If you guess racing cars only involved driving around a loop repetitively , cerebrate again . Many of the world ’s top car and bike races involve difficult terrain , extreme conditions and incredible endurance . Race car drivers from around the Earth test themselves in some of the most inhospitable environments — push their vehicle , and themselves , to the boundary in the cognitive process . These are races that are sincerely grueling and have to be view to be believed . Here is a tilt of the 10 most uttermost gondola and bike race in the world today .
10. The King of the Hammers Race
King of the Hammers is an off - route desert race held each February in Johnson Valley , California . And it is about as tough a race as there is in the United States . More than 400 teams and 30,000 looker come out each yr for this outcome , which sees Ultra 4 desert contrabandist vehicles push across harsh off - road terrain and also crawl across large rocks and boulders . Founded in 2007 , this race has been known to allow for more than a few railcar on the side of the lead with blow out tires and busted axle . The cars used in this race travel at speeds of more than 100 miles an hr and use modified V8 engine that can produce 800 horsepower , as well as 40 inch tire with beadlock wheels . rival must complete the 165 mile course in less than 14 hour or be disqualified .
9. The Rainforest Challenge
When it comes to 4×4 racing , few wash are as grueling as the Rainforest Challenge . This is a six day race through Malaysia ’s jungles using 4×4 jeeps and off - road vehicles . Along the way , competitors have to contend with dull jungle botany , mud , monsoon rain , rag rivers , snakes and other hobo camp animals . Founded in 1997 , this subspecies ’s motto is , appropriately , “ Survival of the Fittest . ” The wash is purposely scheduled each year during Malaysia ’s monsoon season , and driver have to be as mentally hard as they are physically tough for this airstream . Did we mention that the race course runs over slippery hills , into deep gully , across spill over river and on the edge of soggy cliffs ? Oh , and most years there is at least one landslide that takes out some of the contestants . It has take some challenger as long as 10 days to nail this slipstream . This is one result that is not for the swoon of heart .
8. Pikes Peak International Hill Climb
utter of challenging , how about a high speed race through Colorado ’s Rocky Mountains to the highest bill ? That ’s what you get with the highly free-enterprise , exceedingly dangerous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb . Also known as “ The Race to the Clouds , ” this is an one-year automobile and motorcycle hill climb to the top of Pikes Peak , which is the eminent crest of the Rocky Mountains in North America . Held each year since 1916 , this race is ill-famed for ship fire - engulfed motorcar tumbling down the side of the Rockies . The track for this airstream is only 12 miles long , but it includes 156 turns and involves climbing nigh 5,000 feet of elevation to reach the summit . Until 2011 , the racecourse was mostly made of crushed rock . However , now the entire thing is pave , which was supposed to make the treacherous race safe . Yet most multitude call for with this event claim it is more serious now that the running has been paved since driver go at debauched speeds than ever before .
7. The Isle of Man Tourist Trophy
The Isle of Man Tourist Trophy is a motorcycle backwash that has been held each June on the Isle of Man since 1907 . To say that this race is dangerous would be an understatement . Over the eld , this event has claim the life of 239 motorcycle rider , consecrate it claim to the most deadly race in the human race . Yet despite the risk , bike partizan continue to execute the race on ever immobile bikes — some of which are equipped with sidecars . The race itself is in the format of a time test , and is entertain on a street course with competitors starting the backwash on an individual basis 10 second apart from each other . Despite the dangers associated with this subspecies , there is a ‘ elder ’ category for the upshot . Totally crazy .
6. 24 Hours of Le Mans
Races do n’t come much more famous than the 24 hr of Le Mans , bear annually in France . A grueling endurance challenger , Le Mans is often called the “ Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency ” by multitude in the racing world . Held each year since 1924 , Le Mans is known as one leg of the Triple Crown of Motorsport — the others being the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix . The 24 Hours of Le Mans runs on the Circuit de la Sarthe in the town of Le Mans , France , and the class is comprised of a mix of closed public roadstead and specialist racing circuit . Teams that enter have to equilibrize swiftness with their car ’s power to speed for 24 hours without bear a mechanical crack-up . With fatigue a factor , there have been many accident and deaths at Le Mans over the years . The worst incident occurred in 1955 when more than 80 spectators and machine driver Pierre Levegh were obliterate in a undivided clangour .
5. The 24 Hours Nürburgring Race
The 24 Hours Nürburgring Race is another endurance slipstream halt over 24 time of day in cardinal Germany each twelvemonth . It involves touring cars and has been have since 1970 on a track that is more than 25 kilometers long . The length of each lap enables 210 condition cars to participate in this airstream each year . This subspecies can be particularly grueling due to the winding track that becomes quite unreliable as driver become spent and commence crashing into each other . Most cars also include more than one driver , adding to even more butchery when a smash of necessity happens . Billed as Germany ’s Prime Minister motorsport event each class , this airstream attracts drivers from around the world despite the danger affect .
4. East African Safari Rally
Few things on this Earth are as utmost as speed across the African safari . Yet that is exactly what multitude do who participate in the annual East African Safari Rally , a race that features more than 1,000 kilometers of timed stage , with each level being more than 60 kilometer in length . have a go at it to most driver as simply the Safari Rally , this yearly race involves long , gruelling driving across rough African terrain and scorch temperatures . This is off - road racing taken to the absolute extremum . Contestants have to run through juiceless desert conditions as well as jungle and flat open knit stitch . The temperatures during the race have been known to climb north of 50 degrees Celsius , leading to many overheated engines and maroon driver . Known to attract the tough and roughest off - road racers in the macrocosm , this consequence is truly for multitude who are disturbed .
3. The Dakar Rally
Arguably the most wide get it on of the utmost railway car races in the world , the Dakar Rally used to be known as the Paris - Dakar Rally since the race stretched from the Gallic capital to the capital city of Senegal in Dakar . However , that result was deem to be too dangerous and was transplant to South America , where it is held today . The ultimate off - road survival backwash , number one wood in the Dakar Rally have been known to succumb to heart fire while racing over the extremely rough terrain . rival must cross sand dune , clay , camel grass , rock , and pass through caverns as they travel more than 500 Admiralty mile each day during the row of the race . This event even caused an international incident back in 1982 when Mark Thatcher , Word of then - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher , went lacking for six days while compete in the Dakar Rally . Mark Thatcher and his Colorado - driver were finally found dependable and reasoned , but not before Prime Minister Thatcher weighed in to disparage this subspecies and those who participate in it .
2. The Erzberg Rodeo
1. The Baja 1000
forbidding , dangerous , unforgiving and cruel . These are just a few of the Holy Writ that are used to describe the Baja 1000 , an uttermost endurance backwash that requires masses to race more than 1,000 mi through the Mexican desert . An off - road race that takes position in Mexico ’s Baja California Peninsula , this annual consequence is distinguished by the fact that it allows various types of vehicles to compete on the same course of study , including motorcycles , stock car , dune buggies , trucks and custom race cars . Oh , and spectators booby trammel the course each year . Acts of blatant sabotage let in dig out kettle of fish and quarry , blocking river flowing and eat up dangerous obstruction for fomite to run into . Many spectators will also build up jumping and ramps for railcar to by chance fly over — all for their personal amusement , of course of study . Racers are justly warned to beware of prominent crew of viewer in remote piece of the course since it could point that hidden traps have been laid down on the course of instruction . organiser of the Baja 1000 call that the traps add to the subspecies ’s charms . Yeah , right .
