Official UTVUnderground 2016 Baja 1000 Update Thread
- Thread starter JoeyD23
- Start date
I'm shocked at Marc's part usage. I'd sure like to see more teams post up what parts they replaced during the race.
Unbelievable race coverage Joey!!! You and your team are amazing at what you do.
For the record as far as parts usage goes for my car in the Baja 1000. I had zero POLARIS parts fail or get replaced during the race not one part. We even did the entire race on the same belt. The only part that failed at the end was an aftermarket part that will be corrected before the next race.
Polaris makes an awesome platform, it's the racer's responsibility to make it into an amazing race car!!!
For the record as far as parts usage goes for my car in the Baja 1000. I had zero POLARIS parts fail or get replaced during the race not one part. We even did the entire race on the same belt. The only part that failed at the end was an aftermarket part that will be corrected before the next race.
Polaris makes an awesome platform, it's the racer's responsibility to make it into an amazing race car!!!
Lol. Making sure your paying attention. Takes a lot of parts to do it. J/k
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If you are out there racing then your pit support should be aware of who is in front or behind you. A visual is much more reliable than the tracker is. Its nice to have people at home tracking and feeding you info but it is only a part of the equation.
100% agree! Call me old school, but more times I have heard people complain the high tech stuff failed them and they were lost. I met some Chase guys that without the GPS in the chase truck had no idea where and how to get to the next pit. Mind blowing!
When we were prerunning we had a few guys with the trucks and trailers looking for course access roads, 0possible pit locations etc.. Then at a meet up or evening recons we would talk about issues we found on the course and the Chase guys would tell us about issues & access they found and we would build strategies based on both on course and on highway pre runs. Then we would build race books with everything from Score Schedules, hotel reservations, phone & radio channels, maps, notes entry lists etc... I don't know how many remember the old BFG books they used to hand out, but that is what we made.
Hans can you share the issues the 3 Arctic Cats had? Did you get in? What was your opinion of them and do you know if the SpeedCat program will be a regular team at future BITD & Score races?
I did not get in the car, we missed check 2 closing time so we technically got a dnf. Robby lost a motor in his truck so he decided that they would fix the AC and continue on for testing purposes. I wasn't told not to say anything but Im not sure its my place, I honestly only know what happened to one of the cars. I will say that the cars are super nice and I believe the design will raise the bar for a production utv.
Thats pretty awesome that you make your own BFG type book. Those were awesome and I think I still have a few.
1st I want to say I respect and admire your abilities/skill/passion, I mean no disrespect by my question, but what POLARIS parts are left on your car??? You have one of the most badass UTV's ever built with parts and ideas some of us have never thought of or can afford, so I'm curious to know what parts are still the same as POLARIS would deliver to me? Cause I want to race again and I'm on a budget....
Very good questions.... We use a lot of OEM parts on our car. Motor, tranny, primary clutch, belt, CV's, front diff, drive line, Rotors, hubs, brakes, spindles, ECU. We use most of the OEM drive train and powertrain and a ton more that I can go on and on with.
Interesting topic on the issue of what factory parts teams run vs what factory or non factory parts they have to replace.
I am going out on a limb here but don't you think some of the amount of parts used by Marc's team could be attributed to the fact that they rolled twice? It was stated right in the verbatim text message that they rolled twice and it sure looks to me that some of the parts in that list could be damaged in a roll over...
I am going out on a limb here but don't you think some of the amount of parts used by Marc's team could be attributed to the fact that they rolled twice? It was stated right in the verbatim text message that they rolled twice and it sure looks to me that some of the parts in that list could be damaged in a roll over...
Post #537 on the link below gives background information on the start of the race for the Cats and also touches on supposed problems. I don't know if it is really from Jamie Romero or not as post states but it is a long post and didn't want to clog up this forum with it that is why i only posted link.
http://www.wildcatforums.net/forum/wildcat-general-discussion/58090-2017-wildcat-xx-36.html
http://www.wildcatforums.net/forum/wildcat-general-discussion/58090-2017-wildcat-xx-36.html
I was surprised to see the Arctic Cats not running belt covers. My thoughts were how are those clutches going to survive? Then I read they had clutch issues, so I was wondering if that was the issue that caused the DNF's.
Also can you give any details about the front chassis, suspension, steering? It looks pretty much like a standard Arctic Cat, but I would assume RG made some improvements to the front and is not just rear suspension and wheel base increase to the chassis.
