Of course I have been reading all of the comments on this subject as well as having one on one discussions with some of the UTV racers. Please feel free to email me with any comments or concerns
[email protected]. I can tell you no decisions have been made on what class to place the new Maverick Max Turbo in. When I make my decision I promise it will be in the best interest of all UTV racing. As we all know most all UTV racing rules are is modeled after the BITD rules. I feel I have proved over the last 9 years of managing the rules, that I make good decisions for the class.
Cory you have done a fantastic job!! Keep up the great work!
I would like to share 1 of my thoughts; Since the beginning of UTV racing, the factories have produced engines with more horse power and larger CC's each and every year. (I may be misinformed, but I was told that the Federal DOT requires UTV's to be 1000cc and under to be classified as a "All Terrain Vehicle" which is what UTV are classified. If factory engines are over 1000cc the vehicle is classified as a car and required to have windshields, wipers, turn signals etc....) So if I'm correct we will not see UTV's with engines over 1000cc.
I have also heard this, but I know for a fact larger CC engines are being developed and I was told by an OEM source, credible, that there is NO limit that they need to abide by. Maybe they are willing to lose the "ATV" designation over this, but at some point we will see larger than 1000cc.. for now, this is not important
so back to my thought, the new Maverick Turbo is 121hp. If another manufacture i.e. Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Arctic Cat, Polaris etc... were to release a UTV with a 121hp that did not have a turbo would we be discussing what class to put it in?
NO we wouldn't.. The reason this discussion is happening is BECAUSE OF A TURBO
Would we feel that that big of a hp jump warrants the UTV to be in a different class?
NO we wouldn't. An increase in HP has no bearing on the rules currently. It is within a certain CC that has a current class and therefore this scenario would be irrelevant for discusion.
Should we require racers with after market built engines that have a certain amount of hp be required to race in a different class?
NO we shouldn't.. UNLESS of course the rules stated otherwise which currently do not. This again is a mute point of view here and has nothing to do with TURBOS
Since the beginning the "Pro Production" class has been designed to be just that, a production based race UTV. Is it time to require all UTV's to race with stock engines and only allow a 5hp spread?
NO and no one has suggested such a thing. The question and debate of this thread is where does a TURBO machine fall into racing. Factory or NOT the Rules state NO TURBOS in the Pro UTV class.
There are so many ways we could go with this. Should how the factories make hp be the deciding factor on what class the UTV races in?
YES it should, especially if how they make the additional HP is in conflict with the CURRENT RULES like this scenario is now.
Over the years many UTV's by several factories have been released with 1 or more components that could be seen as a "unfair advantage" to the previous built UTV's. I believe that racing has driven the manufactures to produce
better "sport UTV's".
What might this be? I don't know of anything that has been introduced other than CC size and not having a class yet that would have been an "unfair advantage"? CC increase is nature of the beast, however I think we are all pretty safe with 1000cc for now.. I guess you could argue that when the Arctic Cat Wildcat came out it had a ton more suspension over any Polaris, Can-Am, Kawasaki, etc that was currently racing (production wise)
I was told that the RZR would not have been produced had it not been for the creation of UTV racing. I'm sure we will see manufactures continue to produce more powerful UTV's and this will continue to build the "Pro Production" class. No body was to go Slower! In the future we could see direct injection, sequential transmissions, superchargers, etc... do we make a "production" class for all these different components?
I don't know, do we??? Thats what we are discussing?? Do you create a new class or do you change the rules to constantly cater to each new machine that is developed?? At what point do we (the racing community) begin to dictate what is and isn't raced or do we allow the OEMs to dictate this?? Rules state NO TURBOS, Can-Am made one anyway, are you willing to change your / our rules because of this??
I feel the "Pro Production" class has continued to grow and is as big as it is, is because over the years we have stuck to the original "spirt of the class" a Production based race UTV.
This is true, but now we are getting into a realm of needing to change our rules. This isn't just adding a new class due to CC increase. This new machine is in direct conflict with the current rule of the Pro UTV class. It is important decision on your part. Your affiliation with Can-Am is tricky as well. I know your heart is in the right place and you will do whats right for the class but you do have a hard time because you have to seperate Cory the Can-Am Sponsored Racer from Cory the BITD UTV Class Representative.
Ok so thats my thought. A decision will be made by the middle of October on which class the Maverick Turbo will race in and I will keep you all informed. I encourage all UTV racers to continue to post their thoughts here. Sincerely Cory S ( the self proclaimed "God Father of UTV Racing"
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