Long Travel BS Thread

You should gusset as much of the cab cage as practically possible. Tube gussets are best.

It's cool and all to be able tell Tacomaworld that you're SCORE tagged, but it really comes down to yours and your passengers' safety. So you should be surpassing their requirements.

 

Yeah thats what really matters, what tube would you recommend to use instead of 1/8'' chromoly plates?

 

i think they mean using tube as a gusset like so
so whatever tube you're using for the cage

 

Most of you that care have probably seen this but just sharing some Mint 400 stuff, some significant changes this year.

In case you didn't know, BITD has changed Class 7100 (old 7S) to basically allow bolt on front kits and long travel rear leafs limited to 18" of travel, stock motor, mini trucks. Will be a 3 race series, Mint 400, Vegas to Reno, and Blue Water Desert Challenge. You can check out Class 7100 Racing on Facebook for more info, etc.

It's no longer a pro class so sportsman entry fee ($500/$600 + IRC Tracker which is around $200) per race. The Mint this year is going to be 3 125 mile loops and the tentative plan is for all classes to do all miles. Not sure how that's going to work with time cutoffs and collusion with the unlimited heat in the afternoon so that still remains to be better explained.

Start line is moved from Jean to Primm (CORR track) so start/finish will be open to the public. Facilities at Buffalo Bills plus some kind of off road bazaar kind of thing at Primm with booths, exhibitis, etc. Also, this course will include the dyke jump.

More info here, should be an awesome race:

http://themint400.com/2015/01/the-2...ed-by-general-tire-returns-bigger-and-better/

We'll be there in the 7196 Tacoma, look forward to seeing some folks out there!

 

7-800$ per race sure does suck the wind out of your sail when you add fuel, tires, prep ect. Definitely a long way from "sportsman" affordability.

 

How to you guys handle fuel during a race like that? When I go out to the dunes I drop down to about 5 mpg or less and don't get 125 miles out of a tank... Though I am at WOT almost non-stop there while in a race I might not be pinned the entire time I guess so I might be able to swing 125 miles on my stock tank.

 

Looking for people in Southern California with 50" LED bars to do a comparison/review/shoot. PM me if you're interested in finding out how your lights stack up against the competition.

All vehicles welcome, not limited to Tacomas.

No monetary compensation provided.

 

most people carry 32+ gallon fuel cells and last year there were two pits along the course to refuel and do whatever else is needed. also id say the desert is a little easier on the motor than the dunes.

 

Matter of perspective I guess. Mine is that fuel, prep, and tires, etc cost the same regardless so that's a wash. I can save a few hundred in entry fee racing in MORE and do laps around Barstow. Or I can pay a bit more and race iconic (at least to me) races like the Mint and V2R.

Entry fee at BAP is $450. Mint is $600 (again plus the IRC tracker you have to buy so let's say $850). $400 more for the Mint than BAP. At BAP you get to race 11 miles for an hour a day. Your $450 entry fee gets you roughly 120 miles around the same 11 mile course.

Your entry fee at the Mint gets you at least 250 miles of a 125 mile loop (375 if the full distance actually happens) plus tech at Fremont, the parade if you want it, and more eyes on your race program than you could get in an entire season of racing SNORE/MORE.

Granted that's not incentive for everyone, just sharing my personal perception of it. Matter of opinion on what's "sportsman" but comparing sportsman costs in BITD to sportsman costs in SNORE/MORE is like comparing the cost of a steak dinner at a nice resaturant to packing a PBJ in a brown bag for lunch.

For me personally we have opportunities to expose our truck to people that we would never have gotten in SNORE/MORE and to be honest I personally enjoy the opportunity to race in BITD and be around a lot of professional ish programs that I'd like to push our team to emmulate.

 

We tend to average somewhere between 6 and 7mpg depending on conditions. We have a 32 gal cell. We don't get all 32 gallons as the pick up doesn't reach all the way to the bottom of the cell so there is some level of left over that we don't get to.

We're running 6.0s on 35s so we'll refuel each 125 mile lap. We could probably get fancy and play the numbers to calculate exactly how much fuel we can squeeze out of a full tank and calculate that versus our mpg to figure out if we could rationally just refuel once but in our case we're switching seats at least once and maybe twice depending on how things go so dropping fuel in each lap doesn't really cost us much time and keeps us from having to worry about a math mistake that would potentially put a real damper on our day.

 

I have a 50" rigid on my truck with the ultra spot 4D optics

 

Yeah I figured most would have a fuel cell that is larger than stock, but that's only 10 more gallons that stock which would get you about another half lap. haha

So do you have a team with fuel waiting for you after each lap or do they have a setup fuel point and you pre-pay or post-pay for fuel that is provided by the racing organization?

 

yep, still expensive.

 

It cost $1,000's more to race those races. Not a couple of $100 dollar difference.

I defenetly agree with you in some ways. The MINT is an iconic beautiful race with a ton of history behind it. I raced it years ago and we had a blast! The Freemont st line up, parade down the strip and the multi day experience is amazing!
But Fuel, Lodging, Logistics, entry fees, farther distance to get there, tracking systems etc.. add up way fast. (I usually spend $2,000 more at those race VS a local race)

I race desert for myself. Its pure passion.
I don't care what people think when I drive by. I don't care about getting as many sponsors as I can, I don't care about exposing my truck. I Only care about shredding thru the desert against my class having fun. I get the same feeling when I race the Local races as I do the MINT or V2R.
But I do agree with you, If you got the $$ defenetly race those races!!! They are way worth it. But if you race for just fun and don't have the cash for the Big races. Local races are good

 

That's me!! Well..my truck..in the parking garage..haha

It's not that tall..he needs to park next to me so we can really see if it is..

 

Y U NO SCHEDULE MEET?

 

I dont even know who the guy is..and to be honest..I dont pay much attention to db kits..or Fords..

 

Yeah Fords are lame