Building a Baja 1000 vehicle

[arrfep]

Hypothetical situation for the Garage crew. The other day I watched "Dust to Glory" on Netflix. It's a documentary on the Tecate Baja 1000 desert race. Damn good doc and I highly recommend it (it's on Netflix). Anyway so I started joking with a couple buddies at work about entering, and of course the major question was what kind of vehicle to build.

So. If you were to enter a major (hundreds of miles) off road race in a limited budget ($5k for vehicle and mods), what would you start with? I've read about the guy who raced in a $500 E30 and actually did well, and that's kind of the inspiration. Mostly, we'd be looking to simply finish. The vehicle would have to be tough, cheap, easy to work on, and be easily liftable. And cheap. One of the guys studied hot-rod fabrication at Wyotech, so assume all the fabrication work would be done ourselves. Initial idea was an early 90s Ranger with a 2.3L that can be turboed. But I'd love to hear any ideas, since there's a .00001% chance we may actually attempt this.

 

[Fenixgoon]

old jeep?

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Subaru Baja but since your budget is only $5K -

 

[herm0016]

oh man... that would be soooo cool!. anyway. something with gm new gen small block, 6l80e and dana 60s would be my pick, though i am not sure how many teams run straight axles anymore. I would want to have as little lift as possible and cut the heck out of the fenders to make your cg low.

I am putting this combo in my Wagoneer. though, it is more built for exploring/mountain terrain than desert.

a ranger would be a good start, but i would be wary of its small 4wd system and axles. at least upgrade the axles and install a long arm kit on the front.

 

[Zap]

He said the Baja 1000, not the Baja 10. :twisted:

Hypothetical situation for the Garage crew.
...
So. If you were to enter a major (hundreds of miles) off road race in a limited budget ($5k for vehicle and mods), what would you start with?

Really, with appropriate tires just about any vehicle will work. I was watching WRC 2011 and they have a spec class where everyone runs front wheel drive Ford Fiestas. With that being said...

80's era Mustang GT

Srsly engines were reasonably reliable. I took mine off-road successfully (albeit not very fast). 2010 Mustang GT racing in Rally America.

 

[Bignate603]

There is a stock VW bug class!

A Jeep done up for Jeepspeed (a class of offroad racing) would probably do quite well.

 

[sdifox]

shock absorption and cooling are the most important aspects I would think

 

[amish]

what about an old crown vic. parts are cheap and the drive train was designed to take tons of abuse. give it a small lift, cut away some of the fenders, upgrade some of the suspension, and put in a locker. the engine could easily be upgraded with some bolt ons or a supercharger.

this sounds like it would be tons of fun.

 

[Occ]

Well with that budget, it seems like you'd have the most luck in the VW Bug class.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

what about an old crown vic. parts are cheap and the drive train was designed to take tons of abuse. give it a small lift, cut away some of the fenders, upgrade some of the suspension, and put in a locker. the engine could easily be upgraded with some bolt ons or a supercharger.

this sounds like it would be tons of fun.

+ cut the trunk out, and weld in reinforcements. Hmmmmm :twisted:

 

[manimal]

Well with that budget, it seems like you'd have the most luck in the VW Bug class.

Was going to post this. Bone cheap. Crazy fun once lifted. I always loved the sound of those things.

Its been forever but there used to be cheap buggy kits you could throw a 1600 in and go.

 

[IcePickFreak]

The biggest issue is probably going to be making the chassis stiff enough to handle it. Does your guy know how fab a cage? I'd imagine they have to pass inspection for certification on that.

Hypothetical situation for the Garage crew. The other day I watched "Dust to Glory" on Netflix. It's a documentary on the Tecate Baja 1000 desert race. Damn good doc and I highly recommend it (it's on Netflix). Anyway so I started joking with a couple buddies at work about entering, and of course the major question was what kind of vehicle to build.

So. If you were to enter a major (hundreds of miles) off road race in a limited budget ($5k for vehicle and mods), what would you start with? I've read about the guy who raced in a $500 E30 and actually did well, and that's kind of the inspiration. Mostly, we'd be looking to simply finish. The vehicle would have to be tough, cheap, easy to work on, and be easily liftable. And cheap. One of the guys studied hot-rod fabrication at Wyotech, so assume all the fabrication work would be done ourselves. Initial idea was an early 90s Ranger with a 2.3L that can be turboed. But I'd love to hear any ideas, since there's a .00001% chance we may actually attempt this.

A dusty desert + turbo probably wouldn't be good from a reliability standpoint.

 

[Fenixgoon]

The biggest issue is probably going to be making the chassis stiff enough to handle it. Does your guy know how fab a cage? I'd imagine they have to pass inspection for certification on that.



