Aeromotive sponsored several drivers who competed in the Race of Kings at King of the Hammers this year. The harrowing journey the GenRight Off Road team faced is a great example of the monumental challenges this race poses. The team runs an in-house designed and built 4400 race rig called the LamBROghini. It has unique features like independent front and rear suspension, which are still relatively new in extreme off-road racing. But the team doesn’t take any risks when it comes to their fuel system. The LamBROghini utilizes Aeromotive A1000 Fuel Pumps to power this beast, whether mobbing through the lakebed at wide open throttle or scaling the near-vertical climbs in some of the more technical obstacles. The team faced some challenges during their run, but their Aeromotive fuel system never faltered.
Jordan Pellegrino and his co-driver Gunnar Velasquez drove the LamBROghini in the Race of Kings on Saturday, February 11. In qualifying, the duo posted a fast and clean run, resulting in a 15th-place starting position for the Race of Kings.
On race day, Jordan and Gunnar ran a fast but conservative pace through the desert and went through the entire first lap and back through the main pit without any problems. They stopped for fuel and a quick systems check before heading into the second lap.
Lap two took racers through the technical rock trails. The car was still running great and had no mechanical issues. After getting through over 10 of some of the roughest rock
trails in Johnson Valley, a weld on the transmission cooler cracked, causing fluid to leak out slowly. The team immediately sent people back to the main pit to get the spare transmission cooler and parts to get it repaired. With assistance forbidden outside the pits, co-driver Gunnar had to walk back to the pits to get a couple of AN lines and ATF to bypass the cooler. After a 10-mile round trip on foot, he had the parts necessary to get the car back up and running. They limped the car back to the pit, where the crew replaced the transmission cooler.
It took the team about three hours to get the car repaired and back in the race. As Jordan and Gunnar headed onto the third lap, they had a lot of time to make up and now faced traffic from other race cars. They ran into a couple more problems, including overheating due to a transmission fluid leak that caused the engine coolant radiator to get plugged. The lack of airflow through the radiator caused the LamBROghini to be unable to restart on top of the obstacle called “Legit.” Jordan and Gunnar unplugged most of the car’s electrical components. After using a jump box to start it, they headed to the pit for the final time.
The car suddenly caught fire as they came into the pit for the final time. After pulling Jordan and Gunnar safely out of the vehicle, Gunnar was facing exhaustion and dehydration. The team decided to put Jordan’s right-hand man Cole in the car to finish the remainder of the race. With no GPS, radios and very few lights, Jordan and Cole were on a serious time crunch to finish before the time cut-off. With only five minutes to go, they crossed the finish line in 28th position.
After a long and hard-fought day, the team was elated to see their hard work pay off. It was not the finish they were hoping for, but a finish in the Race of Kings is still a huge accomplishment. It takes an army to pull off this feat, and team GenRight made it happen!
The team is putting out content weekly from the race via YouTube, Instagram and Facebook as well as through the twice-a-week (Tuesday and Thursday @4pm) GenRight Off Road Facebook live "Tech Talk" video series. Check out its content here!
