Wisdom from the Master

I spent 40 minutes on the phone with Eric Solorzano, nine-time winner of the Baja 1000 Class 11 category. As Charlie said, “It’s like having Michael Jordan teach you how to shoot baskets.”

One page of questions turned into four pages of notes. Best part is he invited us to come down to San Diego to go through his car and he’d teach us some driving techniques.

Highlights from the conversation:

Class 11 VWs take a different line through the course than the other vehicles. Stay out of ruts made by other tires.

Change drivers before you get tired. When you’re tired you make mistakes. The helmet gets heavy after a while and when it’s hot, your head swells.

Hydrate in the days leading up to the race. He drinks Pedialyte when he’s in the car.

Install a 14-gallon fuel cell up front and a five-gallon fuel cell in the back seat. Only use the five-gallon one for emergencies. (We’d been thinking of a 22-gallon fuel cell in the back seat, but Eric said that it would put too much strain on the rear suspension and just try getting a car out of a silt bed with a full load of fuel in the back.)

He runs 235/75/15 tires all around. You can go larger, but you lose engine power.

Eric has a glass windshield (I’ve seen a lot of class 11s that don’t). “It gets cold at night and your body uses a lot of energy to keep warm.” He uses a Parker Pumper air system.

He installed the auxiliary oil cooler on the roof just above the rear window. “What about rolling the car?” “I don’t recommend that you roll the car.”

“You want a big amber light and a big red light to tell you if something is going wrong.” One for the alternator(?) and one for oil warning light. “You’ll never check your gauges because you’re focused on driving.”

His chase car carries a spare engine, spare transmission, a complete front end and a complete tie rod assembly. And a spare fuel pump, compufier(?), coil pack and distributor. Jetting for the carb, nuts and bolts, clutch cable and drive belt. And spare air filters and tires.

Never changed an engine. Changed a transmission once. Broke four or five spindles. You’ll get flats.

He also carries about $1700 worth of tools. “You want to carry the right tools so you can disassemble the entire car.” A cordless impact wrench is a must have.

We’ll probably fly down to San Diego in mid-May to go over his car.