Dakar Dazed II - the return! Part 1: Project LC4-50

Mr. W looking as cool as a cucumber, too! Well done all.

Great job on this motor, but I've got to ask. What's the story on the color of the valve cover? Orange or Red?

Testa Rossa?

Or Husky motor?

Mitch, I know your main focus is rally racing but your products show up on a lot of 690s built up for adventure riding. Have you ever considered putting together a wide ratio gear set for the 690 to make it more useful for that purpose?

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Bump.

We have finalised production parts for a conversion kit for the 2012-on KTM690 Enduro forks that increases the travel from 250mm to 300mm.
These have been made by our suspension partners, Tractive Suspension in Holland, all ex-WP tech guys.
They are backing our LC4-50 Dakar project for the "bouncy" parts, and we hope to have a hydraulically-operated pre-load adjuster for the Tractive rear shock to test soon, which will help tremendously with adjustment during the day as the heavy fuel load lightens on rallies, no need for special spanners!!
We will be taking the prototype 450 motor apart this weekend to take to Cosworth next week for a final meeting before ordering the first batch of production pistons.
The fork kits are available now via our webshop for fitment to 2012-on forks, we are working on a similar kit for the earlier forks

Thanks for the bump Kyns!

Sorry I've been away for a little while, had a lot of family stuff to deal with over the summer, and as I'm sure you are all aware, the delay in getting the prototype engine running meant that any plans for Dakar 2014 had to be put on hold while we reconsidered the whole project...

Fortunately, all John's theory and calculations, and Martin's dexterity in the workshop means not only did the engine go together first time, it also started on the button and ran sweetly, even using the stock 690cc fuel map... yes, none of us could quite believe how well everything fell in to place - and it was confirmed by Donna (from Torque Racing) who took the engine in her 690 race bike up the road for a quick spin through the gears, everything working as it should (albeit with more vibration that we would have liked, but that is due to the prototype using a welded up and unbalanced crank - the production 450cc kit will have a custom billet machined crank as part of the specification)...

So with less than 3 months until the European bikes all head to South America where does that leave Team Rally-Raid/Torque Racing?

The short answer is we will now concentrate on developing the LC4-50 Race bike, essentially 12 months later than we had originally planned, and are now looking to enter a two-bike team in the Dakar 2015.

John is about to pull the trigger on the production run of pistons, and once we have the complete production 450cc kit (essentially a new crank, rod and piston) around the end of November, it will be built into a dedicated race/rally-lite bike for me to test and campaign during the first few months of 2013.

Together with some general testing, it is certainly my intention to campaign the 450cc bike in a few UK rally events to give it a proper shakedown (including the ongoing development of the front and rear TracTive suspension system John mentions above)... meanwhile, John and I have also been discussing me riding the LC4-50 bike down to Tunisia for the Tuareg Rallye in March 2013 (this most likely to be it's first International competitive outing), then riding it back home to the UK again - just to prove the reliability of the engine, and that the whole bike can handle Dakar style distances...

We then hope to have a very competitive package available for a second rider who would like to enter Dakar 2015 - it will include bike rental, transport, all spares and service assistance - to coincide with the entries opening in May. As such, the whole team will then race at least one more International Rally during 2014, to ensure the whole team works together prior to shipping everything to South America later that year... There is every possibility that this 2nd bike will be (initially) US based, in partnership with Rally-Raid Products' North American distributors KTM-Twins, offering further sponsorship and publicity opportunities.

I myself will be heading off the USA in a few weeks time to get some Desert riding in, and meet up with a few friends and contacts and hopefully get some firm commitments together for the 2014 season and Dakar 2015.

Wish me luck!

Toot toot!

Jenny xx

Great to hear your dreams still alive...giver Jenny

Good luck Jenny!

And thanks for the update. Did the engine ever get to the Spanish Pyrennes, for testing, i tought KTMMitch was gonna test it there?

Been dynoed yet?

Hi Kyns - John & Co did go down to Spain earlier this month, but they elected to put the 690cc engine back into Donna's bike, as while everything ran sweetly in 450cc guise, they were on an enduro tour and didn't want what is still a 'very' prototype engine potentially causing the rest of the group problems...

Similarly, Martin felt there was no point putting the bike on a Dyno at this stage, as maxing out an unbalanced crank and welded piston could end in something very expensive!

Getting the engine running (on the stock map remember!) and a seat-off-the-pants ride up the local roads by Donna offered a far more realistic appraisal at this early stage - certainly enough to give John the confidence to press ahead with commissioning the production pistons and cranks...

Then the fun really begins!

Jx

Jenny !

Nice to see the bike is finally roaring

Looking forward to see how the final thing will turn out and will be following very closely through 2014

Good luck with the rest of the project and the future plans, I hope 2014 is full of racing for that bike

I like that, the whole idea of riding the bike through europe to get to tunisia for the tuareg rally is the way i would go, certainly shows a lot of belief in the project!

Respect!

I'd like to know as well

Me and Wes(Beaney) looked into it a couple of years ago, but the costs we got were very prohibitive, it needs many sets to be made in a batch before it gets anywhere near economical.

What about making the 6th the 5th gear and just making a new 6th ? Would that be possible ? Only 2 gears to cut that way shouldn't cost to much or if some gears from another model with the right pitch gears be machined to the right width/ shaft diameter ? Just ideas ...is that possible ?

for all of you that want a wide ratio tranny all you need to do is just go up a tooth or two on the counter sprocket and down on the rear. it will have more legs I can guarantee it ! People said the same about the previous lc4 motors but trust me with a 42-17 or near there the bike will do just fine !

Good work boys! Both on this end and the chassis offerings !

Hello Jenny,


Do you know if this approval also cover 690 Rally ?

Hi Amme - yes, in principle - as long as the engine capacity is 450cc or less (which it will be with the Rally Raid Products LC4-50 engine kit), then as the original 690 Rally was FIM homologated, then as long as it meets the engine restrictions for Dakar (which it will with the 449cc conversion), then they should allow it...

John is pressing ahead with a limited production run of the LC4-50 Piston/Crank/Rod kits, on the understanding that we will be able to race a 690 Enduro (also FIM homologated, in the 450+cc class) with the reduced capacity engine parts...

I cannot see why you cannot also do the same with a 690RR (this was very much the idea behind offering a conversion kit of parts) - although it would be best to ask the ASO competitors relations department directly for confirmation if it will also apply to other derivatives of the 690 - if they are FIM homologated, then there should be no reason why not.

Jx

Thanks for the feedback and yes it would be great if it could be confirmed by ASO otherwise I guess the potential sales will be limited, if confirmed I will purchase a couple of kit's once they are ready.