AGM-Jimco X6 Trophy Truck world-premiere
After working on the new AGM-Jimco X6 Trophy Truck for the past year, we are proud to announce that it is finally complete! Today world-premiere for TT #15. It has been a long, but very rewarding project. From the moment we decided that we would be moving up to SCORE’s premier class, we knew that just buying a run of the mill truck would not work for us. So in true All German Motorsports fashion we set out to redesign the wheel, so to speak. The overall idea would be the same- four wheels, live axle rear end, front engine, two shocks per corner, but from there the design that Armin and I came up with would take a different direction. The basic idea was to create a smaller, lighter, more nimble version of what was racing currently. The goal being to design and manufacture every part 30% lighter than comparable items on other truck, without sacrificing strength or reliability. For this tall task we employed the help of Mike Meziere from Meziere Enterprises and his talented staff. Over the next few months we spent countless hours and sleepless nights, going over the details of each and every part they designed and ultimately manufactured for this special project.
When it came to the engine package, there was only one option for us, Danzio Performance. Our objective was to have good horsepower and a long flat useable torque curve, while still maintaining a high level of reliability at the same time. Chris from Danzio worked with this idea and created the perfect package for this project. The truck acceleration is awesome and the engine still has a mild enough tune that the reliability is not gone.
For this engine to work in the truck we would have to create a front plate to secure the engine to the chassis. This also meant that all of the engine accessories would need to mount to the said plate as well. So again it was back to Meziere Enterprises to create something that had never been done before. And again Meziere’s did a fantastic job designing this piece from scratch. Because each of the accessories were at different depths, Meziere also custom made a new pulley system, which made use of a BMW Hydraulic belt tensioner to aid in dampening the shock loads experienced by the serpentine belt. When all was said and done, we had 700 hp and very good torque.
The next step was the chassis and from the start I knew that I wanted to work with Jimco Racing. In my mind they were the one manufacturer that had the depth of talent and resources needed to handle a project like this. From the start they were onboard with the concept of a lighter, smaller truck. Not to be outdone by Meziere Enterprises, Jimco set out to design what would be their next generation of trucks. In the end they delivered a truck with a ton of useable travel, almost zero bump steer, virtually no driveshaft plunge and light. And I mean light; the chassis itself was hundreds of pounds lighter than its predecessor, while still retaining its rigidity.
To complete the rest, I would like to give a big thanks to our suppliers; ORW, Fortin Transmissions, Eibach Springs, Fox Shocks and Remus Exhaust who all helped us through the end. Speaking of the end, Bryan Lyttle and Tyler Irwin did not sleep a lot during the last month of the project with many late nights spent working on the truck. It was a very exciting night when we lowered the 90% completed truck onto the scales. And for the first time we were able to see in real numbers what we had all be working towards and hoping for. A dry weight (without body) of less than 4000 lbs! What a huge accomplishment considering that most other Trophy Trucks can weigh as much as 6000 lbs or more.
The big day came when we finally headed out to our first testing session in the Desert with 110°F (43.3°C)! Regardless of the weather conditions, everybody was very anxious. The acceleration and handling of the truck was amazing, however we had the valving a little stiff due to the lighter than normal weight but Fox Shocks converted that in a snap. After the first test run, we moved on to the body. For months we had been designing and making the BMW X6, on steroids, body. McGrath fiberglass created the molds from Race Car Prototypes design and made a very light and strong body. With that now installed, we had a real mean looking machine. We performed a final test run with the body in place and everything was good. No later than a minute after the truck rolled into the All German Motorsports shop all team members were there to help. The body was removed and painted over night. Stickers were made by the AGM team, led by Jessica Cunningham.
Completing the truck was not the end of the journey. Because of the short time frame left for shipping the truck to Germany, we now had to drive/trailer the truck across the country to the port in New York to ensure that the truck would get to Germany in time for its Official World Premier on Oct 11th & 12th. So with the stickers still wet (figuratively), Bob Oostra and I loaded up late Sunday (9/18/11) morning and left just after lunch. The 2870 mile (4649 KM) trip map quested at about 50 hours. Knowing that we would hit some weather issues on the way, we covered the truck on the trailer. However, only 300 miles into the 2870 mile trip, just before Las Vegas, we had to stop to wrap the entire truck with shrink wrap and do the same once again 1200 miles in. Driving non stop, the trip took us 50 hours of drive time with a total of 4-5 hours spent in fueling and eating. We reached New York late Tuesday evening and got a hotel room for the night. A real bed felt great after 3 days non stop on the road, but that too was short lived. We got up at 7 AM New York Time (4 AM California time) and drove straight to the dock where we then had to disassemble the truck in order for it to fit in the container for shipping. Our next step before its first race is our official presentation in Germany.
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Content and image credits: All German Motorsports / Martin Christensen
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