BNMotorsports climbs onto the podium at the Lands End Hill Climb.

On the 14th and 15th of August the team from BNMotorsports were in Grand Junction, Colorado to compete in the Lands End Hill Climb, the third event in the Hammer King Grand Slam of Off Road Racing series. After a great weekend of close racing the team finished in 3rd place in Ultra 4, solidifying their position in the Grand Slam, with the final series event to be held in October. The hill climb is a completely different style of racing to our previous events, consisting of a high speed sprint climbing a 5.3 mile dirt road up the Grand Mesa through hair pin bends and surrounded by huge drop offs. Engines were bouncing off the rev limiters as vehicles slide around impossibly tight corners above towering cliffs as they race to put in the best time as crowds cheered on. The event consisted of 4 qualifying runs on Saturday, and 2 race runs on Sunday, with the best Sunday time being counted. To prepare for this unique event the race car was modified by Bomber Fab with the body lowered almost 10 inches and the King Off-Road Racing Shocks were limited to around 3 inches of active travel. 35 inch BFGoodrich short course race tires were mounted on Raceline Monster Beadlock wheels to significantly lower the centre of gravity of the Bomber. These modifications resulted in a very unusual looking rock crawler. During Saturday's qualifying the 14 Ultra 4 cars took turns with the other racers to set the best qualifying time and learn the track for Sunday’s shoot out. For BNMotorsports’ Australian Driver of Record, Ben Napier and Co-Driver Chris Garrison, it was immediately evident that the event was a significant shift from their usual driving. Our first attempt was well off the pace of the other Ultra 4 cars, and whilst the guys tried to justify it as enjoying the views and learning the course, we really needed to make some big improvements to be competitive in the event. During the day we took 3 more runs up the hill, cutting down our previous times, however our best was still well short of the leaders. Going into race day the team qualified 9th and as the heat grew we knew it would be a tough day. Whilst the Bomber is outfitted with some of the best racing equipment to tackle the extremes of King of the Hammers racing, the car is only equipped with a stock standard LS1 V8 and we were racing against several cars fitted with purpose built race engines producing hundreds more horsepower than the Bomber. To do well in this event our run required us to get every one of the 72 corners correct. On the first run Ben gave it everything - cutting 30 seconds off his previous best to record a time of 6:03.46, however our competitors also improved and this only resulted in us moving to 7th place. Whilst racers JT Taylor and Rick Mooneyham were well ahead in the 5:30’s, places 3 – 9 were packed within 6 seconds of each other. Ben lined up for the final attempt of the race and completed the circuit almost perfectly, cutting a further 12 seconds off his time he jumped the field and recorded a 5:51.03 to place 3rd in the event, an amazing result for the team. The team will now rush to prepare for the HammerKing Stampede event in Reno, Nevada on the 11th of September, where they will compete in a KOH style race, including rock trails and high speed desert. BNMotorsports wishes to thank the following sponsors and supporters: Wombat Crossing Vineyard – Gold Medal winning Australian Hunter Valley wines. Bomber Fab, Raceline Wheels, King Off-Road Racing Shocks, BF Goodrich Tires, Superior Axel and Gear, Howe Performance Power Steering