[MoparNorm]

Supplied without comment, this insider announcement from Ultra 4 Racing, tells of a new Mopar Racing commitment.

From the Press release:
"New for 2014 are the Mopar Performance Spec Series and Legends Class. The Mopar Spec Series will pit identical Jimmys 4×4 designed tube chassis JK’s with Factory Supported Hemi motors in a true drivers class. Look for a separate press release detailing the class and cars, but Hammerking will own and rent the first 6 cars with chassis available for private sale as well. The cars will be at every West Coast race and also be available for excursion rental at the Hammers, Rubicon or Moab. The intent is to have a drivers class with low barrier to entry and high payout. The Legends Class is designed to fill the gap of teams that want to experience the race but don’t have a competitive Ultra4 car. The rules are simple…2 or more seats, front engine, solid axle, single shock per corner, 37” tires"

 

[Mike V.]

Wow, this is fantastic news, thanks for sharing!!!

Mike

 

[MoparNorm]

Welcome.
Here is a link to Jimmy's, you can read about their pedigree and drivers they have built for in the past.
http://www.jimmys4x4.com/index.html

 

[Beentherebefore]

I'm not familiar with this series at all. These will be what, basically?.........................................buggies with Hemi motors?

I saw on your link that "Rubbie" drove for them for awhile. Might make for some good publicity.

 

[MoparNorm]

I'm not familiar with this series at all. These will be what, basically?.........................................buggies with Hemi motors?

I saw on your link that "Rubbie" drove for them for awhile. Might make for some good publicity.

I've been writing about the Ultra 4 series here for years.
Ultra 4 is a cross between Desert Racers and Rock Buggies, they can both speed across open desert at 120+ mph and crawl over 6' boulders at less than 1 mph. The cars are primarily solid axle cars with unlimited engine specs and are required to have 4WD.

Made popular by the famous King of the Hammers race, the toughest one day race in the world, Ultra 4 is now a national series of 12 events AND also includes races in the UK, Portugal, Croatia and other locations in Europe.
This class will be initially spec, with Jeep Wranglers equipped with Hemi engines.

 

[Beentherebefore]

The link you posted showed what were basically buggies.

So they will be superseded by Wranglers?

By spec series I presume that all racers will be running the same equipt? No "Brand C" and/or Ford powered stuff?

Running Hemis in any series is good, imo. The motor has been around since 2005 and very little performance development has been done on it. Might as well start here.

 

[MoparNorm]

The link you posted showed what were basically buggies.

So they will be superseded by Wranglers?

By spec series I presume that all racers will be running the same equipt? No "Brand C" and/or Ford powered stuff?

Running Hemis in any series is good, imo. The motor has been around since 2005 and very little performance development has been done on it. Might as well start here.

The cars in the picture, were not the Mopar Performance Spec Series cars, those are unseen yet, but will be basically like our Stock Modified Jeep, a race frame with a Hemi and Factory body.
Extrapolating to NASCAR, one could call Cup cars "buggies" as well.
To further clarify, Ultra 4 is similar to ALMS, in that several classes of cars run the same course, often at the same time.
Ultra 4 cars will not be superseded by Wranglers, the Mopar Performance Spec class will be added to the mix.

Just as an example, we are running in the Stock Modified class. We must run the factory frame, under the occupant section, we must run a stock, or stock appearing body. We are limited to 37" tires and 14" of suspension travel. Our car cannot weigh more than 4400 lbs. Engine size is unlimited.
We are trying something new in our class, we are basically building a NASCAR style frame and chassis and hanging our body over that, just like we did in NASCAR.
In the Mopar Performance class, all cars will be identical, with the same frames, bodies and engines. It's an affordable way for someone to get started.
The current class of cars are:
Ultra 4 Unlimited class
Stock Modified class
Stock class.
The Mopar Performance Spec class will likely slot in between Stock Modified and Stock.
http://photos.imageevent.com/moparnorm/4540/large/Race%20Jeep%20OH.jpg

If I can get the link to work, this is our Stock Mod car.

This is the chassis.
http://photos.imageevent.com/moparnorm/4540/large/image.jpg

 

[Beentherebefore]

Ok, got it now. The photos help. At least it looks identifiable as a Jeep which is important. Am I correct in assuming that once some development is done on the Hemis, that they could be run sucessfully in one or more of the other classes? Running against only other Jeeps in one spec class to me is kind of like getting to kiss your sister. I want to see some "Brand C" powered stuff get it's azz kicked by Mopar powered machines.

