Racer X Motorsports, a leader in off-road communications, was founded in 2001 by Michael and Wendy Cohen. Like many start up companies, Racer X started in the garage and grew to a large facility in the heart of the off-road industry of Santee, CA. Racer X offers custom tuned intercom and car to car radio systems as well as: mil spec electrical components, fuel cells, kool air blower systems, GPS units, in car camera systems, satellite radio systems, toys, and DVD's.

      Our Project SCU sand car needed an in car communications system to be able to communicate between the driver and passenger. With a full body, King bypass shocks, and a turbo charged engine it can get loud in the cab and we had to almost scream to effectively communicate. The Racer X Motorsports intercom system was the answer to our prayers!

      The Racer X intercom system is not an off the shelf intercom. There are many variables that need to be discussed before your intercom system is shipped. Racer X makes it easy by asking many questions about the customer's needs such as: type of car, windshield or no windshield, type of motor, type of exhaust, and number of seats in the car to name a few. Other options include a music interface (Ipod or satellite radio) with auto mute technology, car to car radio with push to talk buttons, behind or over the head headsets, and cell phone or camera audio inputs.

      If you wear a helmet in your off-road car, Racer X can also install speakers and microphones in the helmet. Once this information is gathered, Racer X custom builds and tunes each intercom system to the customer's needs. Each system comes fully assembled including each cable being already plugged in so there is no question as to what goes where. This system is truly plug and play. The hardest thing about installation is mounting the intercom box!

      For our needs we wanted an intercom system with 2 behind the head headsets, Ipod interface, and cell phone input. A behind the head headset has a soft adjustable strap that is placed on top of your head while the metal clamping device is placed behind your head to keep the ear muff's securely in place. These headsets feature hi-fi speakers, extreme noise canceling microphone with extreme 'mic muff' and washable cloth ear covers, all wrapped up in a carbon fiber finish. Our Ipod interface plugs into the back of the intercom while our cell phone input plugs into the front.

      The intercom box has 2 types of face plates, either dash mount or hard mounts (with supplied bracket) for under the dash or elsewhere. At first we were going to use the traditional in-dash mount but later decided to mount it under the dash. We adapted some ram-mount.com products to easily mount the intercom under the dash within easy reach of the driver. Wiring is straight forward since all cables are already plugged into the intercom box. Racer X suggests connecting the fused power wire direct to the battery to prevent any unwanted noise coming through the headsets. We already had a 4 gauge wire direct from our battery with an inline fuse coming to the front of the car to a fuse block that we used to power our intercom. Once power was connected we connected the ground wire to our fuse block and ran the headset cables to the right side of each seat as well as the separate Ipod and cell phone cable.

      Racer X offers a very trick billet Ipod holder but to protect our Ipod and cell phone from sand we decided to use Ram-Mount's new Aqua Box. It's a sealed box with a clear cover to allow operation of a device while it's inside the box. We did have to trim a small amount of plastic to allow the cable to connect to the device with the lid clamped shut. We mounted one Aqua box for a cell phone under the dash extending outward and another for an Ipod near the turning brake on the left side of the driver. 

      On our first ride with the Racer X Motorsports intercom system we immediately noticed a totally different world while on a high speed run through the dunes. With the headsets on and music playing you hear very little of the outside noise we are used to such as the bypass shocks 'clacking' or the motor and turbo winding up. These noises can still be heard but is greatly reduced! During one ride we took the headsets off to hear the difference. We were amazed at how much noise our car made and how much of it the Racer X intercom system canceled out. It's a totally different duning experience!

      While driving and listening to music if you need to talk, you simply start talking. The intercom system will auto mute the music. While muted you can still hear the music but at a very low level. Once you are finished talking the music slowly comes back up to the set volume. Racer X also offers an amplifier to boost the volume of the music. This is usually used in a system with more than 2 headsets. For our system the Ipod has enough power to hear the music at a decent volume. The cell phone interface works the same way. If a call comes in, it will auto mute the headsets and allow you to answer the call as well as talk. Although talking on your cell phone is probably not the safest thing to do while flying through the dunes.

      In the future we plan to add car to car communications by adding Racer X's custom programmed Vertex 50 Watt, 128 channel radio. This works similar to the music interface except to talk to another car you use a push to talk button which can be mounted anywhere. Car to car communication can be very handy for warning others of an upcoming obstacle or keeping track of other people in your group. We'd also like to add a base camp radio to communicate with people at camp in the event of an emergency.  

      The Racer X intercom system works very well. With the proper adjustment of the squelch it allows us to communicate without having to scream. We look forward to running through the dunes while listening to our favorite music. As we mentioned before it's a totally different duning experience! 

Racer X Motorsports, Inc.
10815 Wheatlands Ave., Ste K
Santee, CA  92071
619-258-RACE Phone
619-258-0883 FAX
www.RacerXms.com