THE PAST:
I really enjoyed this article, especially the vintage photos of Class 7 racers in the 1970s and 1980s, with trucks by Isuzu, Mitsubishi/Dodge, and Nissan as well as the more common Ford and Toyota.
offroadracer.com
Which got me thinking about the state of Class 7 these days, which I haven't really kept up on. It seems to have changed a lot, here's the rough rules. OK, let's see if I have this right:
THE PRESENT:
SCORE Class 7 - Open Production - Unlimited. This is basically a smaller trophy truck - tube chassis with a 6 cylinder engine. 90" inch track width. Unlimited forced or naturally asperated 4 cylinder, And six cylinder Turbo engines up to 3.5 liters - must be sealed. For normally asperated the limit is 4.5 liters and they don't have to be sealed, apparently. 3000 lbs. Stock appearing body.
SCORE Class 7F - Open Production - Mini or Mid Sized Truck "F" stands for "frame" and you have to have a production frame in this class. 87" track width, Six Cylinder 4.5L max for normally asperated, 3.5L for most turbos (listed acceptable engines). Wide latitude, Suspension is open but must maintain stock concept.
SCORE Class 7-SX - Stock Production - Mini Pickups Up to 4.0 Liter naturally asperated engines. Attempt to keep mods down, some suspension mods allowed, stock front diffs required, must use manufacturers transmission, have to have working doors. Basically a pretty stock truck. 12" front suspension travel limit. 3,000 lbs minimum. Lots of stock sheet metal must be retained.
And - oh yeah - this is the category that the car companies like. Chevy ran their high end Colorado off road version in this (with a hired gun pro racer) and "won" "the Baja" - ignore that it was a class win with two trucks in the class, it makes decent ad copy. (One wonders if they have a gentleman's agreement as Ford seems likely to try the same stunt with the new Bronco.)
Flipping over to the Best in the Desert, you again have three mini-truck classes, in ascending order:
BITD Class 7100 - Mini Truck Challenge - Sportsman Mini or Mid Sized Truck Stock Engines up to 4.3L V6's permitted., must retain stock EFI. 300 Horsepower Limit. Limited suspension modification: 18 inch rear travel limit. Stock working doors. 3,250 lbs minimum weight.
BITD Class 7200 - Mini Trick Truck Specific 6 Cylinder engines permitted - "turn key only". (Weirdly) Ford 5.0 Liter V8's and GM LS3 V8 engines ARE permitted in this class. 87" max width. Maximum 37" tire size.
BITD Class 7300 - Pure-stock Production Mini or Mid-Sized Pickup/SUV Very Limited suspension modifications, Stock engine up to a 4.3L V6, stock heads, stock location. Maximum 35" tire size.
Which of these are attractive, and to who?
Back in the golden era (covered in the article up top) class 7 was an everyman's class. Ford Rangers and the various Japanese built mini-trucks were everywhere, could be had cheaply, and looking at the pictures were mostly raced in a pretty stock configuration.
In 2021 we have a number of UTV's that at least appear initially to be a cheaper starting point than buying a stock truck for building a Class 7 racer. Fabrication is probably simpler - no sheet metal to work around and mod. Starting suspensions are higher tech than those on stock trucks which are still leaf springs. Even starting with a cheap used truck you are going to pump a lot of modifications into the vehicle and still end up with something that's not particularly fast or well suspended for it's size. Not to mention the UTV will be lighter and easier to tow to the races. Still, if you have to have a truck to race the SCORE Class 7SX and BITD Class 7300 are the cheapest way to get started. If you are clever you might be able to build one that works in both series. I'm not clear on what the difference of the BITD Class 7100 - Sportsman designation means exactly? More pure amateur I think - lower fees to enter, no cash for winning? (Vague guess, sorry)
At the high end the SCORE Class 7 will certainly permit super capable vehicles being built, but it's hard to understand why someone would not just go ahead and build a full trophy truck. The differences (and therefore costs) are slight. The small-block Chevy and Ford V8s are proven and widely available motors - will it be cheaper to put a V6 in and try to wring high horsepower out of it? Time will tell if there is an audience for this class.
Which strangely leaves SCORE Class7F as what, exactly. Well surprisingly I now sort of get this. If you are ambitious about building a truck for racing, and after doing all the required cage building, fuel cell installation, and probably replacing as much sheet metal with fiberglass as you can you are underwhelmed with the idea of having suspension with a limited 12" of travel and other limitations of the SX class, but you are still trying to keep your vehicle build under $100K this your class.
The downside of all this is that the mini-trucks are spread out all over the place with these different classes, and as previously mentioned the UTV's provide an alternative (and probably cheaper still) option for entry into the sport.
THE FUTURE
What do you think the future holds for the various permutations of Class 7? Will any of them take off and grow participation (the way Class 5 has in the last few years) or is the mini-truck as a desert race platform simply past it's prime. Regardless, we do have some great memories of this class to look back on.
LIke this one: back when Nissan's were Datsun's. (from article link at top)
I really enjoyed this article, especially the vintage photos of Class 7 racers in the 1970s and 1980s, with trucks by Isuzu, Mitsubishi/Dodge, and Nissan as well as the more common Ford and Toyota.