 

[Mike V.]

Norm, can this program help you and the program you have been working on?

Mike

 

[MoparNorm]

The Spec Series is similar to the Jeep Speed Series which Allpar was a sponsor.
In fact there is a Jeep Speed regular, running an XJ, in the Ultra 4 Stock class.
However because the classes run the same course at the same time, it will be possible to see a Hemi powered car, finish ahead of higher classes running that C motor and that will make news.

Hopefully this could mean more engine choices, however before I get overly excited, I need to find out more about how the deal was structured and by whom.
I'd love to have access to a fuel injected Hemi tuned for this series. The current offerings are either stock crate replacements or carbureted. Not suited as competitive rock crawling engines... Which is hard for me to swallow.

Since there is more Jeep identity, in the Stock and Stock Mod classes, that is where we have run the last two years. Customers identify more with those cars than the Ultra 4 Unlimited cars.
It's akin to Pro-Stock or Funny Car vs. Top Fuel, the Top Fuel kick but, but have little brand ID...and the Funny Cars are very close in performance.
If we ran our Stock Mod car against the Unlimited cars, we might get a top 15-20 finish, against 40 Unlimited cars, some of which run up to 800 horsepower.
Edit:
Mike, I was writing the same time you asked your question. Some of the answer is in my answer to Beenthere, above, but hopefully yes.

 

[Beentherebefore]

OK, understanding a little more now. I'll rely on you to post updates and results and, hopefully, I'll be able to follow what's happening then. Neither myself nor my wife are in good enough physical shape to be dragging our tails out to the desert to follow this type of racing any more.

 

[MoparNorm]

It's all shown on CCTV, over the Internet, so I'll put up the link when we run.
They have pretty good coverage, with 5 camera locations, two helicopters and real time tracking of every car on a google earth feed.
It's thousands of square miles to cover but they do fairly well considering.
The 'Vindication' video I put up a month ago shows the type of action and it is action packed with nearly 200 cars running the same course.

 

[MoparNorm]

Spent some time with Ray Alexander, shock tuning last Saturday.
Look for his article on our team, coming up on Allpar, likely Monday.
It was a great day, even though we suffered a minor setback, (barrel rolled 4 times, at 85 mph!) but repairs have been made and the car was relatively undamaged. We are ready for the race!
We run on Thursday, in the EMC race, we are a Stock Modified Jeep, # 4540.
This is the Live Feed Link to follow the race, Ray will be on the Lakebed, both in Hammertown and observing the race from several locations.

http://ultra4racing.com/live/

 

[MoparNorm]

Don't know if that link will work, having issues on my mobile, but if it does, it's a great representation of the KOH race.
Edit: that didn't work, please stand by
Try this, from our Tire Sponsor, Falken Tires

http://youtu.be/0jWMQYEx_gs

 

[Dave Z]

Tackling King of the Hammers

 

[MoparNorm]

Thanks for the link Dave!

 

[MoparNorm]

Just an update, we have been on the Lakebed (Hammertown) for 4 days now, haven't run as much as we wanted due to brutal, 75-80 mph winds!
Pre-ran the entire first lap today, at a moderate speed and equaled the winning time from last year. So while anything that might happen, usually does happen, we are feeling good about our chances.
Last years winner called the race an "All day car crash", that's about right!
Hopefully the sporadic cell coverage will allow me to post a few updates as we get closer to race day.
Great being back in Johnson Valley, with our racing community!

 

[Muther]

good luck

 

[MoparNorm]

Thanks!
Yes it's 3 AM here in the Mojave, but have limited signal, got up and saw the signal meter and am sending this!
We qualified 6th out of 42, top 30 overall! We are pumped!
Wish us luck on Thursday!

That 6th place came while running with a flat tire and we had to back up twice on one obstacle!!!
We ended up 6 seconds out of second place until the last run, one of our sponsor team Jeeps, beat us by 25 seconds. We were running slow and steady, to save the Jeep for the race, so we are very, very, very pleased with our time!!!
Thanks for the support!!!

 

[Beentherebefore]

Hey Norm,

your group got some coverage on another website devoted exclusively to motorsports (and the Mopar power got one brief mention).

http://www.motorsport.com/offroad/news/the-inside-story-of-the-king-of-the-hammers/