2013 Baja 1k

[Rmc]

Paul,
My goal was not to promote false information instead remind everyone the importance of saftey and give my condolences to the family if they were to ever read my post. Sorry if that was unclear.

[tcm glx]

I chased for the 100 team (Parkhouse) and duties included setting up a pit down in Coco's corner, then up to RM498, RM650 and finish. We drove down to HPR Thu morning and met the team there... I also ran into Erik (ESHALLBETTER) at HPR… GREAT to meet him and attach a face to a screen name. Most unfortunately we didn’t get much more than a few minutes to chat… would have loved to sit down over a beer or two and talk.

I picked up parts/spares and headed out through San Felipe and Gonzaga down to Coco's, great choice... the drive down went great and had some fantastic scenery, no traffic to contend with and we made some great time. I arrived at Coco's at 1000. Not many folks there and for the next few hours, Coco's began to fill up. We expected the race car to come through at 1615 so at 1530 when the fueling truck wasn’t there… I started to get nervous. We had a 55-gal drum of race fuel and the thought of having to pump 50+ gals into the race car with a little plastic hand pump was disturbing… it would take us forever to get the tank full! So, I went over to the BFG pit and chatted with them about options… the team lead offered up their electric transfer pump… saved the day!!! Just then the fueling truck showed up with the fueling tower and we got the pit all setup for the race car! The next thing I know, the class one’s (Wilson) came blasting through… holy crap, they are running fast! Parkhouse came through Coco’s about 45-minutes earlier than expected! Cool!!!

Got the race car fueled, tires changed, drivers watered up and send them on their way… pit stop in less than two minutes! Most excellent… they were on a fast pace… tearing up the course. By the time we got the pit closed up, packed and fuel transferred (from the drum to the fueling tower) it was dark. The drive out from Coco’s to highway 1 sucked! 8 mph… lot’s of traffic and the other trucks couldn’t do more than that… so I was stuck in trail at 8mph… ugh! That section of road absolutely sucks… it’s like a river bed… when blasting at 50mph, it smooths it out… but not at 8mph!

Once we made it to the highway we made good time to the next stop… but we were behind! We arrived at the road crossing at 498 to set up the next pit. The Cops team saved us a spot right next to theirs (man, it was crowded… so many people there!). We set up and were all ready… now the car was just a little late… concern! The Wilson car came blasting through and we waited…. Hummmm, we found out the radio went out in the race car due to water intrusion in Calamajue wash… so we couldn’t communicate with them. We watched the mountains to the south… every set of lights could be the race car… but the motor sound was the true give-away… the 100 car has a very distinctive sound… then it came… it was bunched with two trophy trucks… so even though we could hear the approaching vehicles… we couldn’t breakout the sound… but something was coming… we were ready for it…

Then the light pattern… the car was here! They blasted in, we went to work… fuel in, spare tire replaced (they got a flat in Calamajue Wash and after 185…), oil checked and topped, CVs greased… they let us know the throttle was sticking… there was nothing broken, but apparently there was some additional friction, so we added an additional throttle return spring and voila… fixed it! This was also a driver change so while this was all going on, the crew swapped out… all went well and they blasted off again into the night. All refreshed and ready for the next 383 miles!

We packed our crap again and off we made it… up highway one to 650… it would be tight… and of course we got behind the SLOWEST trucks in the world, up through the winding, rocky, twisty, hilly sections north of Catavina… crap… we were going to be late! AND the line of cars, chase trucks trying to get north with us was HUGE… so many trucks and cars stuck behind many slow trucks… down to 5-mph on climbs… then you have the locals who are happy following the trucks… and the not so happy chase trucks pushing to get around the long string of vehicles… spells out disaster, just waiting to happen… some very sketchy passes… some very dangerous, heart stopping and treacherous attempts to get around the trucks… hmmm, maybe this sitting back and watching the passing circus take place was just ok with me… ugh, it was ugly. But, we finally made it and had the toughest time finding a spot to set up the pit… we actually were too close to the transition spot where the cars/trucks come back out to the highway. Finally, we found a spot, set up and waited… Wilson came blasting through… Fuel, tire change, quick CV greasing… the big question… who was going to come in first… there was still quite a bit of racing… Parkhouse was in third, behind by about ½-hr… but the real question was… what was the finishing order going to be… it all boiled down to points for the championship… the top three were all within 5-points… Parkhouse has to finish in the top 3, a podium finish. The next few hours would tell…

We got the pit all packed up and headed for Ensenada… to the finish and HPR. As it ended… Parkhouse placed 3rd and won the championship by 4-points… GREAT!

