Team
Team FJ is a Dubai based Rally Team specializing in FIA Cross Country and Baja races in the Middle East and Europe. In August 2008 the Team invested in one of the most competitive production vehicles in the world.
The Team' Toyota FJ Cruiser was built in 2007 with assistance from Toyota USA by Donahoe racing and immediately won "First in Class" its first race in North America - the Baja 250. It continued to dominate the race series until it was exported to the UAE in 2008. Unlike many works team cars, this very capable race vehicle is clearly based on a production SUV, it appeals as much to the every-day motorist who dreams of off road adventure, as it does to the media, drawn to its purposeful, yet familiar, no-nonsense looks.
In control of the car are David Mabbs (Driver) and Xavier Caminada (Co-Driver) who between them have in excess of 20 years motorsport experience. They are backed up by both a full and part time support crew who manage the technical preparation of the car, media, logistics and all periphery activities required to maintain the team competitiveness.
Vehicle
2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser prototype originally built by Donahoe Racing (now ICON vehicle dynamics), California, USA and raced under SCORE racing series regulations.
The vehicle was first entered in the Baja 250 & Baja 1000 events in the USA where it took first and second overall (class 3) respectively.
Original design:
Powertrain: Factory standard 4.0 litre V6 toyota engine (239 bhp @5900rpm / 278 ft/lb @ 3700rpm). Factory fuel injection.
Transmission: Factory standard manual 6 speed with high / low ratio transfer box. Low ratio front differential, �Currie Enterprises� ford 9� 32 spline rear axle originally designed for drag racing cars and rates to withstand 900bhp, differentials are either fully locked or Detroit limited slip.
Front suspension: Upper and lower wishbones custom fabricated by �Total Chaos Fabrication�, twin 63mm bypass dampers with remote reservoirs are fitted with coilover springs, whilst an additional �Jounce Shock� is fitted to provide damping when the suspension �bottoms out�.
Rear suspension: Icon�s unique modified four-link suspension set up with long travel rose joint suspension arms, damped by a total of four of their own 63mm diameter shock absorbers, again with coil-over springs and with Jounce Shocks fitted.
Imported in September 2008 to Dubai, UAE.
All events in the UAE & GCC are governed by FIA sporting and technical regulations and as such the cars design had to be thoroughly reviewed the FIA technical committee, in Paris, for acceptance into FIA cross country rally events. The technical review resulted in the following modifications being implemented in order for the vehicle to be accepted in FIA class T1 and hence compete in the 2008 UAE Desert Challenge event:
Powertrain: An engine air intake restrictor, 32mm in diameter, was fitted immediately before the mass/air flow sensor in order to limit engine power.
Suspension: Front suspension travel had to be restricted to 250mm. Rear suspension travel restricted to 300mm.
Wheels: 16� x 7� diameter rims mounted with BF Goodrich All Terrain 265x75x16 tires were fitted, with two spares carried in a custom made rack originally extending from the rear of the car. This rack was modified for the Hail Baja 2009 to move wheels further inboard, giving better weight distribution.
Fuel Tank: A certified safety fuel cell stems 175 litres. To be changed in 2009 to give greater capacity. Originally mounted close to the rear of the car, was repositioned to a more central position in December 2008 to improve weight distribution.
Safety: FIA approved seats, harnesses, fire extinguishers, electrical isolators and navigation systems were installed.
Other modifications / information:
An under car aluminum bash plate runs from the nose of the car to just beyond halfway along its length. This protects vulnerable engine and exhaust components and helps the car to break over dune crests more easily.
Seats: Sparco
Neck protection: HANS devices worn as per FIA regulations.
Harnesses: Schroth
Compressed air for inflation: Scott carbon fibre breathing apparatus cylinder
Helmets: Bell BR-1 fitted with breather tubes. An onboard air filter and pump supplies clean air to the helmets because�..
Windscreen: There isn�t one!!. Racing with no screen is common in the USA but we are the first team in the Middle East to own and run a SCORE built truck so we decided to go with the �no windscreen� approach to see if there are advantages in terms of keeping cool when racing. There is and we would recommend this modification to anyone racing in good weather conditions.
Email: team@desertfj.com | media@desertfj.com
Phone: David +971 50 4593964 (Eng)
Xavier +966 59 070 1872 (Fr/Eng)
Nabil + 971 50 5518700 (Arb/Eng)
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