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During its inaugural race in 2005, the Team
HUMMER H3 earned a respectable second-place finish
– and never looked back. It has since won six of seven
races, redefining the performance expectations in the
stock classes in which it competes.
The 2006 Team HUMMER H3 competes in the
challenging Best In The Desert (BITD) and SCORE
International off-road racing series, including the
prestigious Baja 1000 race in Mexico, where it runs in
the BITD 3100 and SCORE STOCK Mini classes. The
racing H3 is driven by off-road racer Rod Hall, who
forged Team HUMMER’s racing reputation more than
a decade ago. It follows on the heels of the successful
H2 racing vehicle, which won every race entered during
2005.
“The H3 has been a phenomenal performer, right out
of the gate,” said Thad Stump, engineering liaison for
Team HUMMER. “It’s rare that a stock-based vehicle
adapts so quickly to the requirements of racing, but it
says a lot about the production vehicle’s underlying
strength and off-road acumen.”
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Following the rules of BITD and SCORE stock
classes, the H3 racing vehicle is based on a regular
production model and altered only in ways to make
it conform to safety regulations and other open areas
of the rules, such as shocks, springs and tires – items
that don’t alter the fundamental layout, design, or
performance of the vehicle, but enable it to withstand
the rigors of racing long distances at high speed.
“The rules are quite strict, but that’s an advantage for
the H3, because so many of its factory-installed parts
are suited to the demands of racing,” said Stump. “In
fact, we retained many factory parts that even the rules
permit to be changed – the factory parts simply perform
better.”
The racing H3 began life as a regular production
model, before being taken off the street and pressed
into racing service. The deviations from stock, whether
in the interior, under the hood or on the chassis, are
designed to help the racing H3 conform to the standards
and requirements for the racing classes.
The Team HUMMER H3 looks like a production
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