“Wainui Willys Works,” written by Don Morgan, New Zealand
Taupo 1000, August 18-22, 2011:
The longest and toughest off-road race in the southern hemisphere in a CJ5!
The build-up to the event:
It all started in August 2010. On one of our project nights at Willys Works HQ it was decided to build a Jeep to race in the T1000. The build team was made up by WGTN Jeep club members Dave Mcginnity, Glen Collins (Apprentice second driver – Glen has navigated for me in past events, so a promotion for him), Bruce Tustin (new Nav), Marcus Gazley (Master parts finder), Nicole Swain (Graphics and design), Craig Mcginnity (Glazing and second Nav), nearly forgot Trish, (Master Cook for the team and wife), all Jeep nutters!
Now the Jeep in question was more of a collection of parts than a Jeep. A few remains of an original CJ5, a new fibreglass body, a pile of assorted TJ parts, front and rear diff‘s, suspension and steering etc. I also had the mighty Buick V6 under the bench and a CJ7 T176 G/box-Dana 300 T/case. So enough to put a Jeep together, yeah right!
The build started in earnest mid-August with Wednesday night set aside as Racer Night. The night would start with the team gathering for a hearty meal prepared by Trish and then it was out to the shed by 6.30pm till late.
The chassis and body matted together in no time at all, Cherokee high pinion front diff mounted using Range Rover front arms. The rear diff was converted to full-floater using Bronco front stubs and Yukon 30 spline drive flanges/custom axles. Both front and rear diffs loaded with 3.55 gears, giving the Jeep a theoretical top speed of 117mph @ 4500 rpm. That’s a scary thought in an eighty inch Jeep! (The Buick makes all its Hp and torque by 4500rpm, 200 plus Hp).
All the fabrication was finished by Christmas, so it was on to the painting and assembly. The next goal was to have it driving by March – mission accomplished! It’s funny how you think once you have a driving vehicle, it’s close to being finished!
There were only about a million small jobs to complete, but the build team took it all in stride and methodically worked though all the issues as they arose. By June we were into full-on testing, managing to clock up four hundred and fifty odd miles of testing before the event (most of which involved private land and stealthy back country night testing)!
Testing proved to be quite frustrating; the engine had not been run for six or seven years. Every time we went out for a test we would have a new issue. Basically, the Jeep performed as expected; however, each time we went out we seemed to have a new oil leak. There seemed to be too much pressure in the sump, which was finally traced to the wrong inlet gasket and an inadequate engine venting system.
The other weak link that reared its head was the front diff. We took the Jeep up to a Jeep jambo in Rotorua in June. The first time we got on the gas, in anger it blew the spider gears out of the front diff. A “lunch box locker” was supplied by Brett O’Brian and with a few hours of fitting in the car park, it was ready to go again. (A big thanks to Brett as he saved our weekend)! We had a good full day Jeep’n on the Sunday with no other issues apart from the directional control with the locker in front. Good entertainment for the other punters! Have since fitted a four spider air locker to the front, so don’t think we’ll be breaking that again!
With the last few jobs completed, it was out to Tustins Panel and Paint for a coat of Olive Drab, canvas work by All Car Upholstery and all the design and graphics from Nicole Swain. With all the spare parts assembled, we could finally say we were ready for the big event, with only a couple of days to spare!
The Big Event: “Taupo 1000”
I’ll start with a bit of an overview of the event. “The longest and toughest off-road race in the Southern hemisphere,” the 2011 event was again held at the Te Awa Airfield, Kaingaroa Forest, 60km east from Taupo (Central North Island). This time around, the event had a whole new concept, with everything held at the track from drivers briefing and night entertainment to the prize giving. Present was the largest marquee I have ever seen set up to accommodate scrutineering, stages for drivers briefing and prize giving, registration, and results screens, etc. (With past events, we have had to drive back and forth to Taupo, a 120k round trip!).
The endurance race is run over two days, ten laps per day of the 51.3k course, a total possible 1026 k’s in the time available, where you have between 8am to 3pm each day to get as many laps in as you can.
The day finally arrived! With the ute packed to the roof and the racer in tow we were off to Taupo in the biggest snow storm in Wellington’s history. It was an anxious time as roads were closed all over the region and in the central North Island. We had an interesting trip due to the weather, with a full-on blizzard from Taihape to the top of the desert road.
