New KOH class.......

[Trailabite]

I found this info on another site - has anyone on here been watching this unfold? Sounds bad a$$ to me.

Driving home from moab.  Had an amazing meeting last night with industry leaders, koh racers, current sponsors, and a couple long time trail guys.

The purpose of this expansion is two fold, expand racing opportunities to new potential racers and give vendors and manufacturers an opportunity to prove their worth in a direct comparison market.

This wont be a clunker race.  This will be an opportunity to be a professional racer at a budget you feel comfortable with.  We debated the rules for several hours but the overriding principle was to limit loopholes where teams would get outspent rather than outraced.

I am proud of my contributions to the land use fight over the last 10 years.  I will continue to donate time,  leadership, and money to the cause.  But, koh costs 45k in BLM fees alone.  This is a business its how I and 3 other people feed their families.  I also wouldn't dream of having someone donate or crush the car they've spent money and a lifetime of dreams building.

I'll publish comprehensive rules when im on a real computer.  But here are the basics....

Stock is just that stock

Factory suspension configuration.  Homebuilt or commercial upgrades acceptable.

Full body.  Full frame

Hydro assist accepatable

35" dot tires

Axle and tcase upgrades acceptable

Motor available from factory in model and year

No bypasses allowed

Safety items similar to the big race


Stock mod requires a frame between the axles. 

Bypasses allowed

Motor swaps allowed

37" dot tires

More specifc rules soon

Entry fee in the 700 range

Purse paid down 3 spots.  Winner races on Friday

Course harder than utv but doable between 75 and 100 miles.

Bring it

[Do Work 93 YJ]

That would be awesome. {toast}

[Logan]

A funny read for you, with so many people trying to make the rules fit their rig, rather than being willing to change their rigs for the rules.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=973059

[Trailabite]

A funny read for you, with so many people trying to make the rules fit their rig, rather than being willing to change their rigs for the rules.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=973059

Haha, good stuff.

[Trailabite]

Any thought on what would be good choice as a stocker? I'm thinking along the lines of an 87 waggy. They have decent axles and come with a V8.

[Logan]

A V8 isn't going to be worth too much in the Dessert section with leaf springs, without a lot of work. I would say the LJ's, Grand cherokees, and xj's will be the dominant choices for Stock class. Lj's are coil sprung front and rear, have a factory 44 rear, were offered with a factory 44 front, has many proven bolt on suspension systems for go fast and rockcrawling, and enough wheel base to be stable in the dessert section. Grands are similar, but were also offered with a V8 from the factory. XJ's proven dessert setups(Jeepspeed), If fender cutting is allowed it would be easy to keep one low enough to do really well in the rocks and still have travel for the go fast stuff, and if axle upgrades are allowed they were offered in South America with Dana 44 fronts.

Even with this being pitched as more of an "everyman's" race, it's still not a budget race, I would say it will still take an investment of 15K to 30K to be competitive, but with last years race, you were looking at 100k minimum to be a semi-competitive team.

[Trailabite]

Wasn't really thinking about the desert running........the idea of a Grand Cherokees sounds good. We need those rules!

[RotorHead]

I read through the fist 6 pages or so over on pirate. I think they're all taking the stock word too serious. I'm hoping it will be for Jeeps like we build. Let them run 40" tires and make them nice rigs, that people can buy or build themselves. This let's all the lift and other offroad manufacturers showcase their stuff.

Kind of what the two JK's that ran the KOH last year were doing, but create a whole class for rigs like this.

Don't make it a bomber division with stock suspensions and 32" tires. That ain't gonna sell any merchandise.

[RotorHead]

Also all the talk of using xj's and old broncos isn't going to bring any support from the marketing side. It's all about the new.

Think about the stock idea for a minute. Am I going add about 5000 worth of safety mods to a Jeep that has no performance mods. Who does that? Especially an external racing fuel cell that takes up your cargo area. Just so you can go beat the hell out of it for another $1000. Not me.

[RotorHead]

And another thing. Let me put my front 60 in and build the cage and I'd run my Jeep through that bish.

[BigJerm]

A V8 isn't going to be worth too much in the Dessert section with leaf springs, without a lot of work. I would say the LJ's, Grand cherokees, and xj's will be the dominant choices for Stock class. Lj's are coil sprung front and rear, have a factory 44 rear, were offered with a factory 44 front, has many proven bolt on suspension systems for go fast and rockcrawling, and enough wheel base to be stable in the dessert section. Grands are similar, but were also offered with a V8 from the factory. XJ's proven dessert setups(Jeepspeed), If fender cutting is allowed it would be easy to keep one low enough to do really well in the rocks and still have travel for the go fast stuff, and if axle upgrades are allowed they were offered in South America with Dana 44 fronts.

Even with this being pitched as more of an "everyman's" race, it's still not a budget race, I would say it will still take an investment of 15K to 30K to be competitive, but with last years race, you were looking at 100k minimum to be a semi-competitive team.

Sponsor anyone?

[Logan]

Mike, the race organizers chimed in the last 2 or 3 pages with a rough outline of the rules. They're doing stock and stock mod. The Stock class will be restrictive to limit being able to spend your way to the winner circle, The JK's you're talking about will fit just fine in the stock mod class. The Stock class is not intended to be a bomber race though, it's intended to be a drivers race.

And just because the xj's and B2's don't have the fanboys that wranglers do, don't assume there is no manufacturer support for them. XJ's are currently big in dessert racing in the Jeep speed class and the aftermarket is getting quite large for them. Why start with a 30K base vehicle with an underpowered engine and transmission, then add another 30K worth of parts to it, when you can start with a 2K rig, and spend the rest on upgrades? Also I think a properly built TTB rig could own the class. I'm sorry, I like JK's but they are not all that, without spending big money, just like any other rig.