Speed UTV

Chummin said:
Yeah. I’m just cruising my along the main streets looking for chicks. 
there are problems but this comment is baseless. 🥱

come out to superstition and let me show you. 
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All I'm saying is for every badass video of a speed car doing something interesting, there's 10 videos showing a guy going down a dirt road, talking about how it's the best car out there.

Glad you're enjoying the ride.

 
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Realbadlarry said:
Wow... all the pre run and test miles and boom right after the start......going to be interesting to see what it is this time.  
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It will be they were trying some race tune that did not work out or the hurry up and prep got them again.   

Or there will be no talk of what happen as they are probably thrashing to get the cars ready for King of the Hammers. 

 
Crusty said:
Great positive attitude 👍 

How many revisions have occurred since those first 7 or whatever number rolled out of Havasu?

It's all very interesting. 
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I'm trying to remain positive, lol.  However, for a multitude of personal/life reasons I'm not in the boat of being particularly bothered about the delays.  On the other hand, I know a lot of folks are missing trips, or whole seasons, because they were counting on the Speed and I'm sure they're much less upbeat about it. ;)  

I've certainly thought about what it would mean to "pull out" (haha, pull out) of the deal.  I know I'd walk away from the deposit and my much better pricing (IIRC the price on my Diablo LE was $29,499 and the same thing is now $45,499) but I'm fine with that.  That's what a deposit is, and I knew it was a gamble. 

However; and this is where I believe Speed made a big mistake, I was required to pay for my accessories and warranty up front (and did so in Oct of 2020).  I'm an idiot, and got a fair amount of accessories (stereo, light bars, winch, bumpers, trail kit with spare wheel/tire/axle/etc. blah, blah, blah) and I also did the warranty (since I *knew* the car would be issues, but also because the "White Glove Warranty" covers use of the Speed key whereas the stock warranty doesn't... of course the Speed Key is a whole other convo now ;) ).  I paid with a credit card not only because that's the obvious mechanism for an over-the-phone transaction, but also because I wanted a big CC company behind me if I ever had to dispute the charges.  At this point I have to imagine I could get those charges reversed as I'm approaching 3.5 years since I paid for goods and services that clearly have not been delivered. 

*This* is one of Speed's biggest mistakes IMHO.  If others were to do the same and all the big CC companies refused to do business with Speed that would probably end them.  Obviously their biggest mistake has been a lack of transparency and poor comms with deposit-holders. 

-TJ

 
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tjZ06 said:
I'm trying to remain positive, lol.  However, for a multitude of personal/life reasons I'm not in the boat of being particularly bothered about the delays.  On the other hand, I know a lot of folks are missing trips, or whole seasons, because they were counting on the Speed and I'm sure they're much less upbeat about it. ;)  

I've certainly thought about what it would mean to "pull out" (haha, pull out) of the deal.  I know I'd walk away from the deposit and my much better pricing (IIRC the price on my Diablo LE was $29,499 and the same thing is now $45,499) but I'm fine with that.  That's what a deposit is, and I knew it was a gamble. 

However; and this is where I believe Speed made a big mistake, I was required to pay for my accessories and warranty up front (and did so in Oct of 2020).  I'm an idiot, and got a fair amount of accessories (stereo, light bars, winch, bumpers, trail kit with spare wheel/tire/axle/etc. blah, blah, blah) and I also did the warranty (since I *knew* the car would be issues, but also because the "White Glove Warranty" covers use of the Speed key whereas the stock warranty doesn't... of course the Speed Key is a whole other convo now ;) ).  I paid with a credit card not only because that's the obvious mechanism for an over-the-phone transaction, but also because I wanted a big CC company behind me if I ever had to dispute the charges.  At this point I have to imagine I could get those charges reversed as I'm approaching 3.5 years since I paid for goods and services that clearly have not been delivered. 

*This* is one of Speed's biggest mistakes IMHO.  If others were to do the same and all the big CC companies refused to do business with Speed that would probably end them.  Obviously their biggest mistake has been a lack of transparency and poor comms with deposit-holders. 

-TJ
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Couldn’t agree more that making people pay for accessories and warranties upfront was a mistake. Unless of course you are ok with acknowledging that those funds went to R&D for the car, rent for buildings, money to fund other things, or anything at all, besides those actual accessories. 

 
This weekend we had another group jump in with us for a ride and they had the 4 seat Speed.  Duning it had no problems keeping up and we were going at a pretty good pace, some of it was technical.  

I did hear this particular car did blow an engine putting it on the trailer in Anaheim, so Speed swamped another engine at the facility, and then the new owner took possession.

 
AlpineFunco said:
Couldn’t agree more that making people pay for accessories and warranties upfront was a mistake. Unless of course you are ok with acknowledging that those funds went to R&D for the car, rent for buildings, money to fund other things, or anything at all, besides those actual accessories. 
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Yeah, though if you think about an operation like Speed, the accessory $ doesn't go very far at all.  Like I said, I'm ~$10k into accessories/warranty, but I know plenty that are $0 into it.  Let's just say the average is $5k.  And there are what, something like 3k customer cars (NOT dealership cars) ordered?  So we're talking $15M.  Yes, that sounds like a ton of money, but really it's nothing in terms of an operating budget for a company like Speed.  

