Too easy to play the Horsepower war. Playing the driveline and Tire loss is wayyy tougher but seems more productive.
I would like to know what a race UTV Loss is to the wheels. Red Line pegged the Ultra4 cars about 30% loss a couple years ago. I see the UTV tires as pretty special with not much tread as the wrap around tread is necessary because of the general IFS geometry in turns and ruts. I think they are designed to minimize loss also. With the engine/trans/diff combined, you would hope efficiency was considered. ( I wonder if the UTV HP numbers are dyno'd at the crank or at the diff? I see new dyno's for the large rigs are at the wheel now. So excluding the tire. I have heard of 4wd dynos, wheel driven reporting 37%ish loss from engine dyno. "But two different dyno's." (Depends what you want to hear) All of this is probably answered in Automtive class 120 but I missed it. If something is not marketed as more efficient than xxxxx, then it probably isn't. And the compromise is probably strength.and rotating weight.
In the early days of Ultra4 a go-to tire was the big Maxxis with huge side biters. Shannon put them up against a "normal BFG" and the Maxxis combination lost 75 HP. They were a big fan that had to be driven. Also bias ply as I remember. But radial layups might not be the ultimate solution as you loose sidewall strength, and they squirm. Why they seem to track well on pavement. But easier to tuck under when turned or turning out of a rut, etc. Higher pressures in Ultra4, to save from rim cuts, helps all of this.
In retrospect to $20-40,000 transmissions, transfer cases, differentials. HP is cheap............
