For a relatively small group of offroad racers, the challenging Ultra4 racing season has led up to this point, the 11th Annual King of the Hammers (KOH) in Johnson Valley, CA. The pinnacle event for Ultra4 Racing, KOH is known as the toughest one-day offroad race on the planet. What started out as a dozen teams racing for bragging rights a little over a decade ago has evolved into so much more with 300+ teams competing in different classes, 35,000+ fans taking over the adjacent lake bed (aka Hammertown), and more than 500,000 tuning into the live feed online to watch the racing. The action takes place over the course of a week with moto, UTV, everyman and unlimited classes with qualifying and races planned for each day. King of the Hammers has become so much more than many ever thought possible and each year continues to grow with more people attending, national media coverage on NBC Sports and corporate investment getting ever deeper. Each year the cars get more advanced with cutting end technology designed for speed and durability. The course is set in and out of the mountains and wide open desert around Johnson Valley, with the rigs needing to be able to hit 100+ mph speeds as well as navigate some of the harshest rocks on the planet, carrying tools and spare parts in the event of breakage out on the trail.
Among the teams competing this year the BDS Suspension sponsored team from Tilden Motorsports rolling out a new 4500-class car with hopes to wear the crown come next Thursday. Tilden Motorsports/Pacific Fabrication has been a BDS dealer for years and specializes in LS-swaps into anything with four wheels. This 4500 build has been taking shape over the last couple months from the ground up and is slated to hit the lake bed for test and tune this week in preparation for the qualifying and racing next week with owner Kevin Stearns behind the wheel. The car has a complete hand-built tube chassis, prototype Tilden Motorsports 401ci stroker, 4L80E transmission, NP205 t-case with ORD Magnum box, Super 14 axles, FOX coilovers and bypass shocks, 37″ Nittos, 17″ Trailgear beadlocks, a Pac Racing swaybar, Warn 9.0Rc winch and Rugged Radios communications. Stay tuned for updates on the 4502-car and other teams out over the next week as we send updates from King of the Hammers.
For a full list schedule of events for KOH 2017 click here.
For the official map of Hammertown 2017 click here.
Here are some photos from the build up of Tilden Motorsports Car #4502:
