BAJA 1000 2020 (Or fat old gringo goes glamping in the desert)

jmon

Well-Known Member
I've been hanging here about a year, figured I should contribute something.
The company I do some contract/fly in work asked me early in the year if I was interested in working the
Baja race. While not a "bucket list" item, it did sound like it might be neat. It was on and off about 7 times
once Covid hit, finally they made the call on Nov 1st, it's a go.
My official "job" is Fuel Boss and 2nd CDL for Pit 6.
Monday 11/16 GSP to San Diego, SD airport is nice looking place at night.

Tuesday 11/17 Line up at Otay Mesa(pic 1)cleared US customs, but Mexico doesn't let 2 drivers in a truck so
I had to walk to Tijuana(Pic 2). Young lady to my right was a citizen, they never even looked at my PP?
One of the trucks had to go to secondary inspection in Mexico so 5 us parked along the street and this happened
(pic 3). Policia and the insurance agents all show up. 3 hours later (and yes money did change hands) we're on our
way.KIMG0647.JPGKIMG0650.JPG23966.jpegKIMG0659.JPG
 
Tuesday 11/17 cont'd. Well that didn't take long...just getting on the toll road 50 miles from border,
one of the trucks has tractor protection valve go bad. Wind up sending one of the chase trucks to KW in
Ensenada, brings it back and we're on our way. Even got my hands dirty.(Pic 1&2)
Obligatory ocean shot from RT 10(Pic 3)KIMG0663.JPG23993.jpegKIMG0667.JPGKIMG0668.JPG
Headquarters? is the Estero Beach Resort. Pretty neat old(rustic) resort on the beach. They cater to the
off road crowd as they even have their own off road course.
Good to see they're keeping me in the style I've become accustomed to LOL.(Pic 4)
 
I've been hanging here about a year, figured I should contribute something.
The company I do some contract/fly in work asked me early in the year if I was interested in working the
Baja race. While not a "bucket list" item, it did sound like it might be neat. It was on and off about 7 times
once Covid hit, finally they made the call on Nov 1st, it's a go.
My official "job" is Fuel Boss and 2nd CDL for Pit 6.
Monday 11/16 GSP to San Diego, SD airport is nice looking place at night.

Tuesday 11/17 Line up at Otay Mesa(pic 1)cleared US customs, but Mexico doesn't let 2 drivers in a truck so
I had to walk to Tijuana(Pic 2). Young lady to my right was a citizen, they never even looked at my PP?
One of the trucks had to go to secondary inspection in Mexico so 5 us parked along the street and this happened
(pic 3). Policia and the insurance agents all show up. 3 hours later (and yes money did change hands) we're on our
way.View attachment 78790View attachment 78791View attachment 78792View attachment 78793
Was this the famous Baja Race that's run across what appears to be a Sandy Desert?
 
I've been hanging here about a year, figured I should contribute something.
The company I do some contract/fly in work asked me early in the year if I was interested in working the
Baja race. While not a "bucket list" item, it did sound like it might be neat. It was on and off about 7 times
once Covid hit, finally they made the call on Nov 1st, it's a go.
My official "job" is Fuel Boss and 2nd CDL for Pit 6.
Monday 11/16 GSP to San Diego, SD airport is nice looking place at night.

Tuesday 11/17 Line up at Otay Mesa(pic 1)cleared US customs, but Mexico doesn't let 2 drivers in a truck so
I had to walk to Tijuana(Pic 2). Young lady to my right was a citizen, they never even looked at my PP?
One of the trucks had to go to secondary inspection in Mexico so 5 us parked along the street and this happened
(pic 3). Policia and the insurance agents all show up. 3 hours later (and yes money did change hands) we're on our
way.View attachment 78790View attachment 78791View attachment 78792View attachment 78793
Don't feel bad about not contributing.

We've had members around for way longer than a year - some a decade or more - with way higher post counts than yours, and we're still waiting on meaningful contributions from them.

SCORE and trophy trucks are one of the many sports I tell myself Im always going to pay more attention to but somehow it always misses my attention. Trophy Trucks fascinate me. I always wanted to drive one.

