Team # 180, one of the women-only teams representing the United States, consisted of Nicole Pitell-Vaughn and Jessi Combs in the K&N Filters Total Chaos Fabrication Toyota Tacoma
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Total Chaos Fab specializes in quality American-made off-road suspension components for trucks, especially Toyotas, and relies upon K&N air filters for superior airflow & superior performance
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The Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc is the only exclusively female off-road rally in the world. Created in 1990, this ground-breaking event brings women between the ages of 18 and 65 together from more than 30 different countries in the Moroccan desert. Since its inception, the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles has been creating a new vision of automobile competition: no speed and no GPS, just old fashioned navigation, completely off-road. The Gazelle Rally is a return to the roots of Adventure. The women who take part in this rally, known as Gazelles, are of all ages, social backgrounds, nationalities and levels of off-road experience. Whether in a 4x4, Crossover, Quad, truck or motorcycle, they all come to take part in a unique competition. Instead of time or speed determining the winner of the Gazelle Rally, the women are charged with navigating from beginning to end in the shortest accumulated distance.
Both Nicole Pitell-Vaughn and her teammate Jessi Combs have a strong background in off-road racing, including desert racing and the infamous King of the Hammers extreme off-road race
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The team made some strategic decisions in the dunes where the K&N equipped Total Chaos Toyota Tacoma worked flawlessly which gave them an edge over some of the other teams
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Team # 180, one of several women only teams representing the United States, consisted of Nicole Pitell-Vaughn and Jessi Combs in the K&N Filters equipped Total Chaos Fabrication Toyota Tacoma. Both women have a strong background in off-road racing. Nicole, along with her husband, owns Total Chaos Fabrication in Corona, California. Total Chaos Fab specializes in quality American-made off-road suspension components for trucks, especially Toyotas. Nicole handles marketing for Total Chaos and has experience behind the wheel of off-road desert trucks. Jessi Combs is a television personality and metal fabricator who appeared on Spike TV’s Xtreme 4X4 television program, and now co-hosts an AOL Autoblog Show, The List: 1001 Car Things To Do Before You Die. Jessi is no stranger behind the wheel of off-road trucks, having raced the infamous King of the Hammers multiple times, but it was decided that Nicole would drive while Jessi navigated during the 2015 Gazelle Rally.
2015 marked Nicole and Jessi’s first attempt at the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc and Team #180 in the K&N Filters equipped Total Chaos Fabrication Toyota Tacoma passed with flying colors. “We started off great, and experienced a really challenging first few days of getting the hang of the competition. We were sitting in 24th place at one point,” said Pitell-Vaughn. Never the less, Nicole and Jessi successfully completed the 9 day Rallye Aiicha des Gazelles, capturing every flag on every stage and logging the shortest distance against all the other first time competitors. The K&N supported team’s strategic moves and challenging decisions paid off earning them the highest placing finisher of all the American teams entered in the 2015 rally and a 10th place finish overall. “We made some great strategic decisions in the dunes where our Tacoma worked flawlessly. That gave us an edge over some of the other teams. We managed to climb in the rankings the following days and sat 10th overall on day 8. We maintained the position on the final day with less than a 2 km cushion. What an amazing experience,” Nicole Pitell-Vaughan stated.
2015 marked Nicole and Jessi’s first attempt at the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc and Team #180 in the K&N equipped Total Chaos Fabrication Toyota Tacoma passed with flying colors
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The K&N supported Gazelle Rally team’s strategic moves and decisions paid off earning them the highest placing finisher of all the American teams and a 10th place finish overall for 2015
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Jessi Combs added, “Crazy to think that all the elements of a full functioning race team; communication, equipment, strategy, preparation, and assertiveness are magnified tenfold in a race where you barely break 50 mph over nine days of racing. Missing anyone of those components could lead to ultimate breakdown…mechanically, emotionally, navigationally, spiritually…and in the middle of the Moroccan Sahara. We are grateful for our final standings…it took mass amounts of effort from all our supporters and more determination than I could have ever estimated.”
To find K&N products for your Toyota Tacoma or almost any other vehicle, use the K&N Application Search on KNFilters.com. Use K&N’s Dealer Search to find an authorized K&N Dealer in almost any part of the world.
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