Went down to Ensenada after about 2-hours of sleep and checked out the finish line and just generally snooped around for a while… jumped in the truck and headed for the border… not a bad crossing…

Just a few pics… only able to snap a few before the race car came through at Coco’s… once pit duties kicked in, no time… !

Sounds like an action packed day tom.....good stuff and congrats to the Parkhouse team for the championship win. also to. Bill and Mirage, the prep that goes into these is clearly keeping them winning championships.

[tcm glx]

I guess I should post up more details about our trip........ Pics first, stories later.

We went down to spectate as usual. Rented a house at cibolas just about 8km before getting into Ensenada...

The usual were in Vic and Israel in Jelly, Chris and Tony Mack in the Silver bullet (maiden Mexico voyage I believe) and myself and Jesse in Princess. Prior to the race got texts from Brian and Nick wanting to come down, and then Philo as well. Always welcome additions, and plenty of floor space so come on down! Philo jumped in with Jesse and I and nick and Brian came down in the Yeti!

Jesse, Philo and. I crossed the border about 4pm Wednesday and synced up with Vic and Israel for Tacos in a rosarito. Brian and Chris ran about 1 hr behind us and agreed to set us at the house in ensenada.

We all synced up approx 730 PM in ensenada, and headed out into downtown for the Papas and Beer party and late night shenanigans.

Thursday woke up at hit Los Veleros for some good breakfast grub, then took to contingency. Weather was perfect, and contingency was packed.....good times. Mid day, Brian and Chris decided to go hit some dirt (at least that is what they thought they were doin) and rest of us decided on more tacos, ceviche and contingency so we stayed in town.
About 3pm, come to find out the Valle de Guadalupe wineries got in. Brian and Chris's way and they hit little dirt, but tons of wine. Hahaha

4pm and we were all back together in the wash watching the barrel roll......may look a little dull on video, in real life was pretty darn bad ass. After that, went and grocery shopped for the following day, and hit the house. Some hit the sack as early as 630pm..... A few went back into town to watch the bikes start.

Friday, 630 am we headed out to Ojos.....game plan was to watch them somewhere off the highway, but catch them at speed. Mission accomplished. Found a great spot with a big jump, then two small kickers, the second making a few cars look pretty interesting. Hung out there until about 1230pm and then called it after the last of the class 11s came through.

Took a quick drive into Ojos Negros through town, and then off we went through compadre. A few menacing clouds caused a little concern in my mind, I worried compadre can get slippery and sloppy with rain. Ok, what I was really worried about was washing Princess, but still......... Brian took point, cause he is the real STIG and took off in the yeti. Us slow pokes putted along behind. We zipped through with only a few stops. A loose hood hinge on the princess and a loose battery cable in the silver bullet. Both 5 minute fixes. We wrapped up compadre in about 2 hrs...maybe less and drove up the toll road to otay. Tacos, and a short 25 minute wait and we were back Friday afternoon on US soil.

All in all, great time as usual. Can't wait for the next one!!

[323bronco]

Great trip once again . Baja does not suck!!!

[yikes]

Awesome shot Jesse! He was getn it through that section for sure.

[Nick]

Is that the lexus?

[yikes]

Is that the lexus?

Yup!


Quick shot of Chris Wilson's Bronco in the middle of this video...

[BajaF250]

I chased for the 100 team (Parkhouse) and duties included setting up a pit down in Coco's corner, then up to RM498, RM650 and finish. We drove down to HPR Thu morning and met the team there... I also ran into Erik (ESHALLBETTER) at HPR… GREAT to meet him and attach a face to a screen name. Most unfortunately we didn’t get much more than a few minutes to chat… would have loved to sit down over a beer or two and talk.

