The go-karts I rode as a kid were basically a K-mart shopping cart with steering and a 5hp Briggs and Stratton motor to propel me around. That was fine and good when I was five years old and getting a better handle on how to drive a car, but by the time I was twelve years old I wanted speed, and since I was in the Pacific Northwest, a place filled to the brim with off-roading potential, I wanted the ability to hang with the dirt bikes and quads. I ended up scratching that itch with dirt bikes and three-wheelers, but watching the current wave of UTVs, I feel like that’s exactly what younger me wanted: power, suspension travel, a steering wheel and a passenger seat so that I could scare a friend, or sibling.
Watching these UTVs attack the Hot Springs ORV park as part of the Southern Rock Racing Series (something we’d never even heard of until we found this video) brings back all the want. Polaris RZRs, Kawasaki Teryxs, Can-Am Mavericks and more romp through the rocky trails and hill climb spots. Tell me that you wouldn’t be interested in driving a rally stage in one of these. I’d be signing right up with my helmet in-hand.
