Could A 1997 Cruiser Run The Baja 1000?
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What class and how did he do?
Anyone know how to get ahold of him? That email address in the link didnt work.
I would love to see some more pics of that rig finished and in action!
Thanks
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The Score number is SPORTSMAN TRUCK CLASS
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- #24
Thats exactly what I wanted to see and being the roll cage is manditory, I would not want to do that with my DD. That being said, I think we will start looking at our different options. Those pictures are excellent though and thank you for posting them. It helps me to visualize what we would do if we find a good used 80. I saw a '94 a month ago and they had $5,500 or best offer. It would have the perfect vehicle to work with and I could later have the truck as a second trail rig.
IIRC his team never finished the race, but they did get close. The shock mounts broke, the pre-runner bar broke, and possibly some other things. I really don't remember. I do remember that any OEM equipment that started the race finished intact. I got a kick out of that.
There are many pictures and hours of video shot by my friends Frances and Ilene who rode with Nick and his team of drivers. Interviews with Ivan Stuart, helecopter shots, etc.
I lost touch with that part of my life over the years, but I do have contact info somewhere, I just need to dig it all up.
There are many pictures and hours of video shot by my friends Frances and Ilene who rode with Nick and his team of drivers. Interviews with Ivan Stuart, helecopter shots, etc.
I lost touch with that part of my life over the years, but I do have contact info somewhere, I just need to dig it all up.
If your question is can an 80 series Landcruiser compete in Baja, my answer would of coarse it can, but now my question to you would be how much money are you willing to spend to make this dream happen, Score CEO Sal Fish maps out every Baja 250, 500, & 1000 coarse himself, and he does so driving his late 80's non-modified 2wd Ford Ranger, I have seen several stock full, & stock mini's finish the 1000 in my families 20 year participation in the sport, but these classes are usally made up families that posess the necessary fabrication skills to build and modify their vehicles to better suit the conditions at hand, I myself have personally run a 95 2wd Toyota pick-up (7s / 7), and it seems like every year I tell myself I need to build a 4wd truck, but at the end of the day it comes down to cost and practicallity, to sum up this rather long post, an expedition style 80 could finish the 1000 but would just beat the hell out of the driver, the only way I would run the 1000 in an 80 would be to gut-it, have a tig welded cage custom built by a professional, huge trusses tig welded to the housings, and a quartet of 3.0,3 tube bypass shocks, sorry for the long post, my 2nd....
I was a prorally driver for years, and crew chief for many more. The problem I see with this is experience. Get it first, and not in an 80. Take a POS Gen 1 pickup and run something other than 1000. Having run bits of the 1000 route book, there is no doubt in my mind that the 80 is just too big a pig for this. Gonna really take one? Get a junker, cuz you will junk it when you are done. Then, have a welder at the helm to gussett and reinforce every bit on that machine.
Support vehicles have run Paris-Dakar for years, and even have a 'rig' class, but if you have ever seen one, the 80 wouldn't stand a chance. Back to the 1000, SCORE has a lot of restrictions, and I just don't see the power to weight of the 80 ever getting below the Miss Piggy class. IIRC, they have bogey times for stages and service (ala Rally) that could really make this an expensive expedition.
Can it be done? I suppose, but not under the guidelines you've established. The rulse won't allow it and the truck will be worthless(or less) when you are done.
I can think of a lot of vehicles to use for this type of competition. The 80 would be the last one I'd consider, other than to tow what I was running *to* the event. You have to figure it's possible to come back from that event with just the tow vehicle. Many competitors found that out the hard way.
I suggest competition wheeling, or NASA rally, or both. If you gain the skill, desire and talent to go on to the next step, do so. Start with realistic goals. The 1000 tests the most seasoned of talent.
My .02 arbitraged thru the peso
Scott Justusson
94 FZJ 80 Supercharged
Support vehicles have run Paris-Dakar for years, and even have a 'rig' class, but if you have ever seen one, the 80 wouldn't stand a chance. Back to the 1000, SCORE has a lot of restrictions, and I just don't see the power to weight of the 80 ever getting below the Miss Piggy class. IIRC, they have bogey times for stages and service (ala Rally) that could really make this an expensive expedition.