Now that I'm older and kinda beat up, being the rich guys who owns one would be gold too.

Like those meaningful contributions were all still waiting on, I'm not sure either is ever really going to happen.
 
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Yep some years they run the length of the peninsula, other years like 2020 they run a loop starting and ending in Ensenada. What amazed me was that they didn't run down more of the locals!

I'm about 17 minutes into this video.

The part where they held up traffic so the truck could blast out onto a public road was freaking awesome.

I'd be afraid that similar to a motorcycle where the bike follows where you look, my eyes would drift toward the people standing insanely close to the road and I'd veer into them.

PLOOF! There goes Juan Carlo into the air.

SPLAT! Jorge is now a red spot in the dirt.

The focus being demonstrated here is outstanding.

What do the calls mean?

Right 3!

Stuff like that...
 
What do the calls mean?

Right 3!

Stuff like that...


"Right" is pretty straightforward (if "right" can be "straight" and "forward" sometimes our language is weird). But it seems that 3 is either 3rd gear or relative speed at which to take said right turn. That's how I interpreted it.

It looks like they could use a bunch of copies of the sign on the Dalton Hwy.oh-shit-corner.jpg

Or maybe a few copies of this one:
AtYourOwnRisk.jpg
 
@Fageol
You're right. Some like the video are using the numbers for gear selection. If you go down the rabbit hole of videos, it seems like other classes use the number for the severity of the corner.
Everybody pre runs the course in the week leading up to the race, that's where they get their notes. The big $$$ teams have pre-runners that are almost identical to their race vehicles so the data is really close. Others use side by sides or whatever they have.
 
What do the calls mean?

Right 3!

Stuff like that...


"Right" is pretty straightforward (if "right" can be "straight" and "forward" sometimes our language is weird). But it seems that 3 is either 3rd gear or relative speed at which to take said right turn. That's how I interpreted it.

It looks like they could use a bunch of copies of the sign on the Dalton Hwy.View attachment 78819

Or maybe a few copies of this one:
View attachment 78820
I was thinking it's gears or severity of the obstacles about to be encountered.

Seems like the truck is not a manual so I'm not sure its gears...

Nevermind it seems I have @Oxbow d a thread. Carry on.
 
I'm about 17 minutes into this video.

The part where they held up traffic so the truck could blast out onto a public road was freaking awesome.

I'd be afraid that similar to a motorcycle where the bike follows where you look, my eyes would drift toward the people standing insanely close to the road and I'd veer into them.

PLOOF! There goes Juan Carlo into the air.

SPLAT! Jorge is now a red spot in the dirt.

The focus being demonstrated here is outstanding.

What do the calls mean?

Right 3!

Stuff like that...
It could be worse, you could kill Jesus.
 
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Wed 11/18 Estero Beach
Up bright and early, unable to go into Ensenada last night for street tacos and likker due to the rules they had for the Covid so?
Pit Exchange all day. I'll try to make this as painless to read as possible!
So if you run BFG tires at events and sign up, they will service your vehicle for the whole race for free. BFG sets up pits every 140-160 miles along the course. You drop off any spares, tires, fuel jugs and anything else you might need at pit exchange and they transport them. This seems to be geared toward the smaller teamsKIMG0671.JPG
View attachment KVID0674 (1).mp4
View attachment KVID0678.mp4 saving them to have to have support at every fuel stop. Teams can sign up for just emergency service and they will also help any team regardless of what tire they're running in an emergency.
They sent out six trucks....4 T/T, 26ft box truck w/tag trailer and a pickup w/tag trailer.
Pretty easy day except for the Mariachi music blaring...all...day...long
 
@Fageol
You're right. Some like the video are using the numbers for gear selection. If you go down the rabbit hole of videos, it seems like other classes use the number for the severity of the corner.
Everybody pre runs the course in the week leading up to the race, that's where they get their notes. The big $$$ teams have pre-runners that are almost identical to their race vehicles so the data is really close. Others use side by sides or whatever they have.
Thanks. The hurried statements are vaguely similar to telling a rookie to "drop a hole" when the slope of a hill increases and the turns are falling off rapidly or otherwise adjusting to some similar current or prospective condition.
 

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