Pat Mcardle: Hey, have you ever wondered what's the same on a Polaris Factory Pro R Race Machine versus a stock rig? Well, I've got my good buddy Andy Ives here to tell us all about it. Stay tuned for more. All right, so Andy, why don't you tell everybody what it is you do here and kind of how long you've been at Polaris?
Andy Ives: Uh, yeah, my name is Andy Ives. I've been at Polaris for about 16 years now. Uh, most of that time was working on the RZR platform starting back in the days of the original 800 50 horsepower, uh, RZR 800 all the way up through Pro R and the last two years working on the race program.
Pat Mcardle: You know, as you think about kind of the two vehicles that we've got sitting here today, obviously we've got a brand new model year 25 Pro R, right, straight off this showroom floor. Uh, and then we've got this beautiful Gen 2 race machine, right? So as I start looking at these, obviously, like all this front plastic looks exactly the same, right? Hood, upper fenders, lights, fascia, yep. I mean, how hard was it to be able to graft some of that stuff over to get this second gen race machine, you know, set up to look mostly like the factory RZR from the front?
Andy Ives: Yeah, from an aesthetic standpoint, you nailed it. You know, all this front fascia is right from the production vehicle. Um, but under the hood, you take that thing off here and you can see all the the similarities and differences.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. So as we start looking here, Andy, there's a couple other things I noticed that look like they're pretty much stocked right off the production rig. Um, so coming down, shocks look maybe slightly modified but pretty darn close. But when we get down like to the hub, the lower control arm, all that stuff looks just like it does on the factory Pro R, right?
Andy Ives: 100%. Um, really the only thing we did on the, uh, suspension in the front was to make an adjustable upper control arm to adjust camber and caster. Uh, different scenarios when you're racing, you know, you don't have to worry about that for the production vehicles as much. So the durability, the strength, the performance of the other components were spot on and good for racing.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. So even as I go back here and look kind of at the steering system, it looks like, you know, kind of that powered steering rack is exactly the same down in here. Um, but maybe just the difference in tie rod end to go to the uniball out at the end, right?
Andy Ives: Yeah, exactly. Again, trying to maximize as much as we could all the production vehicle components. Uh, steering rack is 100% the same. Um, we did change from tie rods to make a little additional strength. Uh, as you are more likely to hit stuff obviously when you're bombing through the desert. Uh, but yeah, again, taking the the really good parts that we have in the production vehicle, carrying them over to the race vehicle makes my life a lot easier.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. Well, I see we've got a bunch of parts over on the bench. Maybe let's head over there and kind of walk through those one by one. All right, so Andy, what what all do we have here on this table?
Andy Ives: Yeah, what we're showing here is pretty much all the the components that are common with, uh, the race vehicle as well as the production vehicle. So right here in your hands is the the upper control arm or upper knuckle as well as unitized hub assembly. Uh, this is 100% the same as you see in the production Pro R. It's, uh, the same fasteners, the same hub, and the same knuckle itself.
Pat Mcardle: Yeah, so right here where the wheel bolts on, right? Half shaft comes through the middle spline part. Uh, these attached to the upper and lower control arm. So pretty, pretty simple operation here. All right, next one here is, well, we've got one in the A-arm and we've got one outside, but the lower ball joint, right?
Andy Ives: Yeah, that's, uh, the lower ball joint as well as the the whole lower control arm is 100% the same. Um, this control arm has been in production for the beginning of the vehicle in Pro R and it's been really good, really solid. If you look at it and, you know, stamped, um, really nice welds, really nice part.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. And not only is the ball joint the same, but like the spherical where the shock hooks up and the bushings where it connects to the frame are the same too, right?
Andy Ives: Yeah, 100% the same part number that you can buy off the website today.
Pat Mcardle: Yeah, and same, I mean, we don't have them here, but all the fasteners that attach everything, same bolts, right? All right, uh, the next one here, you know, I recognize the part, but this one's actually a little bit different and I think maybe an upgrade from earlier 25, right?
Andy Ives: Yeah, you got it. If you notice here, this is the thermostat cover that goes on the engine. Uh, the one thing that you'll notice here is it's a one-piece casting with all the machined, uh, fittings. Uh, previous years, we actually had a multi-piece assembly where the fittings were pressed in. And as we're, you know, developing the race vehicle, testing, uh, putting it through extreme kind of duty cycles, taking the learnings we have on the race vehicle, uh, doing what we can to incorporate those into the production vehicles so that everybody has a a better experience in the future.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. So as we think about it though, other things engine wise, obviously we've got a thermostat sitting here, right? No difference at all.
