Thoughts on gaining pit support?

[Slate]

I'm still in the research phase of UTV racing. I'm looking at getting started in the next year. One thing I lack however is a team and thus pit support. I'm looking at racing short courses for a little while before jumping into the big races to gain experience and prove myself a bit first.

Would any teams be interested in providing pit support in exchange for 80% of the space on my UTV for their logo and their sponsors? I'd be looking at bringing all of my parts, gas, travel, food, entry fees, and of course the UTV. You'd provide all of the support trucks, pit crew, your food, your travel, tools, etc.

I'm not looking to make any sort of deal right now but just wondering if this is something I wouldn't have to worry about or if I need to start looking at building my own team.

Thoughts?

 

[Rusty5150]

In short course you really don't need pit support. If you break on the track you are out anyways. Once your back in the pits you can work on your own machine. Once you get into desert racing there are pit services and clubs you can use.

 

[Slate]

In short course you really don't need pit support. If you break on the track you are out anyways. Once your back in the pits you can work on your own machine. Once you get into desert racing there are pit services and clubs you can use.

So you're saying that if I wanted to run the Mint 400, Baja 1000, KOH, Vegas to Reno, etc I should be okay just showing up by myself and maybe my wife to drive my truck and pick me up at the end? I guess I have the concern if I break down I'd need somebody to come out, find me, and get me. And I'd need somebody to gas my rig up, have a water bottle for me, and help me quickly go over the rig and lend a hand if something is broken before hitting the next section. Maybe I'm over thinking this, but I do want to make sure this is something I can succeed at before investing time and money in it.

Which pit services and clubs are recommended?

 

[jimbeaver15]

So you're saying that if I wanted to run the Mint 400, Baja 1000, KOH, Vegas to Reno, etc I should be okay just showing up by myself and maybe my wife to drive my truck and pick me up at the end? I guess I have the concern if I break down I'd need somebody to come out, find me, and get me. And I'd need somebody to gas my rig up, have a water bottle for me, and help me quickly go over the rig and lend a hand if something is broken before hitting the next section. Maybe I'm over thinking this, but I do want to make sure this is something I can succeed at before investing time and money in it.

Which pit services and clubs are recommended?

You mentioned short course and then desert. 2 completely different UTV's you'd be racing and 2 completely different approaches. You'd be fine racing short course with your wife and yourself. Desert racing I wouldn't attempt unless it was an event structured like the UTV Worlds with short laps.

Desert racing is a completely different animal. At Vegas to Reno for instance, we will have a box truck and 3 chase trucks following us, along with 2 media vehicles. We will have 16 crew members (not counting media) who actually wrench on the RZR and pit for us. We will also be using Checkers Pit Support which will give us 2-3 additional crew members at pits as well as welders, generators, etc. We also provide fuel, lodging, and food for anyone on our team. I think any of the top teams probably have a very similar setup. Desert racing pit support is a beast, especially an event like Vegas to Reno.

I don't know of anyone who would pay their own way to a race, with their own support trucks to pit for someone else unless it was a close friend. Chances are, if they have the trucks and equipment, they probably already have a race car, so they wouldn't be interested in the stickers on your car. If the offer included cash, well now, that's a completely different story.

You should really try and go out to a desert race first, and volunteer to pit for someone else. It'll give you a really good idea of what to expect and what your are looking at.

BTW, welcome to off-road racing!

 

[Slate]

You mentioned short course and then desert. 2 completely different UTV's you'd be racing and 2 completely different approaches. You'd be fine racing short course with your wife and yourself. Desert racing I wouldn't attempt unless it was an event structured like the UTV Worlds with short laps.

Desert racing is a completely different animal. At Vegas to Reno for instance, we will have a box truck and 3 chase trucks following us, along with 2 media vehicles. We will have 16 crew members (not counting media) who actually wrench on the RZR and pit for us. We will also be using Checkers Pit Support which will give us 2-3 additional crew members at pits as well as welders, generators, etc. We also provide fuel, lodging, and food for anyone on our team. I think any of the top teams probably have a very similar setup. Desert racing pit support is a beast, especially an event like Vegas to Reno.

I don't know of anyone who would pay their own way to a race, with their own support trucks to pit for someone else unless it was a close friend. Chances are, if they have the trucks and equipment, they probably already have a race car, so they wouldn't be interested in the stickers on your car. If the offer included cash, well now, that's a completely different story.

You should really try and go out to a desert race first, and volunteer to pit for someone else. It'll give you a really good idea of what to expect and what your are looking at.

BTW, welcome to off-road racing!

Thanks for the detailed response!

Short course (TORC) is what is local to me but seems boring to me. Desert racing is what is really my interest as I enjoy challenges. TORC would be simply a proving ground for me if I needed it.

For somebody, like yourself, who already has an entire team there, what would a realistic cash offer be to pit for me?

I would really enjoy volunteering for a race to learn what kind of repairs will be needed and to make connections. It's proving a bit hard to get started without already having connections and not having hundreds of thousands of dollars to "buy/form" a team.

 

[Rusty5150]

Thanks for the detailed response!

