I am surprised more of you don't already know this. But Robby builds the chassis and some of the trick parts for the speedcat. It's 100% based off all the mounting points of the production car. It's just built to pass tech inspection in BITD and SCORE. It's got a race legal chassis and cage and fuel system. It has bad ass suspension parts and an alternator and all the nav stuff already wired. They wanted to build a car you can buy and finance on Thursday, put number plates on it and roll thru tech on Friday, and be race legal to race on Saturday. Yes $77,000 is high. But it's a legit build. Robby builds the chassis in house the frames are sent to Arctic cat and Arctic cat assembles the machine per order. That's what I was told but I am definitel not necessarily in the loop on who does the wiring and all. I know Robby builds the chassis but they go back to arctic cat. And arctic cat will assign it a vin. And it's a production race ready machine. It's a turbo Yamaha with 220hp and a better start to the clutch than anyone else has tried so far. Yes it's still a belt. And yes they are pretty awfully clutches. They still blow belts even with the cover off which can be easily fixed because the diameter of the clutches and throw ratio it has, it's going to be easy to make it hold a belt if the cover is designedly properly for air flow. I can clutch one and make it rock. With the gearing in the trans and clutch overdrive ratio it's geared to run 100. Robby played with the gearing in the trans and has had one well over 100 but with the cost of it eating belts because the gearing was too high in the trans. Now he has a much better overdrive ratio and it should rock when it's clutched properly. They've had a snowmobile clutch tuner doing all the work. And sleds and a Utv are simply different and have different clutch requirements. It can work. And it will work.
The NA production car is a factory built chassis that's identical to robbys just made at arctic cat. More stamped stuff rather than hand shaped chromoly. It's a production car that has robbys suspension and a powerful NA engine.
Right now it's a little more hush hush but in two months the turbo version is supposed to be released to the public.
On to belt systems. You can look at the advancements in the Utv industry lately. The suspension. The power. The stronger drivelines. These machines are going faster than ever. And yes if you don't get the clutch figured out you will hate yourself and want to burn your machine. But luckily there is one company that specializes in true desert race clutch setups. And my support to the many teams that run my stuff is second to none. The belt issues are virtually over with. The setup we developed for the NA XP1000 will literally fire belt issues. The few cars that run out full desert race setup have been literally bullet proof. Not one single belt blown in any race by any of those customers in two years. Same with the turbo maverick. We supported nearly every single maverick turbo team the last two years and the only two belts that were blown between all those teams, both had a reason and it was mechanical not clutching specific. The XPTurbo, these guys are literally blazing fast and setting mind boggling paces in these races with no belt issues once they are properly clutches. I have developed a setup and certain guidelines that if you do and follow with my setup you can virtually forget about belt issues. The new X3 as well. I have them figured out so well I think you can forget about a belt problem. It's taken a tremendous amount of time to learn the trick to desert race clutching but I can guarantee you the teams that come to me have flawless races without worrying about the belt constantly. The belt drive is quite easy. And extremely cheap from a manufacturers standpoint. The OEMs love the belt drive. It's fast. It's easy. It works. And it's cheap.
Yamaha trans was a joke when it came out. 80% of the first 6 months sales didn't make 300 miles before the clutch burnt up. And there weren't any fixes from Yamaha in sight. The aftermarket has to step up and make them reliable. You can shift it. And don't have a belt to get hot. But in racing, a cat is faster. Folks wanna look at the short course results and say the Yamaha shifter trans wins those races. WRONG the suspension geometry makes them win races. They take corners at 10+mph faster than any other machine. You can be flat out doing all your Polaris can handle and the Yamaha come drive right around you inside or outside in a corner. They set the weight perfectly and the wheel base and suspension geometry puts the weight in the right place and steers those things like a shifter cart. Shifting the trans doesn't make them fast. Their suspension allows them to take corners faster than anything else. But in woods racing and cross country racing and endurance racing and even desert racing, you can clearly see that the Yamaha is barely better than a fluke. They couldn't win a race to save their life. Hanging a banked corner at 60mph is one of the things they are good at. In an endurance race series, we have a pro lite and pro2 trophy truck driver that comes and races for fun and practice. He used to run the Polaris. And he was fast. Nobody could touch him if the car held together. Literally faster than anybody can imagine. Held the lap record at my track for two years. In a bone stock xo1000 and my clutch work. But the car falls apart around him in a 1 hour race. So this last year they went to Yamaha and got 2. He and his also pro driver dad worked on them and hired shock tuners and suspension guys and did everything they could to make it handle like they wanted. Last year at one of the cross country courses that also incorporates an old motor cross track that's been modified for UTV. While they were racing, going flat out in his Yamaha, this pro driver was getting his ass handed to him by a Rzr 900 with motor work and clutch work. I don't mean like hanging close and hard racing. I mean like skull drug and in 10 laps would have gotten lapped. In woods racing and cross country racing they don't work. They are geared too tall. The shifter makes you take your hand off the wheel. It's suspension geometry make it awkward in the rough stuff. They appeal to a great number of guys. The xyz forums are full of brand loyal lynch mob mentality Kinda guys who will execute you for saying a negative word about their beloved machine. They are good for some things. But that trans don't make them faster. A cvt is faster in every way.
