Canguro Racing - Baja 1000 2014

Any more pics of the front suspension set up?

 

Unofficial 2nd is what I heard this morning.....

 

3.0 King Coilover and Bypass. Stock LCA, UCA and spindle with no gussets. Part of the Stock class rules, no reinforcing material can be added.

Pic when the truck was still driven by Joe Bacal

 

TJ is the last place you want to go! We have a group that has been doing a week+ in Baja around Easter for the past 26 years with no issues. Usually go in through Tecate and then head south. Get in away from the border towns and all is good. We travel as a group which helps, but the folks are awesome and friendly and it is a great place once you get a tad bit south.

 

Got home late last night. What a freakin incredible week!!! I can't even begin to describe the experience yet. I've got some great stories and racing against the TRDPro Tundra was a knockdown dragout fight for all 1200 miles.

As for build quality of the trucks.....that Tundra was a total BEAST!!! Herbst built one badass truck and it was in no way less built than the Land Cruiser.

Canguro finished in 2nd place in class 8100 behind the Tundra but the TRD team had to put it all on the line to beat us. They are such a cool group of guys and there is not an ounce of animosity between the teams and we were both on the finish line at almost the same time and got tons of pics together with both teams. Pretty awesome if you ask me that it was two Toyotas in the top spots in the class in more or less "stock" trucks. The Rod Hall Hummer H1 Alpha didn't even finish the race. That speaks volumes to the toughness of the Toyotas.

I've got almost 4000 photos that I'm just starting to go through. Stand by.

 

The front end is on the race truck is similar to this but it has a few changes for sure since this was taken.

 

I will say that out of the two Toyotas you could take take them both through the carwash and one would look the same as it did before the race and the other would look like it needs to go to the scrapyard. Gotta hand it to the Long Beach Racers for getting it done in the Tundra.

 

Standing by for pics

 

Here are some pics to start. It's going to take a while to go through everything. Starting with our arrival in Ensenada. As luck would have it our team along with the TRD Pro team were staying in the same hotel. The TRD team had something like 17 chase vehicles, all of them were either TRD Pro Tacomas, Tundras, or 4Runners.

I had seen pictures online of the TRD Pro Baja Tundra, but after seeing it in person, those photos don't do it justice and I'm sure mine won't either. This truck is an intimidating machine in person. The build quality was absolutely stunning. Herbst-Smith Fabrication did a fantastic job on the build.


Once we got all the trucks parked in the small parking garage it was time for a Canguro Team photo. This was all of us. In comparison we had 5 chase trucks.


The next morning was time for CONTINGENCY. Contingency for the Baja 1000 is a major party. There is a flood of people the entire day and full access to all of the race vehicles that get paraded down the streets of Ensenada.






Is it possible for 42's to look small?

 

more contingency


The "Super Team" that eventually took the overall win. Driven by Rob McCachran, Jason Voss and Andy McMillen


Geiser Bros chassis are some of the best


These are my favorite new product. These KC LED pods are so cool. They are sold in pairs and can be linked side by side or stacked. These makes it possible to have a small set or a large set of LEDs that can fit anywhere. There are even brackets to link them on a radius to follow the curve of a windshield. The are wicked bright too. I'm saving some pennies for lots of these.


White wheels are the coolest.




The Rod Hall Racing Hummer H1 Alpha that also raced in our class. We were trailing them for the first half of the race but finally overtook them. Not too long after that we got word that they broke and did not finish the race.


Got skidplates? How about 1/2" thick aluminum stacked for a 1" thick skidplate on the Hummer. BEEF!

 

moar


the Federalis were out to keep the party from getting to crazy


Girth




I can't explain what it is the makes the Mexicans LOVE stickers, but they do and they will mob you to get them. We were even stopped by the police in one town only to be asked for stickers.

 

This "Trophy Stroller" has better suspension than most trucks on here.

 

More pics tomorrow

 

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

In case you haven't seen what happened to the Tundra yet......... We can claim a bit of the responsibility for that gash in the side of the truck. I heard all of this firsthand in our conversations with the TRD team at the end of the race so take it for what it is. The Tundra was driven by:

Ted Moncure – Toyota Racing Development Design Engineer/SCORE Baja 1000 and 500 class-champion/Long Beach, CA
Andy Bell – Toyota Athlete/SCORE Baja 500 Champion/Guinness World Record holder/Long Beach, CA
Jamie Bestwick – Toyota Athlete/Professional BMX Vert Rider/9-time X-Games winner/Port Matilda, PA
Ryan Millen – SCORE Baja 1000 and 500 Competitor/Son of off-road and rally legend Rod Millen/San Juan Capistrano, CA

Ted Moncure was the "boss" so to speak for the drivers and told all the drivers before the race that he did not want them driving beyond 7/10, meaning 70% of what they were capable of because from a marketing standpoint it was important for the Tundra team to complete the race and get the truck across the finish line without breaking it. The Canguro drivers were pushing them hard the whole race and both Jamie and Ryan told our drivers that they had to drive the Tundra 10/10+ in order to maintain their lead. That was a huge compliment to everyone on the Canguro team since we're just a bunch of guys that are just into Land Cruisers racing against a factory built truck with pro drivers. Ted Moncure was driving at the time of the "accident" which was on the final leg of the race. A Class 7 truck was mired in a deep silt bed and as Ted dropped into the silt and started to slow down so he wouldn't hit the 7 truck he could feel he was sinking in the silt. He did not want to get stuck and hammered the throttle and tried to pass the 7 truck on the right. There was no room and the front bumper of the 7 truck caught the front door of the Tundra and split the whole truck open like a tin can all the way down the side and through the bed. If the Tundra team didn't think that they could lose their lead to Canguro it's quite possible that Ted wouldn't not have taken such an aggressive line through that silt bed.


Both Toyotas at the finish. 1st and 2nd in Class 8100 (Stock Fullsize)


Both teams are extremely friendly and chatted and got photos together at the finish and swapped stories. It has turned into a great rivalry that we hope can continue if Toyota and Long Beach Racers continue to race trucks in this class and as long as Canguro Racing can continue as well.

Drivers from both teams.

 

I love the slogan on the side of the truck in this pic. Maybe in this case the slogan doesn't hold true.

 

Awesome pictures!!! Sound like you guys had a great time!

 

Awesome pics!

 

Wow! That's so f'ing awesome! Can't even tell you how much I've drempt of going to watch or chase or drive! Congrats on the great finish!!!

 

awesome!!

 

Great photos... how did I miss this thread when it started? Congrats on making it to La Paz!