It has been an age old debate and one that will surely continue on like a Ford versus Chevrolet argument – What is the best suspension setup for King of the Hammers (KOH)? Up until this year there has been two types of suspensions in this debate; solid axle and independent front suspension (IFS).

Selecting the right suspension setup for a race like KOH really comes down to the abilities of the driver and what part of the course they want to excel in. The solid axle vehicles do tend to do better in the rocks, but we have seen in recent years the IFS cars handling them just as well.

The 10th anniversary of KOH brought something new and exciting to the debate and race. This year Lasernut Racing brought an IFS and independent rear suspension (IRS) to the race this year.

We had the chance to speak to Cody Waggoner about the idea behind the car that they brought to KOH. “I had been driving a solid axle front and rear car the last three years. In two of the years 2014 we got 19th and 2015 we got 7th, which was the year that Randy Slawson won again with a solid axle,” Waggoner explained.

“I told myself we need to build something that is going to get us to the top. We do a lot of laser cutting for off-road bumpers, skid plates, and parts for the off-road industry. We do a lot of laser cutting for Armada Engineering, and I knew they build the front bulk head and IFS suspension for Loren Healy’s car, so I went to them with the idea of building a car.”

Waggoner continued by saying, “They have never built a Ultra4 car, so I teamed up with them. Instead of doing the same thing that everyone else is doing we decided to do something that could move the sport to a whole new direction.”

“We used a differential that no other Ultra4 team has ever used, which is a Weismann differential which a lot of Pro2 short course and desert trucks use. We also decided to do an IRS rearend as well. It is amazing in the rocks; having to not worry about if you are going to hit your pumpkin on a rock adds even more reassurance.”

“The car in this year’s race did not get stuck once, the car could go anywhere you wanted it to go,” Waggoner spoke about. We can attest to how the vehicle handled the rocks as we were at Chocolate Thunder the first time they came through and the car went up the rocks like it had fingers on all four corners. The car had no issues where plenty of cars earlier did.

Waggoner said, “Our car has portals all the way around which raise the suspension up 5.5 inches. It makes the line of the car level, and the center of gravity is lower which helps in the rocks. Overall, it has been great!”

Lasernut Racing did not finish the race this year, but as Waggoner told us, “We had a few bugs during the race, but none of which dealt with any of the new components or suspension. We had a fuel pump issue, which sucked, but we are working through that now.”

This is not the last that you will see of this vehicle and Waggoner is going to back with it at next year’s KOH and will also be looking at doing some short course races with it. We cannot wait to see what this car can do once all the bugs are worked out and they get more seat time in a unique car.

Waggoner said that they did not have any other races planned this year, but dropped the hint that they maybe at the Metalcloack Stampede race in eight weeks. “This car is here to stay, it is my daily rock crawler and we will continue to get more seat time,” Waggoner concluded.

This is definitely a change that the sport needed, bringing something new to a sport that has had little change since Shannon Campbell brought his IFS car to the Hammers. For more updates on Lasernut Racing check out their website and Facebook page. Is it a change that more drivers should lean towards? Tell us in the comments below!