Design And Strength Of ATX Wheels Help Drivers Win Ultra4 Races

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If you’ve ever attended an Ultra4 race, one of the things you’ll see, aside from awesome racing action and great camaraderie among racers and fans, is a great many broken parts. Courses that involve crossing desert terrain at high speeds combined with punishing rock crawling are extremely hard on suspensions and drivetrains.

Perhaps one of the most important components Ultra4 racers rely on is wheels — strong wheels. In 2013, Loren Healy, driver of the ATX Wheels/Nitto Tire Unlimited Class buggy was poised to take the Ultra4 championship but suffered a mechanical failure during the final round and finished 11th in the season. “We worked so hard all year and to have something silly like an A-arm break really hurt us; the result was a real bummer,” Healy said.

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Loren Healy and his ATX-wheel-shod racer are ready for another season of Ultra4 competition.

Story By Dan Sanchez

Growing up riding four-wheelers, Healy began racing in 2009, and quickly rose to win the Ultra4 championship and the King Of the Hammers race in 2010. He’s raced every Ultra4 competition since then and is one of the series’ regular top finishers. “I always enjoyed the adrenaline of going fast in the desert,” says Healy.

Many of our competitors use bolts that protrude from the beadlock ring. – Jen Horsey, Marketing Coordinator, Wheel Pros

Healy continued. “I wasn’t a desert racer to start. I was a recreational rock crawler. When they put them together in Ultra4, I had to try it. And I love what Ultra4 is; a big family of racers and promoters. Its serious racing, but the relationships that everybody builds with each other makes it all worthwhile.”

Critical Components

Considering that more than half of the competitors in the King Of the Hammers or any other Ultra4 race don’t even finish, it would be an understatement to say the vehicles can get banged-up. Drivers like Healy prepare as much as they can, but ultimately they must depend on the engineering and strength of the components they bolt on their vehicles.

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The ATX wheel line is the first and only aftermarket wheel offering Teflon coating for dirt resistance and easier clean-up.

By far, one of the most critical is the wheel and tire selection. The combination needs to provide maximum traction and puncture resistance while climbing over large rocks, and be stable and predictable at high speeds. “Wheels and tires are huge in Ultra4,” says Healy.

Manufactured by Wheel Pros, the ATX Series wheels are designated as the official wheel of Ultra4 Racing. That’s an assignment that can’t be taken lightly, and Wheel Pros takes that seriously by incorporating features that racers demand of them.

According to Jen Horsey, Marketing Coordinator at Wheel Pros, “The ATX wheel design incorporates a 3/4-inch forged 6061 T-6 aluminum ring that is stronger and thicker than many of the other alternatives available. In addition, the underside of the beadlock ring features vertical ribbing that helps keep the tire from slipping when used in extreme racing conditions.”

Beadlock wheels are easily identified by the bolts that hold the headlock ring to the wheel, so the quality of bolts and how they’re mounted, are essential to the ring’s overall strength. According to Horsey, “ATX uses grade-8 zinc-plated 3/8 socket-head hardware that, when mounted, sit flush with the ring.”

A 3/4-inch-thick forged 6061 T-6 aluminum beadlock ring with ribs along the underside is bolted to the wheel using hex-head bolts that are counter-sunk deep into the ring to protect the bolt heads from damage.

Purposeful Design

“Many of our competitors use bolts that protrude from the headlock ring,” says Horsey. “This makes those wheels vulnerable to being damaged under extreme conditions like those encountered in Ultra4 racing, and at the King Of the Hammers. Each of the beadlock holes also have a mounting insert to provide easy thread replacement if any of the threads become damaged.”

One of the most important is a reliable beadlock design, which guys like Mel Wade, owner of Off Road Evolution in Fullerton, California, says is a very important aspect to how they will perform in a race. Wade, who installs ATX Series wheels on race vehicles, says he’s never had one fail. “The beadlock rings are sturdier, the bolts are bigger and they’re countersunk so that it is flush, which is important when you’re rubbing rocks,” says Wade.

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Wheels in the ATX line are gravity (or low-pressure) cast and use forged beadlock rings; and various paints and coatings are available.

“They’re strong. We’ve had ATX wheels on four of our rigs and we beat the hell out of them.” Wade also competes in the grueling King Of the Hammer’s race, and estimates he installs more than 250 beadlock wheels a year.

While racing-only wheels like the ATX Series are for serious competition, Wheel Pros manufactures them in two styles; The 756 Slab and 757 Chamber Pro-II. The 756 Slab comes with a satin black powdercoat finish, has a 3200-pound load rating and is available in 17-, 18- and 20-inch diameter sizes.

The ATX 757 Chamber Pro II has a 3600-pound load rating, and is available in either a machined aluminum finish or in satin black. Wheel Pros only offers this wheel a 17×9-inch size, but it is available in a variety of bolt patterns. They also come as blank units that allow the wheel to be custom drilled to the vehicle’s specific axle bolt pattern.

Racing With Confidence

“Having the ATX wheels and Nitto tires that we use, are a major part of our success and how we race. It’s about the confidence to drive as hard as I can knowing that the wheels and tires can take it, without worrying about breaking a wheel or getting a flat tire,” Healy said.

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Healy says he runs on ATX because he needs to be able to drive hard and not worry about his wheels.

Because the vehicles need to be capable in two completely opposite extremes, Ultra4 racing has brought about new technologies and stronger components that can handle the abuse. Healy said, “As the sport grows, the technology advances with it. We’re lucky in that there are a lot of products on the market designed for desert racing vehicles that work well for us.”

“The biggest game changer recently has been the introduction of independent front suspension because it’s very forgiving,” offers Healy. “A solid axle car is like a 70s or 80s pickup truck that can handle the horsepower, but when you hit a bump, the whole vehicle reacts.”

“IFS like I have allows you to drive much harder.” Healy said, “There are a few vehicles being built in 2014 that now incorporate an independent rear suspension. It looks interesting, but I want to wait and see whether it holds-up enough to be an advantage.”

Despite the A-arm failure that occurred last year, Healy’s race rig has been repaired, completely prepped, and he tells us it is ready to rock for the 2014 Ultra4 season. “In 2013, we built a new independent front suspension (IFS) buggy for the Ultra4 Unlimited class.”

“It has an LS7 engine that makes 750 horsepower and 720 pound-feet of torque. The drivetrain is a GM Turbo 400 automatic transmission, Advance Adapters Atlas II transfer case, trophy truck 10-inch differentials, King coil-over bypass shocks, Nitto tires and ATX Slab wheels.”

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ATX wheels have always been a critical component of Healy’s formula for success in the King of The Hammers and other Ultra4 racing events.

The Right Tools

With the start of the season already underway, Healy and his team are confident they’ve got the right combination to take home another King of The Hammers win, and start off the Ultra4 season well ahead of the competition.

For Ultra4 racers like Loren Healy, Nick Nelson, Mel Wade and many others, ATX Wheels provide the right tool needed to help win races on these highly technical and rugged courses. In these sort of extreme competitions, that is what leads to holding up a trophy at the end of the day.

About the author

Stuart Bourdon

A passion for anything automotive (especially off-road vehicles), camping, and photography led to a life exploring the mountains and deserts of the Southwest and Baja, and a career in automotive, outdoor, and RV journalism.
Read My Articles

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