30-second intervals, heading into their first scramble
Ultra4 cars ripping across a desert section on Lap 1
Drivers struggling on the ledges at “Back Door”
Throwing a little roost!
Traffic-jamming on the now infamous “Jackhammer”, responsible for many DNFs
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