Andy Ives: 100% the same. Exactly.
Pat Mcardle: Yeah, okay, nice. Oil filter. I mean, I I even recognize this part number from changing oil on my rigs, right?
Andy Ives: No no difference at all. Uh, and if we bounce down to the end, we've got a few oil bottles sitting here. Um, same same oil that you can run on a production rig too, right? Yeah, so engine oil, the PS4 Extreme. Uh, really good stuff, uh, from Lubritech. We use that stuff, it works really great. Uh, and then same with our, um, drive oils. We have the the drive oil for the front drive transmission and rear drive. 100% production, uh, oils that you can buy from your dealer today.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. All right, let's get back up here to kind of where we were. So talking, you know, engine oil, oil filter. Uh, obviously we've got, you know, a bunch of different electronics sitting on the bench here too. Um, and even though this factory, uh, race machine runs a different engine controller and harness, all pretty much of the engine sensors and actuators and injectors are the same, right?
Andy Ives: Yeah, 100%. O2 sensors, um, map sensors, injectors, you know, all the the components of the engine, really actually the, so far to date, we haven't run a different engine. The engine that we have in our, uh, race vehicle is 100% a stock production engine. Everybody say thinks we have this like hopped up engine and we're just beating everybody because of that. But it's really a production car, production part that we use and have had really good success with it.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. And a lot of times I think people often think too like, hey, these guys are swapping engines every single time. Uh, and really that's not the case, right? A lot of times you guys are doing oil samples to make sure the engine's in good shape, topping it back off and it runs multiple races.
Andy Ives: Yeah, we take oil samples from all the drives, Transmissions, uh, engine in an effort to try to learn what that durability cycle is and how long that part lives. Uh, we did the same thing with all suspension components. We track the life of those components in order to understand how long they can live, um, what they've been through and then taking those learnings again from the race vehicle and the race team and pouring that right back into the production vehicle and development for that one for the future years.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. All right, continuing back. Uh, the next thing we've got here is a little bit of candy to look at. Uh, but exhaust wise, this is a bone stock head pipe. I mean, flange, the piping, the collector, the O2 sensor, everything, right?
Andy Ives: Yeah, again, you know, online you see everybody says bolt-on, slip-on exhaust, plus 100 horsepower or something. And turns out we've tried those and put them on our dynos and and really it's not the case. Uh, our powertrain team, uh, spent many many hours in the dyno, uh, on the field, you know, driving these vehicles with our our test drivers as well as our our race, um, mechanics and team, uh, learning a lot and and honestly, we haven't got anywhere that shows that anything other than the stock part is better. So hence, we run the stock part.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. All right, so the next one back here, uh, is something that a lot of people may not actually recognize, uh, right. But so Ken, what is this thing and, uh, what does it do on the on the RZR?
Andy Ives: Uh, this is called the PTO. This actually comes assembled on the transmission today from Team Industries. Uh, basically it's a coupler between, uh, the transmission and the clutch. So the spline shaft on the one side goes into the transmission and then the tapered shaft on the other side is what attaches to your primary clutch.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. So this is what most people are used to seeing if they've got a primary clutch off, right?
Andy Ives: Exactly.
Pat Mcardle: Okay, so speaking of clutches, maybe let's go there next and I'll grab the primary that actually goes on that. Um, and looking at this thing, I mean, visually this looks like a bone stock clutch. What's different?
Andy Ives: Again, it is 100% the production assembly part number. Uh, the one thing we do change, we run 35 inch tires on the race vehicles, so we, uh, accommodate for that in the system by lightening the weights up. We run the elevation weights at are 110 gram versus the production 117 gram weights. Uh, but the, uh, the spring, the sheaves, the whole other assembly is 100% the same. So really is just a weight change on the primary clutch.
Pat Mcardle: And then jump into the secondary clutch here.
Andy Ives: A very similar story, you know, it's the sheaves are production. Everything's the same. Um, same baffles, same fasteners, same helix. Um, there really there isn't a difference on this one. It's 100% the same.
Pat Mcardle: That's awesome.
Andy Ives: Same rollers. Same rollers, same everything. I can get it back together.
Pat Mcardle: All right, next one here I see is a set of shift cables here. Uh, and these are basically what we used for the first few years of production. Uh, now I know because I got to take a look at the, uh, stock model year 25 that these have actually been upgraded now. So I think you guys are also going to get those for the factory race machines, right?
