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.

· 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.

· 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: