Joey, first of all I want to say that I appreciate all that you do to further the utv industry. Without the diligent work of everyone at utv underground, I don't think the class would be where it is today. I'm not loyal to any one brand. I appreciate all of the brands because they all have their own niche within the market. I like the Polaris for the all out speed that they bring and the support that they bring to the sxs world. I like can am for their quality and craftsmanship. I've never worked on the other brands so I know only what my peers have experienced. Im thankful for Polaris ,There's no denying their commitment to bringing the utv class to the forefront of racing. With that being said, if the roles were reversed and can am was as dominant as Polaris is and can am was dominating the mint 400 and broke within 10 miles or whatever the small distance was, and the "new" turbo Polaris that was running in second came and won the race, I can honestly say I wouldn't have an issue with it. I know that your scoffing at me right now saying "ya right dude!"
I totally understand. However here's my reasoning, if the fact that the turbo system had an overall influence in the outcome of the race by itself I would take exception.
You have been around the block long enough to know that it's not horsepower that wins desert races. It's managing the pitfalls. Like changing a rear axle at pit 2 in at the silver state 300 in 7-8 minutes. Or changing a transmission in under 1.5 hrs on the racecourse.
. For the most part all of these cars are around 120rwhp. Sure, people are going to deny it. I'm fine with the top teams not disclosing the hp that they have. The case and point to this is the 1921, they are kicking everyone's ass. He has no turbo, and is on track to win both championships..... Without a turbo.
Regardless, this is an interesting time in the 1900 class. I do believe that there will be more cars in the unlimited class though in the near future
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Well said and I appreciate the kind words. I love good debates and sharing of ideas and opinions. At the end of the day we all have a beer.
With that said, it's not a discussion about what happens at the mint or tomorrow at the V2R or at Baja. It's about the dynamic of adding a turbo to the mix. How to regulate it and most importantly, how to not let it change the entire class further obsoleting what was a fair and level class.
Fact is, the Maverick 1000 is as much of a machine as the RZR 1000 as the Wildcat 1000. The biggest difference in the 3 is the overwhelming use of the RZR. This does not constitute the need for a wildcat or Maverick to have a turbo to level the paying field. The RZR did not have a marginal HP advantage and you are right HP does not win races. But if that's the case why would anyone running a can am run a turbo!?
Fact is, before this turbo we finally had a level cc regulated class, something that took us years to get too with the ever evolving growth of the engines and development of models. Finally the OEMs with real sport models were all at a level CC size engine wise. Now we are once again in a state of lopsided advantage, one that could easily be justified to be kept out or placed into an unlimited classification due to the forced induction.
So here we are. One OEM has been catered too and it has been justified to everyone as "what are you scared of" "HP doesn't win races" "Polaris still wins more races" etc etc. My entire point will be made once Polaris drops a bigger, faster, turbo this once again out gunning the Can Am and putting the Mavericks right back into a disadvantage. What makes it worse is all the big boys will now convert to Turbos further obsoleting the current and adequate 1000s thus making others have to build new cars further raising the cost to race a Pro UTV and reducing the value of the current race machines and threaten to reduce car counts.
This problem wouldn't be a concern if the turbo was an unlimited classified race machine. Then racers could choose, want the latest and greatest? Race in unlimited and grow that class naturally. Instead, unlimited class remains a hodge podge of race machines and the successful and growing pro UTV class is just going to get more expensive to compete in at the highest level.