Andy Ives: Yeah, I listen to, uh, your your Shop Talk and learned some stuff, so I decided we should probably upgrade ours as well. So we'll be having the new, uh, the same model year 25, uh, cables in the race vehicle as well.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. All right, continuing back then we've got a couple shafts here. So first one is what?
Andy Ives: Uh, this is the rear prop shaft. This goes between the rear drive and the transmission on Pro R. So super simple. You've got standard, you know, U-joints in it with grease zerks, right? Nothing's different. This is 100% a production, uh, component. Uh, we have been dabbling with some, uh, go fast stuff here, uh, on the front prop shaft as well as the working on some stuff in the rear prop shaft. So more to come there. We'll be showing that stuff hopefully soon.
Pat Mcardle: All right, now I've got to see how strong my left arm is, uh, because these half shafts are not light, but, uh, anything different on this rear half shaft?
Andy Ives: Again, it's the same exact assembly, uh, same boot, same, uh, CV, same shaft itself as a production part. We do absolutely nothing to it. Uh, every now and again, you know, we do see some ballooning of the the boots. Uh, so we will vent them potentially during some of the hot races. But it's exactly the production part again.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. All right, looks like we've got one more on the bench here. We've got to talk about, uh, what do we've got here?
Andy Ives: Uh, this is the rear knuckle assembly, similar to what you saw in the front. Um, again, we use the stock hub that goes in here. The one difference we we have changed is we swapped out the production bearing for the tow link with an FK bearing. So again, uh, the duty cycle of race is quite a bit different than normal consumer use. So that's one thing we're seeing a little bit of more wear on. So in order to make our life a little easier in race world, uh, we had a little bit better bearing in there. And, um, again, this is the part we're working on. Uh, it should be available here shortly to be able to purchase from your, um, website or your dealer as well.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. All right, Andy, I think we got through everything on the bench. I think let's take a minute now on kind of since we're in the back of this vehicle, uh, let's just have you point out all the other things that are the same that we maybe don't have off, uh, so we can show the folks at home all the other parts that truly are the same. All right, so Andy, there's a ton of stuff that we showed everybody on the bench, but I think just so they could see exactly where some of this stuff goes in real life, do you mind pointing out and, you know, kind of showcasing what some of the parts are that are the same as the the factory or production Pro R?
Andy Ives: You bet. We already kind of talked about the exhaust, you know, the head pipe on the factory race vehicle is exactly the same as the production vehicle. Uh, moving down, again, the same things on the the rear half shaft. Again, 100% the same as the production vehicle. Uh, moving inboard, um, we talked about the the prop shaft here that connects the transmission to the rear drive. That's, uh, production as well as the rear drive itself right back here where the half shafts go in. Um, these motor mounts here are actually 100% the same as well as the mounts that attach, uh, the chassis to the engine. Um, all that is 100% the same as the production vehicle. Uh, moving out to the wheel ends, um, again, the knuckles, uh, being very similar but with one different bearing on the tow link. And then, uh, moving forward again a little bit here on the shock side. Again, we use DYNAMIX dual valve on the production, um, vehicle. We use the DYNAMIX same shocks on the race vehicles, but we have some different tuning. We add these, you know, fancy coolers to the shocks as well as we talked about before, you know, this, uh, 2-liter Pro R Fury engine is, um, production as well. You know, it's the same thing you buy on the production line today. Uh, stock head pipe as you see here as you talked about on the bench, but we do add a little bit of, uh, heat wrap here just to keep the shock from from overtemping. We mentioned that, you know, we already have coolers on here, but, um, Baja's rough, so we had to dissipate that energy somehow through heat. And this thing does produce some heat as well. So trying to keep our shocks as cool as we can just by wrapping the the pipe a little bit. So you see here is our our chase bar. Um, it's one of the requirements for racing in the desert. Uh, obviously is very dusty. Uh, people are going around and passing people at high speed. So this is just a safety thing so people can actually see where you are. And this is actually the exact same, uh, light you can buy from P&A today. So you go to the website, you can order that thing up, uh, same exact part we run. So it proves the durability of those parts are are really topnotch. Um, going a little bit more inboard here, you can kind of see it, it's a little hard to see but the clutch covers. Um, we talked about the clutches themselves. Those are, uh, very similar, uh, the same on the secondary, just different weight on the primary clutch. Uh, the clutch cover on the inner and outer is exactly the same as the production vehicle. Uh, our ducting is a little bit different. This one looks very similar but actually it's a little different, uh, for the outlet duct. Um, and all of our intakes are a little bit different based on our our chassis configuration. But really like, uh, the production, you know, clutch system is so good, we've haven't had any issues with belts at all. So it's really a a good testament to the Pro R how good it is and how you can beat it up in in Baja and not have any problems with it.
