Desert racing is currently experiencing a surge in popularity with huge numbers of racers venturing into the deserts of the Southwest almost every weekend. The level of competition is at an all-time high. The same is true for those of us who photograph the thousands of miles of torturous terrain and brutal beauty of our sport. The technical and creative level of desert-racing photography is on par with the advancements made to the modern race vehicle. Cameras today are marvels of electronic wizardry, built from titanium and composites. In the race to outshoot the competition and "get the shot," prerunning the course and getting into the more remote spots has become a necessity. Having a capable truck that can handle the terrain and be reliable is not just convenient - it could save your life. I wish I could say we lead a glamorous life making big money and traveling the world, but the reality is the pay is low, the work is hard, and the hours long - just like racing!
I set out to build a capable prerunner and daily driver and stay within my meager budget. I chose a Chevrolet Colorado Crew Cab because of its smaller size, which comes in handy when the remote trail you are driving on becomes a motorcycle path. The Crew Cab configuration offers plenty of room for passengers and gear inside the cab, and the gas mileage is helpful when traveling miles from the nearest fuel stop.
The accompanying photos will bring you up to speed on the Chevy's status.
Humble beginnings: a stock 2WD Chevy Colorado Crew Cab with the ZQ8 package. That's right: the factory lowering kit. It did include quick-ratio steering though. | 
Trailer Products 3-inch flare fenders and bedsides were then added to make room for 33-inch Pro Comp all-terrains on 17-inch American Racing Crater wheels with a custom "titanium" powdercoat from Vacuum Metals Powdercoating. | 
Originally, I figured since I had decent ground clearance, the factory locker in the rear, and good tires, I could get around no problem. Getting stuck in San Felipe and then having to keep the throttle pinned to make it through some other tough spots convinced me I needed more travel. I beat the snot out of the Fabtech kit and it held up, but I knew it wasn't designed for the high-speed abuse I was giving it. |
The first stage included a Fabtech 3-inch-lift spindle and rear shackle. We also added stainless braided brake lines and factory Z-11 off-road rear leaf springs. Believe me, before the Fabtech lift I was getting strange looks out on the course in a lowered truck. | 
Of course the suspension would have to be up-graded. Here, Chris Cobb of AM Suspensions welds up a 5-inch-longer upper A-arm for AM's Colorado kit. The kit comes with upper and lower arms and a fabricated spindle that cycle 18 inches metal to metal - 17-plus inches bumped and strapped. | 
The fully assembled front end includes the Sway-A-Way shocks with Eibach 500-pound main springs, a Delrin slider, and a 500-pound tender spring. Limiting the ups and downs are Sway-A-Way 2.0 hydraulic bumpstops and a pair of Pyrotec limit straps. We still have room to add a bypass shock to the other A-arm mounts when we get the truck dialed in. |
The point of no return. Flynn Sizemore cuts out the factory spring bucket to make room for the Sway-A-Way 2.5-inch coilovers with remote reservoirs and 2-inch hydraulic bumpstops to come. | 
With the cutting done, we cycled the suspension in order to locate the bumpstop cans and begin fabrication of the shock hoops. | 
Compare the difference between the stock lower arm and the AM arm. The AM arms are beautifully welded, boxed sheetmetal designs that use 1-inch spherical bearings top and bottom. |
This truck is being built for function, but you can't ignore the bling factor of the "Ti"-coated wheels and the Sway-A-Way coilovers. | 
The 2.5-inch Sway-A-Ways attach to my own custom mounts. I made two sets because my plans call for a wider Ford 9-inch rearend with hydraulic bumps mounted outside the frame. The stock axle is held in place with Total Chaos spring plates. | 
First on the list for phase two of the buildup was good lighting, so we took the truck to BDR Racing for some professional wiring. |
We had BDR wire four Vision X lights in the front and a Hella amber rear dust light for prerunning. The front lights are wired through a breaker switch, so if we have a problem with damaged wires or broken lights it will trip the breaker instead of blowing the fuse. A great feature to have when traveling in remote areas. | 
The four lights up front are from Vision X: two HIDs with internal ballasts and two high-beam/low-beam halogens wired through a Bosch foot-operated toggle switch mounted on the floor of the cab just like the factory used to. It's ideal being able to toggle the halogens while approaching oncoming traffic. The HIDs are way too bright to use in traffic but are worth their weight in gold out in the desert at night. | 
The old-school-style rollbar will eventually be tied into an overcab shooting platform with room for a tent. Lots of work remains to finish up the bed area. Mounts for the spare tires and a jack and a bedbox for gear are on the way. The downtubes of the cage tie into the front and rear spring mounts and eventually the hydraulic bumpstops. |
AM Suspensions does all manners of fabrication, so I had the company do the rear suspension as well. Sway-A-Way 2.5-inch triple-bypass shocks with piggyback reservoirs, 62-inch Deaver leaf springs, custom extended shackles, and limit straps all work with the heavily gusseted bed cage to deliver 18 inches of whoop-eating travel. | 
From the underside you can see the X-member we added to tie in the lower rear A-arm mounts and the tons of ground clearance we now have. The AM spindle uses factory hubs with no modifications to the ABS cables required. All mounting points on the spindles, shocks, A-arms, and tie rods are held in double shear for optimal strength. | 
Next, we installed a cold-air intake from AEM with one of the company's "dry" filter elements. The filter does not get oiled, so there is no chance of fouling your sensors. We ditched the factory 55-gallon muffler and installed a MagnaFlow stainless muffler and a SuperTrapp baffled tailpipe. The SuperTrapp is for spark-arresting duty. I get into some remote spots and the last thing I want is any exhaust sparks that may cause a fire. |