Ensenada to La Paz - Baja 1000 2010

[TacoXpo]

Sorry for the repost but I thought I would start a thread....

Wow!! I am BEAT!

We started the Baja at in the mid afternoon. Raced the first ~108 miles. It was so cool going through the streets and through the crowds of cheering fans. Then there was the phase of having tunnel vision on the GPS to keep us going without flying off course.

Then driver change. About 75 miles later we over hear the Weatherman that 1103 was stuck on the race course with a bad clutch. We were in our chase truck 5 hours away.

We took the chase truck on a 2 hour 'short cut' through a 4wd trail. By the time we got there it was about midnight.

We found the truck stuck on a very sanding part of the track with a tow vehicle nearly stuck trying to pull the car off the course.

We worked on pulling the car off the race course (the car's tires and this section of track were like glue together!-5 guys couldn't push the car down hill). About 40 minutes later we were on hard pack. We then towed the car to a pit and we worked on rewiring the alternator - it nearly fell out. Then it was time to try to get this party restarted...

At 3:30, after trying everything we could, we decided there was no way we were going to get the motor started again. Oh did I mention that the engine lost 3 qts of oil during the last 65 miles? !

Overall I don't regret anything! - The coolest part of it all was the support and cheering for the Class 11 cars! When we would drive through, the crowd was cheering, yelling and giving us the Volkswagen hand sign. We were later told by our chase peeps that other than Terrible and Ivan, the stock bugs were the crowds favorite. Too bad we couldn't bottle that up and put it in the engine!!!

The other crazy thing was the number of drunk nationals that wanted drivers to f up. There were parts that we pre-ran fine and now were all f'd up. Boulders on the track. Changing of trail markers, people waving you to go off course or off drop offs... One kid was about to throw a volley ball sized rock at us - he was looking at his dad for approval that never came.

Come on Bill and Melinda, get on with my adoption or lets get this economy rocking! I would love to put a team together to rock this race!!!

I will have photos and some more highlights like the BMW 3 series with an M3 motor from Chicago that was a bare shell at the SEMA show or the Giant M class Oshkosh diesel electric trucks...

[TacoXpo]

While we were doing our last ditch efforts to get the bug started, we helped out this guy that put together a BMW race car! - Can you SAY REPURPOSE My M3!!!

BMW Baja Link

[TacoXpo]

My better side:


James Garner's ride...

[TacoXpo]

I hope I never get this close again!!!

[TacoXpo]

[TacoXpo]

Our hotel parking lot


Our Ride Down to La Paz




This guy couldn't figure out how fast he wanted to go... we passed him about 4 times




Shortest Driver


Kids getting gifts from teammate


Our team (I'm on far right)


Another guy we saw again, and again on the course...


Full Moon - at the pit we never made it too


Bike coming through


The Lights of a Trophy


Local Fried Chicken






Note the wet spot - locals poured a mop bucket on me as I was spraying Halon on the trans fluid fire - front seal blew and spewed tranny fluid on the cat.




Chase 1 and Chase 2 with an extra trailer we picked up from another team so that we could bring the bug back to our trailer.

[TacoXpo]

I've been thinking how cool it would be to put together a trip with about 8-10 Tacomas to trace the 1061 miles of this race. We could get the two sons of the owner's brother. Their family has been racing Baja for close to 20 years. We could have our spares with us and do it in 3-5 days. Mexican food, Mexican beers, Mexican 'roads' all the way to La Paz.

[drew02a]

I've been thinking how cool it would be to put together a trip with about 8-10 Tacomas to trace the 1061 miles of this race. We could get the two sons of the owner's brother. Their family has been racing Baja for close to 20 years. We could have our spares with us and do it in 3-5 days. Mexican food, Mexican beers, Mexican 'roads' all the way to La Paz.

Looks like a ton of fun, but you couldn't pay me enough go to Mexico right now.

