A SCORE Trophy Truck competing in the Baja 1000

Trophy Trucks are the largest and fastest class of off-road racing vehicles which are designed and built to resemble modern pickup trucks. Baja 1000 is an off-road race that takes place on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula in the fall Off-road racing is a format of racing where various classes of specially modified vehicles (including cars trucks motorcycles and buggies compete in races through Off-road A pickup truck is a light Motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area which is almost always separated from the cab to allow for chassis flex when carrying or pulling Although any truck that meets the safety standards can race the trophy truck class, they, for the most part, feature long travel suspensions and high horsepower motors. Suspension is the term given to the system of springs, Shock absorbers and linkages that connects a Vehicle to its Wheels Suspension They are intended for desert racing, and most are not street legal.

Uses

Trophy Trucks can reach speeds in excess of 135 miles per hour even over rough terrain. This puts them among the fastest off-road vehicles in the world. The trucks are most frequently associated with the Baja 1000 race, series that have featured trophy trucks including SCORE International, and Best In The Desert or BITD, in which they are referred to as "Trick Trucks". Baja 1000 is an off-road race that takes place on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula in the fall SCORE International is an Off-road sanctioning body in the sport of desert racing and is famous for its flagship event the Baja 1000. As there are other forms of off-road racing most trucks are called trophy trucks in general but they are not. Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR) for example uses what is called a pro 2, pro 4, or pro lite and are smaller in wheel base with less suspension travel and less horsepower. Championship Off-Road Racing (usually abbreviated CORR) is a sanctioning body for Offroad racing in the United States. CORR also races on a closed circuit track whereas Trophy Trucks are desert racers.

Truck design

They are most often 2-wheel drive, and most feature a 4130 chrome-moly tube-frame chassis covered by a fiberglass or other composite body. Engines are required to be naturally-aspirated, and are typically V8s generating in excess of 700 hp. A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the Crankcase in two banks of four cylinders in most cases set at a right angle to each other They are also required to be of the same manufacturer as the body of the truck. Suspension travel can exceed 30 inches depending on chassis design. Most Trophy trucks use independent A-arm suspensions up front. In the rear, most trucks use a 3 or 4-link setup with a solid axle, while some use various types of independent suspension. Suspension and damping duties are handled by 1 or 2 shock absorbers per wheel; usually consisting of one coil-over and one by-pass shock. A shock absorber in common parlance (or damper in technical use is a mechanical device designed to smooth out or dampen shock impulse and dissipate

More recently, trophy trucks have moved away from using a coilover and bypass shock, instead adopting a coilover with something called an internal bypass. This allows for the same amount of adjustment and eliminates one more thing that can break on the truck. These shocks are usually 3" in diameter and have a 14"-16" stroke.

In the Trophy-Truck offroad racing class, there are very few rules or regulations in regards to vehicle design; the limit to what can be done to the truck is largely based on the owner's budget. People are starting to get into building turbo diesel trucks. The first diesel will be finished by the middle of 2008.