What's stopping a TRX Baja 1000 Entry?

[Tylor Haller]

I guess what I'm asking is, is Ram scared to enter the Baja 1000, do they plan to advance and do upgrades to run the 2 gen of the trx like ford waited for the gen 2 raptor, or do they simply not care and have no intention of competing?

Putting that corporate bs aside anyone can enter the Baja 1000 as long as their over 16 and able to fork out enough money, which looking at the expenses seem to be cheaper than I thought. Around $30k not counting the truck. Fuel, Tires, Chase team, Mechanics, and the mandatory mods which include a roll cage, race seats, race gps, fuel cell, and 3 inch of lift (What the raptor used). Granted the Baja 1000 only has a 60% chance of finishing rate but with these rich people spending $500k on a Hennessey 6x6 which looks like shit btw I can't imagine not one rich dude wanted to enter? Just a taught I have and I'm curious to hear what y'all gotta say about it. Maybe I'm missing something I'm not sure.

 

[Angelo_R13]

I mean if it's actually only $30,000 I might be willing to do 50/50 with someone I trust since you need a co-driver to run like the 30 hours.
I think Ram is waiting to run the Baja 1000. Imagine the negative publicity it would've gotten if the TRX blew up, it's an unnecessary risk since most people who buys it just thinks hellcat truck and not about off-road capabilities.
Doing my research 7 ram trucks completed the Baja 1000 none in the stock category, the TRX would be a Mid-Size Stock entry like the raptor, BF Goodrich supplies a pit crew as long as you run their tires so that's a major expense cut.
Score hosts the Baja races in Mexico here the link if you go to race info, pick which race, and click registration you can see how much it would cost. Costs vary depending on what class you want to enter. https://score-international.com/
I can't seem to look at the Baja 1000 entry cost, entry might be closed already but for the Baja 400 it's $3,365 for one entry under the Stock Mid-Size. To be honest I taught to enter would be well over $100,000. I'd imagine the Baja 1000 would be a lot more expensive though, it's like the NBA to WNBA, viewership is down so sponsorships are down which brings everything else down.
I see your in FL too, what made you post this at 1 AM? You having a Baja dream?

 

[FULLTHROTTLERICK]

Im now havjng a baja dream from my bed in Fla haha

 

[Dudebro]

I don't know why Ram hasn't done it yet but I can tell you it is much more of an effort that one would think. The racing itself is just a small portion of what goes into a race program.

To do it correctly and maximize potential for finishing, you'd need a minimum of 20+ volunteers to handle pits, a bunch of spares (tires/wheels, axles, UCA/trailing arms, tie rods, etc), tons of logistical planning, a week+ of prerunning, and a TRX prepped for the race (Cage, fuel cell, cooling, lights, comms, GPS, etc.

The team that we chase for has two full time guys prepping their race cars plus 6+ chase vehicles for just 4 races per year. Each race 70-85 volunteers come down and are spread all over Baja. All of that and they still don't always finish in their Class 1s.

 

[Angelo_R13]

I don't know why Ram hasn't done it yet but I can tell you it is much more of an effort that one would think. The racing itself is just a small portion of what goes into a race program.

To do it correctly and maximize potential for finishing, you'd need a minimum of 20+ volunteers to handle pits, a bunch of spares (tires/wheels, axles, UCA/trailing arms, tie rods, etc), tons of logistical planning, a week+ of prerunning, and a TRX prepped for the race (Cage, fuel cell, cooling, lights, comms, GPS, etc.

The team that we chase for has two full time guys prepping their race cars plus 6+ chase vehicles for just 4 races per year. Each race 70-85 volunteers come down and are spread all over Baja. All of that and they still don't always finish in their Class 1s.

This might be crazy, but do you think we have enough people here to run the Baja 250 or a Baja 400? I'm willing to use my TRX for this, I'm sure some forum vendors would like to get involved. Everyone here has a passion for high-speed off-roading if their dropping near 6 figures on this truck and active on here. $40,000 spread through 80 people is just $500 a person not counting any sponsorships. I'd love to throw my company name on the side of the truck, I think it'll get some coverage as the first ever TRX or just stock entry ram to finish a Score International Baja race, assuming we finish.

