ECORS Season Opener

First race on the Polaris Ranger RZR XP

March 17, 2011

By Brit Mansell
Shared media coverage by UTVReport.com

2011 RZR-XP with Polaris PURE skid plates and Pro Armor doorsRound one of the ECORS (East Coast Off-Road Racing Series) took place on Saturday, March 12th at a relatively new off road park called “The Flats” in Marion, NC.

I have been looking forward to this race ever since our last ECORS exhibition race. The ECORS series is unique in that it is designed around the entry-level competitor. The majority of the entrants last year raced in the ful-size “A-Class” category. Those vehicles are mostly stock Jeep Cherokees and Grand Cherokees. The stock-oriented rules allow the field to remain competitive without spending a ton of money on their race vehicles, keeping the racing on the track instead of in your wallets.
For 2011, ATV Scene.com and I have been working with the ECORS promoters to build a UTV-specific class. The ECORS course is specifically suited to UTVs since it primarily caters to full-width vehicles like the Jeep Cherokees, so the courses are wide enough to run a long travel UTV with zero issues.

As you can see, the black finish of the Pro Armor doors really works well with the black and red color scheme on the XP.I arrived at “The Flats” on Friday morning after driving most of the afternoon and evening from Birmingham, AL. After getting stuck a few times in the parking lot, I knew prerunning the course was going to be an exercise in avoiding mud, and anyone that knows me knows that I really hate mud. After a few minutes to bolt on a new set of suicide doors that Pro Armor sent us to review, I took the otherwise stock RZR-XP for its maiden voyage. At this time, the machine had all of three miles on it. I literally haven’t even adjusted the shocks.

It was immediately apparent that the red clay North Carolina soil was going to be very slick, but the RZR-XP was absolutely destroying the course. I was a little concerned about the ride height being a little higher than I was used to, but it provided great ground clearance to get me over obstacles that would otherwise have held up a lower vehicle. After a few laps of pushing to the outside of all of the corners due to the slick mud, the strangest thing happened. A small tree ran right out into the middle of a turn. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Well, at least that’s my side of the story. In reality, due to the slick soil, I pushed to the outside of a corner, obviously carrying too much speed. Turning the wheel had no effect on changing my direction. When I hit the tree, it broke the lower, front, passenger a-arm. I didn’t think it was that hard of a hit, so I was surprised at the large amount of damage from the accident. We finally got the RZR-XP back to the trailer and began to get it repaired.

The latch system on the Pro Armor doors is extremely durable and allows you to enter and exit the vehicle easily. The design of the latch handle also ensures that these doors will remain shut until you need to open them.

The DragonFire Racing UTV class starts in front of the A-Class.