UTV Desert Race Prep & Prep Costs

[JoeyD23]

A good question proposed by a desert racer on RDC. Figured I would throw it up here and report back with your answers...


Being a lifelong buggy dork and having dabbled in trucks; I have a good idea of what is needed when and how we prep our race cars and the costs affiliated with buggy/truck prep & racing. I am curious as to what the top finishing teams do on a regular basis for a race prep and what's it cost???? I get the 500 vs BWDC is different, but let's just say the SS300 & Parker 425 are the races? Also what is the tire wear (planned changes every 100/200/300 miles) and the drive belts lifes? I understand fluids/filters/CV-Axle prep check-replace heims and magging suspension parts. How often do they go through trans/motors and what does a "prep" cost, I get a failure is different. Just trying to get a feel as we know what it costs to race Parker/Baja etc... in our car. Thanks!

 

[jaggedx]

Do you really want the truth? ........ You can't handle the truth!!!

This is a good topic, every team is different for sure.

Our cars go through a pretty comprehensive prep cycle after every race. By comprehensive I mean down to the frame. Lots of hours, lots of parts lots of cleaning, lots of lock tight .

Without going into the complete parts list I can say there are a lot of parts that have surprisingly short life cycles.

We even change the air in the tires every race.

 

[facteryfmf]

Do you really want the truth? ........ You can't handle the truth!!!

This is a good topic, every team is different for sure.

Our cars go through a pretty comprehensive prep cycle after every race. By comprehensive I mean down to the frame. Lots of hours, lots of parts lots of cleaning, lots of lock tight .

Without going into the complete parts list I can say there are a lot of parts that have surprisingly short life cycles.

We even change the air in the tires every race.

What do you run in those tires ?

 

[Freeezen]

What do you run in those tires ?

Probably helium.

 

[Bajaxp]

What do you run in those tires ?

...aaaa, air?

 

[facteryfmf]

Well we have this new product out called monster seal and were looking to see if you're interested in using it. At Vegas 2 reno, Jason Voss had monster seal....

 

[the stripping shop]

...aaaa, air?

liar nitrous then you have motor suck it down. lol robby Gordon

 

[Altitude Racing]

Expensive, we raced the Sportsman class as a prelude to next season, we also tear the car down after each race

After the Henderson race this is what we know, we had 3 flats we ripped the rear skid plate from the car, which caused the housing to be exposed.

After tearing it apart today it has a crack across the bottom, it also hit on the output side of the FWD side cracking that and taking out the seal!

the pinion gear that drives the drive shaft is completely rounded off as is the mating gear, that will require a new shaft, we need to drill the case to get the junk gear out

its a good thing we bought a Syncrowave Tig because we were going racing, now we can at least make all the repairs ourselves, it looks as though the crossmembers took a beating as well all in the name of Racing

The Boss just said get me a list of everything we need, we will as soon as we take the motor completely apart and get that list! Justin @ Cognito needs the upper A arms as well as the trailing arms in the rear ASAP so those need to go out tomorrow, this is expensive and very time consuming, but they said they had a riot! so I guess its worth it!

Ill post a few pics.

 

[Rusty5150]

Expensive, we raced the Sportsman class as a prelude to next season, we also tear the car down after each race

After the Henderson race this is what we know, we had 3 flats we ripped the rear skid plate from the car, which caused the housing to be exposed.

After tearing it apart today it has a crack across the bottom, it also hit on the output side of the FWD side cracking that and taking out the seal!

the pinion gear that drives the drive shaft is completely rounded off as is the mating gear, that will require a new shaft, we need to drill the case to get the junk gear out

its a good thing we bought a Syncrowave Tig because we were going racing, now we can at least make all the repairs ourselves, it looks as though the crossmembers took a beating as well all in the name of Racing

The Boss just said get me a list of everything we need, we will as soon as we take the motor completely apart and get that list! Justin @ Cognito needs the upper A arms as well as the trailing arms in the rear ASAP so those need to go out tomorrow, this is expensive and very time consuming, but they said they had a riot! so I guess its worth it!

Ill post a few pics.

Your shocks were way too soft. I watched you leave the start and told one of our camera guys "They are going to destroy that car running it that soft".

 

[Altitude Racing]

you sound like Justin (thats a good thing) we have the car apart and thats a major area of concern, we were getting away with it on the first lap but on the second the ruts were getting deep it became apparent it was to low. That was our first BITD race, everywhere else we rode was not a concern, that was a good wake up

 

[Jug Bug]

After our first race we built a 3/16" steel plate over the motor and trans. We made a new 3/16 6061 aluminum skid plate just for the reasons you stated. It's 40 lbs heavier than what we replaced but worth it. After B1k we had noticeable dents in the 3/16" steel plate but no damage....I'm not so sure anything less would have held up so well.

Expensive, we raced the Sportsman class as a prelude to next season, we also tear the car down after each race

After the Henderson race this is what we know, we had 3 flats we ripped the rear skid plate from the car, which caused the housing to be exposed.

After tearing it apart today it has a crack across the bottom, it also hit on the output side of the FWD side cracking that and taking out the seal!

the pinion gear that drives the drive shaft is completely rounded off as is the mating gear, that will require a new shaft, we need to drill the case to get the junk gear out

its a good thing we bought a Syncrowave Tig because we were going racing, now we can at least make all the repairs ourselves, it looks as though the crossmembers took a beating as well all in the name of Racing

The Boss just said get me a list of everything we need, we will as soon as we take the motor completely apart and get that list! Justin @ Cognito needs the upper A arms as well as the trailing arms in the rear ASAP so those need to go out tomorrow, this is expensive and very time consuming, but they said they had a riot! so I guess its worth it!

Ill post a few pics.

 

[Altitude Racing]

we are going to re-do the back half with a different concept, then use a new option skid plate, time will tell, ground clearance is a must.