Spidertrax | Thom Kingston | CC BY 3.0

Derek West, pictured here, was the first one thru The Wall. I was pumped to see him just fly by, absolutely in his element and never letting up on the throttle. The Wall took many out, I witnessed three rear axle shaft failures, from the best of the best, just from my own vantage point. Unfortunately, one of those three was ours. Unfortunately again, that one happened to be Derek.

You can make parts that exceed the specs of aerospace, but come to an Ultra4 race and you will accept that the unbreakable is in fact breakable. Derek was running the best of the best 35 spline axle shaft on the planet, in service since before the 2013 King of the Hammers. While fatigue will certainly play a part in any failure of this kind, the sheer amount of abuse Badlands dishes out, coupled with a few extra hundred pounds of mud strapped to your car, and the unfortunate can, in fact, happen. Derek was among the top, pulled in a solid 5 laps, but the time taken to replace a shaft didn’t add up. This assumed, of course, it was a shaft that failed. Taking things apart in the pits sometimes unravel even greater issues, best left for the shop.

Failures happen, and it’s why we attend each and every Ultra4 race. Race photography, team & product support before, during, and after every race, publishing stories after it all unfolds… these are all great things that move our sport, and Spidertrax, forward. However, what really drives us… what really moves us… is product design. What better way to engineer a part, manufacture a part, than to be right in the heart of the action… witnessing first hand what these machines are really capable of. Once Derek’s axle lands on our desk, we will workup a full in-depth analysis that not only includes elements of a chemical composition, a hardness traverse, and a tensile test… but all of this will be coupled with our first hand knowledge of physically being on site when it happened. The secrets out, I guess, but that’s how we build the best parts.

Getting Derek fixed up will be easy, no doubt, the bigger question is what’s on Derek’s mind for his new upcoming Ultra4 build. Rumor has it he’s eyeing a new machine for 2015, has the IFS bug finally bit him? Even we don’t have that answer, but time will tell.

Spidertrax | Thom Kingston | CC BY 3.0

Mud was everywhere at the Badlands UMC, and it continued to spring up in areas I otherwise thought safe from its wrath. Walking the course, I lined up for this spot which involved drivers quickly defending than climbing the last hill shown. Little did I know, there was… get this… a giant mud pit at the bottom. Got wet myself, again, but it was well worth it. Pictured here is Dave Fox, who pulled off a 7th place position with an impressive 8 lap finish.

Spidertrax | Thom Kingston | CC BY 3.0

Still amazing, every time I see it, when a properly tuned Ultra4 machine can tackle the nastiest of climbs with ease. It’s as if “the line”, that is the exact right path in climbing an obstacle, didn’t matter. Shown here is Mr. Chicky Barton himself, launching his brand new Spider 9 powered IFS racer up The Wall. Chicky took 1st in the last east coast Ultra4 race, Ultra4s at Hot Springs, and grabbed 4th in Badlands. We are still waiting on series points, but for the East coast series it’s definitely a tight battle between Shannon and Chicky. With the final East coast race being a brand new venue for all, the Sturgis Dirtplex in Sturgis Kentucky, it really is anyones game.

Spidertrax | Thom Kingston | CC BY 3.0

Loren Healy took 3rd place at last weekend’s Badlands UMC. The King sure knows how to drive a solid axle machine… but he also know’s how to drive an IFS. While most racers are still considering their first IFS build, Loren is finishing up his 2nd IFS Ultra4 machine right now. Rumor has it, while we are all sitting back and enjoying the burgers and potato salad this holiday weekend, Loren will be working hard, fine tuning his latest IFS creation. In time for next weekend’s Glen Helen Grand Prix? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Spidertrax | Thom Kingston | CC BY 3.0

In our first race recap earlier this week, we touched a bit on the camaraderie that makes Ultra4 so unique. Enter the spotters of The Wall, a Badlands tradition that found it’s way to this race since inception. On a drivers 1st lap, when they make their initial attempt at the Wall, they often leave their co-drivers/spotters behind. It’s a bit of strategy, no doubt, time spent getting in and out of the vehicle is costly and co-drivers are most needed at The Wall anyway. Since this is a lap based race, spotters can wait at The Wall and be immediately on call when their team returns on their next lap.

So, one may expect these spotters to just sit back and wait for their respective Ultra4 to make a return trip before getting back to work. No such deal. This year, we had Scott Decker (Mike Colville’s co-driver) & Casey Trujillio (Loren Healy’s co-driver), both of which just so happened to be the first two spotters at The Wall. For the next 2+ hours, these guys would work their asses off… winching, recovering, and just making sure every racer was at his or her best.

Pictured here is Scott Decker, running a winch line not for his own driver but for Erik Miller. These guys pushed themselves as if every vehicle was part of their own team. It’s an awesome tradition, the one at Badlands I most look forward to every year.