As for the LX600 having to bail on the race early. That wasn't a surprise to anyone, not because of the vehicle, it's capabilities or it's prep but rather their desire not to destroy the car, which would have happened given the rough race course this year and their limited (very stock) suspension and seat time in the car. It was always a 3-year plan for them. The car needed to be back in Japan for the Tokyo Auto Salon in presentable shape. It worked as they just partnered with Gazoo Racing for 2023+ support. The running condition we experienced in the car was imo related to the fuel system (fuel cell) required to race in SCORE. They used a typical fuel cell with a pair of basically what are feed pumps into a small canister that held the factory in-tank pump. This kept all of the factory telemetry in check as this vehicle still runs all of the factory system. It's possible the in-tank pump was experiencing some kind of volume or pressure fault with the aftermarket feed pump(s). We swapped a new factory fuel pump and switched back and forth between the redundant feed pumps with some change, but nothing that lasted more than a few miles before we were getting engine cut-out. They also suspect it may be related to a loose engine sensor that wasn't easily accessible but may have been taken off when the vehicle was fully stripped for race prep.
You don't have hours and hours to work on the car during the race, particularly early on when you're racing to get to the first check-point before it closes and you officially DNF. Unfortunately after attempts to swap a variety of parts with the JAOS pit crew (amazing technicians) and even re-flashing the computer, nothing worked for more than a few more miles which obviously meant the culprit was something else. I've not had a chance to catch up with them as they are all back in Japan and were crazy busy prepping for the Auto Salon this last weekend, I'm told it's all solved.
As for the reliability of the LX600 vs say the LX570. We first met Joe Bacal racing the earlier LX570 because he was stuck along the race course in the Bay of LA with a dead race car suffering from immobilizer/ECU issues. They solved that after a few races. We've now raced the 2nd LX570 build and finished 7 of 8 Baja 1000's (average in class is well under 50% finish) and 24/26 total desert races. I suspect the LX600 will see similar results as they sort the issues that pop up.
You don't have hours and hours to work on the car during the race, particularly early on when you're racing to get to the first check-point before it closes and you officially DNF. Unfortunately after attempts to swap a variety of parts with the JAOS pit crew (amazing technicians) and even re-flashing the computer, nothing worked for more than a few more miles which obviously meant the culprit was something else. I've not had a chance to catch up with them as they are all back in Japan and were crazy busy prepping for the Auto Salon this last weekend, I'm told it's all solved.
As for the reliability of the LX600 vs say the LX570. We first met Joe Bacal racing the earlier LX570 because he was stuck along the race course in the Bay of LA with a dead race car suffering from immobilizer/ECU issues. They solved that after a few races. We've now raced the 2nd LX570 build and finished 7 of 8 Baja 1000's (average in class is well under 50% finish) and 24/26 total desert races. I suspect the LX600 will see similar results as they sort the issues that pop up.