Yeah I have a few old BFG chase books somewhere. Back then one of my product sponsors was a print shop. So I would make up these elaborate 50-60 page race/Chase books for each race and they would print in color, spiral bind, hard back and clear front cover.
Badassmav, I was the primary "crew chief" for Cafro. At our pit at rm 210 we knew where Burnett was and gave the info, our car was already developing a fuel delivery problem(that at rm 700 finally timed out our race). From 200 on the car would only run 60 mph or less. I had time splits on everyone that was important in the championship aspect because once the issues began we went into survival mode. We broke an upper control arm at 333 and it took us 5 hrs to get the arm to the car and going again! We pitted again at 415 and505 before they headed to mikes... when I caught up with them again 618 the car would only go 35. Tried to solve fuel problems there to no avail..obviously by that time we were racing the clock! Tried to nurse it around to borrego which ended up being a 4 hour loop... with a crew going on 40 hrs no sleep and without another fuel pump to try we finally called it.. and to pour salt in the wound Marc drove by us right then looking like he might make it to the end! So to your point of keeping Cafro informed... believe me that was our main objective, unfortunately for us it wasn't in the cards this race.
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I was impressed watching you and Marc on the tracker early on (a device better referred to as, "The Slacker"!). You started in front of him, then he passed you early on at which time I expected to see him start putting distance between the top 2 points contenders. Until he broke down around RM 80 or so, you were never more than a visible dust cloud from each other. Once passing Marc, it was game on for you guys as your pace quickened, and the tracker had you keeping pace with the lead 2 cars. But if one believes the tracker, everyone was dicing back and forth the entire race, which I'm sure wasn't the case.
If they could just make the tracker refresh simultaneously for all teams in a given class, then the info would be much more usable. Perhaps the alternating refreshing cycles the "Slacker" uses is by design, as it is not in place as a tool for competitive purposes, but possibly as a tool for reference to the promoter for logistics and reconnaissance purposes.
At any rate, i was judging my emotions and opinions purely on what the tracker was providing, and never intended to pass judgement on your crewing decisions. I appreciate it that your post was not an aggressive attack on that assumption. Honestly, I was pulling for you guys, because I know enough about all of the hard work and sacrifice that goes into a first class championship. The Murrays position never crossed my mind until you guys quit running. I think we can all agree that if any team was to benefit from you two dropping out of the championship race, that the Murrays were most deserving of it.
Ironically, and possibly consequently, you mentioned the heartbreak of watching Marc pass by as your car sat dormant course-side somewhere around Borrego, and you had no way to respond. At the time he passed your broken dreams, he was on pace to finish the race before the cutoff time. Then, a hardware failure (I was told) sidelined him, and by the time his crew could reach him and make repairs, too much time had lapsed to realistically finish for the championship win. Being the competitor that NEVER quits, Marc pressed on, only to finish a couple of hours over the allotted time. It was the second consecutive race that a roll took Marc out of competing for a class Championship, as his roll over in the Last BITD event eliminated him from most any chance of winning the points in that series' last event coming up when 'Pops' Simms did well driving for Branden (no disrespect Branden, but I don't know your fathers name).
On a side note, regarding your fuel delivery issues and 35 MPH top speed:
We had the exact same issues in our 2nd year racing the Maverick. It happened as we were headed to the starting line at SCORE's Imperial Valley event. The car idled, revved, and accelerated normally until it hit 35 MPH, where it just stopped progressing, and ran as though a governor was set at 35 MPH. After exhausting all probable causes, The Murrays rushed over to help with their laptop and tapped into the 'BUDS' system. This was after they were nearly strapped into their machine to head for the start, only 5 minutes before starting time. Dudes are the best. Couldn't solve, or even locate the problem, so I sent Marc off, closely timing a 35 MPH race that lie ahead to be sure we could at least get finishing points. Found out later, it was simply the number one spark plug wire, on the car for its 3rd race, and visibly in new condition. Not disconnected, but somehow lost continuity between the ends. It was the only thing we didn't check, as the car did not appear to be "missing", or accelerating roughly. Perhaps this experience may give you some insight to your expected fuel delivery issues. You'd surely kick yourselves in the ass if a plug wire was your problem! Awesome effort guys, race on!
We actually pulled the filter at rm 209 thinking that was the problem. I believe the pump might have cracked at the pick up in the cell. Seemed to be cavitation for starvation for fuel but the pump was still running.
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