Tuesday 11th October 2011

1,800hp Dune Buggy Unleashed - VIdeo

Want to do 100mph 5th gear wheelies in the sand? Thought so...

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Thank YouTube for coming up with ever more inventive ways to waste 14 minutes of your life - and it's still only Tuesday.

Well, maybe not a whole 14 minutes, as you'll likely want to fast-forward through some of the repetitive bits of this online flick from US-based Nelson Racing Engines. Anyway, it doesn't take long to grasp the basics - the crazy guys built a Baja-style dune buggy, and then stuffed an 1,800 V8 engine in the back with predictably spectacular results.

There's a bit too much in-car footage, and certainly too much girlish shrieking for our liking, but stick with it for the airborne stuff around the 10 minute mark:

[Oddball RS]

Bit more weight up front?

[k3ybo]

I love this video.

Definitely one of the most ridiculously overpowered vehicles I've ever seen! Incredible how it gets enough traction to deploy such a silly amount of power on sand.

There are definitely points where it's spinning wheels and lifting the front, which is frankly too much for my little mind to cope with. Would probably kill for a ride in something like that!

[Matt_P]

I may be missing the point but wouldnt it be more fun if it didnt wheelie eery time you put your foot down? Id like to be flying round those dunes, not doing straight lines looking at the sky?

[The Danimal]

I think that's what the cool kids call a 'Sand Rail'... for reasons I know not.

[ktm301p]

Matt_P said:

I may be missing the point but wouldnt it be more fun if it didnt wheelie eery time you put your foot down? Id like to be flying round those dunes, not doing straight lines looking at the sky?

Yeah definately, with that much effort being made into producing it. I would've thought the novelty would wear thin sooner rather than later.

[knighty]

wicked! - thought you might be interested in a piccy of my sand rail, otherwise known as a UVA fugitive 4:

[Stew2000]

Why is there no downforce on the front?... need to rephrase that.
Why is there not enough downforce on the front?

[Fetchez la vache]

agree about the wheelies. Also had me thinking that a helmet might be a good idea... Big want though.

The jackson site has some great pictures.. looks like fun. lots of pics of dune buggies jumping about...

Nice Sandrail too, knighty..

[vrooom]

Look fun, it made me evnvy of americans, all those desert and warmth, and dune buggy!!

[Stu R]

That looks bloody amazing!

I had the pleasure of a mental power sandrail in Dubai a few years back, and I was smitten and terrified in equal measure. Compared to this thing it looks like an original baja beetle!

[mneame]

So why doesn't all that sand lunch the rather expensive racing engine?

[Lord Flathead]

I've been a big fan of Nelson Racing Engines, this is just an example of what they do discerning customers everyday.

I say keep the buggy light at the front, half the fun is controlling the wheelies

[UnluckyTimmeh]

Ive heard of bikes wheelying in every gear, but this is insane!.

Surely that is too much power, as said already what is the point of just pointing skyward all the time?

Even so, Wouldn't mind a passenger ride

[splitpin]

Does absolutely nothing that something with a third of that claimed hp couldn't do.

[Streetrod]

Nelson Racing engines have to make some of the most powerful streetable engines in the world. A mate of mine in the States has one of their twin turbo smallblocks in his Mustang. It puts out 1500hp and will sit in traffic at 800rpm. He has so far put over 10,000 miles on it with no issues. As for how fast, well lets just say its plain crazy

[Tuna44]

Come on PH! This video has been around for some time! Was reported on Jalopnik a while back as well.

[Vytalis]

Stew2000 said:

Why is there no downforce on the front?... need to rephrase that.
Why is there not enough downforce on the front?

At a guess, that is intended. Look at the way that moto x riders cope with whoops and how Dakar riders cope with dunes - weight back, front very light or in he air

[daytonarhymes]

ahh pismo beach, good times . . . me and my mate did a couple doughnuts there in our rental yellow camaro SS, before we let the swedish hitch hiker we picked up have a go . . . needed the shovel after that!

[300bhp/ton]

Oddball RS said:

Bit more weight up front?

Would affect how it flies. Also it only wheelies due to the power and traction, you'd probably need a huge amount of weight up front to stop it, then it wouldn't handle as well or be as quick.

[J4CKO]

I suppose what works for a Beetle engine doesn't quite scale up to 1500 bhp, fantastic all the same but the constant wheelying would spoil it, it was always going to happen with a big powerful lump out the back and nothing up front. Where it would work is for paid passenger rides, like those jetboats in NZ, 3 pax plus driver for a few runs up and down the dunes, full safety gear, sign your life away and pay say $200 each ?

I think NRE's power claims are true, these days big power is not difficult to do with all the electronic controls and impovements in manufacturing, so a big, robust engine with a couple of turbos blowing hard just produces immense power, NRE do their development and then sell a lot of engines, similar deal to Horsepower Freaks with the M3 Turbos, lots of 1000 bhp plus street cars around in the US nowadays.