Revenge Racing 2-Seat Silencer!

A closer look at Revenge Racing Sandcars

Dec. 01, 2006 By Mike Lyon

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Justin Smith has been a horse power junkie since his early years. As a kid he helped his family build drag racing cars with blower motors. After high school he went to USC to study physics, fluid dynamics and anything else that had to do with horse power. Justin worked for a pro-stock team for 4 years them opened his own engine shop. During this time he got a ride in a class 8 off-road race truck and fell in love with the suspension and full time use of power (rather than being on the throttle for a 1/4 mile ) aspect that off-road racing had to offer. In 1999 he started Predator Sand Cars and in 2002 reformatted his business as Revenge Racing. He now builds some amazing off-road cars for racing and sand use with names like: Silencer, Predator, Sidewinder, Avenger, Punisher and even CORR racing trucks

Justin normally builds high end, larger 4 and 5 seat cars. These are large cars that appear to be heavy when in fact they are the same weight as most other brands. Since his larger cars appear to be heavy, most people seem to think that they don't handle very well in the dunes. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We have witnessed Justin driving one of his Predator models in the dunes. The car handled just as well if not better than any other brand and had the horse power to back it up! Justin has often heard the complaint "your cars are too big and heavy" so he decided to design an all new, 2-seat, slot car rocket called the Silencer. It's a Subaru powered 1500 pound car that has a better power to weight ratio than most V8 long travel cars. Now no one can say they don't build a small affordable car!

We recently got a close look at the Silencer which was designed to appease the masses that begged for a smaller car that handled like no other. This particular car is a pre-production car and is shorter than the production cars will be and is not fully finished with powder coating etc etc. Justin went to work designing a frame and suspension with a pencil and paper then converted it to a Solid Works (CAD program) later.

He designed the front suspension with things in mind that most people have never heard of such as: anti dive, negative camber curves, 0 track width scrub, 0 bump steer, cumulative roll centers, etc etc. Most of these characteristics are used on a road racing car and not on an off-road car. Front and rear suspension has 20" of travel with 50% droop to compression ratios at ride height. The Silencer has 6" of ground clearance at full compression and CV angles are a conservative 23 degrees combined at droop. Ultimately, the car turns very well possibly too well if that's possible. Justin says it takes some getting used to at first since a small twitch of the wheel will have the car reacting instantly instead of the normal laziness associated with long travel cars.

Justin decided to use FOX 2.5 gas shocks instead of the normal coil and bypass shock combo. He did this to prove that it could be done and work just as well as the normal combo. He wanted to keep the cost and weight of the car at the bare minimum and to do this you have to compromise something whether it be structure or parts. Justin didn't want to compromise any of this, but still wanted to keep it affordable. Gas shocks have a reputation of being a low end shock used on older beam cars. Justin realized that the construction and theory behind them would work well for the silencer. Coil shocks with springs are about $600 each and weigh 60 pounds while the FOX gas shocks are $300 each and weigh in at a mere 15 pounds! He builds each frame to accept the coil/bypass combo if the customer chooses to use them.

The Silencer is a mid engine (can also be built in a rear engine configuration) car with a 122" wheel base and comes standard with a Subaru/Mendeola E box power plant, FOX gas shocks, disk brakes, aluminum side panels, full floor, 25 gallon fuel cell, Ron Davis radiator, rear anti-sway bar, and Douglas bead lock wheels and quite a few other standard accessories. All of this in a turn key package for only $39K, very affordable!! The car can be built with many different options depending on customer needs such as: coil/bypass shocks, front sway bar, V8 motor and Mendeola 2D transmission, light racks, and full aluminum bodies. Another great feature about the Silencer is the ability to remove the transmission for servicing without having to remove the motor.

Watching Justin drive this car makes us want to whip out our check book and put a deposit on a new car. The car handles like a slot car and is scary fast if you push the go pedal to the floor. Justin is an amazing craftsman that takes a lot of pride in his designs and is very customer service oriented. Justin also offers maintenance on any car as well as upgrades. He does some amazing sheet metal work as well! If you're looking for affordable sand car take a close look at the Revenge Racing Silencer.