PAC Racing Springs #4418 KOH Review

The PAC Racing Springs Ultra4 Team had an excellent week of racing at this year’s King of the Hammers.  The team was as ready for battle as ever.  This year’s event would be split up into a qualifying round spread over 2 days and the main race.
Qualifying was over a short 4 mile course including off camber turns, some rock strewn trails, and some fast sections.  Start order was a random draw for qualifying rounds, except for the last hour of racers each day – they were handpicked by the promoter to bring the fans an action-packed ‘Power Hour’.  We were selected for the Power Hour – providing some excellent coverage for our partners.   When all was done, we qualified 38th in a field of 170.
Friday – 185 grueling miles await… the green flag dropped at 8 am, in flights of 2 cars every 30 seconds.  Based on our qualifying we would leave the line at about 8:10.   We pushed the PAC Racing Springs car to the limit.  Passing car after car….and entering the pits after Lap 1 – we were about the 15th car in – we had passed over 20 cars in about 50 miles, and crossed the line about 10 minutes physically behind the leader – which clearly put us in the top 5 position.    The pit involved changing a rear flat tire and adding some 15 gallons of race fuel.  Then we were off for Lap 2 – which would pit the 4418 against the rocks that makes the Hammers famous.  About 20 miles into lap 2, as we were passing our friend and fellow racer Chicky Barton – disaster struck and a rear suspension failure would end our day.  After a failed attempt at a repair (which involved a 5 mile hike through the desert for parts) we called in a DNF.  We had the support, the team, and the drive, but it just was not the #4418’s day to be on top.
Congrats to Randy Slawson (1st), Shannon Campbell (2nd, PAC Equipped), and Chicky Barton (3rd, PAC Equipped) for their podium finishes.  When all was done, only 27 teams of the 120 that started would finish the hardest 1 day race in the world.  We were a statistic this year- but there is still a whole season is ahead.
Special thanks to BeCool for going above and beyond with part support…custom radiator next day in the middle of the desert– service like that cannot be beat!  PAC Racings on-site support and tuning help is 2nd to none.