Snow Racing With Steven Mueller

Snow Racing With Steven Mueller

So new year, new car, new series, new, new, new! That would come back to bite me a bit this weekend but more on that soon.

We headed down to @dirtyturtleoffroad for @prorockracing UTV Survival Racing. I was fortunate enough to get to intercept @tire_spine in Frankfort, KY to get the new Tire Spines installed. So big thanks to them! I got to the track and went to put the new OMF HPO wheels and tires on with the new L&W Suspension, and quickly discovered I had routed my brake lines on the front A-Arms in the wrong location and the wheels were hitting them. So I had to relocate the lines. I called up my good friend Devin Smith who was en route to the track the following day and asked for him to grab me a couple of parts on his way so I could get the lines moved. Thanks, Devin for the help! I got those all moved and took the car out on the short course for some quick practice 15 minutes before qualifying only to discover another initial build bug and triggered limp mode. A quick message to @aftermarketassassins for some tune band-aid help and that was temporarily fixed.

I went up locked and loaded for qualifying and went and turned what felt like a good fast lap, only to find out after I pulled off the track that I had to run again because snow tripped the timer and my time was invalid ☹️ so to the back of the qualifying line I went for another run. By this time the snow was really coming down and track conditions were getting even worse. I think I was the last UTV to qualify for the day. I went out and gave it the best I could slipping and sliding and hitting the ruts hard. I ended up mid-pack 15th and row 3.

The next morning cold, snow everywhere from overnight, we took off for the race. I was able to pull the holeshot off-row 3 and held onto the row leading into the woods. Once I came up to what I’m calling Ice Mountain, where I was told at one point had 13 UTV’s trying to make it up it at one time, the ground was frozen hard with all the snow and cold. In an attempt to make it up the hill the coolant line ended up blowing off the thermostat housing of the engine due to a loose clamp dumping all the coolant. It was at this point I decided I’m not risking a brand new engine trying to finish the race with no coolant. I had to call the race off at that point.

So I have a list of bugs to work out from the initial new build. This is very very rare for me to not finish, but this is 100% my fault for letting this happen. I just ran out of time trying to get everything 100% tested and tuned and validated before the first race. I’m confident ill have everything worked out before the next race. I have a busy couple weeks ahead that’s for sure! This new Polaris RZR Pro XP feels amazing, I’m really looking forward to this season!!

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