[fsbrain03]

Looks like a ton of fun, but you couldn't pay me enough go to Mexico right now.

I agree, plus I am pretty sure that we cannot bring our guns across the border.

[TacoXpo]

Got a two months? Nice story!!!

[yotarob]

I hope I never get this close again!!!

I'd let her handcuff me.

[TacoXpo]

I'd let her handcuff me.

After I did this, there was one that would have caused my catheter to bust!!! I wouldn't even mind going to a Mexican Jail if she was the one that would take advantage of me in my cell!

[BearsFan07]

That looks like a great time... up until the mop button was dumped on you. Lets just hope it was clean water and not anything else.

Pretty hot cop too.. not what I would have expected. Maybe they just deputized her out for the occasion, she's really an actress on Telemundo daytime TV.

So have you picked out a wrestling name yet? On a sorta side note, I was in Dallas last week for some training (business intelligence software development). My instructor was a pretty big guy. Anyhow, turns out he's been doing professional wrestling for 28 years! Runs a gym in Philly that teaches it. http://www.kennycasanova.com/wrestlers/kaluha.html http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.co...ng-kaluha.html

[TacoXpo]

That looks like a great time... up until the mop button was dumped on you. Lets just hope it was clean water and not anything else.

Pretty hot cop too.. not what I would have expected. Maybe they just deputized her out for the occasion, she's really an actress on Telemundo daytime TV.

So have you picked out a wrestling name yet? On a sorta side note, I was in Dallas last week for some training (business intelligence software development). My instructor was a pretty big guy. Anyhow, turns out he's been doing professional wrestling for 28 years! Runs a gym in Philly that teaches it. http://www.kennycasanova.com/wrestlers/kaluha.html http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.co...ng-kaluha.html

It was a blast! That shit they poured on my smelled like fermented socks!!! I took ice cold water bottles and took a brisk shower after that and I still stunk!!!

That chick was a dog compared to this other one!!! The type of chick that would grace the cover of Vogue or some, some! I think their current strategy is to attempt to get the narco-terrorists to start thinking with their small head instead of their big one.

Regarding the wrestling mask, Zoom has a big surprise in her future!!! And I'm not talking a dress up night.

A couple of weeks ago she got me REAL GOOD. I came into the house late at night when I knew she would be sleeping (I was working 'til 1 am on the Baja Bug). She scared the crap out of me jumping out from behind a closed door. Me? I'm going to park the car up the street and tell her I am working late. Then I'm going to wait in the bedroom and jump out at her with a shop jumpsuit (she's never seen me in one) and that mask!!!! I may live to regret it! Either way, she will have poop in her diaper that night!!!

[BearsFan07]

It was a blast! That shit they poured on my smelled like fermented socks!!! I took ice cold water bottles and took a brisk shower after that and I still stunk!!!

That chick was a dog compared to this other one!!! The type of chick that would grace the cover of Vogue or some, some! I think their current strategy is to attempt to get the narco-terrorists to start thinking with their small head instead of their big one.

Regarding the wrestling mask, Zoom has a big surprise in her future!!! And I'm not talking a dress up night.

A couple of weeks ago she got me REAL GOOD. I came into the house late at night when I knew she would be sleeping (I was working 'til 1 am on the Baja Bug). She scared the crap out of me jumping out from behind a closed door. Me? I'm going to park the car up the street and tell her I am working late. Then I'm going to wait in the bedroom and jump out at her with a shop jumpsuit (she's never seen me in one) and that mask!!!! I may live to regret it! Either way, she will have poop in her diaper that night!!!

Fermented socks or just the wash bucket of the day.. either way that sucks. We take clean water for granted around these parts.

Zoom must be pretty cool, is Zoom short for something?

You better make sure she doesn't carry a small caliber handgun in her purse.. just in case. I'm thinking Halloween, with Mike Myers in the dark jumpsuit and William Shatner mask. LOL

[AlienXtx]

Your going to get shot....

