While covering the Best in the Desert Las Vegas 300 at the beginning of October I met a soft-spoken guy with a southern accent. This struck me as strange considering Desert Racing is mostly a western thing. We spoke briefly as he went by to shoot some pics from further down the track.
After the start was shot I headed back to the pits to get a drink and head past the finish line to get more pictures. After walking a mile out I saw someone walking towards me, then head further away. After taking some pictures of the first racers to finish the first lap I see this person heading towards me again. It was the same person I met at the start. We hung out for a while and shot pictures as the racer went by.
We spoke some more and I found out he was one of the Reps for KC HiLites, and his name is Tony. During our conversation I told him we just got a Polaris RZR for our next project vehicle and he said I am having one built too. He was telling me about it and I could not believe what I was hearing. I told him I would like to see some pics of it and maybe we could get it in our magazine, so when we were heading back to the pits we exchanged contact info and later Tony sent me some pics.
Words just could not describe this RZR. I instantly called Tony and said, I have got to get this is our magazine, send me some more pics and details of the build.
This leads us to where we are now. This is one of the most amazing Side X Sides I have seen. In my interview with Tony he said he approached the owner of KC Hilites with the idea of building a Side X Side to take to shows and show how well their lights can work in the Side X Side market. The owner said go for it and build something that would catch the attention of everybody at the shows we attend.
With that in mind Tony called Scott Smith of High Lifter in Shreveport Louisiana. If you have not heard of High Lifter they specialize in lift kits for UTVs and ATVs for those that like to tackle the mud. Now when I say lift kits I mean 24 of ground clearance lift kits. Scott headed up the entire build, coordinating everything that needed to be done to get this project completed in time for the Richfield Utah ATV Jamboree.
We will start with the striking yellow paint masterfully sprayed by Jamie Morganthal owner of Jamie’s Body Shop in Downsville Louisiana. Next we have the custom upholstery by Robbie Tolbird of Robbie’s Custom Auto Trim in West Monroe Louisiana. The material Robbie used looks like it is wet all the time.
Giving a home to the custom Kicker stereo system (seven speakers in all) is a custom cage built by Jagged X in Arizona, famed for their Polaris RZR racing team. Tony worked directly with Tim Gertz from Kicker Stereo and Michael Hurley and Aj Rindale from Sirius Radio to develop the custom speaker pods that hang from different points on the rollcage.
Also mounted on the rollcage is a custom light bar that actuates and holds 4 HIDs. To add a little bling to the RZR Tony contacted Dragon Fire Racing to get their billet side view mirrors, rear view mirror, billet oh-sh*t bar, and steering wheel. The exhaust was provided by HMF Performance and gives the RZR a deep throaty sound.
Now lets look deeper into this lift kit. Along with widening the track width of the RZR it provides 24 of ground clearance and 14 of travel using prototype FOX coil-over shocks and their own brand of wheels with Outlaw 29.5 mud tires. With that much lift High Lifter relies of the custom axles made by Gorilla Axles. I spoke with the folks of Gorilla Axles at SEMA and they assured me no one makes a more dependable axle for ATVs and UTVs.
Like any show vehicle this one looks great. I asked Tony, Does it feel kind of tippy being so high up. He told me, No, you saw how I got it to SEMA didnt you? When I met Tony at SEMA the RZR was perched up on a custom ATV rack that was placed over the bed of his Full-size Dodge 4×4 truck, and he said he drove it up ramps to get it up there. He also assured me that if it were tippy he would have never go it up there.
Tony would like to thank all the people involved in making this project happen. Without the specialists that built this RZR he could not have made this idea a reality.
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