Getting ready for a race here on the 30th.

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Go get em Steve...amazing how 30 yr ol Pilots are still winning trophies mate!...Good luck from Downunder.

Thanks buddy, good to hear from you.

If the course is rough enough I will give them a run for there money.

Looking great Steve!!

Looks good but what did you upgrade? I thought you had already built that rear suspension? New Engine?

Give me hell. Show them what you and the pilot have. Can't wait to see the results.

Such a bad ass pilot!

Good luck, have fun!

Throw some dirt, kick some a@s, raise hell but mostly have fun and keep both you and machine intact.
Beautiful machine and workmanship.

Hey Stevo - I was looking closer at your photos. I see you have a stock tank with the openings sealed up, and a fuel pump with what appears to be 2 outputs. And then there is the spun tank with a blue tube running up above the brake light. What am I missing - I cant make sense of it. First I thought the spun was just extra fuel storage, but not sure. Set me straight on your fuel setup please. Are you desert racing long haul or track?

Thank you Terry, yours to Sir.



Hello Sir, yes Engine all rebuilt, all oem. Also the air intake system, fuel system, rear brake caliper bracket (new Speedchaser I have had for at least 10 yrs.) and a couple other small things.



Thank you Sir, much appreciated.



Thank you Sir, much appreciated. I sure hope to but worried the course will not be rough enough this time but we will see. Tough, rough and mean is where she lives.



Hello Rich, I put that blue hose there just to mess with you.

Just kidding, the fuel pump is a higher volume pump, I was worried about the extra height I added for the oem pump to push the fuel.
The blue hose is a vent line.

One of my big problems running with these new machines is not only the fact they are way faster then me but they also can go way further on a tank of fuel. I lose a ton of time pitting to fuel up. The last race I did last year I added a different extra tank and used a valve mounted on the tank next to my seat to dump fuel in to the main tank, well the course was so rough I could not take my hand off of the wheel to turn the valve on and off without stopping.

Now I have it setup to work as 1 tank even though it is 2, I had the extra tank custom made. I have a little over 10 gallons now and should be able to go 100 miles. Fingers crossed. She gets about 9.7 miles to the gallon running her hard.

I do basically desert racing but they mark out a course, I think this one is 19 mile loops. This next race is 100 miles.

Well good luck and hope you kick some ass!

Well that's one hell of a setup - a first for a pilot, as far as I know. Do you plan on running the main valve on "on" or "reserve". Sounds like you could be cutting it close if not on reserve.

How did you seal the fill neck of the OEM tank. At first it looked like it had tape over it, but now I see it must be where you used masking tape to paint it.

what is the stroke length of your rear shocks and are they from another machine or just purchased for the pilot?
I'm looking for shocks to do a long travel but not a lot of 2 inch shocks out there without buying new.
Thanks

Hello Rich, I had a cap welded over the gas cap mount, it is done so that it can be cut back off and the original cap used again. I run it on reserve always, takes to much time to slow down and switch the fuel petcock.



Hello Kuma, they halve a 12 inch stroke, they are not made for a pilot but a much bigger vehicle, they have had a lot of valving work.

Here is a video of part 1 of my race, sorry for the bad camera spot I lost my other gopro in the same place last year and did not want to lose this one so we tried a new mount.

The track had way to many long straight away's for me to compete well, I broke my left rear axle half way through the 4th. lap and my dang gopro battery went bad and only got part of the race.

Sorry it is so long, I have no way to shorten it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1EvbGZ ... e=youtu.be

I tried to fix it but for some reason it starts the link at 3:22.

Wow Steve, sounds like the Engine was running great. Talk about WOT (Wide Open Throttle). Looks like you had a blast. Very interested in the broken axle. Sorry to hear you broke down. How did you get the machine back? When you have time please post some pictures of the break.

That sucks about the axle! That terrain looked pretty rough to me,especially at beginning of video,then towards the end of video were the longer straightaways.What were the other vehicles you were racing? How do you think you would have done if axle wouldn't have broke?

The Engine did great, very proud of it. The axle broke right at the outer joint, it did not even tear the boot. I drove it back, the team out there was great, they followed me all the way back to the pits to make sure I made it.



The track was way to fast, I wish I had not lost my camera out there last year, the track then was much much rougher and way more competition that were every bit as fast as the guys I raced yesterday. In that race no one passed me, I passed people and took the lead until I broke my lower control arm in half and my 1st. lap time was smoking fast, as fast as a class 10 big time fast car. I was racing pro in that race. The Veterans 150 race in T or C New Mexico was even tougher, I was lapping people in that race, Pro class with some very fast people and machines and again way more people I was racing against.

In this race they ran the Pro class with the big trucks and it was 200 miles, I will not run with those trucks (I do not want to get killed, the things I race now would destroy me if they hit me) and I can not run my Pilot 200 miles straight, it would be to hard on the Engine. What I do with it now really worries me especially on a track like this one. I had to run Sportsman this time, there were only 3 guys I raced, you can see them pass me in the first lap. Two Turbo Can Ams and one Yamaha.

I will not race a track like this again, no sense, you can see in the video how much faster they are, like big time.

Also I was told during Tech inspection that this will probably be the last year they let me race, they said it is because of insurance.
Something really cool did happen though, the Gentleman that runs Red Rock Racing personally invited me to come and race with them, he told me there tracks are much more technical.

New Mexico 200, Belen New Mexico. The course was very fast, lots of long straight away's, those guys are so dang fast on the straights. I need a very rough course to run with them.
I broke my left rear axle (snapped it right at the outer joint) half way through the 4th. lap, my race was 5 laps.
Here is a link to part 2 of my video, sorry about the camera location, we tried a new mount spot because I lost my Go Pro out there last year at the same place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmRF_Gn ... e=youtu.be

Here is a link to the last part of my video before the battery quit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu4kv09 ... e=youtu.be

Yeah I saw the video you posted on Facebook with the start of the race and saw the other 3 vehicles,was a little surprised to see the two 4 passenger behemoths racing {that was me who asked where the music was blasting from} Yeah that's not the kind of track to be able to compete with those engines,you said your Engine is stock right? Swap a 670 Polaris in it :)
What is Red Rocks Racing? I googled it and didnt find much,a bicycle race team on FB and a dirt track in Pennsylvania

Hello George, those 4 seaters are faster then you would think and there suspensions have come a long way especially when they upgrade, I can still run with them on a rough course but give them a little leg room and there are gone.

My Engine is a oem pilot Engine but not stock by any means, even with a sled Engine 65 to 70 mph is still top speed.
I like my Engine, I will take on anyone with it in a rough course. If you look close at the second video you can see when I go through the pits that the new Yamaha is pulling out right behind me, I did not know it during the race I thought I was behind everyone, even with all the flat stuff in the bottom of the course I never saw him and he does not catch me until the top of the course half way through the long fast section. Freaked me out when he did pass me, left me like I was standing still, I did not realize where he came from until I watched the video. There was enough rough parts in the lower section that allowed me to leave him until he could open his machine up.
The only way I can run with those guys is where my suspension beats them, Engine is of course very important but suspension is everything.

Red Rock Racing is a small outfit out of Gallup New Mexico, there is a link to it on my facebook page.

Looks like a beautiful day.

Is that a flannel drivers suit?

Aftermarket axle right? Did they come from Dave?