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2014 MINT 400 Recap 3-21-2014
After weeks of modifying, preparing, and testing the Avid Racing/Can Am/ADS 2014 Maverick… we were finally ready to race the Mint 400!. Mark at Strangefab had just added our new front steer, lightweight Lexan hood and Big Brake kit. Things felt right as we started our 6am morning race. Our class had just over 53 entries and with a mid-pack draw, we had our work cut out for us as we had some really fast guys ahead and behind us, but also too…many first time cars that would undoubtedly hold us up right out of the gate.
We got a clean start but within a couple of miles, got behind a line of slower cars that were really hindering us getting into whoops at speed…
I should have been more patient but thought I needed to get by this group quickly while I still had some room to pass. Bad call, as I tried to make a pass giving some room to the slow train in front of me, I hit a pretty sharp g-out with my left front suspension. The hit was pretty hard as we lost our GPS and I could immediately tell the car steering was suddenly squirrely through the bumps. My Co-driver fortunately was very familiar with the course from previous years and we did our best to anticipate turns etc. I unfortunately was not able to keep pace at this point and got picked off pretty quickly by the faster cars that had started behind us.
Just after the start, the course narrows up quite a bit in places and at one point I had to get over (around the RM 55 ) for a faster car, I had to get off the main track going over a medium berm and unfortunately got into some rocks and ended up side cutting a tire… It was our only flat tire of the day which is amazing considering the massive amount of sharp large rocks on the course, our GBC Mongrels really held up in the most grueling scenarios possible without any issues.
At RM 65 we were heading down a long reasonably fast straight when I overshot a corner and ended up going over a pretty large berm midway through the turn. We went over the berm just fine and I turned the car around and proceeded to go back down the berm which I came over…bad decision- I ended up going over too slowly and did a slow roll onto my roof. Now we are sitting on our roof in the middle of the course.. I was pretty pissed at my poor decision, but we had to get out of the car and get it out of the middle of the course. We did get immediate help from nearby course workers and crew from another car that had broken down in the same area.. we did get it on its side but couldn’t get it on it wheels as it was still lying on the berm we had rolled on. Quite a few cars passed us safely but some incredibly stupid Jeep Speed driver never lifted coming into the corner (even though course workers were standing on the course waving flags) and proceeded to hit the top of my car, damaging the roof and shearing off my radio antenna. Eventually a BITD support truck made it over to us and was able to get the car on all four tires. Now the mission was to get the car to the next pit and pick up a new spare and then onto the Main to see if our pit crew could get us back into racing condition.
We were able to nurse it back to the main pit where Mark and Derrick where able to remove the front left upper control arm and get it bent back into shape enough to where we could make a real effort to at least finish the Mint. We were able to replace a CVT drive belt (that was starting to slip badly) and get the GPS working again. We lost nearly an hour but we were all glad to at least be able to get underway again. Kudos go to our pit teams that wouldn’t let anything get in the way of not finishing. The Second lap was pretty uneventful Having a GPS enabled us to pick up the speed in certain areas but the primary goal at this point was to finish with a further drama. Knowing that we had sustained major damage to our left upper control arm and that the right upper arm was starting to show major damage as well reminded us that we needed to just get it in and run only as fast as we were comfortable with. This is the first race where we never encountered any shock fade.. Our ADS Shocks were rock solid and with the support/testing we have received, we are extremely confident that we can get this car/team on the podium this year.
Out of the more than 53 cars that started the Mint 400 in our class, we were able to get a 16th in class and a 46th overall. We are excited about the possibilities that with some hard work and help from our sponsors, we can achieve with this car. We at Avid OffRoad Racing couldn’t even begin to think about going racing without the tremendous help and encouragement we receive from our sponsors. We can’t show enough appreciation for what they do for us!
BRP/Can Am http://canam.brp.com
ADS Off Road Racing Shocks http://www.adsmach.com/
GBC tires http://www.gbcmotorsports.com/
StrangeFab Metal http://www.strangefabmetalcrafts.com/
Factory UTV (Skids) http://www.factoryutv.net
Beard Seats http://www.koronisparts.com/beard/
Muzzy Performance http://www.muzzys.com/
Rigid Lights http://www.rigidindustries.com/
I have to say thanks to the whole Can Am Factory X-team/Family that make going racing as much fun as it is! Looking forward to see you and all the other UTV racing teams at the BITD Silver State 300!