IMHO them having people pay up front wasn't about using the $ to cover their operating costs (like R&D, rent for buildings etc.) it was to avoid having to pay their vendors "out of pocket" themselves.  Nearly every accessory is made by someone else.  So they're just channeling that $ through to get the accessories produced (and designed) vs. fronting that $ themselves.  

Also, I think it was about customer lock-in.  Just like I described above, I think nearly all Speed deposit holders can walk away from a $1500 deposit without feeling too bad.  But they won't walk away from another $10k on top.  So it's a way to get us locked-in without having us pay for the car itself. 

That said, I really think it's more about the former (being able to pay those 3rd parties) than either funding their own operation or customer lock-in.

-TJ

 
Cookie said:
This weekend we had another group jump in with us for a ride and they had the 4 seat Speed.  Duning it had no problems keeping up and we were going at a pretty good pace, some of it was technical.  

I did hear this particular car did blow an engine putting it on the trailer in Anaheim, so Speed swamped another engine at the facility, and then the new owner took possession.
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Thanks for the info, it's definitely interesting to hear real reports from "the field" vs. just all the keyboard speculation and Boardmanville posts that Speeds can't make it up Olds etc. 

As I posted before, I imagine by the time most of us get these things the motor will be pretty different than early-production units, and that's a good thing IMHO.

-TJ

 
tjZ06 said:
Yeah, though if you think about an operation like Speed, the accessory $ doesn't go very far at all.  Like I said, I'm ~$10k into accessories/warranty, but I know plenty that are $0 into it.  Let's just say the average is $5k.  And there are what, something like 3k customer cars (NOT dealership cars) ordered?  So we're talking $15M.  Yes, that sounds like a ton of money, but really it's nothing in terms of an operating budget for a company like Speed.  

IMHO them having people pay up front wasn't about using the $ to cover their operating costs (like R&D, rent for buildings etc.) it was to avoid having to pay their vendors "out of pocket" themselves.  Nearly every accessory is made by someone else.  So they're just channeling that $ through to get the accessories produced (and designed) vs. fronting that $ themselves.  

Also, I think it was about customer lock-in.  Just like I described above, I think nearly all Speed deposit holders can walk away from a $1500 deposit without feeling too bad.  But they won't walk away from another $10k on top.  So it's a way to get us locked-in without having us pay for the car itself. 

That said, I really think it's more about the former (being able to pay those 3rd parties) than either funding their own operation or customer lock-in.

-TJ
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For an existing operation I’d agree with you 100%. But for a startup like this, I think the money has been used already, and not for the accessories.

 
Stopped at the hill today for a break. Only a few car plus two speed cars. One with Robbie driving.  Gotta say the car flat moves. 

Speed key testing??? Driver???? Right gear selection????

Didn't get the best video as this was his last run before they left the hill. Previous runs up and down were more impressive than this last one. 

Enjoy. 


PXL_20240116_214222990.TS.mp4

 



 

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Grease Monkey said:
Stopped at the hill today for a break. Only a few car plus two speed cars. One with Robbie driving.  Gotta say the car flat moves. 

Speed key testing??? Driver???? Right gear selection????

Didn't get the best video as this was his last run before they left the hill. Previous runs up and down were more impressive than this last one. 

Enjoy. 


PXL_20240116_214222990.TS.mp4 196.31 MB · 0 downloads
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Damn good recovery on that first buck at the bottom. 

 
Rockwood said:
Damn good recovery on that first buck at the bottom. 
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Definitely a big buck... that looks like a "Bandit" so the shortest Speed.  I wonder how the 110" wheelbase Diablo (what I'm waiting for) or the 120" wb Jefe would have taken that same whoops. Either way, most cars would buck hard there unless they're carrying enough speed to "float" the whoops and stay on top.  It's at least encouraging to see it pull Old decently, and I assume the car RG is driving out there has every last update/fix.  

-TJ

 
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tjZ06 said:
Definitely a big buck... that looks like a "Bandit" so the shortest Speed.  I wonder how the 110" wheelbase Diablo (what I'm waiting for) or the 120" wb Jefe would have taken that same whoops. Either way, most cars would buck hard there unless they're carrying enough speed to "float" the whoops and stay on top.  It's at least encouraging to see it pull Old decently, and I assume the car RG is driving out there has every last update/fix.  

-TJ
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Yep. Improvements to reliability aren’t terrible to solve. 

The speed is a little deceiving since he crossed to the shallow side, would be curious to see him go straight up the steep part. 

 
tjZ06 said:
If I remember, you don't even have one on order so that's an objective opinion... and you've had/have some impressive sand cars so I'd say that means something. 

-TJ 
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I had my finger on the order button early on. 've been watching and reading. I have a good friend that sold his spot as he was over waiting.  He got a call two weeks after from Robbie. Robbie offered him a car that just came in that had a deal fell apart. My buddy's in a speed car and couldn't be happier. 

My buddy is nobody special and Robbie just did something random for a customer. 

Pretty cool if you ask me. 

We've all seen the slow pass up olds. The passes today were as fast as most sxs's.

I wanted to go over and shake his hand for what he did for my friend and ask about the runs but kept to my self. 

Only 6 cars at the hill when we were there. 

 
Speed Key obviously works, without it you aren't much faster than a rzr 900, at least that is what I have seen at the hill so far.  I serious hope the customers get what they were promised.

 
There's a huge warehouse at the 91/15 interchange and I'd always wonderes if it belonged to Jeff Pont. Passed by today and saw a Speed SxS driving around the back of the building. So that answers that.

 
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