Class 7 The original Mini-Truck Class! | OffRoadRacer.com
Class 7 dates back to the early days of off-road racing with Datsun entering a 1300cc mini pickup in the 1967 Mexican 1000. Well known female motocross racer Mary McGee was hired to wheel the little…
offroadracer.com
Which got me thinking about the state of Class 7 these days, which I haven't really kept up on. It seems to have changed a lot, here's the rough rules. OK, let's see if I have this right:
THE PRESENT:
SCORE Class 7 - Open Production - Unlimited. This is basically a smaller trophy truck - tube chassis with a 6 cylinder engine. 90" inch track width. Unlimited forced or naturally asperated 4 cylinder, And six cylinder Turbo engines up to 3.5 liters - must be sealed. For normally asperated the limit is 4.5 liters and they don't have to be sealed, apparently. 3000 lbs. Stock appearing body.
SCORE Class 7F - Open Production - Mini or Mid Sized Truck "F" stands for "frame" and you have to have a production frame in this class. 87" track width, Six Cylinder 4.5L max for normally asperated, 3.5L for most turbos (listed acceptable engines). Wide latitude, Suspension is open but must maintain stock concept.
SCORE Class 7-SX - Stock Production - Mini Pickups Up to 4.0 Liter naturally asperated engines. Attempt to keep mods down, some suspension mods allowed, stock front diffs required, must use manufacturers transmission, have to have working doors. Basically a pretty stock truck. 12" front suspension travel limit. 3,000 lbs minimum. Lots of stock sheet metal must be retained.
And - oh yeah - this is the category that the car companies like. Chevy ran their high end Colorado off road version in this (with a hired gun pro racer) and "won" "the Baja" - ignore that it was a class win with two trucks in the class, it makes decent ad copy. (One wonders if they have a gentleman's agreement as Ford seems likely to try the same stunt with the new Bronco.)
Flipping over to the Best in the Desert, you again have three mini-truck classes, in ascending order:
BITD Class 7100 - Mini Truck Challenge - Sportsman Mini or Mid Sized Truck Stock Engines up to 4.3L V6's permitted., must retain stock EFI. 300 Horsepower Limit. Limited suspension modification: 18 inch rear travel limit. Stock working doors. 3,250 lbs minimum weight.
BITD Class 7200 - Mini Trick Truck Specific 6 Cylinder engines permitted - "turn key only". (Weirdly) Ford 5.0 Liter V8's and GM LS3 V8 engines ARE permitted in this class. 87" max width. Maximum 37" tire size.
BITD Class 7300 - Pure-stock Production Mini or Mid-Sized Pickup/SUV Very Limited suspension modifications, Stock engine up to a 4.3L V6, stock heads, stock location. Maximum 35" tire size.
Which of these are attractive, and to who?
Back in the golden era (covered in the article up top) class 7 was an everyman's class. Ford Rangers and the various Japanese built mini-trucks were everywhere, could be had cheaply, and looking at the pictures were mostly raced in a pretty stock configuration.
In 2021 we have a number of UTV's that at least appear initially to be a cheaper starting point than buying a stock truck for building a Class 7 racer. Fabrication is probably simpler - no sheet metal to work around and mod. Starting suspensions are higher tech than those on stock trucks which are still leaf springs. Even starting with a cheap used truck you are going to pump a lot of modifications into the vehicle and still end up with something that's not particularly fast or well suspended for it's size. Not to mention the UTV will be lighter and easier to tow to the races. Still, if you have to have a truck to race the SCORE Class 7SX and BITD Class 7300 are the cheapest way to get started. If you are clever you might be able to build one that works in both series. I'm not clear on what the difference of the BITD Class 7100 - Sportsman designation means exactly? More pure amateur I think - lower fees to enter, no cash for winning? (Vague guess, sorry)
At the high end the SCORE Class 7 will certainly permit super capable vehicles being built, but it's hard to understand why someone would not just go ahead and build a full trophy truck. The differences (and therefore costs) are slight. The small-block Chevy and Ford V8s are proven and widely available motors - will it be cheaper to put a V6 in and try to wring high horsepower out of it? Time will tell if there is an audience for this class.
Which strangely leaves SCORE Class7F as what, exactly. Well surprisingly I now sort of get this. If you are ambitious about building a truck for racing, and after doing all the required cage building, fuel cell installation, and probably replacing as much sheet metal with fiberglass as you can you are underwhelmed with the idea of having suspension with a limited 12" of travel and other limitations of the SX class, but you are still trying to keep your vehicle build under $100K this your class.
The downside of all this is that the mini-trucks are spread out all over the place with these different classes, and as previously mentioned the UTV's provide an alternative (and probably cheaper still) option for entry into the sport.
THE FUTURE
What do you think the future holds for the various permutations of Class 7? Will any of them take off and grow participation (the way Class 5 has in the last few years) or is the mini-truck as a desert race platform simply past it's prime. Regardless, we do have some great memories of this class to look back on.
LIke this one: back when Nissan's were Datsun's. (from article link at top)
12 k today!, please, Dont call OR pm me!!!