If you have never witnessed or don’t know about Formula Off Road, then you are in for a real education. It’s actually been around for some time, and it’s incredibly dramatic and one heck of an off-road action sport. It has it all!

There’s great driving skill, superb mechanical engineering, and colorful characters. To top it off, the competition courses, such as this hill climb in Skien, Norway, seen in the video above from the Insane Racing Team, are truly demanding of man and machine.

The sport of Formula Off Road was invented in Iceland. The idea started in order to bring in money for the Icelandic rescue teams. These rescue teams began to show off their 4x4s in action on the Icelandic hills.

Soon, these displays of action became competitions between the teams, and the next thing they knew, the teams where building specialty vehicles for racing purposes. A new motorsport was born – Formula Off Road. It has now spread throughout Scandinavia.

Teams create custom-built rigs that look much like the sand dragsters we are familiar with here in the States, with tube-frame bodies, truck axles front and rear, and high-powered Chevy and Ford V-8 engines.

Two competition classes currently exist in Formula Off Road. There is a Modified Class in which the shape of the body must resemble a mass-produced vehicle. The hood, side body panels, front and rear fenders must be installed and resemble the original vehicle.

An Unlimited Class is also available for competitors. It’s the “major league” in Formula Off Road.

The difference between the two classes is mainly the tires. Unlimited class 4x4s are allowed to use paddle tires to dig into the ground for better traction, which obviously provides better action, as you can plainly see in this video of wild action!