Specialized fuel injectors, carbon fiber frame and a wrapped air intake – what’s not to love with Racer Engineering’s latest creation for the Australian Off Road Buggy races? The frame for this pro sport buggy is made of sturdy high-grade steel. This is a must as while carbon fiber is an extremely durable material, it’s not particularly good at load-bearing. However the envelope surrounding that steel is carbon fiber. Alternately called graphite fiber, each strand composing these sheets is between 5 and 10 micrometers in diameter. As a reinforcing polymer, it provides an ideal lightweight material which is very impact resistant. Carbon fiber has a high strength-to-weight ratio with added emphasis on low weight.
While unfortunately not harnessing the unbridled coolness of jet power, Racer Engineering probably repurposed a Chevrolet small block 305 5.0 L V8 with the classic “Rocket V8” setup as the main driving force behind this buggy. With a straight fed air intake with dust cover, this engine has more than enough power to carry this light weight sprinter to optimal speed.
From the ground up, this off-roading buggy was built for speed and agility. Its carbon fiber exterior appears to be striated, meaning it’s not load bearing and thus wouldn’t hold up exceedingly well on rolls and flips that other buggies pull off effortlessly. That’s why you can see the greatest emphasis was on getting to top speeds – not climbing sand dunes.
A Different Type of Buggy for a Different Type of Race
Off road buggy races the likes of which take place all across Australia are certainly harrowing. Plenty of crashes, spills, and high-octane maneuvering. In many respects, it’s considered the Formula One of off road racing. As such, while the vehicles are designed for deft attacks and defenses, they’re ultimately unprepared for the rigors expected of a mud buggy or even recreational sand buggy.
Off road competitions, in Australia and across the world, are actually an umbrella under which many classes of road buggies compete. For this buggy, Racer Engineering put most of their focus on simply getting to top speed. The sacrifice is soft driving around curves and only light bounding from peak to peak. In fact, the road could be said to be much tamer than what is seen in amateur off-roading competitions.
Why is that?
Money. Unlike NASCAR where racers can command millions in lucrative deals and contracts, the vast majority of off road racers are on a much stricter budget. With all of these vehicles required to maintain tight and sometimes cost-prohibitive design budgets in order to compete in the various leagues, racers can’t afford to idly flip themselves about in their vehicles. At present, there are about a dozen different organizations setting up off-road races throughout Australia, New Zealand, and North America. Even the names of these races are amorphous as some refer to the longer runs as “bajas” and the shorter races as Tough Truck competitions. Europeans even try to pull in their own naming convention – “rallycross”. With so many differing standards and regulations, it can be a headache to keep track of which rules apply where.
Off-Road Racing: An Emerging Racing Field
Off-road racing is still very much in its infancy. Having gained decent traction in North America, New Zealand, and parts of Europe – many of the competitions have yet to clearly normalize their design requirements. This drastically increases the cost to race a vehicle because the circuit is extremely tight.
At present, two major formats have gained professional recognition:
• Short Course Racing
These are certainly the more spectator friendly of events. Incorporating tight, short courses that encapsulate a variety of turn radii, jumps, dips, and straight-aways – Short Course has really stepped forward as an off-road competition that has long term public appeal.
• Desert Racing
In the North American circuit, there is the Baja 1000 as the premier race. Closely following that is Lucerne Valley and the Mojave Desert challenges in California. Most of these events are held on public-owned land and the restrictions on classes of vehicles eligible to jump in is still very much nebulous.
• European Off-Roading
This last category is sometimes referred to as rallycross. Appealing to the same audiences who enjoy rally racing, rallycross incorporates many more tight turns and poor traction environments designed to push drivers and their engineers to the limit.
Where Racer Engineering really excels, however, is in designing for Australia and New Zealand’s longer, much more difficult countryside races. Similar to California’s Baja 1000 – Aussies tend to enjoy seeing who can survive not just the first 100 km but the first 1000. A lot can change over the course of the race – which is why engineers are constantly pushing to get more speed and agility out of each race buggy.
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