Honda Racing Corporation announced its 2024 factory racing teams this past December at American Honda’s headquarters in California, and Zach Sizelove’s #1925 Talon for 2024 was on display at the event. Since its inception in 2020, the Honda Off-Road Factory Racing Team has competed in five or six events per year (SCORE, Mint 400, and King of the Hammers), and the Proctor Racing Group’s Talon 1000Rs have racked up two Baja 1000 wins, two Baja 500 wins, two Mint 400 wins, and King of the Hammers. In 2023, Sizelove scored the Baja 500 Pro NA 1000 win, and Lawrence Janesky won the 1300-mile La Paz-to-Ensenada Baja 1000 in the second Factory Racing Talon. Sizelove raced a Talon-4 1000R in 2023, and his 2024 ride will be a two-seat 1000R.
INSIDE THE PROCTOR RACING GROUP TALON 1000R
Jeff Proctor performed the race build in-house and fabricated the race cage and upgraded frame around a 28-gallon custom Pyrotech aluminum fuel cell located under the seats. He completely deleted the Talon bed and extended the rear cage pillars down to rear bumper level for a lower center of gravity. This puts the spare tire below the level of where the bed would be, but Proctor had to fabricate exhaust headers and mid pipes to route the twin X-pipe Trinity aluminum mufflers back and up on each side of the spare. The OEM radiator was removed, and a custom CBR radiator was mounted above the stock air box behind the cabin. Air is pulled through via a brushless multi-speed fan, and the air box got a custom aluminum, rear-facing intake. A UNI filter replaces the stock filter, and the radiator also got an aluminum coolant reservoir/catch can.
The Unicam 1000cc twin got a custom racing fuel rail and injectors, and HRC did the ECU re-flash and race tune. HRC also tuned the transmission’s dual clutches and shift points. Engine mounts were beefed up, and the front and rear diffs are stock. Proctor also fabricated and TIG-welded the Jsport 72-inch race-suspension boxed A-arms and trailing arms with built-in roost flaps. Tie-rods and radius rods are heavy-duty with adjustable rod ends, and the radius rods have double-shear mounts. A Jsport billet steering rack has a 400-Watt electronic power steering assist. Shocks are 3.0 front and 3.5 rear custom Fox Factory remote-reservoir shocks with oversized fluted reservoirs. Zach also runs Fox external-cooling reservoirs on the rear, but they were on his 2023 Talon. Fox factory technicians set the ride height at 16 inches.
Brakes are Wilwood Talon calipers, floating rotors, pedal, and master cylinder with braided stainless-steel lines. Axles are Demon with electrical tape wrap to prevent roost damage. Maxxis 32x10R15 RAZR XT tires provide traction and are mounted on KMC forged billet-aluminum Impact race wheels with bead locks. The hood, dash, firewall, console, and fenders are OEM plastic, and the roof and doors are custom fiberglass. Nets are custom Hostyle, and the seats and six-point harnesses are Sparco. The steering wheel and quick-connect hub are MPI, and Zach uses the stock paddle shifters. Per rules, there is a Safeco fire extinguisher in the cab and fire-extinguisher system for the engine.
Over the console, there is a center-mounted Lowrance 10-inch GPS, and PCI Radios’ intercom and radio are mounted in the dash. Zach also uses PCI dual pumpers and Fluid Logic hydration system. Also, there is a Baja Designs S-Pod key pad to control Baja Designs Squadron Pro LEDs on the A-pillars and in the headlight pockets, two XL Pros on the front bumper, and OnX6 light bar on the roof (not installed yet). Zach prefers to run as many amber lenses as possible to reduce light refraction when passing in heavy dust. Visors under the roof block the sun before dusk and after sunrise.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Besides the 2023 Baja 500, Zach has two Mint 400 wins and two Baja 400 wins, showing he’s an incredible driver with exceptional race craft. The Factory Racing Talon has proven to be a very durable platform with its belt-less Dual Clutch Transmission, and Zach finesses the car and manages the vehicle for long endurance races. In the 2023 Baja 1000, he drove solo with navigators Wayne Lambert and Greg Savage. At Race Mile 66 he was clipped by a Class 5 buggy and sustained heavy front-end damage. He limped to RM250, where Zach’s dad welded up repairs so Zach could continue, and he nursed the Talon to RM950 before the A-arm mounts ripped off of the damaged frame, and they couldn’t continue. He’ll race the Talon seen here starting with the King of the Hammers and then the San Felipe 250.
Proctor said, “Zach and the team put up a valiant effort to cross the finish line. But after a long day of managing fixes and battling back, Zach and I made the strategic decision to not continue the race. We didn’t want to subject anyone to undue risk. It’s never easy after all the heart and preparation everyone on this team invests.”