Short course (TORC) is what is local to me but seems boring to me. Desert racing is what is really my interest as I enjoy challenges. TORC would be simply a proving ground for me if I needed it.

For somebody, like yourself, who already has an entire team there, what would a realistic cash offer be to pit for me?

I would really enjoy volunteering for a race to learn what kind of repairs will be needed and to make connections. It's proving a bit hard to get started without already having connections and not having hundreds of thousands of dollars to "buy/form" a team.

Desert racing like Jim stated is a much larger level of commitment. There are many BITD races you can do with basically zero pit support. BITD has support vehicles all over the course and can be called in to extract broken machines.

As far a buy in, I have never heard of anything like this. Your best bet is contact a company like Lone Star Racing, contract with them to build your race car then work out a deal for basic pit support.

 

[///Airdam Clutches]

in a circular race, MINT400, UTV WorldChapmionship, Parker 250 and a few others, the team sets up in a pit and stays there the whole race. Easy Peasey for you to try to pay someone to also help pit you BUT you have to remember if you and THEIR team guy are 10 seconds apart and both pull into the same pit and the same time, their guy will get priority and you will sit and wait.

in the point to point races like baja and V2R each team needs multiple vehicles to bunny hop ahead in order to stay ahead of the race car. for example

2 chase trucks minimum needed to chase V2R effectively. start of the race, chase1 truck heads up to pit 3 while chase2 stays back and watches the start of the race and makes sure the car makes it thru the first road crossing. At that time chase1 is pulling into pit 3. when the car runs thru the road crossing chase 2 heads north for pit 7. about the same time the chase2 passes pit 3, the race car is pulling into pit 3. Chase 2 continues north for their pit to get a parking spot and set up and tools and gear out for the race car. Race car leaves pit 3 and chase 1 cleans up their mess, loads up and heads to pit 10. by this time the race car is making great head way and as chase1 crosses thru the first town they need to fuel and grab drinks and more ice (its 115 out there remember) race car is already coming into pit 7 before chase 1 even gets to that point so they scramble to get up towards pit 10 as fast as possible.

This type of bunny-hop goes on for 20 hours. and the problem is, if you are with another group, once their car leaves pit 3 they have a limited window of how long they can wait, so if you are running behind, had a flat and lost a half hour in traffic, those dudes are checking out and cant wait all day on you no matter how much money you are paying them.

There are helpful guys like baja pits and checkers and with enough money you can pit at BFGpits i am sure. folks that you give fuel cans and fuel before the race and spare tires and they carry them to the respective pits with them. does that mean they know how to fix an electrical issue for you? no. can they change a tire? yes. but trying to race a point to point race with another crew as your pit strategy will end up leaving you empty handed at some point. what if you are having a great race, and their team got stuck at pit 9 with a blown front end. they will sit there and fix their car and you wont have anybody bunny-hopping ahead for you.

i think getting to know some teams, coming to a race or two, figuring out how it works and how stressful and hectic it can be will give you a new found respect for the teams and REALLY appreciate how awesome it is to win one of those races. its A LOT of work.

 

[Slate]

Desert racing like Jim stated is a much larger level of commitment. There are many BITD races you can do with basically zero pit support. BITD has support vehicles all over the course and can be called in to extract broken machines.

As far a buy in, I have never heard of anything like this. Your best bet is contact a company like Lone Star Racing, contract with them to build your race car then work out a deal for basic pit support.

I'll take a look at some of the other BITD races. SRRS also is appealing to me. TORC to me seems like I'll always be wishing for more HP and top speed regardless of skill (yes, I'm sure there's skill to be had, but overall every track seems roughly the same). I enjoy technical. Maybe this will help me meet some people too.

I'm planning on building on my own UTV. Paying another company to build for me just doesn't interest me.

in a circular race, MINT400, UTV WorldChapmionship, Parker 250 and a few others, the team sets up in a pit and stays there the whole race. Easy Peasey for you to try to pay someone to also help pit you BUT you have to remember if you and THEIR team guy are 10 seconds apart and both pull into the same pit and the same time, their guy will get priority and you will sit and wait.

in the point to point races like baja and V2R each team needs multiple vehicles to bunny hop ahead in order to stay ahead of the race car. for example

2 chase trucks minimum needed to chase V2R effectively. start of the race, chase1 truck heads up to pit 3 while chase2 stays back and watches the start of the race and makes sure the car makes it thru the first road crossing. At that time chase1 is pulling into pit 3. when the car runs thru the road crossing chase 2 heads north for pit 7. about the same time the chase2 passes pit 3, the race car is pulling into pit 3. Chase 2 continues north for their pit to get a parking spot and set up and tools and gear out for the race car. Race car leaves pit 3 and chase 1 cleans up their mess, loads up and heads to pit 10. by this time the race car is making great head way and as chase1 crosses thru the first town they need to fuel and grab drinks and more ice (its 115 out there remember) race car is already coming into pit 7 before chase 1 even gets to that point so they scramble to get up towards pit 10 as fast as possible.