We made itto Taupo (and to sunshine), topped up with the last of the supplies for the weekend and gassed up the racer and cans (only 340 ltr!). It was then out to the T1000 village in the middle of the Kaingaroa forest Thursday morning. For this year’s event, we had hired a marquee for the Willys Works and JMS teams (I have been second driver with Warren Jeffery in three previous T1000’s). So it was an easy set up of race HQ – just unload into the marquee and set up the cook house and pitch the tents for the sleeping accommodations etc.
The next task on the agenda was a drive around the course and scrutineering… our Jeep flew through with positive feed back on the preparation. The track inspection showed a fast track this time around, first third bumpy and slow, the last two thirds smooth and fast, even a bit of tar seal (something we don’t normally race on).
Friday Practice and Qualifying (3k sprit track);
Practice tuned out to be a real shambles, with three or four of the top teams having major crashes (three rollovers, one truck written off in a collision with a tree)!
I’m not sure what it was with the drivers – no one is going to win in practice, and a 3k practice lap isn’t the place to be testing the car for a 1000k race; there were quite a few that lost all of their chances for the main race!
We even ended up being rear-ended, the Jeep sustaining a lot of damage to the left rear corner and one very bent shock absorber and exhaust. Luckily, Glen, the driver at the time (Glen’s off-road racer apprenticeship not off to a good start!) stopped to pick up all the remains of the body and flare. Once back in the marquee, it was all go to get the Jeep repaired enough to do a qualifying lap. Ash and Phil were sent into town for fibreglass repair kits and a replacement tail light.
The shock was removed and straightened using a few bits of timber and a jack and the exhaust was cut off, straightened and re-welded. With all that completed, we were good to go for qualifying.
Our qualifying lap was uneventful and nothing was startling speed wise. We managed to end up 73rd on the grid out of 89 starters. As it panned out, 73rd just so happened to be right outside of our marquee! Some say I planned it that way…
By the time Ash and Phil were back with the supplies, we had all the body repairs prepped and tapped back together. The rest of the evening was spent fibreglassing the rear corner back together and repairing the flare. So much for having a quiet day!
Race Day:
Saturday dawned a barmy -3 degrees! The Jeep backed out of the marquee to the most convenient grid position. The race strategy for the Willys Works Team was to go for seven or eight laps per day. First up for the Start was me in the pilot’s seat with Bruce Tustin riding shotgun.
We had a wee delay with a false start of the race making all having to re-grid, but by 8:30 we were off, only a 1000k to go! We were off to a good start, passing broken and crashed cars within a few k’s, the Jeep performing well out the box, and settling into 42/43 minute laps.
For this year’s race we added an in-car intercom and PRS for pit communication. Just being able to talk to Bruce in the passenger seat and the pit crew made it the best accessory by far that we fitted to the Jeep.
It was around our third lap, midway around when the brakes failed. A quick stop revealed a broken pipe between the master cylinder and the bias valve. With the pipe bent and hammered flat to stop it from leaking we were off again. A quick stop in the pits for more brake fluid followed, pre-arranged over the radio. We carried on with rear brakes only, completing the last of our five laps with no more issues.
With the Jeep fuelled, Glen and Craig were strapped in for the afternoon session, completing another four trouble free laps in the time available. With a total of nine laps for the day and leading class 4 by a lap, 29th overall, we were very pleased with the first day’s result. The broken brake pipe had cost us 15 minutes; we missed doing the full ten laps by 8 minutes.
We had a fairly easy Saturday night with just a brake line to make and a spanner check and grease of the Jeep. The only fault found was one loose shock, so we were all good to go for Sunday.
Day Two:
Sunday -6 degrees; even a water bottle I had next to my bed was frozen solid! Needless to say, we had a cold start to the day and a very slippery track.
The mighty TJ5 gridded up in 29th position with Glen and Craig starting the day off for the first four laps and it wasn’t long before we were getting reports of issues with the Jeep over the radio. The fire extinguisher had broken loose, so Craig now had something to hold onto for the next three laps!
There was also an issue with a sticky throttle and rear brakes, but they just kept on pushing on and settled in to the very consistent forty-five minute laps. Halfway around their fourth lap, Glen’s off-road racer apprenticeship hit an all time low when he managed to rear-end another competitor; a lucky escape with only another flare destroyed and minor tyre damage. Luckily they were able to bring it home still handling and performing sweetly for re-fuelling and a driver change. With the Jeep fuelled, it was time for a quick stop at the team tent for a lube of the throttlecable and re-fitting of the fire extinguisher.
