Racing Radios? Thoughts for a novice team hopping to run enduros..

Hey all,

Does anyone have a good suggestion for what to look for in racing radios? My friends and I are hoping to start running some of the enduro series, and we are looking for better communication that the trusty old dry erase board.

It seems that there are a few options to go with and pricing can run from $600 up to $1800 or so. I know this has to do with the power of the radios in most cases.

We hope to run at NHMS, The Glen, LRP and NJ in the future. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to buy or what not to buy?

We are in the North East, so if anyone has a used system they might want to unload let me know.

Thanks guys,

Kip Moncrief
[email protected]
860.916.3751

Kip

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Does anyone have a good suggestion for what to look for in racing radios? My friends and I are hoping to start running some of the enduro series, and we are looking for better communication that the trusty old dry erase board.

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Check with Chris Kellett at Syncspeed. He a racer and a great guy who'll give you straight talk about radios.

Sync Speed, Inc.
Racing Communications
(610) 659- 1033
[email protected]

Terry

I'm a big fan of Shawn Sampson, Sampson Racing, http://www.sampsonracing.com/sampson...new/home_f.htm. They've equipped Kakashi Racing, Conover Motorsports, and a few other friends, and have always offered good value and great service.

GA

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Originally Posted by Greg Amy

I'm a big fan of Shawn Sampson, Sampson Racing, http://www.sampsonracing.com/sampson...new/home_f.htm. They've equipped Kakashi Racing, Conover Motorsports, and a few other friends, and have always offered good value and great service.

GA

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+1 to that!

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Originally Posted by 924Guy

+1 to that!

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+2 (with an admittedly local Bias, since he is the closest large comm. vendor to me, and raced with him in the Pro7 days.

Get multi-channel radios (3, one for car, one for crew chief, one for paddock base) and have the four US itinerant freqs installed. Apply for an FCC license for your own frequencies assigned at tracks where you will run the enduros.
Get a good noise cancelling headset for your crew chief.
Get an adapter to power the car radio from the car battery. Get several additional batteries and quick charger for the other radios.
The car harness can be tie wrapped into the car and a magnetic antenna works fine.
Get several push to talk buttons. If you install on the steering wheel the cords will eventually go bad.
Get the helmet kits for each of your drivers and probably a spare. Molded ear buds are the best but have a few spare foamy types in case.
Get a case to carry all your radios, power supplies, and spares.

This is a one time investment so buy quality items. I've had my system for 18 years (Motorola radios) and have only had to replace batteries and helmet/ear pieces.
Enjoy
Chuck

+3 for Sampson.

+4 Sampson

another + for Sampson

Hey Guys thanks for the kind words!:023: Is great to see some old friends and customers names, hope all is well in your racing worlds!

Hey KP please feel free to call the office and ask for me. Make sure you let me know that you got some great referrals from the IT site!

It's not Sampson, but there's a link to some radios on SCCA forums I ran into a few minutes ago while shopping for used stuff that I can't afford...
http://sccaforums.com/forums/thread/418209.aspx

Looks like everything you need but the driver's helmet parts.
Unsure of the quality of the radios though. I've heard mixed reviews of the digital Kenwoods from the corner workers vs. the older analog Motorolas we had before.

With the digital, you get clean clear sound or nothing. If the signal is poor on an analog radio, you still at least get static + speech. could mean the difference if you have a problem in the back 40 and are radioing in for a tire change.