Michael Lansky Owner/Driver
After weeks of modifying, preparing, and testing the Avid Racing/Can Am/ADS 2014 Maverick… we were finally ready to race the Mint 400!. Mark at Strangefab had just added our new front steer, lightweight Lexan hood and Big Brake kit. Things felt right as we started our 6am morning race. Our class had just over 53 entries and with a mid-pack draw, we had our work cut out for us as we had some really fast guys ahead and behind us, but also too…many first time cars that would undoubtedly hold us up right out of the gate.
We got a clean start but within a couple of miles, got behind a line of slower cars that were really hindering us getting into whoops at speed…
I should have been more patient but thought I needed to get by this group quickly while I still had some room to pass. Bad call, as I tried to make a pass giving some room to the slow train in front of me, I hit a pretty sharp g-out with my left front suspension. The hit was pretty hard as we lost our GPS and I could immediately tell the car steering was suddenly squirrely through the bumps. My Co-driver fortunately was very familiar with the course from previous years and we did our best to anticipate turns etc. I unfortunately was not able to keep pace at this point and got picked off pretty quickly by the faster cars that had started behind us.
Just after the start, the course narrows up quite a bit in places and at one point I had to get over (around the RM 55 ) for a faster car, I had to get off the main track going over a medium berm and unfortunately got into some rocks and ended up side cutting a tire… It was our only flat tire of the day which is amazing considering the massive amount of sharp large rocks on the course, our GBC Mongrels really held up in the most grueling scenarios possible without any issues.
At RM 65 we were heading down a long reasonably fast straight when I overshot a corner and ended up going over a pretty large berm midway through the turn. We went over the berm just fine and I turned the car around and proceeded to go back down the berm which I came over…bad decision- I ended up going over too slowly and did a slow roll onto my roof. Now we are sitting on our roof in the middle of the course.. I was pretty pissed at my poor decision, but we had to get out of the car and get it out of the middle of the course. We did get immediate help from nearby course workers and crew from another car that had broken down in the same area.. we did get it on its side but couldn’t get it on it wheels as it was still lying on the berm we had rolled on. Quite a few cars passed us safely but some incredibly stupid Jeep Speed driver never lifted coming into the corner (even though course workers were standing on the course waving flags) and proceeded to hit the top of my car, damaging the roof and shearing off my radio antenna. Eventually a BITD support truck made it over to us and was able to get the car on all four tires. Now the mission was to get the car to the next pit and pick up a new spare and then onto the Main to see if our pit crew could get us back into racing condition.
We were able to nurse it back to the main pit where Mark and Derrick where able to remove the front left upper control arm and get it bent back into shape enough to where we could make a real effort to at least finish the Mint. We were able to replace a CVT drive belt (that was starting to slip badly) and get the GPS working again. We lost nearly an hour but we were all glad to at least be able to get underway again. Kudos go to our pit teams that wouldn’t let anything get in the way of not finishing. The Second lap was pretty uneventful Having a GPS enabled us to pick up the speed in certain areas but the primary goal at this point was to finish with a further drama. Knowing that we had sustained major damage to our left upper control arm and that the right upper arm was starting to show major damage as well reminded us that we needed to just get it in and run only as fast as we were comfortable with. This is the first race where we never encountered any shock fade.. Our ADS Shocks were rock solid and with the support/testing we have received, we are extremely confident that we can get this car/team on the podium this year.
Out of the more than 53 cars that started the Mint 400 in our class, we were able to get a 16th in class and a 46th overall. We are excited about the possibilities that with some hard work and help from our sponsors, we can achieve with this car. We at Avid OffRoad Racing couldn’t even begin to think about going racing without the tremendous help and encouragement we receive from our sponsors. We can’t show enough appreciation for what they do for us!
BRP/Can Am http://canam.brp.com
ADS Off Road Racing Shocks http://www.adsmach.com/
GBC tires http://www.gbcmotorsports.com/
StrangeFab Metal http://www.strangefabmetalcrafts.com/
Factory UTV (Skids) http://www.factoryutv.net
Beard Seats http://www.koronisparts.com/beard/
Muzzy Performance http://www.muzzys.com/
Rigid Lights http://www.rigidindustries.com/
I have to say thanks to the whole Can Am Factory X-team/Family that make going racing as much fun as it is! Looking forward to see you and all the other UTV racing teams at the BITD Silver State 300!
Michael Lansky Owner/Driver
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