[TacoXpo]

Fermented socks or just the wash bucket of the day.. either way that sucks. We take clean water for granted around these parts.

Zoom must be pretty cool, is Zoom short for something?

You better make sure she doesn't carry a small caliber handgun in her purse.. just in case. I'm thinking Halloween, with Mike Myers in the dark jumpsuit and William Shatner mask. LOL

LOL!!!

Yeah, Zoom is a shortened name. She went to Notre Dame. She speaks clearer English thatn 98% Americans (not including those that have id that says they're Americans). She's Vietnamese. So while going to School in the Mid-West, got a little tired of people messing up her name and had her name legally changed to Kate Zoom Dinh. Her fist name sounded like Zoom and apparently it must have been bastardized enough to get her to change it.

So, yeah, Zoom is short for:

"Yeah-I-know-it's-hard-to-believe-that-all-the-letters-that-make-up-my-name-makes-the-sound-Zoom-in-my-parent's-dialect-and-I-don't-want-you-to-draw-attention-to-me-so-I-changed-my-name-but-I-wanted-to-show-respect-to-the-two-languages-that-I-speak" - that's all!

[TacoXpo]

I was just going through my mail and re-read this one... This is from one of the family members that is currently attending San Diego State. I think is truly shows how solid these guys are. Incidently, he was the one that flipped the car, but I think the email summurizes the attitude of the entire family. It could have been ugly. Many of my friends know that when we talk of regrets the only one that I have was that I wasn't born into a Formula 1 family. I also joked about being adopted by Melinda and Bill Gates. For now this is a happy medium!

Thanks JD. That about sums up the race for me. I think I slept more Thursday and Friday then I had in any two days for a long time.

Here's a cool story. 2 months ago some guys (fabricators of sorts) decided they'd take the COPS class 4 team up on their $10,000 challenge. They started and finished a fresh build just in time to test the week before the race. They made it down to Ensenada, and 1100 miles later (the driver solo'd), crossed the finish line as the second class 4. As they walked up on stage at the awards to accept their 2nd place award, Sal announced that the 1st place COPS team was penalized enough to drop them into second - leaving these guys with the win and 10 grand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2JHd2qjrzw

The above video is just the awards, but you can browse through their other videos to watch progress on their buggy; from the first few tubes, to the days before the race. Gotta respect the dedication and envy the result. Too bad our story ended differently, but it's good to see sometimes it does pay off. Though this last race (and few years for that matter) have been undeniably frustrating, I've enjoyed the efforts; hopefully one day the cards will start falling in our favor again. Until then - let's try and not take it so seriously that we forget why it is we're racing.

[BearsFan07]

LOL!!!

Yeah, Zoom is a shortened name. She went to Notre Dame. She speaks clearer English thatn 98% Americans (not including those that have id that says they're Americans). She's Vietnamese. So while going to School in the Mid-West, got a little tired of people messing up her name and had her name legally changed to Kate Zoom Dinh. Her fist name sounded like Zoom and apparently it must have been bastardized enough to get her to change it.

So, yeah, Zoom is short for:

"Yeah-I-know-it's-hard-to-believe-that-all-the-letters-that-make-up-my-name-makes-the-sound-Zoom-in-my-parent's-dialect-and-I-don't-want-you-to-draw-attention-to-me-so-I-changed-my-name-but-I-wanted-to-show-respect-to-the-two-languages-that-I-speak" - that's all!

Thats cool! I thought maybe she was a race car driver or something as well. LOL

[BearsFan07]

I was just going through my mail and re-read this one... This is from one of the family members that is currently attending San Diego State. I think is truly shows how solid these guys are. Incidently, he was the one that flipped the car, but I think the email summurizes the attitude of the entire family. It could have been ugly. Many of my friends know that when we talk of regrets the only one that I have was that I wasn't born into a Formula 1 family. I also joked about being adopted by Melinda and Bill Gates. For now this is a happy medium!

That is very cool!