Desert Dingo Racing

Category: Technology

  • Desert Dingo Racing teams with GoPro to capture, upload video during Baja 1000

    GoPro Motorsports digital video camera

    October 30, 2008, San Jose, Calif, — Desert Dingo Racing and GoPro have teamed to capture and broadcast high quality digital in-car video during the 41st Annual Baja 1000 offroad race in Mexico this November.

    Desert Dingo Racing competes in Class 11, which is limited to pre-1983 Volkswagen Beetles and allows for only minor modifications to the engine and suspension. The Desert Dingo VW (No. 1102) is the official World Diabetes Day car in the race and the team is hosting a drive-a-thon fundraiser to raise money for diabetes awareness and education programs conducted by the International Diabetes Federation.

    “We’ve tested a couple of different camera setups in the car and were never satisfied with the results,” said Desert Dingo team member Jim Graham. “GoPro’s Motorsports HERO unit is extremely durable – which is crucial for desert racing – and the 170-degree field of view will let us capture all the action.”

    Read the entire press release here.

  • First GPS track released

    GPS waypoints for 2008 Baja 1000 course

    SCORE released the initial GPS track for the race. We purchase a more detailed version that loads into the Lowrance GPS unit mounted in front of the co-driver. It’s a bit more detailed and has cool little skull and crossbones icons that warn of things like sheer cliffs, deep water and boulder protruding into the course.

    If you want to check it in Google Earth, you can download the KML file here.

    Less than three weeks til we depart. We’ll drive to San Diego on Nov. 12, spend the night, then drive to Rosarita Beach the next morning and spend the next week with Eric Solorzano (who starts in front of us) tweaking the car and pre-running sections of the course.

    Car still needs to be painted. That will happen next Sunday most likely. And we’re waiting on two digital video cameras that we’ll mount to capture in-car footage, that, if everything goes as planned, we’ll upload to the Internets during the race.

    Still only three teams in Class 11 – Eric, us and Alaskan Michael Brown, who I’ve heard is making his first run at the race. I expect a few more will register in the next week or so.

    If you’re checking in from seeing the KPIX, howdy. If you can spare a few dollars, we’d love it if you pledged to our drive-a-thon fundraiser. Even a penny or five cents a miles would be fantastic. And 100% of the money goes toward diabetes awareness and education programs managed by the International Diabetes Federation. You can donate by clicking on the “Donate” button on the upper right side of this web page.

    You might want to bookmark this page. On the day of the race you’ll be able to track us in real time on Google maps. One of the GPS transponders on the car relays our car number (1102), position and speed and updates every two minutes. We’ll be using this to keep our chase trucks updated on the race car’s location, because it’s almost impossible to communicate via radio unless you’re pretty close to each other.

    Any questions or comments? Shoot me a note at jim@desertdingo.com .

  • A visit to Bonny Doon Village airport

    Bonny Doon Airport runway

    I drove up the the Bonny Doon Airport this afternoon to get a look in advance of next Sunday’s photo shoot. In a word, it’s ideal. Ok, that’s two words.

    Here’s a 30-second video shot with our new Flip, which we’ll be testing as an in-car camera.

    And here’s a Geico commercial from today’s NASCAR race in Mexico City. This kid strangely reminds me of Skid, right down to the toothpick and sunglasses.

  • From the Baja Racing News Twitter stream

    And so it ends.

    I’d been following Gary’s updates all day and had sent him a note of appreciation for his work. We’re out for this race, but in the words of California’s governator, “We’ll be back.”

  • Live radio traffic during the race

    You can listen live to the Weatherman, who coordinates search and rescue during the race by clicking here or on the image above.