Turn Your Truck Into A Baja 1000 Champion
June 25, 2003
The reigning champs tell you how.
Ever wonder what the difference is between your truck and a Baja 1000-winning Trophy Truck? The Enduro Racing Team's F-150 Trophy Truck driven by Dave Ashley & Dan Smith has won the big race in Baja overall two of the last three years, extending BFGoodrich Tires' winning streak in the fabled off-road event to 17 straight years. Leaving aside the question of driving talent, here is what you need to do to build a winning race truck like theirs:
Start with a stock F-150 and then throw it away. Except for the steering box, the brake master cylinders and the throttle cable, which you'll need for the race truck. Trophy Trucks are full-race vehicles that need show no more than a family resemblance — and a distant resemblance at that — to the vehicle in whose name they race.
To build a Baja race winner like the Enduro Racing F-150, start with a fully equipped machine shop and a full-time shop staff. The job begins with the design and building of a TIG-welded tubular space frame of chrome-moly 4130 steel. Build the roll cage first, and then work towards either end until completed.
What follows are ballpark costs for each of the major components: |
| Cost of designing and building your chassis | $25,000 - $50,000 |
| Design and fabricate TIG-welded upper and lower A-arms for front suspension | $8,000 |
| Design and fabricate four-link trailing arm rear suspension | $10,000 |
| Using custom, solid axle rear end with differential built by Top Fuel drag racing supplier, hub-to-hub cost of solid rear axle, complete with brakes (unless you spend extra for F1 brakes — add $6000) | $14,000 |
| Shocks (27 inches of travel), 2 per wheel @$2000 each | $16,000 |
| Coil springs (four) | $1000 |
| 600 horsepower race engine | $50,000 |
| Race-modified automatic transmission (built-up) | $10,000 |
| Option A: Order special automatic transmission built from scratch | $70,000-$100,000 |
| Option B: Six speed sequential paddle shift F1 box | $100,000 |
| Oil coolers @ $2,000 each (transmission, power steering and engine) | $6,000 |
| Racing aluminum drive shaft | $600 |
| Dry sump oil system | $1,000 |
| 37X12.50 BFGoodrich® Project T/A® tires @$400 each. Total for Baja 1000: 35 | $14,000 |
| Forged one-piece racing wheels @$400 each. Total for Baja 1000: 35 | $14,000 |
| Modifications to stock power steering box | $500 |
| Aluminum radiator | $2,000 |
| 66-gallon fuel cell | $1,800 |
| Satellite phone | $3,000 |
| Eight-to-one exhaust header | $7,000 |
| Radio | $1,000 |
| Airflow positive pressure helmet | $550 |
| Design and commission F-150 replica body in carbon fiber composite, Kevlar and fiberglass panels | $20,000 |
| Note: some other Baja truck racing teams spend as much as $70,000-$100,000 on custom bodies. Does that mean those little pieces of broken fenders are worth, like, $10,000? |
| Paint body: | $5,000 |
| Racing seat | $500 |
| Instrument panel | $2,000 |
| TOTAL | $212,450 |
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 Spares & racing support:
You're not done yet. A racing team wins or loses on its pit crew & spares. Baja racing is more cost-intensive on spares and support vehicles than most racing. The Enduro Racing team uses five truck chase vehicles. Each truck has a completely equipped machine shop with welding, grinding setups, satellite phone, global positioning navigation systems, complete shop tool set.
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| Cost per vehicle | $75,000-$100,000 |
| Minimum number of chase trucks for Baja: 2 | $150,000 |
| Spares |
| Two spare engines | $100,000 |
| Spare transmissions: (2) @ $10,000 | $20,000 |
| Front suspension, two sets @ $8,000 | $16,000 |
| Rear suspension, two sets @ $10,000 | $20,000 |
| Rear axle: 2 @ $14,000 | $28,000 |
| Oil coolers (2 sets) | $12,000 |
| Driveshafts: 2 @ $600 | $1,200 |
| Shocks: 16 | $32,000 |
| Modified steering box (2) | $1,000 |
| Radiators (2) | $4,000 |
| Support crew, mechanics, course workers, food, lodging & transportation for race: (Enduro Racing has a 30-man crew) | $10,000 |
| Approximate total for race support | $404,200 |
| Note: chase trucks are investments, not needing replacement after one race. Most other items on list need replacing after one race. For second race, subtract the cost of the chase trucks from total. |
| Total cost for Baja 1000 Trophy Truck race entry | $616,650 |
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 You're still not done. Add to these figures the cost of a machine shop, staff, racing garage, development and test facilities. To factor in machine shop, development work and staff, add another $600,000 for a grand total of $1,216,650. And that doesn't cover all the incidentals.
So start buying those lottery tickets and we'll see you at next year's race.
Photos courtesy Enduro Racing
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