anyone going down to mexico for baja 1000 next month?

[ogrider]

i was going to take a couple of days off and check it out anyone else going?

[J*C*M]

I'm thinking about it, its a long haul from Va tho

[ogrider]

that is a serios long haul i was thinking of getting a room in ensenada and then heading out early in the am about 40 miles down the run and just hang out all day and night there somewhere where you can see them head off and then come back. you can see the map at the score website http://www.score-international.com/

[ShowStop]

I know somebody that is...
http://www.tacomaterritory.com/forum/showpost.php?p=195777&postcount=58

[Baja Belk]

I'll be prerunning at least twice starting Halloween weekend and then racing it

[BLOWNYOTA]

I'll be there

[miguelitro]

I'll either be in San felipe for the whole weekend or going out to the Erendira area to watch em come by in the morn and then going to ENS for the finish and the party...
too bad its a 700 mile 1000 race!
but gotta see 1x Johnny in his last race as a honda A team rider
I guess the trucks and buggies are pretty cool too.
any one who want to go hit me up meet here in San diego, whatever. Its only 25 min to TJ from my door.
Mike

[ogrider]

maybe we could all caravan down and then find a good spot to watch and then drink a couple of beers (couple hundred)

[DesertTRD]

maybe we could all caravan down and then find a good spot to watch and then drink a couple of beers (couple hundred)
just an fyi if your thinking about going you better find a room now, most places in ensenada are already filling up or have filled up. I tried last week and instead had to resort to a house down south 15 miles away.

[Baja Belk]

So who's still going and who's bailed? I'll be comin down Thursday night, stayin at the Costa Baja, watchin the start then taking off for San Telmo Road where I'm getting in the car, and hopefully next stop Ensanada. Probably goin to the BFG party at Estero Beach Saturday night (providing I'm not stuck out in the middle of nowhere).

[DesertTRD]

So who's still going and who's bailed? I'll be comin down Thursday night, stayin at the Costa Baja, watchin the start then taking off for San Telmo Road where I'm getting in the car, and hopefully next stop Ensanada. Probably goin to the BFG party at Estero Beach Saturday night (providing I'm not stuck out in the middle of nowhere).
well im still in, spent every day since friday working on Solis's truck, its pretty much complete now, but im working off like 2 hours of sleep and just got home...

[peekay331]

how did their prerun turn out? did they make it all the way down?

[miguelitro]

I'm still going camping, erendira area. all are invited
PM me i'll give ya my phone #, i live close to the border
Mike

[Baja Belk]

how did their prerun turn out? did they make it all the way down?

Solis's?

[rojodiablo]

Solis's?
Chris Solis....aka SHROOM. He teamed up with Camburg to run the Tacoma LT kit, while the 'burg will run their Ford.

[peekay331]

yeah, chris's prerun. he had asked me to go down with them for the prerun on quads but i couldnt make it out.

[Baja Belk]

yeah, chris's prerun. he had asked me to go down with them for the prerun on quads but i couldnt make it out.

Yah they made it. Ran it in a mostly stock full-size Dodge so it was pretty slow going but they made it.

[peekay331]

haha, that's kind of funny. last i heard from chris, he was planning to do it on his quad. either way, making the whole way down in a stock dodge is pretty impressive nonetheless! maybe even more impressive than riding the whole damn thing.

[Baja Belk]

Alright, last post before Mexico, anyone going down root for 1207, the bright red one with a big "Sun Performance Products" sticker on the side.


Pre-sponser sun sticker:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y55/drazahb44/Belk_16891.jpg
I'll be at the BFG party in Estero beach sat night. Peace

[Baja Belk]