Can it be done? I suppose, but not under the guidelines you've established. The rulse won't allow it and the truck will be worthless(or less) when you are done.
I can think of a lot of vehicles to use for this type of competition. The 80 would be the last one I'd consider, other than to tow what I was running *to* the event. You have to figure it's possible to come back from that event with just the tow vehicle. Many competitors found that out the hard way.
I suggest competition wheeling, or NASA rally, or both. If you gain the skill, desire and talent to go on to the next step, do so. Start with realistic goals. The 1000 tests the most seasoned of talent.
My .02 arbitraged thru the peso
Scott Justusson
94 FZJ 80 Supercharged
H1 Hummers are running it and they are even more underpowered!
It technically could be driven in 3 different classes! Stock Mini (91-92), Stock Full (93-97) and Sportsmen, run what you bring!
To further elaborate on my previous post, the size of the 80 is not its limiting factor, its simply the cost involved to get it race ready, size has never been a limiting factor in Baja, Rod Hall has successfully piloted H1 & H2 Hummers in Baja for years, and in many cases won his class, KORE has run their 3500 Cummins powered fullsize Dodge to a class victory as well, and speaking of Cummins, they entered a Cummins powered Frieghtliner Semi "Wild Thing" in the late 90's (DNF 200 miles into the race with complete shock failure), so if the sky is the limit, you can run what ever you want, and SCORE will most likely have a class for you, you just have to possess the resources to get it done....., oh and the avg. speed for the stock full winner at last years 1000 was 28.7mph, speed doesn't win at Baja, just ask Robby!
Copy That!
I just love it when you are wrong!
They competed in the production unmodified class.1996 Grenada-Dakar
In its second year, Team Araco sought to increase its chances of winning by entering two Land Cruiser 80 vehicles. The first vehicle carried the same members as the previous year, while the second vehicle featured veteran French rally driver, G. Sarazan, and Araco employee (Now Toyota Auto Body) Takashi Fujisawa as navigator for the grueling challenge. As other entrants fell out of the race, the two Land Cruiser 80s led the entire race and finished 1st-2nd in their class. The two vehicles also claimed the top two positions for all diesel vehicles, proving the robustness of the Land Cruiser in the world's most prominent rally.
Vehicle No. 1: Asaga-Ito: 2nd in its class
Vehicle No. 2: Sarazan-Fujisawa: 1st in its class
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-B-
Oh yeah, Team ARACO ran an 80 series in unmodified production class in 95 (4th place in class), 97 (2nd in class), 98 (1st and 2nd in class, 13hr gap to the third place finisher).
After discussing this topic with my Dad this eveing, he recalled a team of two men that ran the 1000 back in the mid-90's in a race prepped/daily driven 1972 Ford Bronco, they drove from Maine (he thinks) to the start line in Ensenada, finished the race within the alotted time (he thinks) and drove back to Maine, their adventure was covered by Four Wheeler Mag, BFG felt sorry for these guys @ the end of the race & gave them a set of tires for free, so the story goes. Your approach to the Baja 1000 is very similar to the stories of the men that started this whole thing back in the late 60's, I say go for it, even the year we didn't make check point 2, was better then the years we didn't run at all........don't skimp on safety, spend the time and money on all the necessary safety equipment, and follow the rule book. We have burned the Midnight oil many times when our truck has not passed tech......great way to start the race "TIRED"
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- #37
Well I am certainly glad that I asked the question on here because I have gotten a better idea of what we are looking at. Those of you who have run Baja or been involved at some level for years is just the kind of people I need to be discussing this plan with. We have started looking at various auto salvage and auctions for a 1991-1997 80 Landcruiser and we are thinking we could find one for $6k or less and probably another $10K in getting it repaired and modified for the event. I might talk to Mark at Metal Tech about helping us with the cage and other armor. We can do the suspension like mine and use HD links ect. I have a bunch of spare suspension parts that came off mine, shocks probably important and we will have the dual battery welding setup for repairs out on the coarse. Between the two of us and whoever else we can get on board, we are planing on building the truck for $20K and will do most of the work ourselves. My buddy has a fab shop at his home so we will build what we can and get the rest from suppliers.
