Acerni Offroad: The American Dream Becomes European – Italy’s Acerni Offroad To Compete at 2013 King Of The Hammers

(Varano de' Melegari-Dec 2012) Pier Acerni is the owner of Acerni Offroad, a full service 4x4 shop in Italy. As business has increased, so has Pier’s dream to compete in The King of the Hammers race. After repeatedly watching DVD’s and videos of the race, in 2011 he finally boarded a plane and took a flight to watch "The Ultimate Race", the Ultra4 Griffin King Of The Hammers.

Fast forward to the end of 2012 and now he has to prepare for a trip overseas to race, but how did it begin?

Back in the summer of 2012 the King Of The Valleys (KoV) event, organized by the UK’s All Wheel Drive Club, became the first and only European Qualifier for the 2013 US King Of The Hammers. Held in the valleys of South Wales, the event attracted a blistering crop of home grown UK talent as well as teams from Italy, France, Belgium, Malta and Spain.

After three days of tough racing through forests, mud, over rocks and up rivers, Pier Acerni and Romeo Manzan was crowned King Of The Valleys 2012. Ultra4 Racing promoter Dave Cole had flown in from California to attend the race, and surprised everyone by announcing that the winner would get their car shipped from Europe, courtesy of Griffin Radiators and Ultra4 Racing, to take part in the 2013 King of the Hammers in Johnson Valley CA. Acerni will be the 1st fully European team qualified to compete in the California race, in their heavily modified Jeep.

But Pier loves to compete and decided to add one more race to the 2012 schedule. Just weeks before the car needed to be in a container on it’s way across the Atlantic, he entered and won the Xtrem Challenge Andorra 2012.

Following that were many hours of hard work, determination and sacrifice as the car was stripped down and rebuilt, before a quick visit across to England where the car was loaded into a shipping container ready for it’s trip to the USA.

Pier Acerni (driver) and Romeo Manzan (co-driver) are very excited. “I feel my heart beating so hard when I think that I will be there at the next KOH, we will try to do our best for the Italian flag and for Europe, and finish on the highest possible step of the podium”, said Pier.

Here are some specs on the car Pier and Romeo will be racing at Johnson Valley:

Chassis: Acerni Offroad chassis and suspension geometry

Engine: GM LS2 6.0L Engine

Trasmission: TH400 automatic race transmission

Transfer case: Atlas II

Rear axle: GM 10.5” with Yukon Grizzly Locker.

Front axle: Dynatrac ProRock60 with Yukon Competition Zip Locker

Steering: PSC Full hydraulic steering

Shocks: King 2.0 coilover - King 2.5 Triple Bypass - King 2.0” Bumpstops

Seats: Mastercraft Rubicon

Safety belts: PRP 5.3

Lights: VisionX Xtreme LED

Tires: Maxxis Trepador 40"

Wheels 17” Raceline Beadlocks

Winch: Gigglepin GP84

Nothing would be possible without the support and help of our supporters and sponsors: AWDC, Ultra4 Racing, Griffin Radiator, RCV Performance, Yukon Gear & Axle, King Shocks, Gigglepin 4x4, PRP Seats, Artec Industries, VisionX Off Road Lighting, Advance Adapters, Dynatrac, OMP and Purolino.it.

Team Acerni will be located at pit garage 133 Genright in Hammertown at the 2013 Griffin King Of The Hammers. Please come and say hello!

For more on the team visit www.acerni.com or email valeria@acerni.it.

TEAM ACERNI PROFILE

Driver / Fabricator - PIER ACERNI - ‘75

Started racing in 1999 in the Italian Challenge 4x4 by FIF Championship with a Suzuki Samurai.

▪ · 1st place Challenge 4x4 by FIF Italian Championship 2001 with Mitsubishi Pajero

▪ · Co-driver in the 2001 Italian Baja World Championship - Italy

▪ · 1st place CSAI-FIA 4x4 Cup – Italy 2001

▪ · 3rd place at Extreme Trophy Challenge Bolotana-NU 2011 - Italy

▪ · 4th place at Xtrem Challenge Andorra – Spain 2011

▪ · 1st place at AWDC King of The Valleys - UK 2012

▪ · 1st place at Xtrem Challenge Andorra – Andorra 2012

Pier Acerni is also the fabricator who designs and builds all the “Black Jaws” vehicles including the latest one which won at KOV in UK.

Co-driver – ROMEO MANZAN - ‘66

Started racing as a co-driver in 1999 at the Veneto Trophy (IT).

▪ · 5th place at Istra Challenge 2007 - Slovenia

▪ · 1st place at Istra Challenge 2008 - Slovenia

▪ · 2nd place at the last race WTI 2008 - Italy

▪ · 1st place at the 3rd race WTI 2009 - Italy

▪ · 3rd place at Istra Challenge 2009 - Slovenia

▪ · 2nd place at Croatia Trophy 2010 - Croatia

▪ · 2nd place at Istra Challenge 2010 - Slovenia

▪ · 1st place at AWDC King Of The Valleys 2012 - UK

Romeo Manzan is considered one of the best Italian co-drivers due to his excellent knowledge of suspension, engines, electrical repair and navigation experience.

Team Owner – TONINO ACERNI

Founder and owner of Team Acerni Racing and the Acerni Offroad workshop that built the “Black Jaws EVO”, the vehicle that Pier Acerni drove in KOV 2012 and the new version on it’s way to KOH 2013. Tonino is also a great driver, winning the Italian Extreme Offroad Championship in 2009 at the age of 64, as well as many other races driving the previous version of Black Jaws.

Communications Officer - VALERIA CONDE

As a Communications Officer, Valeria is responsible for all sponsorship/vendor and public relations for Acerni Racing, logistic resources, team travel, crew scheduling during the race and photographer.

Mechanics – PUGLIESE VITTORIO, NICOLA BONDI, GERMANO FRIGERI, LUIGI VANNI

Our Sponsors:

All Wheel Drive Club, www.awdc.co.uk

Ultra4 Racing, www.ultra4racing.com

Griffin Radiators, www.griffinrad.com

RCV Performance, www.rcvperformance.com/index.aspx

Yukon Gear & Axle, www.yukongear.com

King Shocks, www.kingshocks.com

Gigglepin 4x4, www.gigglepin4x4.net

PRP Seats, www.prpseats.com

Artec Industries, www.artecindustries.com

VisionX Off Road Lighting, www.visionx-europe.com/home.html