My dad and i have been building these from the ground up for years. i think we have a total of 18 people in our buggy club, of whom each buggy we built except for one. ill get some pics up in the next couple of hours for you to have a look. the edge products make kits for different sorts and different courses but get on their website and have a look but my personal opinion, this is a very expensive way to go, they are unreliable/high maintenance because they generally use motorbike engines and break lots as said above. There is one buggy they build called the Balistic. This is the best looking buggy i have ever seen. 2 seats, jet fighter style, massive frame and suspension work, complete with EJ20 Turbo. The thing pisses but hets the pocket for 80g.
My old beach buggy was a fully intergrated frame that i designed and fabd with my old boy out of light weight pipe, i had a VW 1600 that we tricked up to 2L and easily did 170-180 on a flat beach, it had kombi g/box (stronger) with IRS so big shocks on the back for big jumps, skinnies on the front and sprint car tyres on the back. all up we probably spent about 5-6 grand but it was unbreakable because we did it right the first time. i ended up selling it for about 8g.
But dont forget, these buggies get hammered in second gear for most of the time, flogging around tracks, dunes etc doin stupid stuff in them wont keep them in good shape. Suspension breaks, steering arms, clutches, cables, break lines, tyres pop, engines blow if not looked after, theres alot of hours and money spent on these toys to get em going and keep em going. so if your looking for a toy thats easy to look after and can have plenty of fun on, buy a quad like a banshee or something.
Just my 2c.
my beach buggy
my uncle ians bush pig
Just a few that i have at work...full on fun machines.
I am in the middle of designing a new one that i will be incorporating a turbo motor of soem sorts