Went out to Vernal this weekend to race with Bonneville Off-road! The course was similar to the same one last year, and was 8x laps at 18ish miles per lap so around ~140 total. This was also the first race with the semi, just got a mini bike, first time sleeping in the semi, we bought a projector to play movies on the back of the semi, just tons of fun planned all around!
I did extremely minimal prep beforehand. I joke that it doesn't need much prep since it's not a dedicated racecar. I spent most of the time messing with the semi and making improvements to it, and only an afternoon after work really screwing with the buggy. I made a new brake pedal and adjusted the gas pedal, moving them back around 3" which was really nice. I also threw a hi lift mount on the spare tire carrier. Otherwise it was just checking bolts, new oil filter, and a tape measure and string alignment!
The semi worked great, the gear pass through had all the race gear, the passenger box had all the tools, and the driver's box had some random stuff like fire extinguishers. Then we threw a cooler for food on the deck and strapped the Jerry cans on and that was about it. Picked up my buddy to codrive and he slept most of the way to the race with the wife riding shotgun.
It ended up raining or snowing most of the drive which was great.
As soon as we arrived the race director told us to go do our prerun lap since it wasn't raining at that moment, so we quickly unloaded the semi and took the buggy out!
This was the first time my buddy had been codriver in anything, and since it was starting to rain and get muddy he got a quick speed run how to mark hazards in the low rance and then we putted around the course. We also got the custom molded ear plug/speakers which are an absolute world of difference, and this was the first time with both of us having them in the car so got to make sure everything was playing well together. And that was about it!
This whole race was extremely chill compared to any other race I've done, even this same race last year. There was no wrenching or screwing with things, no late nights leading up to it, just everything was happy and the prerun lap went great! Which really worked out since it started raining quite a bit after we got back.
We went to the driver's meeting, I got shit because the course now went through the whole in the fence I created last year
you could say I was directly involved building the course the course! There was only a dozen or so people racing. Super tiny turn out, they almost pulled the plug not to do it. Quite a combination of vehicles, a full on trophy truck (actually pitted for that guy for the Baja 1000 in 2019), a class 7, 5, 11, 12, and some UTVs, and I guess a pseudo-Ultra4!
After the meeting we chilled and went to bed. The race was pushed back the following day until a 10am start to try and let the course dry a bit. I actually was hoping into turn into an absolute cluster of mud since it'd give me a big advantage with 4wd
We ended up starting 2nd behind the trophy truck, the starting order was mainly based on the heavier guys up front.
The trophy truck of course ran away instantly. It was cool to see how it compared to the buggy, since I think it's taller and of course wider than the buggy. Maybe similar power to weight, similar tires, closer in wheel base than I am with most crawlers, lots of similarities and differences. Same thing with the class 7 which was a Ranger, he passed me after a few miles and it was similar, I could easily outrun the Ranger in the straights, but corners I at least wasn't confident or even know if the buggy could keep up, and the Ranger would take off through the chop and I just didn't trust the hydraulic steering and my abilities to keep up.
Overall I was really happy with the buggy, and it was cool to be on the same course before and see the changes I had done to them buggy. The shocks were way better this time being setup a lot stiffer, before I would drop into things and bottom out even with the bypasses all the way closed and this time I could carry 50-60mph through those same dips and be fine which was wild. I have everything to revalve the shocks stiffer too so I'm excited to make the suspension handle better, but it didn't feel like it was slowing me down for the most part.
The engine is an absolute animal, I am so happy how well it does considering I built it
the bypass valve on the supercharger is still being weird but I hooked it up so it wouldn't get so hot by always being in boost, plus tame it a bit. I call it "low boost mode", and even setup this way it's so powerful compared to what I'm used to. There were very few places I would actually floor it, and when I did it was only for a few seconds, it'd get up to speed plenty fast before something else or myself was the limiting factor. And to think the blower isn't making much boost, and the engine is built that it could handle 4-5x the current boost. Needless to say, power will never the limiting factor on this buggy
I don't know if the engine got over 195 the whole time. The trans was like 185 for a bit I think. Oil pressure fine. Even the dashes were fine and not randomly jumping around from getting wet and dirty which was a first! Not a single complaint about the powerplant whatsoever, not once was it a concern or doing anything I didn't like. The transmission still has 4th turned off since this is that fucked 250k trans, so on one straight I'd wind it out in 3rd to 4000rpm or so but we'd be going over 80mph and the steering just seemed so sketchy I didn't push it more.
The brakes I ended up having an issue early on, I think lap 2 the brakes became extremely squishy and I pulled into pit and turned out the front brake line going down the upper link got pinched by the header and was spraying. I forgot to grab my spare brake line so we vice gripped the front line and kept going. The braking wasn't great, had to usually double pump the brakes, but I could work with it and apparently my lap times improved even with that handicap. I also realized part way through why the brakes still seemed kind of fine, since I only had rear brakes but with 4wd coupling the axles it made the braking handling behave the same. That's why I don't run a proportioning valve, and never thought of that being a benefit with a brake line going out. With that said I do think I'll add either a proportioning valve or just individual shut offs right at the master to turn off the front or back in case this happens again. That was the only issue I had the whole race though!
The biggest complaint, or combination of issues, by far is the steering. I have a Howe full hydraulic setup, so I'm not sure if there's a way to make it better, but hydraulic steering just sucks ass. I don't know how the Ultra4 guys go so fast confidently, or they just say fuck it and send it. The road straight away we were in the mid 80s, and that bitch just feels like it keeps slowly drifting back and forth. And a small steering change at 80mph feels nearly impossible, it's like attempting a steering suggestion or seems like it'll way over react. And then the shit of going into a corner, hit the brakes, engine speed drops and so does assist so now you went from no effort to way more effort to rip the wheel over. I still have the 3 turn orbital and I do think the 2 turn would help...in some ways, but maybe it's not worth that twitchiness when it's already too twitchy going fast it seems like. Maybe people can tell me if something is wrong, but I think it's just the name of the game with full hydro? That's honestly the biggest thing I look forward to if/when I build a new vehicle, is either a rack and pinion or hell maybe even a 3 link. Like my can-am feels so solid and you could thread a needle, and the buggy is nowhere near that and I doubt it ever will. And that by extension mentally limits me, since I'm worried it'll roll over in a corner and I can't react with the slow steering or be confident to know the wheels are facing where I think they are to counter it. It's a pain in the ass and the biggest thing I struggle with.
Anyway, overall the buggy did great. We finished the race, which I think is the first race I've ever been in (driver or codriver) and finished the whole thing, so major victory there
the buggy feels way more capable than I am, and still blown away how reliable it is. Tiny little race no one has heard of, but it's an awesome dual sport rig. I think it's so cool I can go do a race and go rock crawling with my buddies the next day.
Today I unloaded it, I have more pictures but I'm too lazy to split this into two posts (fuck irates stupid 10 photo limit). One photo I will post is the passenger front bump got nicely clearanced
When I aligned it I pushed the passenger side forward 3/8", and obviously it was tickling the link bracket to begin with! But the shaft is fine, so fuck it it'll work
The aluminum knuckles look totally fine, actually everything else seems fine. Pulled the panels off and gave it a bath.
Driving through rain for hours really did a number on the raw chassis though. I'm back to debating to paint it, I could have it torn down to a raw chassis in a day and then get it blasted.... Or maybe just go to sand hollow and let it self sand blast
Next race is in June, we'll see if/what upgrades I decide to do before then, or just take it rock crawling in the mean time!