Pat Mcardle: I was going to say it looks like you've got a spare belt, you know, clipped up on the side here. And I think if you can get that camera up here, this is a standard Polaris part, stock part number, everything, right?
Andy Ives: Yeah, 100%. We've, uh, ran how many races now and we haven't had to swap the belt. So this thing's been stuck here for a while. So, so when you're, uh, when you're when you're getting into the throttle hard, I mean, this thing will this thing will really rock, right?
Pat Mcardle: Yeah, the thing will eat. And again, the suspension is really good as well. A vehicle different chassis, but the suspension points are the same. Um, we had to tune the shocks a little bit. Obviously, the weight of this this race vehicle is so much different compared to a stock vehicle. Uh, so we had to change our our spring rates, had to change the valving of the shock, but, uh, the the suspension points are again the awesomeness of Pro R, uh, carried over to race and we didn't have to even make any of those changes. It just it just worked. Nice. And and looking back here in the back, even this, uh, lower radius rod looks like a pretty standard high clearance one to me, right?
Andy Ives: Yep, exactly. Uh, lower radius rods or production. Um, you know, again, the goodness of the the production part is carrying through.
Pat Mcardle: Yeah, nice. All right, let's move up to the, uh, the cockpit because I don't think there's a lot that's the same up here. Um, but I do notice a new controller that I think went in from model year 25 for DYNAMIX, right?
Andy Ives: Yeah, exactly. We have the controller as you see for DYNAMIX in the middle of the the cockpit here. Uh, we've been working with, uh, a new controller here for the last year and a half, two years on the race program. And that's another part that we've been able to, you know, develop with the production teams. And as the production model year 25 vehicles come out, carrying the technology that we've been developing, uh, co-developing with him into production, uh, shaking out any issues, uh, any bugs in the in the software to, uh, again, have a better experience, uh, when customers come in and buy vehicles off the showroom.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. So Andy, I I snuck around the back here, but as we get up to the front then, we already talked about, uh, some of the things like the, uh, you know, powered powered steering rack up here. Uh, you look the actual casting of the front drive, uh, all the gears and bearings inside hubs, all that stuff is exactly stock. Uh, really the only difference are these machined spacers. So on the race machine here, uh, the rubber isolation gets removed and a hard mount gets put in because we're less worried about, you know, the vibration and and some of the noise that might radiate from that, uh, in favor of just having it be locked in location in the frame. I think the other thing I see that looks very similar to me as well is on the, uh, front stabilizer bar here, right? The drop link and and this, uh, this cast arm are exactly the same, aren't they?
Andy Ives: Yeah, exactly. Uh, we mount our front sway bar a little different than a production vehicle. There's actually like clamps and plastic bushings that attach it to the chassis. Uh, we actually use our chassis here as our mount for our front sway bar. So the bar goes inside the chassis and then, again, like you said, Pat, the, uh, outer, um, you know, arms and droplinks are 100% production as well.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. So again, utilizing the goodness of Pro R. Like I don't want to have to tool all this stuff up and spend a bunch more money, uh, for this program. So we're able to, uh, make this thing happen and not have to spend a ton of money because we could use so much of the carryover stuff from the production vehicle. All right, Andy, just want to say thanks for taking us through all the similarities between the bone stock Pro R and these Polaris factory racing Pro Rs. Obviously, when we think about things like suspension points, lower control arms, front drives, steering, you know, shafts, rear drives, Transmissions, engines, clutches, there's a ton on this race machine that is being grafted back into the production units, right?
Andy Ives: Yeah, you bet. I mean, the Pro R vehicle itself is so awesome. Uh, it was a great platform to be able to build this factory race team off of. And, uh, through development on the production vehicles, through development on the race vehicles, you know, melding that stuff together and really pumping that stuff back into the production, uh, plan and everybody come out these new 25s and future programs that have even even better parts to them is really exciting to see and and it's going to be awesome when the customers get them in their hands.
Pat Mcardle: Nice. Well, that's it for this episode of Shop Talk. Make sure you guys like, comment, subscribe, let us know what you want to see next time.
