WIDIA Sponsors Ultra 4 Unlimited Class Racer

The tooling manufacturer is sponsoring the Ultra 4 unlimited class racecar driven by David Buchberger, a car owner/driver/builder that is also a WIDIA distributor, for the 2012–2013 Ultra 4 season.

WIDIA (Latrobe, PA), a global tooling leader and past sponsor of individual racers, including the No. 1 WIDIA Chevrolet driven by Earnhardt Ganassi Racing’s Jamie McMurray in the 2011 April Martinsville NASCAR race, now is sponsoring the Ultra 4 unlimited class racecar driven by David Buchberger for the 2012–2013 Ultra 4 season.

With this development, the company is sponsoring one of its own, since Buchberger also serves as vice president of Hi-Speed Corporation (Thousand Oaks, CA), a distributor of WIDIA-brand products and services. “Our theme at IMTS 2012 was “Extreme Challenges – Extreme Results, and nowhere is that better exemplified than in Ultra 4 racing in general and David in particular,” says Bernie McConnell, the vice president of WIDIA Products Group and Services. “We are all about creating tremendous growth opportunities through performance, and backing David’s efforts in Ultra 4-class racing is a natural fit.”

Ultra 4 racing is an exciting combination of high-speed desert racing and extremely hazardous rock crawling, all in the same vehicle. The defining characteristic of Ultra 4 class is that all cars must be capable of 4-wheel drive. Beyond that, the class is unlimited. All cars are custom-fabricated and come in all shapes and sizes. Each Ultra 4-class car is unique, attempting to straddle the line between light and quick for desert racing and stiff and strong for rock climbing. The Ultra 4 series includes the King of the Hammers race each February, dubbed the toughest race on the planet. Competitors must complete the 165-mile course in less than 14 hours.

“This sponsorship is a terrific boost, not only for the financial support, but for the tools that make these vehicle components possible,” Buchberger says.

WIDIA-brand products and services have defined innovation in the metalcutting industry for more than 80 years — from the world’s first patent for carbide indexable inserts to the development of the world’s first coated grades. This brand offers a complete portfolio of precision-engineered products and custom solution services. With products for thousands of milling, turning, holemaking, and tooling systems, WIDIA is available through a worldwide network of authorized distributor partners who carry full-line solutions from a single source. www.widia.com