I picked up parts/spares and headed out through San Felipe and Gonzaga down to Coco's, great choice... the drive down went great and had some fantastic scenery, no traffic to contend with and we made some great time. I arrived at Coco's at 1000. Not many folks there and for the next few hours, Coco's began to fill up. We expected the race car to come through at 1615 so at 1530 when the fueling truck wasn’t there… I started to get nervous. We had a 55-gal drum of race fuel and the thought of having to pump 50+ gals into the race car with a little plastic hand pump was disturbing… it would take us forever to get the tank full! So, I went over to the BFG pit and chatted with them about options… the team lead offered up their electric transfer pump… saved the day!!! Just then the fueling truck showed up with the fueling tower and we got the pit all setup for the race car! The next thing I know, the class one’s (Wilson) came blasting through… holy crap, they are running fast! Parkhouse came through Coco’s about 45-minutes earlier than expected! Cool!!!

Got the race car fueled, tires changed, drivers watered up and send them on their way… pit stop in less than two minutes! Most excellent… they were on a fast pace… tearing up the course. By the time we got the pit closed up, packed and fuel transferred (from the drum to the fueling tower) it was dark. The drive out from Coco’s to highway 1 sucked! 8 mph… lot’s of traffic and the other trucks couldn’t do more than that… so I was stuck in trail at 8mph… ugh! That section of road absolutely sucks… it’s like a river bed… when blasting at 50mph, it smooths it out… but not at 8mph!

Once we made it to the highway we made good time to the next stop… but we were behind! We arrived at the road crossing at 498 to set up the next pit. The Cops team saved us a spot right next to theirs (man, it was crowded… so many people there!). We set up and were all ready… now the car was just a little late… concern! The Wilson car came blasting through and we waited…. Hummmm, we found out the radio went out in the race car due to water intrusion in Calamajue wash… so we couldn’t communicate with them. We watched the mountains to the south… every set of lights could be the race car… but the motor sound was the true give-away… the 100 car has a very distinctive sound… then it came… it was bunched with two trophy trucks… so even though we could hear the approaching vehicles… we couldn’t breakout the sound… but something was coming… we were ready for it…

Then the light pattern… the car was here! They blasted in, we went to work… fuel in, spare tire replaced (they got a flat in Calamajue Wash and after 185…), oil checked and topped, CVs greased… they let us know the throttle was sticking… there was nothing broken, but apparently there was some additional friction, so we added an additional throttle return spring and voila… fixed it! This was also a driver change so while this was all going on, the crew swapped out… all went well and they blasted off again into the night. All refreshed and ready for the next 383 miles!

We packed our crap again and off we made it… up highway one to 650… it would be tight… and of course we got behind the SLOWEST trucks in the world, up through the winding, rocky, twisty, hilly sections north of Catavina… crap… we were going to be late! AND the line of cars, chase trucks trying to get north with us was HUGE… so many trucks and cars stuck behind many slow trucks… down to 5-mph on climbs… then you have the locals who are happy following the trucks… and the not so happy chase trucks pushing to get around the long string of vehicles… spells out disaster, just waiting to happen… some very sketchy passes… some very dangerous, heart stopping and treacherous attempts to get around the trucks… hmmm, maybe this sitting back and watching the passing circus take place was just ok with me… ugh, it was ugly. But, we finally made it and had the toughest time finding a spot to set up the pit… we actually were too close to the transition spot where the cars/trucks come back out to the highway. Finally, we found a spot, set up and waited… Wilson came blasting through… Fuel, tire change, quick CV greasing… the big question… who was going to come in first… there was still quite a bit of racing… Parkhouse was in third, behind by about ½-hr… but the real question was… what was the finishing order going to be… it all boiled down to points for the championship… the top three were all within 5-points… Parkhouse has to finish in the top 3, a podium finish. The next few hours would tell…

We got the pit all packed up and headed for Ensenada… to the finish and HPR. As it ended… Parkhouse placed 3rd and won the championship by 4-points… GREAT!

