Take a Tumble in the Desert with Emme Hall

Car reviewer and self-described rabble rouser, Emme Hall, sure does know how to keep things interesting. She recently competed in the M.O.R.E. Slash X Duel in the Desert along with co-driver Journee Richardson. They did a great job in the Mega Monkey Motorsports VW 1600 desert race car but it wasn’t exactly uneventful as off-road races go. Take a look at this on-board footage!

Thankfully they were both okay and went on to earn a podium finish for their class! Although a picture is worth a thousand words and video is a gazillion, here’s the story of what went down from the lovely Emme:

“Class 1600 is a limited class. Engines must be air-cooled 1600cc with 4 forward gears. They have a VW front end with limited wheel travel. They are light weight, nimble, and they beat you up to no end. Horsepower and torque are both below 100, so momentum is key. The only way to win is to keep it pinned and pray for the best.

Things were moving right along after that. We passed a few people, some of the bigger trucks passed us…but things were about to get dicey.

We were coming in to pit row, and the crew had called us in for a quick splash and dash of fuel. The course took us down a small hill and then into a left hand sweeper to pit row. We were pitted close to the sweeper on the right hand side. The idea was for me to take the turn wide and come in to pits. This put me on a different part of the track just before the left hand sweeper. And THAT put me ass over teakettle!

Yes, I rolled the car. In the infield. In front of everyone.

And it couldn’t have happened at a better place. Within seconds there were 10 guys flipping us back over. 1617 started right up and we were back on our way.

The pit stop was a little longer than anticipated as the team needed to add half quart of oil and do a thorough walk around. Nobody asked us if we wanted to get out of the car. They all knew better. Co-driver Journee and I were in it to win it.

We continued on for the remaining 75 miles without a problem. We ended up second with an average mph of 39.8. The winner averaged 42.7 mph. It might not seem like it’s fast, but when it takes me 3 days to recover, I think it’s fast enough!” – Emme Hall