RACE REPORT

2021 KING OF THE HAMMERS EMC - TBD - 4600 Class

The Sherpa Motorsports Team took on the toughest off-road race in America with an IFS Toyota.

OUR 2021 SPONSORS

YOTA MAFIA - YUKON GEAR & AXLE - LOCKED OFFROAD SHOCKS - GENERAL TIRE - BLACK RHINO - WARN

Lakebed Prep:

In the days leading up to the race, we spent a good bit of time refining the car. A lot of time was spent on dialing in the ride height and suspension on the car. We increased the height of the shock tabs on our Total Chaos arms to help with clearance for our tie rods and ride height. We also switched from 600lbs coils to 700lbs and increased the pressure in our bump stops. This got us a lot closer to the ride that we have been chasing in the season leading up to KOH.

On one of the last nights before the race, we broke our stock steering shaft at the crumple zone. We were able to wrangle up some 1” tube from the FabShop and put together a solid upgrade. With all of the kinks out of the way we were ready for race day.

RACE DAY:

Participating in The King of the Hammers has been a dream of ours for a few years now and sitting on the starting line was surreal. It was also great to finally be racing against vehicles that were equally matched to our 4Runner. The strange thing was, we both felt pretty calm in the car as we rolled towards the start line.

Lap 1: DESERT

Our race day started with our car going off the line in position (16). We set off out the gates with a pace we felt was a good balance of keeping the car together while remaining competitive. It had become clear to us earlier in the week that the course was going to be chewed up far more than usual, and that proved true on race day. We quickly made our way to Pit 1 and after a quick inspection of the car, we were on our way. Up next was Cougar Buttes (Notches). When we pulled in there was a bit of traffic built up so Will jumped out of the car and began spotting and scouting ahead. We made quick work of the rocks until we came upon another 4600 car rolled over and several others plugging the trail. We took an alternate line around them and popped out the backside to continue on with the desert lap.

We spent the next hour or so bobbing our way through the choppy desert. We finally ran into another group of 4600 cars and we began pacing them for a while until we came upon a stopped 4800 car. We took a moment to lend them our battery jumper so they could get back on their way.

It was around this time it became clear how brutal the desert was, as we passed one broken car after another. When we made it back to pit 1 again we took on a couple of gallons of fuel and the team looked over the car. We found a couple of loose bolts but nothing too serious. Not long after we were crossing the start-finish and heading into the main pit. Once again we took on a few more gallons of fuel and the team found nothing on the car. At this point, we were beyond excited to be out of the desert lap and heading towards the rocks where we could put the car to work.

Lap 2: ROCKS

We worked our way through a few desert miles and then started our descent into Spooners. It’s amazing how big the rocks get the second you drop into the canyons out in Johnson Valley. Alex had hiked the canyons a couple of days earlier so we had enough information to put together a strategy. Immediately after dropping into the canyon the car got high centered and the WARN winch was getting put to work. We pulled the truck out and Will shifted his strategy a little bit. From that point on we were cruising through the rocks. 4679 came into the canyon behind us and we traded positions a couple of times. We made it to the bottom quickly and started working our way up Outer Limits. Not long after we ran into a group of 4600 and 4800 cars stuck in traffic after several vehicles broke. We were then notified by course workers that we had less than an hour to reach the next checkpoint or we would be timed out. We opted to spend our time helping the other drivers through the choke point. Once we all timed out we all began working our way out of Outer Limits in the dark.

All in all, we couldn’t be happier with how the car performed on one of the most difficult KOH courses to date. The car held up to the harsh desert and exceeded our expectations in the rocks. We can’t thank our awesome friends, family, and Sponsors for supporting us at the race and over the last couple of months. Without all of you, this would have been impossible. We are looking forward to the full season ahead.

THANK YOU

We can’t thank all of our outstanding friends, family, and Sponsors enough for all of their hard work and amazing support for our program.

Bryston - Thank you so much for going above and beyond to help us repair our car after our pre-running sessions. Without your awesome welding skills and resources, we wouldn’t have been on the starting line on race day.

Yukon - Thank you to the great team over at Yukon for rolling out the red carpet. Not only did they rush us parts in the final days of the build but they also became a huge part of our team. The guys at Yukon helped us troubleshoot little problems on the lakebed with parts that weren’t even their own and continued to check on us during the week.

YotaMafia - Thank you to Breland at YotaMafia for rushing us a LT kit at the last minute after there were some supply issues with TC. The kit was a game-changer and really gave us the performance edge we have been needing over the last year racing.

General Tire - Once again we came out of a race with the same set of tires that we started racing on last year. The durability of the X3’s is absolutely mind-blowing. Anyone who has been out to KOH knows how hard it is on tires. The rocks are like razor blades and traction is everything. Thank you for building such a quality product.

Beyond Wraps - Marvin absolutely killed it on our wrap and took special care to help us get our entire Sponsor roll call taken care of and represented correctly. Not to mention he was the perfect host and let us get some last-minute work done in his shop before we headed to the lakebed.

Shock Talk - These guys went above and beyond to help us make some last-minute adjustments on our car a few days before the race without ever asking for a dime. Hit them up if you are looking for some shock tuning for your project. These guys really do know their stuff.