FLYING UTV BUILD

Last updated Dec 5, 2019

In the UTV world we have a Superman, and his name is Al McBeth. Not only can Al fly his custom, one-off Polaris RZR through the air like a bird or a plane, he has proven he and his Flying UTV build are invincible in the face of things like gravity. Al has held the world-distance UTV record in the past and currently holds the UTV jump distance record on sand, which he set this summer at 188 feet. It’s really hard to get inside the mind of someone who will huck himself 50 feet high in the air for distances over 200 feet strapped to just about anything, so we will take a look at his custom-modified RZR instead.

We have been watching Al McBeth launch himself and his custom RZR into the sky for a few years now. We finally got a chance to see exactly what his car is made of. Julie Moore Photo

There has to be a perfect balance of lightweight and strength to huck any car 200 feet and land safe enough to do it again.

MEDUSA

McBeth named his jump car, a Polaris RZR Turbo, “Medusa.” McBeth built the jump car himself out of his B.C., Canada, shop, Concept Distributing. The skeleton of the car is a narrowed RZR chassis and custom cage with a stock wheelbase and center seat position. Cognito Motorsports A-arms and trailing arms bring the width out to an incredible 78 inches, and it weighs 1489 pounds ready to jump. He built the radius rod and tie-rods at Concept Distributing. The steering rack is stock, but the steering wheel is from Joes Racing. For the record-setting sand jump, he used Sandcraft Ripper tires mounted on Fuel Hardline beadlock wheels. The hubs are NXS Design billet pieces, and Concept Distributing built the sway bars and links.

McBeth tells us there’s 5 inches of ground clearance between the skid plate and the ground at full bottom-out. In this shot, the sand and tires took up those extra inches. Expect to see Al at Camp RZR at the end of October in Glamis launching Medusa for the fans and possibly set a new record. Julie Moore Photo

For the sand jumps, McBeth relies on Sandcraft paddles mounted on Fuel beadlock wheels. Right behind the tire you can see a clear Lexan panel so he can spot his landings.

WALKER EVANS

As important as it is to have a strong chassis and suspension arms, the shock quality and placement are just as crucial. Al uses custom-built Walker Evans shocks with 3.0-inch bodies and 7/8-inch shafts and bump stops to take up the last 5 inches of travel. When the 23 inches of wheel travel run out at full bottom out, this car still has 4 inches of ground clearance. That helps make some of those flat or short landings not so brutal. Al relies on a full containment seat and five-point harness from Simpson to keep him safe in the event of a crash—and his history has not been without crashes. You can see videos on our YouTube page and at www.utvactionmag.com of Al flat-landing his car, setting the sand record in Oregon and coming up short into a dirt pile in Sturgis. Luckily, he and Medusa survived, and Al is putting his cape back on and will be jumping again this October in Glamis at Camp RZR. We will be there October 25th to witness it.

FLYING UTV BUILD

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