Lake Elsinore buggy "race"..my take

Posts: 415

Well, for what it's worth, I had a good time at the races. The Trophy Karts were a blast to watch as were the side x sides.

The first ever mini buggy class only had four entrants for this new event. There is only one class, so eveyone races in the "open" class.

Buggyworld had 2 Revolts entered and Nick at Fast Freddy's had a Joyner 1100 (at least I think it was his) and Super Karts had an SR-2 1100.

The Joyner had a Letz go Racing turbo and was attended to by the master himself, Bryan. Pre race chatter had the turbo Joyner pulling over 100hp at the rear wheels during dyno tuning.

Nick (Fast Freddy's) installed a piggy back ECM on to the SR-2 and remapped the tuning to get a solid 72 rear wheel hp. He also drove the buggy for Sean.

Neither 1100 had been "race" tested. I did not talk to the Revolt guys to see if they had run these in "race" trim before. So as you would expect for a first time out, things broke or just plain came loose.

In practice, Nick had the TPS come loose and that ended his practice in less than one lap. I'll tell you those single seat Revolts looked pretty darn good as they flew over the table tops and the Joyner was obviously fast. One of the Revolts broke during practice and was out of it.

After fixing the TPS, the SR and Joyner joined the Revolt for the heat race. Again, the lack of "knowing what to expect" showed as a fuel pump wire came loose on the Joyner. The SR 1100 fared little better as after a few laps, the front spindle mount started to shake loose. However, before that, I thought the SR 1100 was running the Revolt down on most of the course, but could not "fly" the table tops and lost considerable ground there. The Joyner was running second before the wire incident, and appeared to handle well. Niether, buggy was a match for the Revolts over the table tops. I think both would surely outrun them on the straights.

The little Revolts were in a class by themselves, and were pounding that course until the course pounded back. They were pretty cool.

After watching some other heats, I decided to head home before any of the main events took place. I do not know who won the buggy race, nor is it important to me. What I brought away from this is that these China buggies need a lot more R&D in order to be truely race ready. Unfortunately, you don't know where to start until you actually go out there and do it. So, hat's off to Nick, Bryan, Sean, Buggyworld and Desert Sports, for at least getting these things out on a closed circuit race course and giving it a go. I'm sure everyone involved learned a lot and will be much better "next" time. I'm also sure they had a bit of fun as well.

I hope this will continue, as it will make for better products for you and me and more performance stuff too. I know you won't be catching me and my 800 out there any time soon. I'm too out of shape to last more than a couple of laps.

Some pictures:

Posts: 323

Great to hear about the race....
Did you see any Trophy Kart Elites or Extreme Baja Buggies there ???

Posts: 1273

great review Mick, sure wish I was closer to some of the action ...

Chris

Posts: 301

Mick , It was great to meet you in person and also nice to see Chris again. We have to get together again soon. That would be the 1st gathering of our west coast gang. We should call it "Hells Buggy Angels". Laughing

Good job on the review Cool

Joe

Posts: 341

Can I be in the gang Joe??

Nice review Mick,, Sure wish I could have made it down there with my buggy.. Crying or Very sad

Later W.C.

Posts: 301

No lie.

Yes anytime soon. How about next race Cool

Posts: 3572

Posts: 327

for a few more photos of the SK Challenge: http://my.dunebuggy.com/bedo

Posts: 145

hello everyone---im back, as they say.

this is good news for the mini buggy world, and I cant wait for more of this. I can see these buggies in three or four classes racing and having fun in the near future and this can only be good for our sport-hobby.

great review.

mike

Posts: 103

Saturday March 8, 2008

O.K. so the first race is in the books. A total of three companies and a total of 4 cars. 1 Joyner Turbo'd 1100 Turbo sponsored by DeserToys & Lets Go Racing turbo systems Driven by Chris, 1-Super-Kart 1100 with no Turbo sponsored by Superkart and driven by Nick from Fast Freddies. Finally although by no means the least, 2 single seat $16000 redline buggies driven by Buggyworld and sponsored by Redline.

The day starts with a walk of the track to get a general feel for the layout of the land. For DeserToys, Lets go racing and owner Sean from Superkart this is our first touch of the track although Chris the driver for DeserToys did get a couple of practice laps in the previous day altough with no support for shock and tuning adjustments. Redline got a whole day in on Wednesday with support and it shows with the spectacular landing of near every jump.

The call for a practice is announced and allcomers take advantage of it. The practice is really heated with redline1 leading most of the way and the DeserToys/LGRacing Joyner on his tail until the end of practice. Redline car 2 is injured and would not return until the final race, which now leaves only three cars for the first heat.

Heat 1 and only. DeserToys/LGRacing Joyner 1100 takes the holeshot and runs hard until a wire comes loose and appoints us spectators of the last two cars. The remainder of the race is left to Reline car 1 and Superkarts. After several laps Superkart drives off the track for shock adjustment since this is essentially equalling a practice for them their is still some tuning to be done before the final race.
Results Heat 1:
1st - Redline Car 1
2nd - Superkart 1100
3rd - DeserToys/LGRacing
4th - Redline Car 2 (Non-participant due to mechanical issues)

The Finale: The start of this race came after track officials asked drivers to take a spin around the track before starting the race. As the cars came around the final bend the flag was waved and the race started with DeserToys/LetzGoRacing in the lead followed by 2 redline cars and finally the Superkart. This was quite an unfair start for all competitors although all took it with stride and let the competition begin. This race was contentous and although the Joyner 1100 sponsored by DeserToys/LGRacing was in the lead almost the whole race the Redlines often challenged for that top spot with no success. So the race comes down to the final lap and Redline car 1 has a failure (Driver error) and then almost immediately at the end of the straight away Redline 2 has a mechanical failure. This leaves Superkart and DeserToys/LGRacing 1100s to complete the race. On the second to the last turn of the final lap Joyner 1100 (DeserToys/LGRacing) fails and leaves the win to Superkart as the last man standing.

Race Results are as follows:
1st - Superkart
2nd - DeserToys/Letzgoracing
3rd - Redline car 2
4th - Redline car 1

Final Points Results (Most points wins at end of season) 1st=10 points, 2nd=9 points and so on.
1st Place - Superkart final points = 19
2nd Place - Redline Car 1 final points = 17
3rd Place - DT/LGRacing final points = 17
4th Place - Redline Car 2 final points = 15

I will return with some pics as soon as I clip them down for transfer. What I learned from being at this race watching Trophy karts and $40,000 rhinos limp off the track or should I say get towed off the track is that we did find room for improvement and believe me when I tell you that the Chinese are watching especially GOKA/BMS for improvements. A race is hard on these vehicles and it does not really matter much anymore when the only car that finished the race out of the 4 (half chinese, half American (Revolt redlines)) is is a chinese Superkart. Beleive me when I tell you that three days after the race we have already made huge improvements and have at least three parts now being measured and mic'd for manufacturing to improve reliability.