A dusty desert + turbo probably wouldn't be good from a reliability standpoint.

tell that to the f150 raptor

 

[amish]

+ cut the trunk out, and weld in reinforcements. Hmmmmm :twisted:

i just looked at the vehicle classes and unfortunately a CV wouldn't work, damn...

6 cyl and under...my vote goes for the VW class too.

 

[JCH13]

[/B]

tell that to the f150 raptor

Okay.

Me: SVT Raptor, did you know turbos are bad for desert endurance racing?
SVT Raptor: Why yes I did know that, that's why I have naturally aspirated 5.4 and 6.2L V8s.


(You're thinking regular F150 ecoboost v6)

 

[arrfep]

There is a stock VW bug class!

He said the Baja 1000, not the Baja 10. :twisted:



Really, with appropriate tires just about any vehicle will work. I was watching WRC 2011 and they have a spec class where everyone runs front wheel drive Ford Fiestas. With that being said...

80's era Mustang GT

Totally agree. Obviously if you're looking to win, trophy truck is the way to go. You need three feet of suspension and a chassis built to withstand a fall from the stratosphere because you're hitting jumps and berms at 140 mph. Go slow and steady and suspension needs could be more reasonable. Fox body Mustang would be pretty awesome...maybe a 5.0?

what about an old crown vic. parts are cheap and the drive train was designed to take tons of abuse. give it a small lift, cut away some of the fenders, upgrade some of the suspension, and put in a locker. the engine could easily be upgraded with some bolt ons or a supercharger.

this sounds like it would be tons of fun.

That would be awesome. We could dress like Jake and Elwood, too. :awe: Would RWD suck in the desert?

 

[arrfep]

The biggest issue is probably going to be making the chassis stiff enough to handle it. Does your guy know how fab a cage? I'd imagine they have to pass inspection for certification on that.



A dusty desert + turbo probably wouldn't be good from a reliability standpoint.

AFAIK he can build a cage... This is one of the reasons we were looking at old pickups...figured it would be easier to add a roll-cage to a body-on-frame car than a unibody.

Good point about the turbo.

i just looked at the vehicle classes and unfortunately a CV wouldn't work, damn...

6 cyl and under...my vote goes for the VW class too.

Yeah...the classes are hard to understand. Seems like there's a huge gap between 11 (bone-stock VW Bugs) and everything else.

 

[kornphlake]

Aren't there two approaches to the baja 1000, the first approach being to win the race the second approach would be to simply finish. I'd think if your goal was to finish just about any pickup or VW bug would do the job, if you wanted to be competitive in any class it probably doesn't matter what vehicle you pick as a platform, what really matters is how much money you have to make it into a winner and of course how good your driver is.

 

[Ferzerp]

Okay.

Me: SVT Raptor, did you know turbos are bad for desert endurance racing?
SVT Raptor: Why yes I did know that, that's why I have naturally aspirated 5.4 and 6.2L V8s.


(You're thinking regular F150 ecoboost v6)

Well played!

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Toyota Hilux. Top Gear tested it, so it must be good.

 

[arrfep]

Toyota Hilux. Top Gear tested it, so it must be good.

Oooh, good one. I remember reading about that. Didn't they drop it off a building and submerge it and run it without oil and it still ran?

 

[Zap]

We could dress like Jake and Elwood, too. :awe: Would RWD suck in the desert?

That would be hilarious! RWD is fine, as many of the race vehicles are only RWD. What matters are proper tires and keeping momentum going. The Baja 1000 isn't all sand and rock climbing.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

like others have said, vw/jeep class, no turbo, proper roll cage.

or, motorcycle

 

[Fenixgoon]

Okay.

Me: SVT Raptor, did you know turbos are bad for desert endurance racing?
SVT Raptor: Why yes I did know that, that's why I have naturally aspirated 5.4 and 6.2L V8s.


(You're thinking regular F150 ecoboost v6)

Well played!

close enough: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/11/22/followup-ford-f-150-ecoboost-finishes-baja-1000-in-38-hours/

 

[Bignate603]

close enough: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/11/22/followup-ford-f-150-ecoboost-finishes-baja-1000-in-38-hours/

According to FoMoCo, the truck put up with some of the most grueling terrain on the planet – racing through temperatures below freezing and above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. More impressively, as you may recall, this particular 3.5-liter V6 engine entered the cross-country rally with the equivalent of 10 years of abuse on the clock. The very same lump went through extensive endurance testing at the Cleveland Engine Plant before being bolted into an F-150 that was used as a log skidder in Oregon.

Finally, the same engine drove around a NASCAR track at full speed while towing 11,300 pounds. Ford then unbolted the engine and plopped it into the race machine you see above – bone stock and without so much as a rebuild

Impressive indeed...

However, I doubt the OP will be able to pull off that kind of reliability if they turbocharge an engine that did not originally come that way from the factory.