King of the Hammers: Robby Gordon &Torchmate Racing.

King of the Hammers: US-star Robby Gordon partners with Torchmate Racing.

Capitalizing on a 10-year relationship with Lincoln Electric, Robby Gordon Motorsports has embraced the new addition to the Lincoln family and welcomed Torchmate CNC Cutting Systems onto Planet Robby.

Gordon, who has acquired the Torchmate Racing built TTB car for the upcoming Griffin King of the Hammers event, will begin testing the rebadged #77 car this week and he has tasked rock crawling champion and former Pirate4x4.com owner, Lance Clifford, to navigate.

"Although I have not yet met Lance, he has come highly recommended and is a welcome addition to our team. We put a lot of value in having the right people to help us succeed," said Gordon.

Clifford, who has worked during KOH the last 4 years providing live web based coverage, is looking forward to racing. "I was just planning on enjoying the event with my family, but when the best off-road driver in the world calls you up and asks you to navigate you don’t think twice about accepting."

The new relationship will put Torchmate CNC cutting systems to work in both Robby Gordon Motorsports North Carolina and Southern California facilities, and will see Torchmate as an associate sponsor of Gordon’s new venture into Ultra4 racing as well as his current SCORE Trophy Truck and Dakar off-road programs.

"We’re excited to work with Robby Gordon and it’s a perfect fit with Torchmate philosophy on racing and business," said Bill Kunz, general manager of Torchmate. "The same Torchmate machines the general public can purchase will be put to good use at the hands of Robby Gordon Motorsports," Kunz added.

The demands of the King of the Hammers race test the merit of both driver and machine due to the brutal terrain. In its 6th running, this year’s course (which remains a closely guarded secret until race week) will be the longest and most difficult to date. The delicate balance of rock crawling’s technical skill set, coupled with wide open assaults in the open desert, require a vehicle that is comfortable at two completely different ends of the off-road spectrum.

Gordon had this to say about his first impression of the vehicle, "The craftsmanship in the construction of this TTB car is a testament to the quality of products Torchmate builds. We build racecars of the highest standard in our fabrication shops, and this vehicle looks like something we built."

He continued: "I am excited to have a chance to race it in KOH and know we can do well. This relationship is not just a one-race deal; we are looking forward to building the Torchmate brand alongside our existing partners and introducing Torchmate to a new market." A number of crossover drivers have attempted the King of the Hammers in the last 5 years, but few return, and even less make the leap to car owner.

The buzz created by Ultra4 racing fans suggests that Robby Gordon’s presence this year will no doubt be one of the highlights of the event. "It’s always great to see new drivers make an investment in our sport, but when it’s a driver as popular as Robby Gordon, that creates the potential to introduce a wide selection of fans and have a positive result for all of our teams," responded Dave Cole of Hammerking Productions when asked about his newest racer.

"It’s a lot like the Baja 1000," Gordon closed with, "It’s a huge event people plan the whole year around. I can’t wait to give it a shot!"

Ζωντανή κάλυψη!!!



[Πρέπει να είστε εγγεγραμμένοι και συνδεδεμένοι για να δείτε αυτόν το σύνδεσμο.]

Kαι tracking!!!!

Τελικος νικητής του King of the Hammers 2012 ειναι ο Eric Miller με συνοδηγό τον Robert Ruggiero!!!!!!!!!

Ο Gordon στο Chocolate Thunder


Εκπληκτικός τερματισμός με... τουμπαρισμα!!!

