Taupo 1000: From Road to Race

How much can be done to prepare a stock Toyota FJ Cruiser for over 600 miles of racing on the rogh ’n’ tumble tracks of the Kaingaroa Forest? The answer’s not a lot.

SPEED Staff | Posted February 18, 2008

How much can be done to prepare a stock Toyota FJ Cruiser for over 600 miles of racing on the rogh ’n’ tumble tracks of the Kaingaroa Forest? The answer’s not a lot. If it isn’t a tough old bird to begin with, no amount of labor and love within the squeaky-tight confines of the Class 2 ProTruck rules will make any stock 4x4 a certainty to reach the finish of the Taupo 1000.

Luckily, the FJ Cruiser is a tough piece of machinery straight off the assembly line. That means race prep is pretty much limited to fitting extra safety features, modifying the suspension for extra wheel travel over the countless bumps and dips, and fitting it with a gas tank big enough to run a full day without refueling.

For Ryan Millen and rivals Team Necessary, running the 2006 Baja 1000 had given them vital experience on how to make the FJ Cruiser last the distance. Sure, a damp New Zealand forest is a world away from the deserts of the Baja Peninsula, but both will beat a truck to within an inch of its life, and since Taupo’s Class 2 rules are very similar to those of Baja 1000’s Stock Mini class, much of what was built into the Baja FJs was good for Taupo.

For Millen and his truck-building buddy, Adam Dupre (who’d also navigate for Millen in the race), the first step in prepping the Taupo FJ was to strip the interior and fit a full roll cage, made of tough 4130 chromoly tubing, with nine attachment points. The cage, designed and built in-house, was identical to the one used for the Baja FJ.

The suspension was Baja spec, too, but with lowered ride height for Taupo. The shocks were off the shelf, with a twin shock setup at the front to spread the load on the FJ’s A-arm, as well as helping to keep the shocks from overheating.

What did change from Baja was the size of the fuel tank, with Millen figuring that a larger capacity could give him a decisive tactical edge.

“We knew a lot of the other guys would be making multiple fuel stops,” says Millen, “but the rules say you’ve got to get out of the truck while you refuel. If a stop takes five minutes and you’re stopping three times each day, so six times in total, that’s 30 minutes wasted. I fitted a second tank so that I wouldn’t need to stop. OK, it’s a little extra weight, but it certainly gave us an advantage.”

Other differences from Baja included keeping the air conditioning fitted, adding side windows to keep out dust (a lesson hard learned on Baja), and raising the seating position of the low-slung race seats to get a better view over the hood.

Visually, the Taupo FJ looked a little different from Baja. The front bumper was removed (something which wasn’t allowed for Baja), giving a better approach angle, and because the majority of the race was to be run in daylight, the rack of roof lights fitted for Baja wasn’t considered necessary for Taupo.
“In the end, even with those changes, it’s still a near-stock FJ Cruiser,” says Millen. “We know it’s tough enough, and the rest is down to preparation, attention to detail, and the guy behind the wheel racing it within its limits.”

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