Baja 1000- Marlin Crawler "prototype" Transmission

[BigMike]

I came across some really old photos of the FireGuys truck!

I think I've seen the photo before, but not the whole sequence

Check it out:

[46&2]

Bad ass!! 

[FireGuysRacing]

Well we raced the Jackpot, NV race, I guess I should say I did.  Poor Paul had to stay behind and work at the race track we work at.  (Aspen Motorsports Park if you want to look it up!) Oops!  Being called for dinner and will have to post the story later!  Long and short of it there was a lot of carnage and we were 20 miles from the finish and something let go, but in BORE you get a place even if you don't make the finish.  So we ended up with a 2nd place plaque!  I'll post more later!

Jason

[46&2]

Nice!!! Congrats!! 

[MiniSimp]

Right on!



Mike, are you selling/rebuilding these transmissions to reg customers now?

[FireGuysRacing]

So, we took off the start 2nd in class and it was really dusty out there and decided to just relax for the first lap or two to let others maybe take themselves out of the race or what ever before getting after it.  We were at about RM (race mile) 18-20 and were heading up a long easy hill and we were at about half throttle trying to stay out of the guys dust that started in front of us and before I knew it I was right behind him in the worst spot on the course.  We got up into a tight area that had some Pinion Juniper growing that was about 15-20' tall.  Needless to say the Sessions (the guys in front of us) blew a corner and hit one of these trees.  They then backed off of it just in time for me to blow out of the dust and see him with about 10' to spare and I "T-boned" him right at the front tire and drivers door!  I hit him in 2nd gear and all I had time to do was get my foot off the gas, no brake!  It pushed him straight in the course and he took off down the hill.  He ended up pulling over at the bottom of the hill and we got bye.  We started the 2nd lap first on the course in our class and figured we would try and put some time down on the other guys so we took off!  It didn't take long before we were running in the dust of the slowest class 8 truck and I hit a rock with the front left tire and blew it at about RM 5 of the 2nd lap.  This allowed everyone in out class and a couple class 9 cars around us before we were moving again.  We got going and were running in the class 9 cars dust in no time, we were trying to be smart about it and I waited to the 3rd lap on an up hill section before trying to get around those guys.  It was an uphill section which would really give us an advantage on them having way more hp than a 9 car.  In the dust again, we hit a hole that had a 3' tall straight up and down back side to it with the front left tire and it turned us 90 left in a blink of an eye and was a big hit.  I was tasting blood in my mouth and when the steering wheel ripped out of my hand it did something to my left hand.  We limped the truck to our chase crews and we took a look at it and nothing seemed too out of place except the steering wheel was 180 deg out!  Towards the end of the 3rd lap we ended up having the same fuel problem we thought we fixed from the race before.  It took about an hour or so to get fuel out to us so we were down quite a bit at this point.  The end of the 3rd lap we ended up replacing both rear tires due to one flat and loosing about 3"s of the bead of the other rim!  Laps 4 and 5 were pretty uneventful and we were slowly picking up the speed again as I was trying to trust the steering of the truck again after the big hit in the morning.  On the final lap we were just driving it for the 2nd place finish when the center of the clutch broke free from the rest of the clutch plate to end our day about 20 miles from the finish.  It was a long day but fun non the less!  We are getting everything put back together and hope to be out again soon!

Jason

[BigMike]

H-O-L-Y C-O-W That is intense

[FireGuysRacing]

Hey Dave, here are a couple of shots from the race track I promised you.

Jason

This is the shop at the Aspen Motorsports Park where Paul and I work.

This is the hotpit where people can relax between races.

Here are the cars that we have the most of at the track.  SCCA spec racers with Toyota engines and gearboxes.

Starting a race.

The thingypit.

The front of the car.

The motor.

This car is made in England and is called a Radical, it's the fastest thing we got out here for the track.

The rear of the Radical.

[boggerunner]

if it wasnt for bad luck, u would have no luck at all

[BigMike]

Hey Dave, here are a couple of shots from the race track I promised you.

Jason

Jason, I think one has to be a member and logged in to view these pictures. Nothing comes up for me.

You are welcomed to use the attachment feature of this forum if you wish

[FireGuysRacing]

Interesting, I can see all the pictures on my laptop and I am looking at them right now at work on another comuter.  Anyone else having problems seeing them?  I did use the attachment thing on the posting.

Jason

[GJToyotabug]

i cant see the pics either and I really want to see them

[FireGuysRacing]

Maybe this will help you see them.

Jason

[FireGuysRacing]

Here are the other 5 shots.

Jason

[THK Matt]

WOW

[79coyotefrg]

H-O-L-Y C-O-W That is intense

awesome,  so  when you guys gonna get a  helmet cam 

[79coyotefrg]

Here are the other 5 shots.

Jason

  are those Lotus cars ??

[GJToyotabug]

ok those are cool i wonder how much one cost's

[FireGuysRacing]

The pictures of the blue car with the gold chassis is a SCCA spec racer.  They started out with Renault engines and trannys, then went to Ford engines and trannys, and we are putting Toyota engines and trannys in them.  They have about 45 to 50 more hp with the Toyota than when they had the Ford engines.  People are spending anywhere in the range of $35k-$45k on these Toyota's depending on how much the refurbishing the chassis needed.  The orange car is a Radical made in England.  It runs a Suzuki 1300cc bored to 1500cc motor with 252hp with a 6 speed sequential tranny or with a paddle shift like that one.  The track we work at is a 1.1 mile road course and my fastest lap with the Toyota is 1:01.15 (Jimmy Vasser did a 1:00.44) and I can get into the low 56sec's in the Radical to give you an idea of the difference.  That is a huge difference on a 1 mile track!  The Radical cost about $130k if my memory serves me correct.

Jason

[GJToyotabug]

I'll pass. I'm $129,999.99 short

[FireGuysRacing]

I'll pass. I'm $129,999.99 short

I am too, thats why I work at Aspen Motorsports Park.  It comes with Perks!:)

Jason

[GJToyotabug]

Aspen Motorsports Park. where's that at?

[FireGuysRacing]

Where the beer flows like wine!

[KDXSR5]

Aspen Motorsports Park. where's that at?

550 Raceway Road, Aspen, CO 81611

[FireGuysRacing]

Close but  550 Raceway Rd. Woody Creek, CO  81656  It's basically Aspen, Woody Creek is just down valley from the Aspen airport.  GJToyotabug, the shop we work on the race truck is over off of River Road across from the county yards.  I'll have to let you know when we get out to 27 1/4 Rd for some testing!

Jason

[GJToyotabug]

awesome i would love to see it i'm planing on kinda building up my truck for baja kind of stuff yeah let me know when you guys do

[KDXSR5]

Close but  550 Raceway Rd. Woody Creek, CO  81656  It's basically Aspen, Woody Creek is just down valley from the Aspen airport.  GJToyotabug, the shop we work on the race truck is over off of River Road across from the county yards.  I'll have to let you know when we get out to 27 1/4 Rd for some testing!

Jason

I just went to the website for the raceway and copied it off of there http://www.aspenmotorsportspark.com/

[46&2]

Wow, those look like a lot of fun 

[FireGuysRacing]

Here are a couple shots I found on the BORE racing site from Jackpot, NV.

Jason

[FireGuysRacing]

Hopefully you can see those, the files are too big to attach the pictures.  If not here is the links to where they are at.

Jason

http://boreracinggallery.com/images/A_3/0/4/0/10403/747__1__94620.jpg

http://boreracinggallery.com/images/A_3/0/4/0/10403/747__2__3073a.jpg