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As the summer heats up so too does the competition to beat the toughest tracks that can be found in the off-road wildernesses of the world. To whet your appetite for this summer's grinding, skidding, tumbling and rip-roaring off-road racing action, we've compiled five of the toughest events that can be found across the globe.

King of the Hammers

Combine desert running and rock racing together in the inhospitable Johnson Valley desert in California USA and what do you get? A seriously testing 60-mile race course that is known as the King of the Hammers.

Founded in 2007 by Jeff Knoll and Dave Cole, the event has gone from strength to strength and every year dozens of teams roll up in their specially modified 'Ultra 4' vehicles that can manage to reach speeds of over 100mph despite the tremendously challenging nature of the terrain.

4X4 Rainforest Challenge

How about a marathon rather than a sprint? Every year teams from all over the world gather in Malaysia to put themselves through a gruelling six-day slog through 500 miles of the most rugged and unforgiving ground that the rainforest can throw at them.

Not only do teams have to contend with sucking mud, ruts, gullies and flooded tracks, there's also debilitating clouds of sand flies, leeches and the constant humidity to battle as well! This is truly no place for the faint-hearted.

Mahindra Monsoon Challenge

This July India's monsoon-racked Bengaluru will play host to a three-day off-road rally challenge that will push its entrants to the limit with flood-swept tracks, lashing rain and howling winds.

The rapid rise of off-roading's popularity in India has prompted a new swathe of high performance tyres being released that are well-equipped to deflect lateral impacts during extreme conditions. Click to read more about the latest beasts being unleashed by providers like Yokohama.

Erzberg Rodeo

Not to forget the bikers, this is perhaps the toughest race challenge for any rider on two wheels. Deep in the Austrian Alps lies a mountainous area known locally as 'The Iron Giant', which, for 364 days of the year is a working mine, but for one glorious day it plays host to a race that has the highest attrition rate of them all. In 2012, 1,500 riders qualified, 500 entered the actual race but less than 50 of them managed to finish.

The Baja 1000

Is a thousand miles of rough riding through the Mexican Desert your idea of a tough race? How about trying to cover that distance when the crowd is actively trying to hinder your progress by booby trapping the course?! When even the crowd is against you, you can bet that it's going to be one of the toughest challenges that a rider can face.

Paul McShane - 25 Jun 2014