I've been laying back and reading the post and pretty much figured that the Raptor and Banshee were very close in performance. Before I go into my story, understand that I'm not saying all model X quads beat model Z, just that this is my experience and that I still have the utmost respect for both machines. Okay, here it goes.

I went to the local MX track today (which is also a 1/2 mile oval dirt track) and had my Raptor in the back of my truck. I didn't intend to race because I just like to watch MX, not race in them.

After mingling in the crowd (it almost as much of a social event as anything) for a while, one of the sponsors asked if I'd be interested in drag racing a stock Banshee after all the scheduled racing was over. I was a little leary of it, but my local yamaha dealer was there and it was a stock, used 1999 Banshee that he had there to sell, so I thought it would be okay.

We decided to drag for about an 1/8th mile or so on the backstretch of the track. The rider was about 200lbs (I'm 225lb), the local Banshee tuning guru and a vetran of the GNCC, so he's what I'd call a very good rider.

Off the line, it was very close because I had to just roll on the throttle to keep the front end down, but as soon as I hit 2nd gear, the Raptor jumped into the lead and it kept growing until I had to get off of the throttle about mid way in 4th gear. It was pretty much the same from a rolling start, even when I let the Banshee be the first to get on the gas from a rolling start, the Raptor would pull me out in front somewhere in 3rd gear. After racing a few times, he declared that it was going to take more than a stock Banshee to beat me.

By that time, we had quite a viewing by the remaining crowd. In my county, it is pretty much accepted that the fastest Banshee is owned by a woman. It's coolheaded, FMF piped, reeds and reed cage and I'm not sure about the internal mods.

A friend of hers figured he'd race her Banshee and embarrace me. I figured the same, but figured what the heck, I'll get beat, but it's expected when racing a modded Banshee against a rider at least 50lbs lighter. This time, it was not close from a dead start, there is no way that I could get on the throttle hard enough to get the holeshot and he beat me the first race. The Banshee rider figured to get a fair comparison, we should do a rolling start. We picked a point to start at and rolled toward it at about 1/2 speed of 1st gear. This time, the results were very different. In first gear, we were side by side, but in second I pulled the lead and third/fourth gears were devastating. It was like the Banshee just give up, but he didn't. We did it over and over. The modded Banshee won a total of 2 races, both due to the fact that I couldn't keep the front down and had to let off to keep from flipping or to steer. I won all of the other rolling starts, even when I purposely let him get on the throttle before me, I could still pull ahead somewhere in 3rd or 4th gear.

When we were finished, I headed back for the truck. I had a guy stop and ask me if the two Banshees were running right because it looked like I walked off and left them!

Well, sorry for the long story, but I felt great about my Raptor today, so I thought I'd share the good as well as the bad.

 

By the way, there was a MX rider there with a 440EX (I think he had the motor done by CT Racing). The first guy that I raced went over and tried to coax him into racing me, but after what he had just saw, they couldn't get him to. He's not scared to drag race, he does it all the time when he's fairly certain he can beat the other quad, so this is why I assumed he didn't race.

 

Way to go!!! I raced a piped Banshee at the dunes last weekend up a very steep hill, I got him off the line and for about the first 100ft, after that, he got me pretty good. I'm not the best racer either. I couldn't keep the front end down and I still got him off the line. Anyways, I love my Raptor and wouldn't sell it for anything.

 

Awesome story!!!! Keep those comming!!!

 

Wish my story was as good but its not.I raced a banshee on the pavement and he beat me both times by like 2 quad lenths.The banshee had bills pipes on it and who nos what else done to it.I also could not keep the front wheels on the ground and I no for a fact it had a lot to do with my gearing.Im running a 12 tooth front sprocket and a 48 tooth rear.The gearing is perfect for tight trail riding but sucks for topend and dragracing.Oh well you cant have the best of both worlds I guess.

 

Good post Bash. I'm a bit surprised about how well you did against the modded Banshee. The results against the stock Banshee seem pretty typical though (from my experience).

 

same results i have seen , in a 500 foot grass drag. notihng beat the Raptor, nor even a moddified banshee or the DS's. he also wheelied when taking off some, they hook up well of the line to good it seems. he had the same trouble you did in keeping the front end down.

 

yes Gary, I was very shocked at how it did against the modded Banshee. I was like, "what the crap is going on, why am I passing him?" and I'm sure I had a grin to match my fealings.

I don't know what gear the Banshee was in, but 3rd and 4th on the Raptor were really impressive. I was also surprized at how well it would rev with the Banshee. I figured that from a rolling start, the Raptor would not be able to rev out as quick in 1st and 2nd gears as the Banshee, but it did and I was very impressed that the big 4 would do that! Oh well, I guess there isn't much else to say about it, I was just excited and had to tell somebody yesterday.