 

[Dudebro]

This might be crazy, but do you think we have enough people here to run the Baja 250 or a Baja 400? I'm willing to use my TRX for this, I'm sure some forum vendors would like to get involved. Everyone here has a passion for high-speed off-roading if their dropping near 6 figures on this truck and active on here. $40,000 spread through 80 people is just $500 a person not counting any sponsorships. I'd love to throw my company name on the side of the truck, I think it'll get some coverage as the first ever TRX or just stock entry ram to finish a Score International Baja race, assuming we finish.

Wouldn't recommend doing the 250. San Felipe is reallll rough typically. The 400 would be a good option but it is always best to test the truck out in a small race state side first. That way, you can push the truck and find failure points before getting yourself stuck in Baja. The idea of spreading between 80 people is good, but getting that commitment is challenging when the proceeds of the truck build end up on someone else's truck. If someone had a truck built to Score spec and just needed support from others for the actual race day chasing/pitting, I'm sure people would be interested. I would for sure.

 

[Hell_Truck]

I would absolutely love to see a TRX in the Baja 1000

 

[Fifty]

There is a reason Ford doesn’t run a factory raptor in the race either. I think right now the only oem class trucks are the Silverado and the colorado, but with that I think they are not doing any races longer than a 500. And those trucks are not even close to stock.
Toyota goes back and forth.

And I think it’s Honda and Nissan with trophy trucks this year. They are stock blocks with aftermarket internals and everything else is custom… and of course in a TT chassis.

Ford has their broncos in some races

So what does that mean? There is no return on the Baja advertising dollar. The number of people watching baja in any of its events… SCORE, BITD, etc etc etc, all of those race series have horrible viewership.

KOH the last year and next year have the best “televised” versions in offroad racing history and it still sucked. Yea… yea I know Mr Cole. He busts his ass, but the project is still a shit storm and coverage is terrible.

So why would Stellantis dump $5-6million for about 3 races when they might get 15 seconds of screen time.

Social media and journalists will get 10,000x the amount of screen time for the cost of 5 vehicles.

Neither ford nor ram would run a stock truck. Everything would be modified, just like the Chevy trucks, just like Foutz f150 and later raptor entrants.

And then, the “trophy truck for the street” monicker will get blasted to pieces when the heavily modified raptor r and trx finishes the races 50-80% slower than the slowest trophy truck.

When a raptor R can blast through a whoop section at 30-35 mph, and it’s on the limit of control and about to break apart, a mason TT will blast through at 120 mph and do it all day.

 

[Fifty]

$300k no spares, no support. 5.0l v8 bronco.
Everything is modified and locked up by ford and multimatic.
Probably another $100k in spares for an event. Plus all the gas and support.

So $500k if nothing breaks for a single event…. For so little PR.

 

[PhoenixTRX]

@DVNT6129 could you please shed some additional light on the bigger picture including ROI/return on investment (marketing/branding).

I've been hooked on his race truck videos - since discovering his 'Chase TRX' build thread! https://www.ram-trx.com/threads/dvnt-racing-chase-build.16387/

https://www.youtube.com/@deviantracing6129/videos

 

[04Ram2500Hemi]

This might be crazy, but do you think we have enough people here to run the Baja 250 or a Baja 400? I'm willing to use my TRX for this, I'm sure some forum vendors would like to get involved. Everyone here has a passion for high-speed off-roading if their dropping near 6 figures on this truck and active on here. $40,000 spread through 80 people is just $500 a person not counting any sponsorships. I'd love to throw my company name on the side of the truck, I think it'll get some coverage as the first ever TRX or just stock entry ram to finish a Score International Baja race, assuming we finish.

I’d be down for throwing some money at it for a forum member. Put a cool Baja Sponsor Badge under our username.

Hell- I keep thinking a trip like the Texas Raptor Run channel does would be a blast itself!

 

[Tylor Haller]

There is a reason Ford doesn’t run a factory raptor in the race either. I think right now the only oem class trucks are the Silverado and the colorado, but with that I think they are not doing any races longer than a 500. And those trucks are not even close to stock.
Toyota goes back and forth.