You know... for me, it's one of those things in your life that you talk about doing but never following through. So you could say "well I thought about doing the Baja 1000 in my 80 but I was afraid of what could happen so I never did. At this stage in my life, I realize that if there are things I really want to do then don't just talk about it but actually DO IT. Once I commit to something, I always follow through just to challenge myself. I would much rather be able to sat "yea, we ran the Baja 1000, and we did it in the 80 Landcruiser but I don't think we will do it again or we might want to participate in such challenges every year, The only way I am ever going to do something like this is to just commit and make it happen. Heck, it doesn't even matter if we don't make check point for whatever reason, we will still be down there and having just as much fun.
Mark
You know... for me, it's one of those things in your life that you talk about doing but never following through. So you could say "well I thought about doing the Baja 1000 in my 80 but I was afraid of what could happen so I never did. At this stage in my life, I realize that if there are things I really want to do then don't just talk about it but actually DO IT. Once I commit to something, I always follow through just to challenge myself. I would much rather be able to sat "yea, we ran the Baja 1000, and we did it in the 80 Landcruiser but I don't think we will do it again or we might want to participate in such challenges every year, The only way I am ever going to do something like this is to just commit and make it happen. Heck, it doesn't even matter if we don't make check point for whatever reason, we will still be down there and having just as much fun.
Mark
Before doing anything mechanical to it, i would suggest getting a SCORE rulebook and figuring out what class you want to run in. Most of the classes that you will fit into wont allow much (if any) modification to the any of the components other then springs! Be warned that if you decide to run it in Sportsman, you will be starting behind stock bugs, rhino golf karts, etc.... There is a MUCH greater chance of timing out if you run sportsman just due to the bottleneck factor! I would definitely get your hands on a SCORE rulebook though!
KUDOS TO YOU!!
When did you run, with what, and who did you crew for. Curious.
I just love it when you are wrong!
1996 Grenada-Dakar
In its second year, Team Araco sought to increase its chances of winning by entering two Land Cruiser 80 vehicles. The first vehicle carried the same members as the previous year, while the second vehicle featured veteran French rally driver, G. Sarazan, and Araco employee (Now Toyota Auto Body) Takashi Fujisawa as navigator for the grueling challenge. As other entrants fell out of the race, the two Land Cruiser 80s led the entire race and finished 1st-2nd in their class. The two vehicles also claimed the top two positions for all diesel vehicles, proving the robustness of the Land Cruiser in the world's most prominent rally.
Vehicle No. 1: Asaga-Ito: 2nd in its class
Vehicle No. 2: Sarazan-Fujisawa: 1st in its class
Diesel and stick shift? That might be hard to find in salvage yards here in the US. If planning on importing one for racing, best start that process now, and if customs denies it, you lose the bond you posted.
It took my friend almost 6 months to get a full race Group A rally car through customs several years ago. IMU, that hasn't gotten 'easier'.
Not shooting down the idea of B1000, just that something other than an 80 would probably be a better target vehicle. Then start with fast offroad TSD rally's. Get a ProRally license, learn how navigators and drivers interact under race conditions.
Jumping into B1000 with a 80 seems like a big step to me. And I'll note Mark, when I was in college, I started ProRallying, and drove my DD to the first few events, and it was still expensive. As a rule, I take competition budgets line items as a total, then double it to get the more likely actual dollars. Might make this machine seem like a steal...
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C15334
or this P-D 80 diesel for sale
http://www.dakar.com/cgi-bin/forum/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000322
Minimally Mark, I'd contact these chaps about what you need to do to prep one, nice Utube vid of truck too...
www.berghesracing.be
Getting sponsorship is your best bet. Not many sponsors want to risk dollars without some sort of resume/experience.
HTH
Scott Justusson
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