Just got back from the race, looking forward to a week off of school at home. As far as the race goes, all-in-all it was a great weekend. Race went ok, considering. Pops put the car on its lid right off the bat, didn't break anything, but lost about 20 minutes. Second driver stopped in Matomi to re-connect a tie-rod, couldn't get moving again, blew out reverse, and lost about an hour getting un-stuck. I got in the car about race mile 475, BFG welded a rear limit strap tab back on that had peeled a chunk of metal off of the trailing arm, then sent me on my way. Car kept crapping out at low RPMs, had to keep punching the clutch to wake it back up, more annoying then anything, but slowed me down alot when I couldn't power out of a slide around the turns. Reverse gear was grinding around in the case, sounded horrible and made me nervous so I babied it a little bit, just wanting to finish. Make it to within 20 miles of the finish with no major problems, when a front lower arm snaps in half for no apparent reason (i.e. didn't hit anything; it just went from previous abuse/roll over). Luckily the spare was nearby, and while we lost about an hour and half and a dozen overall positions we didn't lose any class positions, so it was more of a "this close to the finish??!!!" pain in the ass then anything. Had to put a 1/2" bolt through a 5/8" heim in a bent tie-rod, and drive in on 3 brakes. (braking for left turns was fun) Make it to the finish in about 23 hours, 5th place in class, I have no clue overall. That marks a finish in every SCORE race this far, so I'll be one of 13 drivers to receive a Toyota True-Grit award for finishing every mile of every race in the season. Which is pretty freakin cool for our first full SCORE season. Passed out in hotel room for five hours, went to BFG invitation only party in Estero Beach, mingled with a bunch of famous trophy truck drivers and other racing legends trying to act like I was cool, took a picture with Chip Foose, free: beer, margaritas, tacos, t-shirts, and posters (pretty much loaded the truck up with all of the above). Leave hotel at 7:30 this morning for BFG again to pick up left over tires, come back to Ensanada to the biggest clusterf*ck I've ever seen. Main road, which also happens to be the only road out of town and the road which happened to be between me and my hotel, is completely blocked off for some stupid highschool band/cheerleading/ninja/soccer player parade which was supposed to go on for 3 hours. After arguing with a bunch of federales, running over some cones, and driving around town for 2 hours we finally find a small road going over the mountain out of town. Make it back to the hotel, load up the two trucks, and back out of the inbound road for about a mile in reverse with our emergency flashers on (I wasn't going around again), and finally get out of town around 11:30.

Get to TJ in good time, to find the border closed until the line moves up a little. I keep going to the Otay crossing, where I get hopelessly lost trying the find the actual crossing, a federale tells me to go down this little side street, I get cut off by a sedan that slams on its brakes for a pot hole, I hit my brakes, go around him, then get stopped by a policia on a bike who tells me I'm speeding. 10 minutes of arguing, a bunch of stickers, and $20 (strategically handed to him under my license per his instructions) later I'm on my way across the border.

To make matters worse I find out that Jason Baldwin (one of the top Trophy Truck drivers and a real asset to the sport) was killed in a plane crash on his way home from the race. Kind of put me in a bum mood the rest of the day. Made my problems seem a lot less important. Jason you'll be missed. :xusflag:

That's the story, sorry for the long post. Let's hear from everyone else who made it down. (I know Half Baked did, ran into him at a toll booth)

Here's some of the pics, I'll post more later when I get them developed.

First driver change @ Borrego
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/000b0040.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/000b0034.jpg

Right before the arm broke after Ojos
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/000b0083.jpg

Nasty silt that the Tundra had to go through to get the arm to me
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/000_0090.jpg

Really good shot ruined by overzealous spectator
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/000_0023.jpg

Contingency
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/000_0014.jpg

Jesse James photo shoot. Sandra Bullock was like 3 feet in front of me just out of the shot. Robby Gordon drove by and totally called out Jesse with a 900 hp rev
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/000_0021.jpg

[bigairrider01]

nice report on the race, i was in half baked's truck in the back seat, what an experience in baja

that 12 car looks like a lot of fun, i can't wait until my suspension is like that on my baja bug

[Half Baked Taco]

great race report.

Wanted to thank the people of Mexico and all the racers that we saw and met. It was truley mind blowing.

I have some pictures that will hopefully show what an awesome experience it was.

Full PhotoAlbum (http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2117268513&mode=guest)

Teaser pics...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/halfbakedtaco/Baja1000/IMG_0087.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/halfbakedtaco/Baja1000/IMG_0050.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/halfbakedtaco/Baja1000/IMG_0040.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/halfbakedtaco/Baja1000/IMG_0082.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/halfbakedtaco/Baja1000/IMG_0106.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/halfbakedtaco/Baja1000/IMG_0033.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/halfbakedtaco/Baja1000/IMG_0068.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/halfbakedtaco/Baja1000/IMG_0070.jpg

GODSPEED Jason Baldwin! R.I.P.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/halfbakedtaco/Baja1000/6c2cd06c.jpg
His truck at Contingency
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/halfbakedtaco/Baja1000/IMG_0030.jpg

[Chadman]

Very Nice! Another event I need to add to my long list of things to do before I die.

[Baja Belk]

Some more pics (I don't know why these are small):

Car all pretty before the race:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/5b.jpg

Waiting for the car at RM 475 (yah it was cold):

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/30.jpg

Driver change:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/36.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/41.jpg

At the finish some 23 hours later:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/3.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/4.jpg

The ragtag "chase" crew (part of it):

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b61/mbelk/20.jpg