Bruce and I were off again for another five laps and back into our 42/43 minute laps. On our second lap, the same brake line broke again, but this time there was no stopping to fix it. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided just to forge on with the brakes as they were. The only difference from Saturday’s line failure is that when I was out to check out the problem, I opened the bias valve to give full rear brakes (we normally have the bias virtually closed). So with the bias closed, we had very little brakes, but hey it’s a race, it’s all “go go go” – who’s stopping?!
Around the end of our second lap, we end up behind an Evo Pajero, our closest class 4 rival, though a lap down on the Willys Works team. As soon as we hit the sealed section we had a full on drag race which ended with the Evo edging ahead of the Jeep (exciting stuff). Straight line the Evo had longer legs than the old Jeep and most probably a fifth gear! He would get ahead on the straights and we would catch in the tight sections. Now in off-road racing, if someone catches up and toot’s you let them past. Not this Pajero – every time we went to pass he sped up, so not wanting to risk our position or the Jeep, we sat behind applying the odd bit of pressure and waiting for a mistake.
As it panned out the next two or three laps were the best driving I have had in my four attempts of the T1000.
We didn’t have to wait to long for the mistake, after a cat and mouse run with the Pajero for several laps. At the end of our fourth lap a little pressure was applied coming up to the start finish line (pressure only needed to be the fact he could see the Jeep in his rear view). Now the start finish line just so happens to have a jump, and the Pajero accelerated towards the jump like he had hit the Nos button, launched off the jump in style, then went “end over” into trees. No need for us to stop as they had crashed right outside race HQ – help was on hand as soon as it stopped rolling.
All we had to do now was finish the lap (our fifth) to win the class, so it was into cruise mode to conserve the Jeep. Around half way I asked Bruce the time (2.35 was his reply). Now all we had to do was to get back through the start/finish before 3pm to do another lap. After a quick discussion, the pace was upped and we were on a mission to do ten laps!
The old Jeep was by now starting to have some issues. With virtually no brakes at all and a bad manifold leak, she now sounded like an old Zephyr! All that aside, it was hammer down; we made it through with 2 minutes to spare before the track closed!
The last lap was just a cruise, but we still managed a 44 minute lap. We had quite a finish with the whole team celebrating the finish, spraying beer etc.
What an achievement! We had surpassed all of our original expectations and had completed 19 laps out of a possible 20. A total 974ks in 14.44 hrs – so close to the full 1000, but we’ll be back!
Results and Prize Giving:
Australian Brad Prout won overall in his Jimco buggy, completing the 1026k’s in 11.19 hrs (just a wee bit faster than the Jeep) and taking the main trophy across the ditch.
The Willys Works team finished 1st in Class 4, 15th overall in the mighty TJ5.
Warren and the JMS team with the buggy finished 2nd in class and 9th overall having completed the full 1026k’s.
We had a fun time at the prize giving, speeches out of the way and more trophies than you could poke a stick at on our table – It was panning out to be a very jovial night!
Glen’s son Daniel won a mountain bike donated by the Australian Prout team. The celebrations went on late into the night back at the Willys Works HQ, a great finish to a brilliant weekend.
I’d like to say a big thanks to all involved in the build of the Jeep and all involved in the race weekend.
Firstly Trish for being supportive of the mission and all of the meals/cups of tea for the team, Dave Mcginnity, Glen Collins, Marcus Gazley, Bruce Tustin, Nicole and Craig, Barry Greer, our daughters Lynaire, Ashleigh and Phil.
Special thanks to Phil, our master time keeper and comm’s central. He knew where and when the cars were due, and kept the whole pit crew informed and ready for anything!
Lastly, Warren Jeffery for the opportunity to race with him in previous T1000’s.
Special thanks to our Sponsors – I was truly humbled by the generosity of those involved and how they got behind the team:
Tustins Panel and Paint for the fine Olive Drab paint job, Off-road Specialties (Greg Hopkins), Supplier of all things Jeep, Fine Signs, Nicole Swain design and graphics, Industrial Equipment, Honda Power Equipment (Generator), Hirepool (heating).
Kaiser Willys Jeep Blog Story – Taupo 1000, Written and submitted by Don Morgan from New Zealand.
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love seeing old jeeps built to drive better still being used for somthing other than parades and car shows my cj3a is a daily driver love all jeeps!
love seeing old jeeps built to drive better still being used for somthing other than parades and car shows my cj3a is a daily driver love all jeeps!
Even better that these old Jeeps aren’t rotting away in a field or worse yet in the crusher.
Even better that these old Jeeps aren’t rotting away in a field or worse yet in the crusher.