Spidertrax | Thom Kingston | CC BY 3.0

If you think this rig looks a bit like Levi Shirley’s winning Ultra4 racer, you’d be correct. Rob Butler, shown here driving an O.R.A. Eurofighter, just so happens to be the builder & retailer of these very same machines. Rob and Levi debuted two Eurofighters in Scotland at the King of the Glens, a race with enough mud to swallow up most Ultra4 machines (literally). After a few days of cleaning, and a little more tuning, Levi and Rob gave these Eurofighers a second chance at last weekends King of the Mountains. The result? Levi grabbed a 1st place finish and Rob grabbed a 3rd place finish. So, that’s two podium finishes for the all new Eurofighter, in one event! We expect to see more great things from these great machines, be sure to keep an eye out for more as the Ultra4 European season continues.

Spidertrax | Thom Kingston | CC BY 3.0

Meet Roberto Ciani of Ciani Offroad, otherwise known as the man on a mission. I first met up with Roberto and his team during tech inspection, and the clean lines of his Spider 9 powered Ultra4 racer certainly caught my attention. A reminder, and reassurance, that we’ll be seeing new freshly minted rigs here and there, making the competition more fierce each and every race. That, plus Roberto knows how to drive, and man did he drive.

He was one of the fastest on the course, and it was only small, but painful, setbacks that held him back (flat tire & rear sway bar bracket) . Never giving up, Roberto stayed on Levi’s tail the entire time, and gave everyone else that push to drive harder. It was a pleasure meeting the Ciani Offroad team, we do hope to see Roberto back out on the race course soon.

Spidertrax | Thom Kingston | CC BY 3.0

It’s only natural we kick off the racing portion of our photo set with the Mountain King himself, Levi Shirley. As I hiked from on top of the meadow, miles in from the start line, I was fortunate enough to run into course designer Pier Acerni, who was speeding off making last-minute course checks prior to the start of Run 2. I hitchhiked down to the valley below, and low and behold the glory of a rock infested dry river bed lay before me. I sat ready, knowing Levi Shirely would be first to kick things off. In roughly 7 minutes from the start, Levi came speeding through in a manner only fit for a king. He would complete this 2nd of 4 runs with the fastest overall time yet, 43:37. This ended up being the 2nd fastest time of the entire event, beaten only by himself the very next day (Run 3, 38:02).

Spidertrax | Thom Kingston | CC BY 3.0

There’s no getting around it, my evening meals in Italy were the makings of heaven. These grand tableside feasts were joined by massive quantities of the finest food, drink, conversation, more food, even more drink… and the rest gets a little blurry.  By the sound of it, one might think these banquets were the work of $200 a plate 5 star restaurants, but as it happens I visited no such place. No, this multi-hour culinary extravaganza took place night after night, right in the camping grounds of last weekend’s Ultra4 European race, The King of the Mountains (KOM). As grand as these meals were, they marked only the prelude for what was to come. It was over the next few days, as the race played out, that it became clear… this brand new racing venue would quickly go down in history, as one of the best Ultra4 European races yet. Read more…

Spidertrax | Thom Kingston | CC BY 3.0