Researching R3 Ultra 4 Possibilities

Hello All,
New to the forum and new to R3 in general...
I have been doing some research on potentially using an R3 engine in an upcoming Ultra 4 race car build that I am planning. Seems like an interesting option for light weight high torque. Things I've considered so far.
Drive train:
R3 engine re-geared to get to 3.2:1 first gear and potentially lower geared 6th.
Quaife inline reversing gearbox
Atlas II transfer case for all the 4wd needs
Mandatory upgrades:
upgraded transmission internals
upgraded output shaft to handle 37-40" tires
added 2nd stage on dry sump setup

Maybe I'm crazy thinking that the R3 can handle the abuse of a light weight Ultra 4 buggy. But seems kinda cool to potentially have a <3,000 lb race car when most others have massive 5-6k lb cars.

Curious to hear from those of you that know a bit about strength and reliability of the R3 in a really abusive environment like Ultra 4 offroad racing.

Best,
Rico

welcome from Tucson Arizona USA

Gidday mate, welcome to the forum. Seems a very expensive way to slap an engine into something. Would you not be better off getting a 4 cyl Busa engine & working the magic from there? It'd be waaay easier and there's lots of go fast mods avail, you can get huge numbers out of them if you want.

Welcome to the forum.
Can the Rocket engine do the business for your quest?.........No idea.....but I would love to find out.

Kiwicol said:

Gidday mate, welcome to the forum. Seems a very expensive way to slap an engine into something. Would you not be better off getting a 4 cyl Busa engine & working the magic from there? It'd be waaay easier and there's lots of go fast mods avail, you can get huge numbers out of them if you want.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the comment. I agree, the Rocket 3 isn't the most cost effective approach. I looked at the Hyabusa quite a bit, along with the BMW k1600. For the rocks, the Hyabusa just didn't seem to have enough low idle torque. The K1600 is smooth with pretty good low end torque, but a bit wider than the R3. In the end, the R3 power to weight ratio seems hard to beat.