Our website might be new (and pretty flash we reckon!) but the fact is Rorty and Rorty-Design have been around for years. The current stable of Rorty offroad racing buggy designs are based on many, many predecessors (you might have guessed based on the R numbers which did start at 1!). These designs have been used with great success in short course dirt track racing, particularly in the TORC club, of which Bob (former Rorty designer) was a founding member and scrutineer. They are also used in fast desert racing like the famous Baja 1000 and with Ecotec power they compete in Class 3000 Desert Lites (check out some of the videos!).
Rorty moved to Queensland in 2013 and is relatively new to the Sunshine State (although the new owners aren’t). There are many Rorty buggies in Australia but the majority of our customers are based in North America, which explains why our plans are notated in both metic and imperial units. Browse the buggy forums like the MiniBuggy Network (MBN) and you’ll find lots of build threads on Rorty buggies. There’s no doubt the 2 seat R16 is a very popular build and there are lots of pics and build threads on it. The single seaters are there too, you just have to dig a little further. We love working with people from all over the globe and work hard to make building one of our designs a possibility wherever you live. While the parts and materials we use have a USA focus (the off-road racing scene there is massive and the parts range immense!) we also build here in Oz and material and parts substitutions are provided. If you’re not sure just ask.
When run in Victoria, Rorty-Design was primarily an offroad buggy and professional workshop tool design enterprise based on Bob’s awesome design skill. Plans for the dedicated DIY builders were the primary product having been tried and tested in Bob’s workshop. I am still amazed at the Bob’s skill in turning an idea into reality and being able to break it down to clear easy to follow plans and instructions with attention to detail second to none. Here in Qld we are still design and DIY focused but we also want to offer parts, kits and fully built machines for those of you that don’t have the desire to do everything from scratch.
We are in the process of gathering parts and materials for construction of a number of demonstrator buggies that will feature in detailed ‘how to’ build videos and promotional movies and pictures. Keep your eyes peeled!
Check out the History of Rorty and Rorty’s Racing Origins for more information.