And I think it’s Honda and Nissan with trophy trucks this year. They are stock blocks with aftermarket internals and everything else is custom… and of course in a TT chassis.

Ford has their broncos in some races

So what does that mean? There is no return on the Baja advertising dollar. The number of people watching baja in any of its events… SCORE, BITD, etc etc etc, all of those race series have horrible viewership.

KOH the last year and next year have the best “televised” versions in offroad racing history and it still sucked. Yea… yea I know Mr Cole. He busts his ass, but the project is still a shit storm and coverage is terrible.

So why would Stellantis dump $5-6million for about 3 races when they might get 15 seconds of screen time.

Social media and journalists will get 10,000x the amount of screen time for the cost of 5 vehicles.

Neither ford nor ram would run a stock truck. Everything would be modified, just like the Chevy trucks, just like Foutz f150 and later raptor entrants.

And then, the “trophy truck for the street” monicker will get blasted to pieces when the heavily modified raptor r and trx finishes the races 50-80% slower than the slowest trophy truck.

When a raptor R can blast through a whoop section at 30-35 mph, and it’s on the limit of control and about to break apart, a mason TT will blast through at 120 mph and do it all day.

I highly doubt it's 5-6 Million, and ford didn't run the gen 3 raptor yet, but they did run the Ranger Raptor in a "stock" class. For them to return it had to work for them.

Have you spoke to a raptor owner? All they talk about is the fact they competed the Baja 1000, it's their whole personality.
Yeah, the viewership isn't great live, but people would talk, plus you can throw it into a commercial and when people see a $100k factory truck run beside a $700k trophy trucks it'll sell. Let be real for a second, stellantis probably profits at least $30k per truck depending on options, if 500 people out of the millions that see it buy it, it's more than paid for itself. Thats $15 million dollars. I know 500 seems like a lot but keep in mind they already sold 244k TRX's, were talking about less than 0.5%.

The 2017 raptor was stock when it ran. It had the required items and safety features installed. The official modification lists include approved fuel cell, full roll cage, a minimum height requirement (for the raptor mean't a 3-inch lift), approved racing seats with a harness, racing gps, a sponsored light bar, and "revised shocks" which ford claims is due to the extra weight of all the safety features required to participate. What is that total? No higher than $30k in mods and none of them do anything that changes performance.

I'm assuming you don't watch IMSA or WEC racing right? They have classes too. Nobody bashes the C8r for being overtaken by a Toyota prototype. They follow different rules. It's like comparing a truck series or xfinity series nascar to a cup car, a Formula 2 car to a Formula 1 car. Considering these trophy trucks start at $600k and a trx with these mods done to it would be around $120k I don't think it would shock anyone which would win.

For the record, the 2017 Raptor didn't even win in its class. It just beat the times to be disqualified by less than a minute. It costed Ford $50k to enter plus the truck, probably a spare truck, crew, shop, hotel. I can't see how they would've spent any more than a million and that's generous. Maybe they took a page out of the government's book and stuffed half in their pocket, what do I know.

 

[Angelo_R13]

I’d be down for throwing some money at it for a forum member. Put a cool Baja Sponsor Badge under our username.

Hell- I keep thinking a trip like the Texas Raptor Run channel does would be a blast itself!

Got me thinking of a TRX forum group + raptor run group running this spot together. I might consider making that drive from Florida for an event like that. We don't really have a lot of Baja spots here, like my plastic fender flares would tell you most of our spots is too tight to fit in.

 

[Tylor Haller]

most of our spots is too tight to fit in.

that what she said

 

[04Ram2500Hemi]

Got me thinking of a TRX forum group + raptor run group running this spot together. I might consider making that drive from Florida for an event like that. We don't really have a lot of Baja spots here, like my plastic fender flares would tell you most of our spots is too tight to fit in.

Line-X on the fender flares is your friend!

 

[Fifty]

Does anyone know what “Foutz” name is on the forum?
He built the pre gen 1 factory raptor and the 2017 factory raptor Baja trucks.

What did it cost to build and run the truck for a race? I know the budget that GM pays Hall racing (With in a couple percent of course) for the colorado only years. The Silverado addition I have no idea.

