One of the great things about Class 11 is that folks are more than willing to help, like when Richard and Mike got their first flat at the San Felipe 250.
When we got stuck in silt outside the Ensenada dump during the Baja 1000, four spectators helped me push the car out of it.
Thanks to Jose Castellanos of Rosarita for sending us the photos, and definitely check out his video of our unscheduled pit stop that I posted a few days ago.
Richard and Skid take a well-deserved break.
This report from Seth (who also sent the photos):
Our valiant attempt to conquer the Baja 250 came to an end at Race Mile 72. In those 72 miles, we suffered 3 (three) flat tires, which when added to the two on Friday, were 2 more than we could handle.
Many of you know that we race to raise awareness of diabetes. That said, we decided to have our two diabetic team member start this race. Skid and Richard left the start line at just after 11 a.m. The first flat tire occured near race mile 5 (!). After a quick tire change, they were off again. At Mile 22, they were joined by Chase Captain Seth. There, they replaced the spare wheel with spare #2, performed a helmet swap, fixed the radio, and pulled the damaged bumper (from an early close-encounter with a creosote tree).
Off again, the course claimed tire #3 at Race Mile 46. The decision was made to run the car with the flat, and this they did admirably. And, at Race Mile 55, another tire went flat.
Richard and Skid carried 1101 all the way to Race Mile 72 with all tires on the left side of the vehicle flat. They finally stopped because they could not see through the smoke coming from the flat tires.
We chased them for 2 hours, and loaded 1101 onto the trailer. No racer wants to see the trailer…I think they were hoping we might have some more extra wheels and tires, but we did not.
1101 is now trailered, and will soon go home. But, as always, lessons were learned, and 1101 will not be down long.
You can check out race day photos here.
Ok, so in a few hours there’s going to be a lot of text updates and not a lot of photos, so work with us here and appreciate the logistics required to support a race team in the Baja California Desert. Like Seth’s well-outfitted chase truck.
Uh oh. Someone has some ‘splaining to do.
We may be slow, but we’re ahead of that Stock Mini class truck. In tech, anyway.
1101 in repose.
Watch for Desert Dingo Baja Champion brand tires at a tire store near you.
This just in from Scott…
Jim-Bob,
Yesterday after establishing Pit #2 Seth and I ran into a pair of quads who ran out of gas while pre-running. A splash of Dingo gas and our brothers from Super Cow Racing were back on their way.
This morning Richard & I drove 1101 into town for tech and registration. Lines, lines, lines. My first time in the driver’s seat. That thing rips right along! Far better motor and suspension than I’d anticipated. Good thing we won’t need the brakes much, though. Been a long time since driving something with drums.
Jeff led the way back from town in the Scout, taking the back way through canyon & beach with Seth driving behind. The narrow trail wound through a section of 100 foot vertical mud canyons. Round a corner we spotted a Yamaha Rhino UTV dangling halfway off the cliff, four desperate men trying to keep it from flipping down the cliff. They had honestly been inches from death. We made our way up the back side of the cliff to join them. Tied a couple of straps to the thing, hooked one end to a truck & another strap with 8 people pulling to keep it from tumbling as the truck pulled. New friends. We have video but it’s too large to send.
Trackside Photo got a great shot of 1146 catching air in the wash. I picked up a few copies to send to sponsors and arranged for permission to use the image on our website.