This truck might be yellow, but it’s scared of nothing and – it’s swept all opposition aside in off-road racing’s unlimited race car classes this year
History is in the making in the fast-paced sport of off-road racing.
For the first time, a 4WD truck has taken on the established might of the purpose-built single-seaters and swept all competition before it, creating an historic race car vs truck showdown at the national championship final.
Leading competitors in off-road racing’s “unlimited” race car classes are this year locked in the Asset Finance championship points battle with Andrew Thomason’s bright yellow Toyota Tundra V8 race truck.
Experienced racers say it’s a battle that may signal a tipping point for technology and innovation in the sport.
The creation of the Tundra traces back to time spent working and living with expat Kiwi racer Rod Millen in California. Thomason crewed on Rod Millen’s Toyota Tundra at the 2000 Queenstown Race to the Sky, subsequently working for Millen in the USA for some years.
“That was a fantastic opportunity to see the sport at its origin, and among all the many types of racing Rod has done, it’s off-road and loose surface motorsport like this that is his first passion,” said Thomason.
From the outset, the aim was to build an evolved version of the Millen race truck, adapting winning technology for the New Zealand scene. With Millen’s blessing and assistance, Thomason worked evenings and off-season weekends to develop his truck, adapting design ideas from Millen’s own race-winning Tundra.
The truck’s chrome-moly spaceframe chassis was computer-modelled, then CAD/CAM drawn and computer stress analysed for construction. Each component was specified after seeing it in use where the Millen raced.
“We were looking always to buy the right gear, and to buy off the shelf wherever we could, remembering that anything one-off then has to be made and carried locally in case of breakage or damage.”
The rolling chassis was then shipped back to New Zealand with wheels, tyres and a set of Tundra fibreglass body panels to be built up in Christchurch.
In New Zealand, Thomason is part of – and backed by – Tundra New Zealand, a company formed to convert road-going Tundras to right-hand drive and market them through a select group of dealers. He even gets a road-going Tundra as tow vehicle. The race truck is powered by a 410 kW four-cam 32-valve Toyota Quad Cam 32 Valve “i-Force” V8 engine, bored and stroked to give 5,519cc (336 cubic inches).
The engine is a race-specific of the road Tundra’s 4.7-litre unit and uses J & E Pistons, Carillo Rods and a Valasko “Billet” Crankshaft, drawing fuel/air mixture through eight individual 50 mm fuel injection throttle bodies.
Purpose built for racing, the truck follows established US race design philosophy, hanging components from a light and strong chrome-molybdenum steel “space frame” tube chassis, tucking the engine into the passenger space and mounting it low and slightly offset beneath the feet of the navigator for ideal weight distribution.
Power output is directed through a triple plate Carbon-Carbon clutch, Traction Products Weisman five-speed dog (non-synchro) gearbox and custom Rod Millen Motorsport transfer case with 25 mm wide gears to a spool-action Precision Gear differential at the rear and Precision Gear independent 9-inch (228 mm) diff with clutch-style limited slip at the front.
The two differentials run slightly different ratios, the rear pushing the front to create a torque bias and assist turn-in.
The double-wishbone front suspension has 380 mm of travel; the rear end is a four link live axle with 470 mm of travel, shock absorbers are Rod Millen Motorsport position-sensitive units with two stage springs on the rear and three-stage springs at the front. Brakes are Brembo 318 mm discs with F40 calipers running inside 17 inch Rod Millen rims and BF Goodrich tyres.
Despite arriving in the South Island’s best-ever season for the popular ThunderTruck class, Thomson’s Tundra has swept all before it, winning every race it has started.
Using the truck’s power and torque, Thomason has been able to dictate endurance event pace at will, >> racing hard over the initial laps at events like the Mainland Challenge to create a lead and then running at a pace that kept his truck and race car rivals at bay.
In short course racing, it doesn’t seem to matter what row of the grid the truck starts from – by the end of the first lap it’s in the lead.
Though his Tundra is not the first to race, Thomason has taken off-road racing’s truck classes to a new level.
