Robby Gordon and Speed UTV have unleashed the much anticipated El Jefe four-seat side by side.
It was Robby Gordon and John Menard that defined the four-seat RZR product back in the early days of the emerging Powersports Utility Terrain Vehicles. Polaris has since seized on Robby’s 4 seat Turbo vision and went on to dominate (in sales) the lucrative side by side market.
Back-to-back UTV of the year awards with the Arctic Cat Wildcat XX, where Robby provided the suspension platform, and Robby Gordon and Speed UTV now enter the game with the Speed UTV El Jefe.
For Gordon, it has always been about the suspension.
After seeing Robby Gordon’s unicorn trophy truck there is the suspension of disbelief. It’s 30 years of chasing trophies from Reno to Cabo and everything in-between. In his career, Gordon has raced more than twice the circumference of the earth (we gave up trying to add up all the races), much of that in the conquest of flattening out the earth in the desert.
Robby set the world on notice in his first crack at Dakar with Volkswagen and their 4 wheel drive Tourag in 2005. Gordon earned the first rally stage (and second) win for an American and buzzed the rally world with his head-to-head battle with the late great Colin Mcrae.
Suspension was behind Robby’s decision-making process for the 2006 Rally. Rather return with Red Bull and Volkswagen, who were boxed into 10″ inches of travel with their 4 wheel drive due to rally regulations, Gordon opted to return with his own program, backed by General Motors and the Hummer brand. The two-wheel-drive car suspensions were unlimited and that was all that was needed to set Robby’s imagination free. For roughly 10 years the hummer became a globally recognized brand and a fan favorite on the Dakar Rally while Gordon racked up 6 stage wins and a best 3rd overall in the Hummer.
Suspension is the secret sauce behind the advantages of the Speed UTV product line. Sprinkle in more than a dash of safety and Gordon is on the verge of defining the expectations of an industry that celebrates fails.
When these cars appear on the market look for a seismic shift on the power port ground.