Went down to Ensenada after about 2-hours of sleep and checked out the finish line and just generally snooped around for a while… jumped in the truck and headed for the border… not a bad crossing…

Just a few pics… only able to snap a few before the race car came through at Coco’s… once pit duties kicked in, no time… !

Sounds like an action packed day tom.....good stuff and congrats to the Parkhouse team for the championship win. also to. Bill and Mirage, the prep that goes into these is clearly keeping them winning championships.

Hey T,

Yep, it was a FANTASTIC time and it's even sweeter with the Championship for their team... very nice... and also, the prep guys are often overlooked, they are the unsung heroes in the deep background. But, if you think about it... the race car went 883 miles with nary an issue... absolutely astounding considering how much punishment it was dealt... it just kept on going. So, yes, everyone should acknowledge good solid prep and attention to the minutest detail, that's what sets the stage for winning. 1/3 prep, 1/3 support and 1/3 race... that's the winning formula!

Thanks for posting your trip, sorry we didn't connect. I had the radio down at tech/contingency, but wasn't able to raise you... sorry! I wanted to connect with you guys. We got pretty busy, but I wandered around tech for an hour or so just after 10 while Bill stood in line getting registered for the race (I was the taxi cab for that!). I did at least get a chance to buy a T-shirt! Yahoo!!! Thanks for sharing...

[Cactus Cooler]

I chased for the 100 team (Parkhouse) and duties included setting up a pit down in Coco's corner, then up to RM498, RM650 and finish. We drove down to HPR Thu morning and met the team there... I also ran into Erik (ESHALLBETTER) at HPR… GREAT to meet him and attach a face to a screen name. Most unfortunately we didn’t get much more than a few minutes to chat… would have loved to sit down over a beer or two and talk.

I picked up parts/spares and headed out through San Felipe and Gonzaga down to Coco's, great choice... the drive down went great and had some fantastic scenery, no traffic to contend with and we made some great time. I arrived at Coco's at 1000. Not many folks there and for the next few hours, Coco's began to fill up. We expected the race car to come through at 1615 so at 1530 when the fueling truck wasn’t there… I started to get nervous. We had a 55-gal drum of race fuel and the thought of having to pump 50+ gals into the race car with a little plastic hand pump was disturbing… it would take us forever to get the tank full! So, I went over to the BFG pit and chatted with them about options… the team lead offered up their electric transfer pump… saved the day!!! Just then the fueling truck showed up with the fueling tower and we got the pit all setup for the race car! The next thing I know, the class one’s (Wilson) came blasting through… holy crap, they are running fast! Parkhouse came through Coco’s about 45-minutes earlier than expected! Cool!!!

Got the race car fueled, tires changed, drivers watered up and send them on their way… pit stop in less than two minutes! Most excellent… they were on a fast pace… tearing up the course. By the time we got the pit closed up, packed and fuel transferred (from the drum to the fueling tower) it was dark. The drive out from Coco’s to highway 1 sucked! 8 mph… lot’s of traffic and the other trucks couldn’t do more than that… so I was stuck in trail at 8mph… ugh! That section of road absolutely sucks… it’s like a river bed… when blasting at 50mph, it smooths it out… but not at 8mph!

Once we made it to the highway we made good time to the next stop… but we were behind! We arrived at the road crossing at 498 to set up the next pit. The Cops team saved us a spot right next to theirs (man, it was crowded… so many people there!). We set up and were all ready… now the car was just a little late… concern! The Wilson car came blasting through and we waited…. Hummmm, we found out the radio went out in the race car due to water intrusion in Calamajue wash… so we couldn’t communicate with them. We watched the mountains to the south… every set of lights could be the race car… but the motor sound was the true give-away… the 100 car has a very distinctive sound… then it came… it was bunched with two trophy trucks… so even though we could hear the approaching vehicles… we couldn’t breakout the sound… but something was coming… we were ready for it…

Then the light pattern… the car was here! They blasted in, we went to work… fuel in, spare tire replaced (they got a flat in Calamajue Wash and after 185…), oil checked and topped, CVs greased… they let us know the throttle was sticking… there was nothing broken, but apparently there was some additional friction, so we added an additional throttle return spring and voila… fixed it! This was also a driver change so while this was all going on, the crew swapped out… all went well and they blasted off again into the night. All refreshed and ready for the next 383 miles!