The truck has no natural rivals in its class and is expected to take on Tony McCall’s SFL Cougar 07 for outright title honours at the final round of the championship in August. *
History is in the making in the fast-paced sport of off-road racing.
For the first time, a 4WD truck has taken on the established might of the purpose-built single-seaters and swept all competition before it, creating an historic race car vs truck showdown at the national championship final.
Leading competitors in off-road racing’s “unlimited” race car classes are this year locked in the Asset Finance championship points battle with Andrew Thomason’s bright yellow Toyota Tundra V8 race truck.
Experienced racers say it’s a battle that may signal a tipping point for technology and innovation in the sport.
The creation of the Tundra traces back to time spent working and living with expat Kiwi racer Rod Millen in California. Thomason crewed on Rod Millen’s Toyota Tundra at the 2000 Queenstown Race to the Sky, subsequently working for Millen in the USA for some years.
“That was a fantastic opportunity to see the sport at its origin, and among all the many types of racing Rod has done, it’s off-road and loose surface motorsport like this that is his first passion,” said Thomason.
From the outset, the aim was to build an evolved version of the Millen race truck, adapting winning technology for the New Zealand scene. With Millen’s blessing and assistance, Thomason worked evenings and off-season weekends to develop his truck, adapting design ideas from Millen’s own race-winning Tundra.
The truck’s chrome-moly spaceframe chassis was computer-modelled, then CAD/CAM drawn and computer stress analysed for construction. Each component was specified after seeing it in use where the Millen raced.
“We were looking always to buy the right gear, and to buy off the shelf wherever we could, remembering that anything one-off then has to be made and carried locally in case of breakage or damage.”
The rolling chassis was then shipped back to New Zealand with wheels, tyres and a set of Tundra fibreglass body panels to be built up in Christchurch.
In New Zealand, Thomason is part of – and backed by – Tundra New Zealand, a company formed to convert road-going Tundras to right-hand drive and market them through a select group of dealers. He even gets a road-going Tundra as tow vehicle. The race truck is powered by a 410 kW four-cam 32-valve Toyota Quad Cam 32 Valve “i-Force” V8 engine, bored and stroked to give 5,519cc (336 cubic inches).
The engine is a race-specific of the road Tundra’s 4.7-litre unit and uses J & E Pistons, Carillo Rods and a Valasko “Billet” Crankshaft, drawing fuel/air mixture through eight individual 50 mm fuel injection throttle bodies.
Purpose built for racing, the truck follows established US race design philosophy, hanging components from a light and strong chrome-molybdenum steel “space frame” tube chassis, tucking the engine into the passenger space and mounting it low and slightly offset beneath the feet of the navigator for ideal weight distribution.
Power output is directed through a triple plate Carbon-Carbon clutch, Traction Products Weisman five-speed dog (non-synchro) gearbox and custom Rod Millen Motorsport transfer case with 25 mm wide gears to a spool-action Precision Gear differential at the rear and Precision Gear independent 9-inch (228 mm) diff with clutch-style limited slip at the front.
The two differentials run slightly different ratios, the rear pushing the front to create a torque bias and assist turn-in.
The double-wishbone front suspension has 380 mm of travel; the rear end is a four link live axle with 470 mm of travel, shock absorbers are Rod Millen Motorsport position-sensitive units with two stage springs on the rear and three-stage springs at the front. Brakes are Brembo 318 mm discs with F40 calipers running inside 17 inch Rod Millen rims and BF Goodrich tyres.
Despite arriving in the South Island’s best-ever season for the popular ThunderTruck class, Thomson’s Tundra has swept all before it, winning every race it has started.
Using the truck’s power and torque, Thomason has been able to dictate endurance event pace at will, >> racing hard over the initial laps at events like the Mainland Challenge to create a lead and then running at a pace that kept his truck and race car rivals at bay.
In short course racing, it doesn’t seem to matter what row of the grid the truck starts from – by the end of the first lap it’s in the lead.
Though his Tundra is not the first to race, Thomason has taken off-road racing’s truck classes to a new level.
The truck has no natural rivals in its class and is expected to take on Tony McCall’s SFL Cougar 07 for outright title honours at the final round of the championship in August. *
