Posted January 22, 2020 by Greg Torney 2020 King of the Hammers

KOH Preparations – The Finale

The Final Stages

What’s Been Going on at Draco Motorsports Lately?

A lot! We had the X3 stripped down to the basics for most of January in order to overhaul the entire front end. The differential (Smart-Lok) was overhauled, axle shafts were replaced, and the entire front-end was re-gusseted. All shocks were taken out and shipped to Shock Therapy in Phoenix, AZ after we discovered low nitrogen pressures on the stock configuration. We reworked a handful of miscellaneous components around the car (wrapping the exhaust manifold, for instance) to prevent any single-point failures ahead of the 2020 King of the Hammers.

An Entirely Different Vehicle

Many of the modifications through January have resulted in a phenomenally different X3. Ultimately, it’s exceptionally robust and, as we expect, incredibly capable. The entire car has been reworked in order to handle the rigors of off-road racing. What does this imply? Most of the factory weak-points have been eliminated- all shock mounts have been reinforced, the front end has been stiffened with custom ‘zero-slop’ mounting plates, and the front shock tower has been given a quarter inch reinforcement plate to alleviate the OEM single-shear mounting location.

The factory steering rack was replaced in order to eliminate the likelihood of internal breakage- as many Can-Am owners may already know, the factory steering racks wear out very quickly and may over stress the internals components (worm-gears, inner tie-rods, etc.).

Over-size tires are an absolute must! Up to this point, most of our operational testing sessions have been performed on Sedona 30″ Mud Rebel R/Ts. For the 2020 King of the Hammers, we will be running our set of 32″ Sedona Rock-A-Billy tires. Unlike most 32″ tires, Sedona uses a very light-weight compound that makes 32″ tires handle incredible- combined with the use of a front swaybar, these are a phenomenal asset on the track.

What’s Next?

Leaving for King of the Hammers

The last testing session was a huge success- we were able to test out new belts, tune shocks, identify any loose bolts, and practice getting in and out of the X3 with all of the new equipment. Given the nature of this upcoming race, we had several iterations of tire changes- since the car was built entirely by us, this process was a breeze! We expect our Sedona tires to work incredibly well and thoroughly believe that our Trinity Sandblaster belt will last the entire 212 miles.