- Jun 12, 2014
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- 32,563
Founding Member
Sorry I haven't posted much lately, I have been busier than a one armed fiddler with jock itch getting ready for my annual race to Cabo. The Mexican 1000 starts this Sunday and once again I'm racing in the Stock Turbo UTV class. This year there are 23 cars in the class, making it one of the biggest if the THE biggest class in the race.
The rally is 5 days long with 2 special stages each day totaling over 1200 miles. In preparation I have taken this car apart to the bare chassis, reinforced and gusseted and triangulated everything, and reassembled. In the process I had to change out 4 sets of wheel bearing, 4 ball joints, 26 pivot bearings, 16 bushings, and a host of other wearable items. New steering rack, new driveshafts, new differential, new clutches, new brakes, new axles and CVs, and the list goes on. Hundreds of man hours to prepare for this adventure.
Last year we came in fifth. The main issue was on day 3 we blew a hole in the muffler and the car started to run rich. This caused us to run out of fuel 7 miles before our pit in the middle of nowhere. It took us 2 hours to beg some fuel from a passing vehicle, and then an hour penalty the next morning while we fixed the broken muffler. In the end that 3 hours was the difference between 1st place and our eventual 5th place finish.
Lots of good, experienced racers in the class this year as the popularity of UTVs for desert racing has grown. Its going to take a near perfect race with the right balance of speed and caution so as to not break or flip the car. I'll post a link for race tracking in case anybody is curious how its going and try to do a few updates along the way. Wish us luck!
The rally is 5 days long with 2 special stages each day totaling over 1200 miles. In preparation I have taken this car apart to the bare chassis, reinforced and gusseted and triangulated everything, and reassembled. In the process I had to change out 4 sets of wheel bearing, 4 ball joints, 26 pivot bearings, 16 bushings, and a host of other wearable items. New steering rack, new driveshafts, new differential, new clutches, new brakes, new axles and CVs, and the list goes on. Hundreds of man hours to prepare for this adventure.
Last year we came in fifth. The main issue was on day 3 we blew a hole in the muffler and the car started to run rich. This caused us to run out of fuel 7 miles before our pit in the middle of nowhere. It took us 2 hours to beg some fuel from a passing vehicle, and then an hour penalty the next morning while we fixed the broken muffler. In the end that 3 hours was the difference between 1st place and our eventual 5th place finish.
Lots of good, experienced racers in the class this year as the popularity of UTVs for desert racing has grown. Its going to take a near perfect race with the right balance of speed and caution so as to not break or flip the car. I'll post a link for race tracking in case anybody is curious how its going and try to do a few updates along the way. Wish us luck!