Αποτελέσματα
1 Erik Miller 4421 Cumberland MD 6:03:51
2 Rick Mooneyham 554 Lake Havasu City AZ 6:16:48
3 Shannon Campbell 5 Gilbert AZ 6:33:40
4 Derek West 4420 Springfield MO 7:20:24
5 Loren Healy 4428 Farmington NM 7:22:05
6 Brad Lovell 232 Colorado Springs CO 7:26:23
7 Brian Shirley 18 Dodge City KS 7:31:53
8 Rusty Bray 4498 Richmond KY 7:31:54
9 Mike Klensin 4431 Tucson AZ 7:40:58
10 Casey Currie 2 Anaheim CA 8:16:04
11 Ben Dinkins 4403 Annopolis MO 8:24:49
12 Jon Cagliero 27 Paso Robles CA 8:27:17
13 Brandon Watson 4488 Carbondale CO 8:32:54
14 Jeff Russell 4427 Shadow Hills CA 8:39:10
15 Ivan VanOrtwick 4466 Whittier CA 8:41:08
16 Ben Napier 4461 Sydney AUS 8:42:00
17 John Webb 4468 Concord CA 8:50:28
18 Levi Shirley 81 Dodge City KS 9:03:20
19 Jason Scherer 76 Danville CA 9:05:36
20 Alan Woodson 86 Charlottesville VA 9:20:43
21 Jason Blanton 966 Kirkland WA 9:27:33
22 Jeremy Dickenson 4419 Cedar Park TX 9:34:49
23 Harold Fijman 777 San Ramon CA 9:38:50
24 Alex Hardaway 4481 Santa Rosa CA 9:40:59
25 Nick Finch 2228 Dean Park NSW 2761 Australia 9:46:51
26 Lucas Murphy 816 Easton MA 9:47:20
27 Ritchie Keller 202 Elkland MO 9:47:24
28 Cottin Rodd 4407 Cortez CO 9:47:48
29 Scott Ward 4438 Lake Havasu City AZ 9:57:40
30 John James 28 Fresno CA 10:17:58
31 Jason Shipman 4414 Farmington MO 10:22:00
32 Hunter Sparrow 72 Arvada CO 10:23:20
33 Mat Noualy 328 Mt Albert ONT, CA 10:32:45
34 Chris Garrison 4494 Rancho Cordova CA 10:45:50
35 Dave Bovich 50 Shasta Lake CA 10:51:37
36 Les Figueroa 4478 Henderson NV 10:59:24
37 Fabio Manno 100 Rome Italy 11:21:07
38 Doug Evans 4457 Hayfork CA 11:24:58
39 Larry Anderson 742 Dixon CA 11:52:39
40 Matt Peterson 212 Colorado Springs CO 11:54:41
41 Robb Kaufman 22 RockyView County CAN 12:05:47
42 Paul Garner 4409 Queen Creek AZ 12:21:57
43 Bart Dixon 26 San Diego CA 12:57:47
44 Curtis Warner 4410 Armstrong BC 12:59:05
45 Brandon Heyes 4558 Rancho Cucamonga CA 13:02:45
46 Jesse Haines 4499 Sparks NV 13:05:48
47 Warren Thomas 257 Morro Bay CA 13:19:25
48 Tom Wayes 321 San Jose CA 13:33:45
49 Stan Haynes 4408 Ft. Wayne IN 13:38:55

Axel Bürmann

The King of the Hammer 2012 is finished, it was a new and great experience and we know know what to change to the buggy and what went wrong.

we knew form the start that it was a risk to start with a buggy with no driving time in it and a buggy that had no driving time on itself.

On our first pre/test run we “blew” up the new automatic, it had not enough cooling and no temp gauge so no way we could have seen it running hot.
we found and almost new automatic form an other competitor that would fit but wen putting it under the buggy the housing broke , Shane then took every thing apart and made from two broken one 1 good one , that problem was solved , then there was still the cooling issue , the buggy had a small dual cooler that cooled the PSC hydro steering and the automatic , that would never be enough , we then went to the guys from OPW and they provided us with a big radiator with fan that we then put on the buggy and the auto problem was gone.

we thought we wer good and ready for the race and on the next prerun the engine starting sputtering and shutting down after a wile. a fuel problem , we could not find anything and nobody there that could read our 502 ramjet engine , we then changed fuel pump and our problem looked to be gone.

we knew we still had to go to the fox guys who wer going to adjust our shock because the buggy was jumping in the back but there was no time on Tuesday so I decided to do the classification on Wednesday and then after that do the shocks

no time to test because it was already time for the classification round at chocolate thunder .
on the rock parts all went very well , on the dessert part the engine started to act up again and sputter and shut down twice, to make up the lost time I run the buggy a bid faster than planned and at about 500 meter before the finish we took a curve and the buggy jumped up in the back and floated to the right wer we fit a big rock with our front right wheel, the alu wheel immediately exploded and with a hill and only 3 tire’s there was no getting up there in the loos dessert sand , we had to forfit the classification round .

after mounting a new wheel and tire the damage was massive , front axle bent for at least 2 inches , steering bracket bent and axle was leaking oil and dif housing was cracked , we fixed her up as good as possible and with no prerun done, an engine that was not running good and a bent axle we knew it would be tough to do the KOH , almost 2/3 of the competitors will not finish this race with a good running 4x4 and we wer going to start with a damaged not good running engine .

Friday 10 fed the race.

as a DNF ( did not finish) we knew we had to start last and with a nod so good running car the chance was small to non that we could finish this heavy race.
start went well and after about 500 meter we past some competitors on the first hill but then the engine shut down the first time, after a few minutes it started up again end we wer off again, in the newt 4 miles the engine shut down again about 6 to 7 times and runnig hot at 260 ° F and with the other competitors flying by we knew that it was a risk for them and us that we would get fit from behind so I made the decision to stop the race and drive back to basecamp.

it was a good race and we made a lot of new friends and if work does allow it we will be there next year with an improved buggy .

in short what needs to be done :

1. bigger and 3 row radiator for the engine in the back
2. bigger cooler for the automatic in front where engine cooler is know
3. new place for steering cooler in front where engine cooler is know
4. find out what the engine problem is
5. new 14 bolt front axle

that should be it .