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Bi-Polar's
Arctic Cat Prowler XT UTV Desert Race Team
::Continued::
One of the most important elements that Bi-Polar
incorporates into the desert racing Prowler is the
batteries. “We use three batteries with switches
to isolate each battery. They power our lights,
which are the state of the art VisionX lights that
are LED lights and only draw six amps per light,”
Jim explained. “We also have our radios and
intercom systems, and our air pump that pumps fresh
air into our helmets so we aren’t breathing
dust for 1000 miles.”
In Baja and desert racing, the right tires play
a big part in avoiding unnecessary time loss brought
on by flats and Bi-Polar uses BFG all-terrain
radials with beadlocks. “We chose to run
the all-terrain radials because it’s the
toughest tire known to man. They have more wins
that any other tire company on the planet,”
Jim declared. “We’ve run them in many
races and have never had a flat yet,” he
stated. The team does keep one spare tire on the
UTV just in case. “You never know what can
happen, that’s just the nature of Baja.”
Besides racing in the SCORE series, the Bi-Polar
team also races the BITD series and has had some
amazing success. Their most recent race was the
BITD Blue Water Grand Prix where Jim and his team
placed first in their class and their second team
placed seventh and earned 15th overall. Their
results are quite impressive considering they
are running bone stock motors. The top speed of
the vehicles reaches about 62 mph but in rough
terrain a maximum speed of about 40-45 mph is
most consistent and controllable depending on
conditions.
Even though the Bi-Polar team utilizes many of
the stock parts from the Arctic Cat Prowler 650
XT, Creagan admits it still takes a lot of time
and expense to get the machines ready for the
grueling desert events. The cost of building a
Bi-Polar Prowler costs somewhere in the $50k range,
but Creagan estimates that on an individual basis
that the Prowler could be built to Baja specs
for roughly $10k, plus the cost of the machine,
if one was inclined to do all the work themselves,
but it would be a huge undertaking. “It’s
a monumental effort to keep a race team going.
We have a crew of 22 and 4 chase trucks. It takes
several months to build the UTV, then it takes
several months to perfect it, then you are still
constantly working on it. It’s a never ending
project,” Jim said matter-of-factly.
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While meeting
with Arctic Cat's Bi-Polar Desert Race
Team, I had a chance to ride in their
Pro Truck through the desert, and it was
an experience of a life time drifting
around turns through the desert with boulders,
bushes, and trees streaking by as you
cruise along at over 80+ mph
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As of now, the Bi-Polar team is busy preparing
for the 2008 Baja 1000 where they hope to be able
to do what no other UTV team has done before,
and that is to finish. “There are very few
things left in any kind of racing where someone
can complete a race and say they were the first.
There’s only one first and we want to be
able to be the first.” Jim said adamantly.
The Tecate SCORE BAJA 1000 takes place on November
20-23 this year where we hope to see Jim Creagan
and the Arctic Cat/Bi-Polar team accomplish their
goal of being the first UTV to finish and claim
their spot in Baja 1000 history.
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