How to make a Utility ATV race ready?

How to make a Utility ATV race ready?
How to make a Utility ATV race ready? If you think about that statement it
doesn’t make much sense. Why in the world would you try to make a machine designed
for hunting, working, and hauling “race ready”? Well I guess you have to answer that
question for yourself, but keep in mind people do race semi’s up pikes peak and riding
lawn mowers around circle tracks. For me the answer was simple, “4x4’s are just what I
grew up riding”.
Utilities or Sport Utilities as they are now called is all I have ever owned. Other
than the mini’s I started riding around 4 years old. My first Ute was a ’95 Yamaha
Wolverine and I haven’t had anything that didn’t have 4 wheel drive since.
The racing game came much later for me and was purely something that my
friends talked me into. I am sure my story is very similar to most of yours that are
interested in riding a utility competitively. When I rode all my riding buddies
were always on sport atv’s because those were the guys who rode how I wanted to ride.
A local Harescramble series had a race near my home and most of the guys I rode with
participated in it. They started prodding me about racing saying there were plenty other
guys on 4x4’s racing so why didn’t I go out.
All of them said I would do well, so I agreed. The next thing I knew I was sitting
on the starting line in all my glory. I was on a 2002 Grizzly 660 with racks, 1 inch lift
kit, 26in mud tires and of course stock everything else. Wearing the official ute racing
gear- jeans, hunting boots, and of course the mandatory fox T-shirt with cut off sleaves. I
was ready…… At any rate it was a blast I couldn’t believe how much fun it was and from
then on I have been hooked. I raced a few back then soon work, and moving slowed my
racing down a little but since 2005 I have been serious about it and with the help of LTE,
Can-Am and all my other sponsors hopefully I will be doing this for a long time to come.
Harlen Foley the head cheese of ATVriders.com called me up last week and asked
if I would be interested in doing a few articles for the site. Of course I was excited to
share some knowledge for those of you wanting to get in our sport or hopefully give an
idea or two to you guys who are currently involved. We are going to start out by talking
about the basics in a multi-part series and then work our way from there speaking to some
product manufactures that are really starting to cater to the 4x4 segment. I also plan to
document building my own race quads for 2008, and testing some new products.
Getting Started
Let’s start by examining two very important things your quad and your budget.
Undoubtedly these are important but not just for the obvious reasons. These two factors
will determine the class in which you can compete intern letting us know what we can
modify. Basically there are classes for every machine pitting you against machines that
have similar displacement and modifications so that everyone in your class is on a level
playing field. In utility racing classes aren’t broken down into talent levels like the
traditional Pro-A-B-C, first year racer segments that you see in other racing genres. Some
feel that needs to change, but currently the GNCC for example has 4 utility classes.
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4x4 Lites (under 500 cc 4x4)
4x4 Limited (from 501-800cc limited modifications)
4x4 Open (501-840cc any modifications suspension, engine, etc.)
U2 (Class for shaft driven sport machines Renegade 800, V-Force)
Your local series may slightly differ but should have a similar format. Once you have
selected your class the rest is truly about how much money you want to spend, or can
spend based on class rules.
The Basics
Part I
When formulating your plan of getting your machine ready it is good to start out
with a budget. You can quickly rack up a credit card bill that may be good enough for a
divorce. Keeping the Misses informed on these purchase isn’t always the easy thing to
do. However, agreeing on the amount of money that you’re going to throw at this
childish racing idea should keep you out of hot water. Keep in mind just upgrading to
racing shocks can easily cost 2-4 thousand dollars depending on the quality. We are
getting ahead of ourselves though. I just want to talk about 4 things that I believe are
essential to starting racing. Those things are Wheels, Tires, Skid Plates, and
Riding/Safety Gear.
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Wheels - Wheels are so important first off let me make it clear that there are very
few OE wheels that don’t need to be quickly replaced. As with all manufactures
more times than not they are going to give you the bare minimum to drive profit
margins. Typically what that means is you get the tires and wheels that the lowest
bidder offers. The perfect scenario for racing is a set of beadlocks.