But it isn’t cheap.

And the rule is: “tell everyone it’s stock” and “drive only as fast as needed to finish the race”

And just like the raptor, there are owners that say “it raced Baja” and there are owners that say “it’s not the same truck”.

Either way raptors are not sitting on dealer show rooms. Just like TRX’s, they are selling as many as they can produce.

Did you know the Chevy SS had ZERO marketing budget? None…
6.2l v8 6 speed manual, rwd awesomeness in a sedan. No marketing.
None.

They couldn’t produce enough of those rebadged holdens.

 

[Fifty]

How much does 6 sets of 39” projects on 6 sets of beadlocks cost?
There are 5 official pit stops, you’re gonna hit all of them for fuel, tire swaps etc etc

That alone is some serious money.

Wilson motorsports did an article for their buggy class with a full sponsorship from
Bd Goodrich. Their chase bill alone was $150k and that was labor free. Friends and family.

 

[Dudebro]

https://www.hagerty.com/media/motorsports/how-to-race-in-the-baja-1000-on-the-cheap/ this is the article that @Fifty was mentioning and that's the team that I chase with. Their race program is very complex and thought out and they are looking to win in one of the most expensive classes to run. Also, they run two cars. So for a weekend racer like a TRX would be, it could be done exponentially less costly.

The Raptor Foutz ran was built by them, and at their own cost, I would be surprised if they had less than $30k into the truck. If you're paying retail labor and parts costs, it would be more than double.

To make a TRX minimum race ready, it would be in the $75-100k range in modifications. The race itself, on a budget, could be done with $30-40k assuming all volunteers pay for their own hotels, fuel, and food, they transport all spares to pits at each location instead of having preset pits, and still utilize BFG pit locations.

To be a millionaire in offroad racing, start as a billionaire.

 

[IdahoKTM]

I highly doubt it's 5-6 Million, and ford didn't run the gen 3 raptor yet, but they did run the Ranger Raptor in a "stock" class. For them to return it had to work for them.

Have you spoke to a raptor owner? All they talk about is the fact they competed the Baja 1000, it's their whole personality.
Yeah, the viewership isn't great live, but people would talk, plus you can throw it into a commercial and when people see a $100k factory truck run beside a $700k trophy trucks it'll sell. Let be real for a second, stellantis probably profits at least $30k per truck depending on options, if 500 people out of the millions that see it buy it, it's more than paid for itself. Thats $15 million dollars. I know 500 seems like a lot but keep in mind they already sold 244k TRX's, were talking about less than 0.5%.

The 2017 raptor was stock when it ran. It had the required items and safety features installed. The official modification lists include approved fuel cell, full roll cage, a minimum height requirement (for the raptor mean't a 3-inch lift), approved racing seats with a harness, racing gps, a sponsored light bar, and "revised shocks" which ford claims is due to the extra weight of all the safety features required to participate. What is that total? No higher than $30k in mods and none of them do anything that changes performance.

I'm assuming you don't watch IMSA or WEC racing right? They have classes too. Nobody bashes the C8r for being overtaken by a Toyota prototype. They follow different rules. It's like comparing a truck series or xfinity series nascar to a cup car, a Formula 2 car to a Formula 1 car. Considering these trophy trucks start at $600k and a trx with these mods done to it would be around $120k I don't think it would shock anyone which would win.

For the record, the 2017 Raptor didn't even win in its class. It just beat the times to be disqualified by less than a minute. It costed Ford $50k to enter plus the truck, probably a spare truck, crew, shop, hotel. I can't see how they would've spent any more than a million and that's generous. Maybe they took a page out of the government's book and stuffed half in their pocket, what do I know.

@Eighty just posted the total number of TRX's built to date and it's far less than 244k. https://www.ram-trx.com/threads/2024-new-colors.17875/post-346999

 

[Eighty]

@Eighty just posted the total number of TRX's built to date and it's far less than 244k. https://www.ram-trx.com/threads/2024-new-colors.17875/post-346999

Yeah, the total number for 2021-2023 is only 48,089. And that includes pilot vehicles. Add the 2024's that have been made so far (less than 400), and we're still well below 49,000.