Protodie was established in 2005 when Jody Dykstra decided to start his own design, fabrication, and machine shop. With over 28 years of experience in the industry designing ,building stamping dies, and managing larger Tool & Die shops, Jody took his knowledge of the trade and decided to apply it differently. In 2022 Protolite Racing was sold to the current owners to carry on the race proven parts and buggies designs. 

While designing high end stamping dies, automation and production fixtures and vehicles, Protodie has an open door to the customer with a vision and a hand drawn sketch.  Customers come in with an idea and we transform it into 3D cad design. Once the customer sees their idea in 3D and approves it, we then take it out to the shop floor and bring it to metal reality and life.  The same process applies to our own ideas, vehicles, and products.  Our passion is bringing new ideas and products to life.  We are always designing, building, and testing something new. From parts to complete turnkey race buggies, we build it!  From kids buggies to 2 seat 120 mph buggies , we build it!  We can supply you with what you need even if it has never been built yet.

Protolite Racing has many great customers all over the world.

Here is more History:

In 2002 we started designing and building off road buggies to race, but not for public sale. A few years later we started making our products available to the public and other racers. We realized their were many other buggy enthusiast out there that not only loved the sport of racing, but building as well.
Off road mini buggies size is in between full size car parts and small ATV parts that will not hold up to a 1000lb buggy. This lack of parts is where we started designing and manufacturing our own. From there, buggy products design and development continued to grow.


The first vehicles were a much simpler design than we build today. There were no plans or online help forums to aid us in our design. The cars were designed from scratch in 3D cad .  We decided to power them with 440 snowmobile engines. The early models had a simple swing arm in the rear and a front trailing "J" arm design, which offered about eight inches of wheel travel. These were intended to be budget builds for field racing fun.  Though these cars fared well in some competitive races and were fun to zip around on Jody's private .2 mile test track, they realized to be more competitive they needed to have independent suspension and larger, more powerful engines



The next generation proved to be very competitive and built the foundation for future Protolite buggies. This new single seat design would make way for a universal buggy that would not only perform great on the track but also power through the sand dunes, trail driving and asphalt. The motor of choice was the Suzuki GSXR 600cc and later the GSXR1000cc. The intricate design would implement Protolite Racing's custom parts allowing a significant increase in wheel travel at 15 inches. The smooth riding independent suspension used a dual a-arm design for the front and rear and multiple mounting locations for the upper shock mount to make the car's suspension as adjustable as possible, so it can be dialed-in for perfect ride quality. 



Always looking to improve performance, this single seat buggy went through several generations of design and performance improvements.



Satisfied with the performance of the single seat buggies and durabilty of our parts, it was time to once again re-design and develop something that more than just one person could enjoy at a time. Time to share the thrill ride with friends and family.
 

The next level of the Protolite buggies would offer an even higher end design with more front wheel travel and is a two seat side by side option. The new two seat design maintained the same 70" width required for racing. This would also prove to be a great option for anyone that would want a fun two seat recreational vehicle to play with in the sand dunes or blazing through the trails, with a friend. This buggy would support a Suzuki GSXR 1000cc engine rated at 185hp and an RPM reverse gear box. The wheel travel once again would increase to 19 inches. One of the great unique features of our buggies is the interchangeable engine cradle. The same engine cradle bolts into the single seat and the two seat race buggies. This engine cradle can easily be removed. The motor, rear a-arm mounts, and related components are all in one assembly that mounts to the main chassis with a series of bolts.


The live axle engine cradle and the reverse gear box engine cradle have identical mounting points so that they are interchangeable. This simplifies maintenance, engine service work, as well as allowing for easier chain tension adjustments and suspension tuning. Another benefit for this ultra versatile engine cradle is that it can house different motors. If you are looking to upgrade from a 600cc to 1000cc, this can be done in very little time without the headache of re-working the whole rear end. Customers can also upgrade from live axle to reverse without building a whole new buggy.





Scaling down the size a bit, we decided to design and build much smaller buggies for kids to race and have fun too.  These were powered by 6.5hp engines.  The current version of these MXT buggies have 13hp to 25hp engines and can also fit adults which makes it a very budget friendly recreational vehicle for any age group.  This also allows dad's (or mom's) to race wheel to wheel with their kids which is an extreme blast for both kids and adults.





We designed the XK450 when we felt the need to offer a buggy with just as much performance but a little easier on the pocketbook.  This particular buggy is supporting a very similar design but houses a 450 quad motor with reverse.  The specs on this buggy is 60" wide with 17" front wheel travel and 15" rear wheel travel.  It weighs in at less than 650lbs.  This is a light weight powerhouse!



The newest model to the Protolite family is the XK1000. This buggy has similarities to the DXT in design and is still powered by a 1000cc, but is narrower in width at 60".  




As always, we are dedicated to making quality parts and high end components for people all over the world. Our buggies can also be found worldwide. With a customer base throughout the USA, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Qatar, and various other countries, we have taken great strides to be the best resource and provide the best customer service for all of our customers. Whether it is a complete buggy, rolling chassis, or bare roll cage, our designs have proven to be one of the best out there. We have helped countless buggy builders work through their builds by answering their questions or sending them the component parts they need to help complete their buggies.

We have incorporated an online web store to make ordering parts more convenient. Although many parts can be easily ordered online, we understand that there may be questions about certain products, to see if they would work for your build. We are always happy to take your call or answer an email if you have a question. We believe customer service is top priority in any business and will do our best to help you.

Protodie is very active on many buggy builder forums and pays attention to the needs of fellow buggy enthusiast. That is why we are always working on new products and making it our purpose to make the buggy building experience enjoyable.

As we continue to produce quality parts and buggies, we will also continue developing and testing new products to keep up with the demand to build the most current and innovative items. Our main goal is to make high performance products affordable for the average home builder and fellow racer.

PROTOLITE RACING

[email protected]
5441 210th Ave SE
Lake Lillian, MN US


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