There is a nice description of the most watched SCORE Class, the Trophy Trucks at the Wikipedia encyclopedia. According to that description “Trophy Trucks are the largest and fastest class of off-road racing vehicles which are designed and built to resemble modern pickup trucks. Although any truck that meets the safety standards can race the trophy truck class, they, for the most part, feature long travel suspensions and high power engines. They are intended for desert racing, and most are not street legal”.
Continuing quoting the description, “Trophy Trucks can reach speeds in excess of 135 miles per hour even over rough terrain. This puts them among the fastest off-road vehicles in the world. The trucks are most frequently associated with the Baja 1000 race series that have featured trophy trucks including SCORE International, and Best In The Desert or BITD, in which they are referred to as “Trick Trucks”. Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR), for example, uses what is called a pro 2, pro 4, or pro lite and are smaller in wheel base with less suspension travel and less horsepower. CORR also races on a closed circuit tracks while Trophy Trucks are desert racers.”
They are most often 2-wheel drive, and most feature a 4130 chrome-moly tube-frame chassis covered by a fiberglass or other composite body. Engines are required to be naturally-aspirated, and are typically V8s generating in excess of 700 hp. They are also required to be of the same manufacturer as the body of the truck.
Suspension travel can exceed 30 inches (760 mm) depending on chassis design. Most Trophy trucks use independent A-arm suspensions up front. In the rear, most trucks use a 3 or 4-link setup with a solid axle, while some use various types of independent suspension. Suspension and damping duties are handled by 1 or 2 shock absorbers per wheel; usually consisting of one coil-over and one by-pass shock. More recently, trophy trucks have moved away from using a coilover and bypass shock, instead adopting a coilover with something called an internal bypass. This allows for the same amount of adjustment and eliminates one more thing that can break on the truck. These shocks are usually 3? in diameter and have a 14?-16? stroke.
We are in the process of creating a list of Trophy Trucks we could find on different internet sources and by doing the “google dance” for hours to get information about the teams operating them. This “project” started at the end August 2009. Give us a little time to post all infos…..
Ok, the first replies arrived on requests we sent out to the team
asking for detailed information and data about their Trophy Trucks. (We
are going to make the list for now in the order that we sent inquiries
out.) The list will start with Team Mastercraft and the #20 and #30 TT
info from Robbie Pierce followed by Roger Norman’s info about the Team
Norman Motorsports race trucks. B.J. Ballistic Baldwin was the next
replying yet we don’t have the data yet – he is provisional third ,so to
say, for now (roflmao) :)
Go to the Trophy Trucks by clicking here!
First published at Puro Off-Road old version 2nd August 2009
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