This type of bunny-hop goes on for 20 hours. and the problem is, if you are with another group, once their car leaves pit 3 they have a limited window of how long they can wait, so if you are running behind, had a flat and lost a half hour in traffic, those dudes are checking out and cant wait all day on you no matter how much money you are paying them.

There are helpful guys like baja pits and checkers and with enough money you can pit at BFGpits i am sure. folks that you give fuel cans and fuel before the race and spare tires and they carry them to the respective pits with them. does that mean they know how to fix an electrical issue for you? no. can they change a tire? yes. but trying to race a point to point race with another crew as your pit strategy will end up leaving you empty handed at some point. what if you are having a great race, and their team got stuck at pit 9 with a blown front end. they will sit there and fix their car and you wont have anybody bunny-hopping ahead for you.

i think getting to know some teams, coming to a race or two, figuring out how it works and how stressful and hectic it can be will give you a new found respect for the teams and REALLY appreciate how awesome it is to win one of those races. its A LOT of work.

Thanks for explaining about the hopping. I think I'm going to look into other loop races that I can easily do as a one man/couple team.

Do you think the Mint 400 or the other races you listed could be done as a solo driver and my wife helping to refuel? She's not super technical and still learning so as long as it's not expected that parts are going to break between laps and need replacing mid-race or I can jump out to work on it I think it'd be manageable.

I contacted a guy I've known for quite a few years over on another forum who might be driving the Baja 1000 to see if he's looking for any help. I'm looking forward to learning a lot!

---

I'd really like to thank you guys for taking the time to explain things to me. Hopefully I'll be out of this hand holding phase and racing really soon.

 

[dezertracer]

Im not sure of your location but you can also look into smaller desert series to get started. Socal has AVE pure and District 38 Arizona has AZOP and im sure there others. Some of the bigger name guys also use these for testing before the big races. I started in the AVE Pure series and ive learned a lot and met a lot of people.

 

[Ratoutahell]

So I am finally finishing my car and V2R will be my first race with it. My biggest recommendation would be to buy a used car that is already set up. If you like this type of racing, then most likely you will stick with it and you can build your own car when you are more knowledgeable and know more of what you want. This sport is growing enough that there are a lot of people that have barely used cars that don't want to race anymore. You can pick up a used car for $45K easily. I have done everything I thought necessary with my build and have done all the labor myself and I am still into the car for right at $60K. And that is not doing a lot of what I wanted to do. No bells and whistles IMO. But I have had to do things twice and I have bought stuff that I don't need or have to redo because I just did not know.

I started a thread on my car so I can show what I did and hopefully help people like yourself not make the mistakes I did.

http://www.utvunderground.com/forum/index.php?threads/journey-to-the-desert.20787/

 

[Slate]

So I am finally finishing my car and V2R will be my first race with it. My biggest recommendation would be to buy a used car that is already set up. If you like this type of racing, then most likely you will stick with it and you can build your own car when you are more knowledgeable and know more of what you want. This sport is growing enough that there are a lot of people that have barely used cars that don't want to race anymore. You can pick up a used car for $45K easily. I have done everything I thought necessary with my build and have done all the labor myself and I am still into the car for right at $60K. And that is not doing a lot of what I wanted to do. No bells and whistles IMO. But I have had to do things twice and I have bought stuff that I don't need or have to redo because I just did not know.

I started a thread on my car so I can show what I did and hopefully help people like yourself not make the mistakes I did.

http://www.utvunderground.com/forum/index.php?threads/journey-to-the-desert.20787/

Looking good man! Thanks for sharing your build thread and expenses. Any good places to look for good used cars?

Do you have friends who will be helping with pits at V2R?

 

[Ratoutahell]

http://classifieds.race-dezert.com/index.php?ct=utvrace&

The above would be the best bet. There are generally always cars rolling through there. Plus we are getting close to the new model years being released so that should push some cars through.

Yes, I have a small crew with 2 chase trucks that we are going to try and make work. I have been fortunate to meet some good guys local to me that run TT so they have been advising me.

Don't forget race entry fee ($1250), Hotels, ($1500), transponder ($100), Racing trax ($250), fuel, spares, and travel expenses! It adds up quick!

 

[BiggJim]

I'll take a look at some of the other BITD races. SRRS also is appealing to me. TORC to me seems like I'll always be wishing for more HP and top speed regardless of skill (yes, I'm sure there's skill to be had, but overall every track seems roughly the same). I enjoy technical. Maybe this will help me meet some people too.

I'm planning on building on my own UTV. Paying another company to build for me just doesn't interest me.



Thanks for explaining about the hopping. I think I'm going to look into other loop races that I can easily do as a one man/couple team.

Do you think the Mint 400 or the other races you listed could be done as a solo driver and my wife helping to refuel? She's not super technical and still learning so as long as it's not expected that parts are going to break between laps and need replacing mid-race or I can jump out to work on it I think it'd be manageable.

I contacted a guy I've known for quite a few years over on another forum who might be driving the Baja 1000 to see if he's looking for any help. I'm looking forward to learning a lot!

---

I'd really like to thank you guys for taking the time to explain things to me. Hopefully I'll be out of this hand holding phase and racing really soon.

The utv class requires a drive and codriver. You cant Solo the mint400