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Chicks Dig Dirt
In recent years more and more girls have become very interested in off road; back in the day you would rarely see a girl at places like Glamis or the local mud bogs, over time the female species have started to get more involved and today it is not rare to see a girl behind the wheel hucking their truck around in the dirt.
The truck you see here is owned by one of those girls, Hilary DeFord, who is the wife of Mike DeFord at Bully Dog Technologies. After seeing the fun that Mike was having she decided it was her turn. First behind the wheel of a mostly stock Jeep, and now pushing the limits of the Toyota Tacoma you see here. "It was always my dream to own a Toyota truck, last year when Bully Dog got involved in the Lucas series Mike came to me and said I could do it, build the pace truck for the Lucas series" said Hilary.
The truck started life as a 2009 Toyota Tacoma 4X4 with the TRD off road package, as soon as it was bought, with only about 1000 miles on the odometer the modifications began.
With a tight budget of about $12,000 the modifications had to be selected carefully. Being used as the official pace truck meant it had to be very capable, the Tacoma would also see a lot of use in the desert and would also be used as Hilary's daily driver so it had to be comfortable and useful.
The end result is a truck that can go just about anywhere in the dirt without any problems.
The suspension set up is a combination of parts from a couple of companies including: Icon, Deaver and Total Chaos. A Total Chaos Long Travel front suspension kit that replaces the front upper and lower A-Arms matched to a custom set of ICON shocks. This set-up gives 18" of plush travel.
Providing front end protection is a fabricated front bumper and skid plate. The wheels are 17" KMC XD112 Enduro wrapped in General tires.
While the Tacoma was primarily built to be used by Race Control personnel at the LOORRS short course races it sees use pre-running and support at Desert Races. The Lowrance Baja 840C GPS system is an essential tool for long off-road racing as it allows you to plot the routes beforehand and the large 8.4" screen keeps you constantly aware of your whereabouts.
The Bully Dog WatchDog keeps the driver aware of the current operating conditions of the vehicle and provides much more detailed information than is available on the stock gauges. It also has a Driving Coach feature which helps drivers drive more fuel efficiently; it does this by showing instant fuel economy, a wasted energy graph and then assigns a letter grade based on fuel efficient driving. On our photo shoot, the WatchDog shows an "EPIC FAIL" grade, apparently jumping and throwing roost in the sand is not fuel efficient driving
Some of the most important systems on the truck are the radio and siren. When the Tacoma is used by LOORRS race officials they use this siren from Signal Vehicle Products to communicate and alert the drivers of what is going on. The siren has a few different functions and the capability to talk into the microphone that broadcasts throw speakers mounted under the hood. A Vertex Standard radio is used to communicate between the driver of the Tacoma and other race officials at the track. It is absolutely imperative for safety that the communication between the officials is seamless and that the race drivers are aware of the Pace Truck being on track. Each of these is also essential in the desert.
A total of six Baja Designs Sol Tek lights keep the trail ahead well illuminated once the sun goes down. Two lights are mounted on the front bumper with another four lights on a light bar in the bed. The rear light bar is incorporated into the bed cage and can be easily folded down when not being used.
The bed cage incorporates the light bar and spare tire mount. The cage not only provides a way to mount the accessories but provides extra rigidity to the chassis to improve handling.
In recent years more and more girls have become very interested in off road; back in the day you would rarely see a girl at places like Glamis or the local mud bogs, over time the female species have started to get more involved and today it is not rare to see a girl behind the wheel hucking their truck around in the dirt.
The truck you see here is owned by one of those girls, Hilary DeFord, who is the wife of Mike DeFord at Bully Dog Technologies. After seeing the fun that Mike was having she decided it was her turn. First behind the wheel of a mostly stock Jeep, and now pushing the limits of the Toyota Tacoma you see here. "It was always my dream to own a Toyota truck, last year when Bully Dog got involved in the Lucas series Mike came to me and said I could do it, build the pace truck for the Lucas series" said Hilary.
The truck started life as a 2009 Toyota Tacoma 4X4 with the TRD off road package, as soon as it was bought, with only about 1000 miles on the odometer the modifications began.
With a tight budget of about $12,000 the modifications had to be selected carefully. Being used as the official pace truck meant it had to be very capable, the Tacoma would also see a lot of use in the desert and would also be used as Hilary's daily driver so it had to be comfortable and useful.
The end result is a truck that can go just about anywhere in the dirt without any problems.
The suspension set up is a combination of parts from a couple of companies including: Icon, Deaver and Total Chaos. A Total Chaos Long Travel front suspension kit that replaces the front upper and lower A-Arms matched to a custom set of ICON shocks. This set-up gives 18" of plush travel.
Providing front end protection is a fabricated front bumper and skid plate. The wheels are 17" KMC XD112 Enduro wrapped in General tires.
While the Tacoma was primarily built to be used by Race Control personnel at the LOORRS short course races it sees use pre-running and support at Desert Races. The Lowrance Baja 840C GPS system is an essential tool for long off-road racing as it allows you to plot the routes beforehand and the large 8.4" screen keeps you constantly aware of your whereabouts.
The Bully Dog WatchDog keeps the driver aware of the current operating conditions of the vehicle and provides much more detailed information than is available on the stock gauges. It also has a Driving Coach feature which helps drivers drive more fuel efficiently; it does this by showing instant fuel economy, a wasted energy graph and then assigns a letter grade based on fuel efficient driving. On our photo shoot, the WatchDog shows an "EPIC FAIL" grade, apparently jumping and throwing roost in the sand is not fuel efficient driving
Some of the most important systems on the truck are the radio and siren. When the Tacoma is used by LOORRS race officials they use this siren from Signal Vehicle Products to communicate and alert the drivers of what is going on. The siren has a few different functions and the capability to talk into the microphone that broadcasts throw speakers mounted under the hood. A Vertex Standard radio is used to communicate between the driver of the Tacoma and other race officials at the track. It is absolutely imperative for safety that the communication between the officials is seamless and that the race drivers are aware of the Pace Truck being on track. Each of these is also essential in the desert.
A total of six Baja Designs Sol Tek lights keep the trail ahead well illuminated once the sun goes down. Two lights are mounted on the front bumper with another four lights on a light bar in the bed. The rear light bar is incorporated into the bed cage and can be easily folded down when not being used.
The bed cage incorporates the light bar and spare tire mount. The cage not only provides a way to mount the accessories but provides extra rigidity to the chassis to improve handling.