From the highest of a twenty story sand dune as the primary trickles of daylight crest the horizon I can really feel the complete vastness of the world. An unbelievable pure show formed over hundreds of years, the Imperial Sand Dunes, lays out for miles in all instructions. Other than my travelling companions, the one proof of human existence inside my ken are the tire tracks of their full ship escapades. I’ve by no means felt the complete depths of alone wherever greater than right here, proper now.
Thank goodness I’ve acquired a 225-horsepower dose of paddle tires and full ship proper right here beside me.
Full disclosure: Polaris flew me to San Diego and transported me two and a half hours to the Glamis dunes for a few days ripping in a 2025 RZR Professional R. They provided me with a pleasant RV to sleep in and a handful of good meals. I acquired actually sick and slept loads, however that wasn’t their fault.
Camp RZR is an annual occasion hosted by Polaris for side-by-side fanatics out within the deepest depths of the Algodones Dunes in Southern California simply miles from borders with Mexico and Arizona, colloquially referred to as Glamis. Round Halloween yearly Camp RZR brings the social gathering to the dunes for the unofficial “opening weekend” of the dune driving season. It’s means too rattling sizzling in the summertime to hang around round right here, so many of the weekend warriors don’t present up till the temperatures drop beneath 95 levels. And boy do they present up. Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest time of the 12 months in Glamis with an estimated 150,000 individuals displaying up. This opening weekend is simply behind that with round 100,000 attendees.
Previous to my journey out into the dunes I had zero perspective on how massive the aspect by aspect group could possibly be. Tens of hundreds of those mega-dollar toys are out right here ripping round and sizzling dogging, it doesn’t seem to be anybody is holding something again. It’s full ship mode always, from solar as much as properly after midnight daily. The night time runs at a few of the extra well-liked hills are possibly the sketchiest factor I’ve ever borne witness to, watching drunk-as-skunks yahoos in hopped up jalopies rip up hills at pace, then flip round and rip again down.
These sand hills are older than trendy society and declare to be the birthplace of the unique dune buggy. Within the pre-Meyers Manx days of dune driving So Cal hot-rodders stripped down outdated Ford Mannequin T frames and outfitted them with balloon tires. The hill proven above is called Oldsmobile Hill as a result of it was seen as unimaginable to climb by these early dune junkies, till somebody shoved an Oldsmobile Rocket V8 of their jalopy and made contemporary tracks up the face of the hill. That 303 cubic inch V8 made an unbelievable 135 horsepower in 1949.
In a model new Polaris RZR Professional R climbing Oldsmobile is as simple as pointing the nostril uphill and urgent the throttle. These tiny Minnesota mech fits are actually simple mode for almost any impediment. I couldn’t climb this hill underneath my very own energy, however give me a 2-liter four-cylinder, a CVT, a set of paddle tires, and 29 inches of suspension journey and I’ll rip my means proper up a wall of sand.
It’s simple to see why individuals gravitate towards these wild off-road machines, as a result of they’ll completely make any regular human a dune driving famous person. I’m in all probability not going out and successful Dakar any time quickly, however going from near-zero dune expertise to drifting the aspect of a 100-foot dune in a single day feels fairly rattling cool. Moving into an RZR Professional R is like placing on Superman’s cape. I’m out of the blue able to extra, sooner, higher, farther.
So what’s Camp RZR? After finishing a day of dune driving, we headed again to camp to take a look at the absurd spectacle of all of it. Whereas ostensibly a advertising and marketing train for Polaris, this can be a whole carnival environment for everybody. They hauled a ferris wheel, fireworks, stay music, a laser gentle present, a lighted drone show, and an enormous freestyle motocross setup out into the center of nowhere to provide individuals one thing to do in between their dune rips.
My private favourite a part of Camp RZR, nevertheless, needed to be the Polaris repair it crew garages. With just a few dozen mechanics working tirelessly, Polaris will settle for any of their autos in free of charge repairs to your desert fuckups. Of 1 RZR lacking its entrance left nook a mechanic stated “This man ran out of expertise and luck on the similar time, but when we’ve got the components and the time, we’ll get him again on the market.” Whether or not its damaged suspension, a ripped CVT belt, or an exploded axle, Polaris is glad to face behind their merchandise and get individuals out driving once more.
This hospitality extends past the confines of Polaris’ makeshift garages, too. Whereas we had been out driving greater than as soon as we stopped to assist somebody dig out of deep sand or exchange a smoked drive belt. That’s what occasions like this are all about, the collective serving to the person and having a shit ton of enjoyable within the course of. We’re all out right here to benefit from the white of our knuckles, and we take the enjoyment with the ache. Isn’t that what life boils right down to?
I spent a weekend on the floor of a international planet driving a four-wheeled mech swimsuit able to traversing even essentially the most absurd geography possible. I get it now. I perceive the side-by-side craze higher after having immersed myself in it for just a few days. These machines give humanity entry to thoroughly new worlds. There isn’t a road-legal machine on the earth able to the type of desert ripping that one among these can handle. At $34,999 a Polaris RZR Professional R is a extremely costly toy, but it surely’s actually cheap for a spaceship.