OMF Performance Products sells a variety of excellent quality beadlocks for all
types of atv’s.
The ones we are going to talk about are their
Utility offerings. These wheels are of all shapes, sizes and designs. Most commonly,
they start with the Douglas Technologies Red Label wheel then OMF puts a
reinforcement ring on the inside and then a beadlock on the outside. The Red Label
runs around $250 depending on what color choice you make as well as the style of the
beadlock ring. The next step from that would be the Outlaw and Outlaw II which are
have different machined wheel styles to reduce unsprung weight. From there you
step to the wheel of wheels. The newest wheel in OMF’s arsenal is the Billet Center
Wheel. These wheels have adjustable centers so you can fine tune your offset in and
out depending on your set up. Another great thing about the Billet Center Wheel is
you can switch new Billet Centers if you switch quads so instead of having to worry
about selling your old beadlocks if you decide to change from a Honda to a Kawasaki
all you have to do is order new Billet Wheel Centers with a different bolt pattern and
your back in business. Of course as you get a better wheel the price goes up however
you really are getting what you pay for in this instance. A new Billet wheel that
comes with any color Billet center, any color beadlock ring, any color wheel and all
the hardware including lug nuts will cost you $430.
Hiper Technologies have a beadlock system for Utility/UTV and Sport
Atv wheels. Currently they offer a brand new 14” Hiper Dakar wheel, and are
going to release the 12” utility wheel in January. The great thing about Hiper is
their wheels are carbon fiber, which are light weight and durable, plus they offer a
dual beadlock system. The twelve inch double beadlock will weigh in at less than
9 pounds. That is an impressive number when you consider they have dual
beadlocks instead of just the outer. Currently Hiper is taking orders for the 14in
Dakar Wheel. My advice is to get your order
in early. I am sure they will be in high
demand for the 2008 racing season.
There are also other manufactures out there
that are now making a utility beadlock such as
ITP, and there are companies like Trail Ready
that make reinforcement rings you can do it
yourself. As you can see wheels are big investments, so you need to do your
homework. I also recommend checking with racers or race teams. Most racers
replace their wheels every season and many have some you can get a price break
on. If you can’t quite stomach the price for a set of beadlocks the next step down
would be to get a nice solid cast aluminum wheel. A variety of manufactures
offer them in many different styles and finishes. If you already have a set of cast
wheels OMF will weld a beadlock ring on an existing wheel for around $150 a
wheel.
Actually that’s what I did this past year and they worked awesome. I took
the stock Can-Am Outlander XT cast wheel and sent them to Bones at OMF.
They were powder coated and a beadlock ring was installed. They did great all
season long. This set up helped me achieve two important things. One I stayed
with the factory offset and width, and second I had a strong light weight wheel
that held up all season with no issues.
No matter what stay away from steal wheels and make sure when ordering
cast wheels to check the off-set. You don’t want to bolt up a new set of wheels
and realize your quad just grew 5 inches wider. In cross country racing the
narrower the better, you’re already trying to fly through the trails on a rolling love
seat. The last thing you want to do is make it a couch.
Whatever you decide you’re going make a big investment on wheels. I
would argue that wheels are one of the most important upgrades to any machine.
As I stated above, most machines come with inferior steel wheels that will not
withstand trail riding much less the rigors of racing. Wheels not only bring style
to your machine, but they truly bring a level of safety and security. Who wants to
spend a few hundred bucks, on driving to the race track and paying your entry fee
to only have your race be through on the first lap do to wheels that don’t get the
job done?
In Part II we are going to discuss tires to compliment your wheels. We’ll
go over basics to look for in a tire and decide what tires are the best all around for
your needs. Plus talk to a tire manufacture to see what is coming for next year.
If you want to find out more about any of the manufactures listed above see the
links below:
www.omfperformance.com
www.modertire.com
www.hiperracingwheels.com
www.trailready.com
www.itptires.com