All UTV's UTVs are moving up!

[ssb4]

Not sure why no one is taking about the impressive times these guys put down for the Baja 1000. UTVs completed the course faster than class 10 and almost class 1. Impressive to say the least. We should see them move up the start line for next year for sure.


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[tatum]

They should be moved up but not in front of the 10 cars. The UTVs definitely had an advantage on many parts of the 1K with all the silt.

 

[///Airdam Clutches]

i think with the class 10s width, and power, and speed, they have some distinct advantages over the UTVs. i see class 10 drivers blasting thru rough stuff 10-20mph faster than most UTV drivers are willing to drive. but as stated, the 2wd systems wont ever pull hills and silt and slower technical stuff quite like a UTV. watching the UTV drivers in the last two or three years of baja racing, picking lines around nearly impassible bottlenecks and mountain goating right up a hillside and knocking off 45mins+ time going around a bottleneck would not be possible in a 2wd car. both have advantages over the other in certain terrain. but you gotta think, every one of those class 1 and class 10 cars get to sit and wait at bottlenecks. those guys wouldnt dare try some of the crazy lines a 4wd utv would and do try. so are the UTVs faster? or just able to take shortcuts better?

 

[sand shark]

This years Baja was impressive for UTVs, but I think most of the UTV racers would agree they should not be starting in front of the Class 10 cars.

 

[Matt Martelli - CEO]

Matlock is a beast. The cars are going to get faster as well as the drivers.

 

[It'sYourLegacy]

i"...but you gotta think, every one of those class 1 and class 10 cars get to sit and wait at bottlenecks. those guys wouldnt dare try some of the crazy lines a 4wd utv would and do try. so are the UTVs faster? or just able to take shortcuts better?"

Uneducated agreement that they are most likely "better at shortcuts" and lighter in the silt/everything else needing 4WD yet still impressive in terms of time. These guys/gals are taking even bigger chances under less than ideal conditions not getting necessarily any better over time.

 

[BiggJim]

Uneducated agreement that they are most likely "better at shortcuts" and lighter in the silt/everything else needing 4WD yet still impressive in terms of time. These guys/gals are taking even bigger chances under less than ideal conditions not getting necessarily any better over time.

Baja is a prerun game....Prerun, Prerun, Prerun......find the best lines and use them. Find the spots that are going to be problematic, find the path of least resistance. Just because a UTV can work around a trail plug doesn't mean he "shorcut" the field. I know a guy who drove straight to the top of a mountain...almost verticle in a canyon and drove around the trail plug and right back onto the mainline...bushwacking the whole way. I dont think that is called a shortcut by any means...if anything it was the longer route.

 

[It'sYourLegacy]

So educate me here (please) as you obviously know far more than me from experience...isn't bypassing the entire field an advantage if you're in front of the plug when its over if you don"t beat your car to pieces doing it? I've never understood just how far off course you're allowed to bypass the field in those situations and only hear of racers being beyond frustrated inside the plug itself when UTVs make questionable moves during this stop in the action. Thanks in advance,

 

[BiggJim]

So educate me here (please) as you obviously know far more than me from experience...isn't bypassing the entire field an advantage if you're in front of the plug when its over if you don"t beat your car to pieces doing it? I've never understood just how far off course you're allowed to bypass the field in those situations and only hear of racers being beyond frustrated inside the plug itself when UTVs making questionable moves during this stop in the action. Thanks in advance,

it just depends really. The rule is you can use the entire "wash" to choose lines. In San Felipe the whole race course is a wash....so the rule is left for interpretation. There are 100's of lines thru the gnarley shit in san felipe so you stand to make up alot of time if you spend the time there. The spot I mentioned in the previous post is in a canyon, in single track as alot of them are. In silt. The limited class cars have an extreme dis advantage and get stuck. They generally start in front of the 4wd UTV's. SO if you are a smart racer you look at these area in your prerun and look for ways around that hill that is guaranteed to have stuck vehicles by the time you get there. Alot of the time you will have to bushwack and make a new line So that you dont have to wait in the roadblock.

 

[///Airdam Clutches]

yes, which is what i mentioned above in my post, climbing stuff that is completely insane and impassible to get around bottlenecks. its definitely not a short cut, but it gets them in front of bottlenecks that most people have to sit and wait in. i have seen some lines during pre-running and also know what the course is, and seen the aftermath after races on the next race pre-run and see where people make a trail up something around a bottleneck on race day that was virtually completely out of the question, looks impassible, but the UTV guys with 4wd have to take a chance or possibly get left behind. 2016 baja 500 Alonzo Lopez took a line thru the bush around everyone else, and was first to Ojos with over a 45 min lead on the next UTV. that was the first real big "wow" moment and now it seems every race multiple top racers are bushwhacking thru cactus to try and get around bottlenecks. without 4wd it would be impossible.

advantage UTV

 

[tatum]

The 4wd does help but you have to be willing to take the chance because it could cost you as well. I was stuck in a bottle neck in a 1 car when a guy in a 10 car decided to trail blaze a new line through 8 foot brush and trees and it was thick. All you could see was bushes being mowed over and him going through a barbed wire fence dragging 30 feet of it down the road behind him. I thought for sure we would see him on the side of the road but he won his class and it paid off.