Gustavo’s guy is driving the piss out of 1148.
Like several thousand other racers and fans, I spent Friday and Saturday staring at computer screens tracking the Baja 1000. Two time Desert Dingo Racing driver Paul Hartl went off the start line mid afternoon Friday in Gustavo Garayzar’s 1149 VW.
Paul set a blistering pace which was doubly impressive because shortly after he dropped down into the Ensenada aqueduct he closed a 30 second lead by 1101 and was in first place back on the pavement headed to the dump. 1149 got the lead back and Paul needed to pull over at around RM 20 to fix a radio issue, but at the end of 100 miles Paul delivered a good car and his work was done.
We kept in touch throughout the race via SMS texts, me relaying locations of 1148 and 1149 as they raced down the peninsula. 1101 broke somewhere around San Felipe and headed back to Ensenada. Paul reported 1148 had alternator issues and never caught 1149 again, eventually breaking down just north of San Felipe on the way back, ending the race for them.
Final note: Paul just SMS’d me at 6:15 saying he’s at the border and there’s a 3-4 hour wait. I wrote back “Have a churro.”
Also this weekend we say goodbye to the utility truck we used for a few races to haul 1107 around. It’s been parked in my front yard for two years. Now I have room for new junk.