badrock u4 Desert Racetrack
Tucked away in a small wash near the front side of our local sportsman’s club, Badrock U4 Desert Racetrack is destined to become the most challenging, technical, and rugged track in the RC world of Ultra 4 Rock Racing.
Our goal is to establish this track as one of the main racing locations in the world of RC U4 Rock Racing. With monthly events as well as a large state championship race planned, we hope to see a steady growth of drivers involved with rock racing. After two full years of shoveling, raking, and carrying buckets filled with rock, I’m pleased to say that we are almost done. It’s been a labor of love which has taken quite a toll on the author’s lower back as well as an old pair of work boots, but the final product is something to behold. Established as a scale version of Unlimited 4WD off-road racing course and based loosely on the King of The Hammers racing format, this desert racetrack winds through a sprawling dried-out wash adorned with wild creosote and sage, highlighting the unique desert landscape and rugged beauty found in our area. |
We spent a considerable amount of time building the track within the desert landscape, incorporating many of the natural features present in the old, dried out desert wash.
Care was taken to leave as much of the natural desert landscape untouched as possible, maintaining a pristine and natural desert landscape. The result of this work is a track which features large rocky section of track, tight corners, loose dirt, fine sand, and elevation transitions. These are all intended to challenge driver's skills as well as the RC's robustness. |
Ultra 4 Rock Racing
In the most general terms, Ultra 4 off-road racing ( U4 ) is the pitting of man and machine against the grueling challenges of desert racing. Unlike other races where drivers are solely focused on winning the event, U4 racing is more about surviving the event. Completing a U4 race is a victory within itself, while making it to the podium is just a bonus. Not an insignificant bonus by any means, but I strongly believe that most drivers and their teams are highly satisfied to cross the finish line with all four tires still attached and under their own power. Think of the top three spots on the podium as sprinkles on the donuts of victory, and everyone likes donuts. |
But for some off-road racers, U4 desert racing wasn’t quite challenging enough. Taking the level of difficulty of desert racing and kicking it up a few notches, Rock Racing was created to truly punish man and machine, resulting in untold number of drivers questioning their sanity during the races.
Rock racing places a greater focus on incorporating as much naturally occurring rough, rocky, chunky terrain as possible into the racecourse. This brings a mix of rock crawling, rock bouncing, and careful maneuvering to offset some of the smoother, high-speed sections of track. |
By mixing large sections of rock into the racecourse, it forces the race teams to set up their machine to handle both the slow technical work as well as to move quickly over less challenging terrain.
The rock racing trucks and buggies have become a kind of compromise in design. Every year the lessons learned from a full season of rock racing are incorporated into the next evolution of these off-road machines, bringing just as much engineering and design prowess as you would see in any popular on-road racing events. Casey Currie's trophy Jeep is an example of this continual evolution of a desert racing machine highly capable in both the nasty, chunky rock terrain as well as high-speed sprints in the open desert. |
The crown jewel of rock racing is the annual King of the Hammers ( KOH ) race in Johnson Valley, California.
Arguably the most challenging off-road event in the Ultra 4 Racing Series, this takes every nasty element of desert racing and adds piles upon piles of rocks. A quick look at past events on YouTube will show some of the unbelievable sections of the track and will make you wonder how they even reach the finish line. We’ve taken a close look at the KOH events and incorporated many of the technical and rocky features of their course into our racetrack. |
Badrock is an independent track and not affiliated with any other RC clubs or organizations.
We will be developing our own RC classes and rules for the up coming racing events. Check back soon to see new photos, drone video, and of course detailed descriptions of the track and its unusual features. 10/11/2023 |