We packed our crap again and off we made it… up highway one to 650… it would be tight… and of course we got behind the SLOWEST trucks in the world, up through the winding, rocky, twisty, hilly sections north of Catavina… crap… we were going to be late! AND the line of cars, chase trucks trying to get north with us was HUGE… so many trucks and cars stuck behind many slow trucks… down to 5-mph on climbs… then you have the locals who are happy following the trucks… and the not so happy chase trucks pushing to get around the long string of vehicles… spells out disaster, just waiting to happen… some very sketchy passes… some very dangerous, heart stopping and treacherous attempts to get around the trucks… hmmm, maybe this sitting back and watching the passing circus take place was just ok with me… ugh, it was ugly. But, we finally made it and had the toughest time finding a spot to set up the pit… we actually were too close to the transition spot where the cars/trucks come back out to the highway. Finally, we found a spot, set up and waited… Wilson came blasting through… Fuel, tire change, quick CV greasing… the big question… who was going to come in first… there was still quite a bit of racing… Parkhouse was in third, behind by about ½-hr… but the real question was… what was the finishing order going to be… it all boiled down to points for the championship… the top three were all within 5-points… Parkhouse has to finish in the top 3, a podium finish. The next few hours would tell…

We got the pit all packed up and headed for Ensenada… to the finish and HPR. As it ended… Parkhouse placed 3rd and won the championship by 4-points… GREAT!

Went down to Ensenada after about 2-hours of sleep and checked out the finish line and just generally snooped around for a while… jumped in the truck and headed for the border… not a bad crossing…

Just a few pics… only able to snap a few before the race car came through at Coco’s… once pit duties kicked in, no time… !

Hey Tom it was good meeting you, sorry we didn't get to chat a bit longer but with all the stuff going on with the Parkhouse team, I just didn't get a chance to. Enjoyed picking your brain about my bronco, hopefully I'll have it ready for the next MOJAVE trail trip and we can catch up then. Also have included a few pics from Chase 2 from the top portion of the coarse and the San Flippy side. Not much to do after 3 poles so we headed to San Felipe and waited till they cleared Cocos and then 12 hours till the next pit. a loooong day for sure.
Like the picture of Bill, looks like the nervous parent waiting for his child to make it home safe! LOL! Thanks Sean

[Cactus Cooler]

few more

[yikes]

Some Class 3 love from RDC

[Agui-E7TE]

Ooops! Navigator must have been monitoring the muffler temps.

Hey Jesse, remember this spot at last year's 1000? I'm glad we ended up going left afterall, haha!

[PaulW]

Accurate story about Kurt
http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/showth ... RIP/page15

[tcm glx]

Paul W or Baja-Chris...... where is the race recap!!! Curious to hear how you guys did, what issues you had, etc etc!!!

[Broncodawg]

Great times in Baja altho sad day for the 2X team. God speed Casselli. We were the closest pit to the accident, knew they were searching for him and then to get the news sucked. Hearing his clutch "seized".
Doing two pits was a marathon, but that's what the 1K is all about, so loved it!!! At Pit 1 RM 79, we worked on the Texas Bronco trying to get all the cylinders firing, but they left us with a dead hole and guess they called it soon after. The Wilson Bronco 803 went flying by us and looked very smooth, bummer about their DNF. Leave it to the Moss Bros to bring home another class win on a very rough course. Got to fuel them at RM 79 and again at RM 798 and always a blast. Amazing how many racers we wrenched on only 79 miles into the race, testimony to how rough the course was.
After getting home, took all day yesterday to come out of the baja zombie state from lack of sleep, but wouldn't trade it for the world.

[baja-chris]

Paul W or Baja-Chris...... where is the race recap!!! Curious to hear how you guys did, what issues you had, etc etc!!!

Here you go:
803 race report.

Executive Summary:
We failed.

