After a successful year in 2016, with the introduction of both Race Patrol and Race Patrol Lite (RP Lite), its adoption by FIM and several motocross teams, being in Southern California for the first Supercross race of the season was very exciting. The excitement went quite a bit further than just being at a much warmer location than freezing southern Europe where Race Patrol and RP Lite are manufactured and assembled. January 6th was the day that RP Lite would be used for the first time in the AMA Supercross championship. It would be the first departure of the system from Motocross.
Race Patrol Lite’s first official sound check in supercross
Despite being present on numerous sound checks where bikes are similar to the Supercross ones, somehow the thrill of a first time use by the customer never goes away. Especially because the AMA officials decided to test it against their current Sound testing solution. This is a point where we believe a great step has been made with AMA adopting the latest in what technology has to offer when it comes to providing an equal playing field for all the teams when they hit the arena. Adopting the revised RPM based 2 m max test shows that AMA is pushing the boundaries of racing and allowing for further standardization of the test. In the real life of testing, the RP Lite performed exceptionally well. It also performed very well against the existing sound test AMA was using. Even using it against the identical RP Lite we had for comparison measurements, the results proved reliable and repeatable. Perhaps the best part of the test itself were the reactions of the mechanics present to see the results on the iPad display. The moment of silence and an affirming nod right after, was pretty much the best feeling a manufacturer could get after witnessing his product perform as it did. All the parallel testing went great and Michael, our US sales representative, also seized the opportunity to get his hands on the latest version of the unit.
At the same time, we had the opportunity to help the teams who have already purchased the RP Lite to get it started. We gave them some guidelines and best practices to use it effectively for more than just a simple 2 m max test. We exposed the importance of regular calibration due to high levels and the violent nature of the measured exhaust sounds.
To finish it up for all our friends in the US, we left one unit with Michael for demoing and testing purposes. All those inquiries can be directed to Michael for the fastest response time.
