The 2015 season was spent trying to transition from many years of motorcycle desert racing to UTV desert racing. We quickly realized building, testing and maintaining a race car was much, much harder than doing the same with a motorcycle. Couple this with the fact that the last time we raced motorcycles it was with full factory support.
We did a complete tear down and rebuild after losing the motor late in the race at Vegas to Reno. Testing went well over the past several weeks and we were very pleased with how the Fox/Cognito valved suspension was working with the 32” STI ChicaneRx tires. We didn’t have a single problem with our Cognito a-arms, trailing-arms, tie-rods or radius-rods in all of 2015, so we were confident they could handle the stress of the 32” tires.
The race started well as we got off the line in front of the car next to us. Things were going great until we hit the first long straight and the car was only able to hit 62 mph. This was odd as we were well over this top speed during testing. We thought, just another example of testing vs. racing! Over the first 40 miles or so we were fast in the tighter sections but slow on the roads. Also, the brakes were starting to feel a bit soft. We figured the brakes were having trouble with the 32” tires. Around mile 50 in one of the really tight sections, we lost the brakes completely. Jumped out of the car, walked around 2 or 3 times and couldn’t see any brake fluid leaking. Jumped back in the car, had a bit of brake pedal and figured the brakes just couldn’t handle the tight sections with the bigger tires. Two miles later no brakes again. Jumped out of the car again and noticed (thanks to all the smoke) that the left rear caliper and rotor were at a 45 degree angle. No wonder the car was running like a dog. I thought, we have spare calipers in the pits, so back in the car we went (no, we didn’t remove the caliper). A mile later, with no brakes, it finally hit me JUST REMOVE THE CALIPER AND TIE IT UP! So, out of the car again, removed and tied up the caliper and off again. Two miles later, POW, we nailed a rock square with the right front tire. Back out of the car again, changed the flat and back on our way. However, the good news was that the car was now running at the speeds we had experienced during testing.
Made it with no additional problems to the main pit and they informed us we were something like 16th in class and 25th overall. Less than stellar and not what we hoping for.
We tore out of the pits with the car simply ripping. Motor was good, suspension was good, 32” Chicane’s were really good. We were passing car after car and in what seemed like just a few minutes we finished the second lap. Up on the podium, they informed us we were probably 5th or 6th in class and 12th or 13th overall. Wow, we knew we had a good lap but that was great news. Final results had us 6th in class and 14th overall.
After both the good and bad from Parker, we are really pleased with the car and are super pumped for the UTV World Championships.
![2016-bitd-parker-250-sebastian-krywult-utvunderground.com186-210x120[1].jpg](/forum/data/attachments/23/23070-e9ff696672a2e02753e1ff956b7bc496.jpg)
Thanks to all our 2016 sponsors: Monster Energy, Cognito Motorsports, Vendetta Motorsports (car builder), OMF Wheels, STI ChicaneRx tires, Trinity Exhaust, Torco Oil, Fox, Rigid, Summers Brothers, PRP Seats and Hunsaker Dump Cans.
![2016-bitd-parker-250-sebastian-krywult-utvunderground.com149-210x120[1].jpg](/forum/data/attachments/23/23069-0a9232426f8602b1253e1f4cfd3af46f.jpg)
A special thanks to Justin, Jim and all the guys at Cognito. They are very professional group and have helped tremendously with our transition to UTVs.
![2016-bitd-parker-250-rusty-baptist-utvunderground.com048-210x120[1].jpg](/forum/data/attachments/23/23068-4641e03e1b8c709809ed7a17e76a4040.jpg)
Also, thanks to the guys at Vendetta Motorsports for coming out to help in the pits.
We did a complete tear down and rebuild after losing the motor late in the race at Vegas to Reno. Testing went well over the past several weeks and we were very pleased with how the Fox/Cognito valved suspension was working with the 32” STI ChicaneRx tires. We didn’t have a single problem with our Cognito a-arms, trailing-arms, tie-rods or radius-rods in all of 2015, so we were confident they could handle the stress of the 32” tires.
The race started well as we got off the line in front of the car next to us. Things were going great until we hit the first long straight and the car was only able to hit 62 mph. This was odd as we were well over this top speed during testing. We thought, just another example of testing vs. racing! Over the first 40 miles or so we were fast in the tighter sections but slow on the roads. Also, the brakes were starting to feel a bit soft. We figured the brakes were having trouble with the 32” tires. Around mile 50 in one of the really tight sections, we lost the brakes completely. Jumped out of the car, walked around 2 or 3 times and couldn’t see any brake fluid leaking. Jumped back in the car, had a bit of brake pedal and figured the brakes just couldn’t handle the tight sections with the bigger tires. Two miles later no brakes again. Jumped out of the car again and noticed (thanks to all the smoke) that the left rear caliper and rotor were at a 45 degree angle. No wonder the car was running like a dog. I thought, we have spare calipers in the pits, so back in the car we went (no, we didn’t remove the caliper). A mile later, with no brakes, it finally hit me JUST REMOVE THE CALIPER AND TIE IT UP! So, out of the car again, removed and tied up the caliper and off again. Two miles later, POW, we nailed a rock square with the right front tire. Back out of the car again, changed the flat and back on our way. However, the good news was that the car was now running at the speeds we had experienced during testing.
Made it with no additional problems to the main pit and they informed us we were something like 16th in class and 25th overall. Less than stellar and not what we hoping for.
We tore out of the pits with the car simply ripping. Motor was good, suspension was good, 32” Chicane’s were really good. We were passing car after car and in what seemed like just a few minutes we finished the second lap. Up on the podium, they informed us we were probably 5th or 6th in class and 12th or 13th overall. Wow, we knew we had a good lap but that was great news. Final results had us 6th in class and 14th overall.
After both the good and bad from Parker, we are really pleased with the car and are super pumped for the UTV World Championships.
Thanks to all our 2016 sponsors: Monster Energy, Cognito Motorsports, Vendetta Motorsports (car builder), OMF Wheels, STI ChicaneRx tires, Trinity Exhaust, Torco Oil, Fox, Rigid, Summers Brothers, PRP Seats and Hunsaker Dump Cans.
A special thanks to Justin, Jim and all the guys at Cognito. They are very professional group and have helped tremendously with our transition to UTVs.
Also, thanks to the guys at Vendetta Motorsports for coming out to help in the pits.