About the failure:
Suspension not dialed in and it beat the heck out of the truck in the rough. Suspect it beat it so much that it broke the front end. Hard to say what gave first but the upper ball joint was torn from the I-beam. The cast upright is much weaker than the I-beam and when you hit something (like a rock or big rut) you will typically have the cast upright fail, it will bend, the spindle will tear out of it, or the ball joint will tear out of it. But have never seen I-beam failure like that. That weak cast upright was fine. Ball joint probably failed from the beating and then tore it's way free. Who knows. Steering was fine which is another indicator that they did not hit anything. Additionally the rear leafs failed, they lost arch and were no longer supporting the truck. It was sitting on the bump stops. Continuing after the repairs would of just led to more failures so we pulled the plug. Continuing at a pace that would not break the truck would of resulted in a time out. We also had an issue with a poor fitting rear end skid plate that tugged on the pinion support bolts and led to leakage and fluid loss. A rear flat caused some fender damage that looks pretty easy to fix.

The future:
Plan is to look it over for other issues and assuming we find none then address what we have. Forget the leaves and stay in class 8. Put the coils on the rear coilovers. Cheaper to race and prep on coils than on leafs. Design a better rear skid plate with some support so it does not try to eject the pinion support bolts. Fix the front end. Maybe leave the design as-is or maybe fabricate steel uprights with uniballs instead of ball joints. Then dial in the suspension. Might need a bigger front bypass shock.

The race:
Dave Sykes started with Scott Stienberger co-dog. They reported truck worked great first 40 miles. Able to keep up with RPM 8 truck and passed some 10's. Said on the rally type stuff they could run down anyone in front of them. After RM 40, suspension changed. They said it got harsh, started to kick and bottom. Traded places back and forth with several cars, they would get passed in the rough then pass them back on the smoother stuff. Seemed like the shocks went away but also the rear leafs went away. At RM 100, they pulled over to swap seats and lost many positions on track. Scott had to get out at RM 193 to go co-dog TT #3 at RM 690. They said they just took it easy in the rough but it was still crashing through suspension and hurting their backs. Had a flat at RM 171. The impact would not lift the scissor jack so they used the manual crank which made a slow stop - need more work on that system. Then at RM 183 the left front corner fell off. End of race.

The trip:
Finished truck Tuesday night. Logan Holladay met us at shop and was able to drive it around parking lot and we aimed new lights. Logan headed south, he was to run RM 520-660 and went down to prerun it in his Raptor. Reported he was really looking forward to the section, said our bronco would be really good there. Dan George met an my house Wed am and drove Ole Yellar while I drove crewcab and trailer to shop. Loaded race car and did some last minute stuff then headed south with Dan, Glen Straightiff and Tony Cortes. Dropped car at house in Baja Mar where my parents met us. They did stickers while we went to get wristbands. With wristbands, we drove south to El Crucero. Paid some dude $10 to get in and setup cots under stars to crash.

Thursday Dan and I took off for our prerun in Ole Yellar starting at RM 385. At RM 386 I buried Ole Yellar in a silt rut. Doh! Camping dude in a Jeep, unrelated to race, towed us out. Was unexpected and did not look bad until it was too late. Front and rear diffs on the center and nothing but silt under the tires. Light tug to the side and my front wheel drive popped us up and out. Onward. Nice scenery, big tall stuff. Great camping area. 2000ft elevation then down a trail into the valley. A few silt holes, some really bad, made it around but was sketchy in places. Came over a rise and dropped into silt ruts. Turned wheel and added throttle so the front would climb out but it just plowed ahead until we were stuck again. Crap. Just behind us was Cam Steel in his 4-seater having a hell of a time in the previous silt hole. Never saw him but he was only a few hundred feet away with engine screaming. Back and forth, looking for solid ground. Anyway it tuned out one of my front hubs had come unlocked. A recurring problem on this set of Warn Premiums. Their quality has gone to hell IMHO. Locked hub, was able to move truck a few feet and got front to climb out side of ruts. Onward again. Got the real bad silt and just mowed through cactus and stayed on the side. Bicycled it at one point on a cactus. No way I could get within 120 feet of VCP's there so forget it, I found a way around that was about 1000 feet from the worst silt and planned to just take my penalties rather than risk hours and hours stuck. Emerged from valley of silt and came upon Locos Mocos. Stopped for a visit. We looked like silt aliens but nevertheless they offered up, and we accepted, the most awesomest lobster burritos EVER. Wow. Washed them down with a couple Tecates, never has a lunch been so good. Did not want to leave but we did anyway. Ole Yellar refused to start, zero fuel pressure. Climbed under and switched plug over to backup pump (both are in tank but I'm too cheap to put a switch on the dash). While under there I noticed my brake line was bent and crushed by air bumps. Awesome. Second plug packed with mud and silt, cannot get it in, bent pin, or not, could not see. Fiddled with it for a while and finally plugged original back in and Ole Yellar fired right up. Hot worn pump runs but does not like to start? Whatever, Onward.

