My dumb mini stock tech questions

[down4glamis]

the tacoma plain and simple is a "cheater" truck and needs the AXE. if it does fly then the 97 nissan frontier is legal as well depending on which dealership you go to. if you can order parts for a 97 frontier (most were out of the US), then the frontier can squeeze in and take the cake for the most hp and lightest weight.

comparing your daily driven tacoma vs a stock mini does not count! the fact that your truck hung with the other truck and yours is stock with stock gearing goes to show a tiny bit of love into your motor/chassis/lightening it up, and you would blow his doors off!

the tacoma needs to go, the rules bob proposed on year regulation should be the way to go, it makes sense, and has been a topic of discussion with brian axup and myself since before i bought our nissan.

Reman'd motors are going to be 1400. http://www.karking.com/engines.html in ontario. that is where we are going to get a new motor. our stock one from a junkyard in ridgecrest motor sucked and combined with a crappy radiator has ended its life. if we are going to compete we need a fresh motor, as the "suspenders" are working i think?!?!

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[Nessy]

Weaver has it right about the gearing,this is going to help you more than the motor.Low gearing is key.If you sit there and worry all the time about what might happen you will never race.If you work on the suspension and handling it will help you the most.Even if your truck is a little behind I guarantee you can still have a blast out there racing.You will learn stuff everytime you go out and will be better the more you race.I think you will find even when you feel your truck is really dialed in that you can still pick up a second or two here and there just by getting track time.I have picked up 3 second a lap this year in my UTV just by getting track time and really learning what my car is capable of with no real changes other than tire pressures to suit track conditions.

[JMS]

Agreed with the Tacoma ruling 100% !! it should be outlawed BEFORE someone builds one. Plain and simple its a way better foundation and it will have a DISTINCT ADVANTAGE. If LOORRS decides they want to keep it allowed they should move the year cutoff up a couple years to include all other make A-arm trucks, IE; rangers and frontiers etc. Would suck for guys like me with trucks that are already built but at least then the rules would be fair.

Bob I didnt mean to offend you, I meant it in the way that you need more seat time in the truck, as probably most all race car drivers would say, I can say that less than an hour a weekend once every month and a half is definetly NOT enough seat time for me, I consider myself a decent driver but I know forsure that I am still not reaching my full capacity when driving the truck for one simple reason, not enough seat time. I still have a TON of learning how to drive my truck.

Im pretty sure if you asked Kyle Le Duc if he is getting the full potential out of his truck every race he would laugh.....that's what racing is all about, evolving and getting faster each race!

I dont like talking about what I try and dont try on my truck (thats part of racing:-) but heres an example, I put a couple $20 junkyard parts (parts that are factory options for that year truck) on my truck for the last race that was an experiment to see if the truck would handle better or not.....was it faster? I dont really know but it may have given me that physcological confidence that gave me the courage to push the truck that much harder... If Im not thinking about work, chances are Im thinking about how to make my race truck faster, not worrying about if the other guy is cheating.

IMO.....cut the 97 Tacoma out and forget about the lame Claimer rule, the rules in the class will keep this class a budget class, the rules are written PERFECTLY to fit every class and keep costs VERY low.

I mean where else can you build a race truck for such little investment and race at the level that we are currently racing at? (THANX LUCAS OIL!) The trucks are pretty damn fast for what they are and only going to get faster, every race we have more and more entries in the class so Im guessing something is definetly RIGHT with the way the rules and class is set up now.

I cant wait for Vegas....20+ mini stocks will be one hell of a race to watch!

[JMS]

Weaver has it right about the gearing,this is going to help you more than the motor.Low gearing is key.If you sit there and worry all the time about what might happen you will never race.If you work on the suspension and handling it will help you the most.Even if your truck is a little behind I guarantee you can still have a blast out there racing.You will learn stuff everytime you go out and will be better the more you race.I think you will find even when you feel your truck is really dialed in that you can still pick up a second or two here and there just by getting track time.I have picked up 3 second a lap this year in my UTV just by getting track time and really learning what my car is capable of with no real changes other than tire pressures to suit track conditions.

guess i should have read ths before my post :-) But this is exactly the point I was trying to make, seat time and trying different set up's on your truck is really what will make you faster, not one truck having 20 HP more than the other truck

I was watching the general lee truck at GH as I sadly sat on the sidelines, his truck works amazing thru 80% of the track, I think my truck might be faster in certain sections but he has his truck set up for a good compromise to be fast for most of the course considering the limited travel we are all working with....that just comes down to tons of test time which I have heafrd he has done a lot of.....homework pays off and it showed as he came out and gave us all a good schooling :-) Including almost every mini mod!

[Scott J]

guess i should have read ths before my post :-) But this is exactly the point I was trying to make, seat time and trying different set up's on your truck is really what will make you faster, not one truck having 20 HP more than the other truck

I was watching the general lee truck at GH as I sadly sat on the sidelines, his truck works amazing thru 80% of the track, I think my truck might be faster in certain sections but he has his truck set up for a good compromise to be fast for most of the course considering the limited travel we are all working with....that just comes down to tons of test time which I have heafrd he has done a lot of.....homework pays off and it showed as he came out and gave us all a good schooling :-) Including almost every mini mod!

Damn I better hurry up and get my Tacoma to the shop ASAP!!!! Hopefully it will be done before the rules are changed.

[G Goorsky]

I pushed myself and my truck harder than I have ever before just to stay close enough to see his back bumper for the first 3 or 4 laps then decided it wasn't worth it and settled down. That truck is DIALED!!!!! Or he has a D valve in the fan belt.


If the 97 Tacos are not banned then let the nissans have a KA24DE motor and rangers have whatever I don't know what would make them better.

After Every race all I do is wash my truck and then look at it in the garage and I might change the oil filter 206,000 mi plus 7 races and still pures like a kitty. Meeeooow

[bob380sx]

Mike, I was just playing. I’m not butt hurt. We all must think we can drive that’s why we are racing and not just out farting around in the desert. I’m afraid to put in too much “play” time in the truck. I just don’t know how much it will put up with. During practice I do just enough to get a feel for what the truck wants. I could burn laps all day, but I don’t want to break the truck before the race. I’m truly amazed that the trucks hold up as good as they do. I hope Brian doesn’t mind me posting his pic but I think it’s gnarly. How can a stock truck with a little over 8 inches of travel do this lap after lap? The trucks are on borrowed time IMO

[down4glamis]

making it to the landing helps!

[bob380sx]

making it to the landing helps!

I was getting over the step up consistently. I found the back side of the table in the pic 2 times. The sky jump was just painful I was landing in a hole. The first table on the front not a chance. And the table going into 1 is so close but the rear would case. How nice would it be to drive something with so much power you could over jump every jump. Then you would need some skill and timing. The mini stock hits every jump the same WFO!!

[dan200]

i got lost in here. What is the deal with certain year tacomas that has brought up this talk about not allowing them and what years are you guys talking about specifically?