Has anyone heard word of significant OEM changes in the long travel UTV market for 2015? I'm not talking about paddle shifting 500 cc UTV's, I specifically am interested in what we race in the desert. The pro-sportsman class of UTV racing. We are all waiting to see what develops in the drive train area, namely the CVT system. The manufacturers are pretty tight lipped about that though, I guess in an effort to reduce their current inventory before introducing desirable and mechanically advantageous changes to a specific model line.
I heard that for the 2015 model year, Can-am will be taking a page from the Monster Mav's playbook and aligning the rear CV joints (If that happens, you all will never hear the end of it from this member
!) That's a serious change! I spoke in depth with the Can-am guys at this years Mint regarding CV joint alignment, and the kinematics of work being transmitted through an angle. Torsional forces, like linear and angular forces, are always vulnerable when asked to change the direction, or method in which they originated.
We all brag about BHP (horse power that is measured at the crankshaft), but really, what matters is what percentage of that horsepower is lost by the time it reaches the ground. If you put your hand on the cv joint(s) of your car immediately following a race, you will feel a certain amount of heat, usually between 150 and 300 degrees F. The heat is due to friction, and friction is the product (in this example) of the horse power being asked to change directions. It is natures way of being lazy. The energy (horsepower) that the engine generated was not "stored" somewhere for use at a later time, but rather wasted due to our need for it to go where it does. The product of that is heat. I guarantee you that the cv's on our Mav after a race are much cooler than those on another Maverick (without the differential mods that we have done) after the same race. I did not understand how a company that builds airplanes did not rank this area higher than they did when deciding to introduce compound working angles to the cv joints.. Perhaps an educated engineer can chime in here. I have no degree in engineering (although I have taken a couple of semesters in physics). I'm only self taught, and the majority of that is compliments of the resource center we all know as the web.
I will try to get the Monster Mav over to Nate at Alba sometime this year and compare dyno numbers from a stock Maverickk, to our race configuration. I will share the results here when I do.
I applaud BRP and Can-am if they implement such a change. It would be evidence that they are listening and learning from what we are doing with their product, and are striving to make a better product for all of us (albeit harder to improve upon!)
I heard that for the 2015 model year, Can-am will be taking a page from the Monster Mav's playbook and aligning the rear CV joints (If that happens, you all will never hear the end of it from this member
!) That's a serious change! I spoke in depth with the Can-am guys at this years Mint regarding CV joint alignment, and the kinematics of work being transmitted through an angle. Torsional forces, like linear and angular forces, are always vulnerable when asked to change the direction, or method in which they originated. We all brag about BHP (horse power that is measured at the crankshaft), but really, what matters is what percentage of that horsepower is lost by the time it reaches the ground. If you put your hand on the cv joint(s) of your car immediately following a race, you will feel a certain amount of heat, usually between 150 and 300 degrees F. The heat is due to friction, and friction is the product (in this example) of the horse power being asked to change directions. It is natures way of being lazy. The energy (horsepower) that the engine generated was not "stored" somewhere for use at a later time, but rather wasted due to our need for it to go where it does. The product of that is heat. I guarantee you that the cv's on our Mav after a race are much cooler than those on another Maverick (without the differential mods that we have done) after the same race. I did not understand how a company that builds airplanes did not rank this area higher than they did when deciding to introduce compound working angles to the cv joints.. Perhaps an educated engineer can chime in here. I have no degree in engineering (although I have taken a couple of semesters in physics). I'm only self taught, and the majority of that is compliments of the resource center we all know as the web.
I will try to get the Monster Mav over to Nate at Alba sometime this year and compare dyno numbers from a stock Maverickk, to our race configuration. I will share the results here when I do.
I applaud BRP and Can-am if they implement such a change. It would be evidence that they are listening and learning from what we are doing with their product, and are striving to make a better product for all of us (albeit harder to improve upon!)