Seemed like a long slow slog getting out of there. Road got better and better and by the time it got fast my brakes were long. Over shot some corners, brakes NFG. Last 5 miles no brakes. Put it on trailer. Towed to LA Bay to find a hotel. Casa del Sol had a couple rooms. Steven Eugenio and crew were there too. Shower was great, rooms clean and quiet. Killer fresh fish wrapped in foil with butter and garlic on the grill. Yum. Sat phone call to Dyanne and she was able to call back to hotel hard line so we could talk. Went to bed before 8pm and slept 13 hours. Perfect.

Next day was sunny and hot. Went to auto parts for a brake line but owner was at the race. Took a photo of dogs on the roof of the store. Fueled Ole Yellar, tried to buy brake fluid and took off that afternoon to RM 385. The weather went from hot and sunny to clouds, wind, and rain in a matter of 30 minutes. It drizzled on us all day. Used sat phone to get tracking updates from Dyanne at home. She was great and served as our comm link. Pulled plug on effort via sat phone. Dave drove racer to Baja Mar house and we headed there too. Long drive. We made it to RM 690 at 3am in time to see Scott get in #3. Slept in car for three hours. On road again at 6am and drove past finish platform as #3 was on it. Bought some shirts for Dyanne and then to Baja Mar. Truck looked to be in better shape than I imagined but no suspension left, sitting on the rear bumps (we started with 12" up travel). Breakfast at Baja Mar. Race bronco on trailer, bled brakes on Ole Yellar and drove it home. At Baja Mar we were able to get a single use pass for the Ready Lane. 30 minutes in Ready Lane, with trailer, Saturday mid day. Line looked to be 2-3 hours. Home before dark and just in time for Dyanne's birthday party, some friends over cooked ribs and I passed out early. Everyone home safe, was a good trip but a racing failure. In hindsight we should of withdrawn due to not being done with car early enough but if we did that it would still not be done. Now we have a complete car, that looks good, and we just need to develop it before we race again.

[Broncodawg]

Thanks for the great writeup and the bronco still looked smooth at RM 79. Get 'em next race. At RM 798 and hwy 3 KM 85 a Jeep Cherokee failed to see the road crossing ahead, braked hard, spun and rolled on the highway about 50 yards from our semi. The skidding sheetmetal on asphalt was a ghastly sound, but other than some nice bumps and scrapes, the man and woman were okay. Jeep was picked up by a rolloff truck some hours later. They were chasing one of the teams and if anyone knows them, hope they got out of there okay? Keep the writeups coming.

[yikes]

Chris - Your write up explains alot. You guys looked good coming by us in Ojos, but the suspension seemed dead in a video I saw online. Sorry to read about the problems but I know that Bronco will fly in the future. Looking forward to Norra.

[tcm glx]

Chris, bummer on the suspension..... but let me tell you something, suspension or not, the truck looks good and thats half the battle!! hahaha. I am sure you guys will get it figured out in quick fashion. Looking forward to seeing her run again!!

[baja-chris]

Chris, bummer on the suspension..... but let me tell you something, suspension or not, the truck looks good and thats half the battle!! hahaha. I am sure you guys will get it figured out in quick fashion. Looking forward to seeing her run again!!

It has 24" rear travel and 20" front travel. Bypass, coilover, air bump on each corner. Despite the 105" wheelbase, we should be able to make it work in the rough! Just ran out of time to tune it for this race. (For this race, we left the coils off the rear coilover and ran only on leafs).