NORRA Race

[JoseBronco]

Hi, I am writing far away, but I would like to be present at this historic event. I have avalaible flights to Mexicali, but I would like to know if there is some way to chase the race, or a bus service from Mexicali to La Paz to be present also at the finish.

Thanks

[PaulW]

Hi, I am writing far away, but I would like to be present at this historic event. I have avalaible flights to Mexicali, but I would like to know if there is some way to chase the race, or a bus service from Mexicali to La Paz to be present also at the finish.

Thanks

=========
Your best bet is to hook up with a team and share the fuel cost on a chase truck. But then a single chase truck making it all the way within several days of a racer is questionable? Having said that, for sure every chase truck will try hard to be at each overnight place, inspite of the hardships of the road conditions. Baja is still pretty wild.
Paul

[tcm glx]

Only a month away, who is in?

[flyinbronco]

Looks like I'm in.

It really wasn't in my plans but my buddy John's racing it so I'm there to support him. Go Team Autofab.

I still haven't touched the Bronco since I got back from the 250 and I gotta work this weekend so I'll have to burn some midnight oil to be ready but there's no way I'm letting him down.

[baja-chris]

John Ehmke? Is he running the El Camino?

[SteveG]

It really wasn't in my plans but my buddy John's racing it so I'm there to support him. Go Team Autofab.

Hell yeah, John!

[flyinbronco]

John Ehmke? Is he running the El Camino?

Yes he is. I heard we're starting 3rd off the line. No pressure there!

[tcm glx]

So, only two weeks away.... any one going.....

[Broncodawg]

Marshall and the Big Oly TT are out, so chasing a couple Class 3 guys with an 80s Bronco and 80s Blazer. Leavitt and Raffo.
Should be a good Ford/Chevy shootout between 'em and a lot of fun. Can taste the carne asada tacos already!!

Anybody else, BroncoBilly?

[Nick]

What happened to Marshal?

[tcm glx]

Schedule of events is up:

http://www.norra.com/PDFs/2010_Mexican_ ... Events.pdf

[Broncodawg]

What happened to Marshal?

He couldn't sell enough seat time and he and the race organizer were butting heads about a number of issues, so he just pulled the plug.
Too bad as would have been fun, but already had the time off, so found a new gig.

[flyinbronco]

Only 7 more days and I'm getting excited.


http://www.norra.com/vehicle-entries.php?page=1

Scrolled thru the entry list and oh my God we are starting third off the line. I thought they were kidding me.

Looking through the list we are racing with some of the true legends of the sport. I never thought it was possible that I'd get to race against Parnelli Jones or Walker Evans or Bruce Meyers or Bob Gordon or Malcolm Smith or Larry Ragland this is so cool.

Other notables entered is our own baja Chris, our token Blazer Chris Raffo and Ken Leavitt who's being kind enough to haul Jose Bronco from Spain along for the ride. All Go Fast Bronco brothers. Good luck guys.

This has got to be the coolest thing I've ever done and a big thank you to John for giving me this opportunity to race with Team Autofab. You rock John.

[PaulW]

Based on the results posted on race dezert

Veh # Ctgy Team Total
Minutes
58 Jeep CJ5 5B Greg Adler 983.13
32 1968 Stroppe Bronco 5C/6 Chris Wilson 1010.13
73 1971 Chev Suburban 5E Mark Haber 1032.59
78 Chev K5 Blazer 5D Chris Raffo 1033.54
34 Modfied Bronco? 6 Steve Krieger III 1158.12
45 1968 Ford 5C Chad Niernberg 1200.48
62 1985 Bronco 5D Ken Leavitt 1249.52
38 Jeep Cherokee ? 5B Robert Land 1419.18
61 Bronco ? 5C Toto Tinoco 1561.47
26 1968 Bronco 5C Boyd James 2009.51

[flyinbronco]

I had a great time at tech and contingency running around like a little kid getting all the legends autographs. They were all very gracious and it was a thrill to meet Walker, Malcolm, Parnelli etc. The El Camino was really looking good and was well recieved by everyone. I was so excited to be in this race.

Team Autofab had trouble before we even took the green flag though. During the parade out to the dry lake bed the engine died about 5 miles from the start. When Darin tried to restart it she wouldn't even turn over. We loaded the El Camino on the trailer and headed for Santee for a motor swap trying to make the start on the second day. The crew at the fab had the other engine out by the time we got there and we commenced in tearing out the broken motor. We switched over the propane injection set up and the other accessories and stabed in the new engine. She fired right up and as Dean and Tom timed it and the coolant was warming up a huge gyser of coolant blows out the top of the intake manifold. Geez what know? Turns out the poor old Edlebrock manifold was a little crusty around the thermostat and we blew a hole it. By now it was about 12:30 am and I was just burned out so I bailed out while the never say die team of Tom and Dean tried to swap on the other intake but alas we had no spare intake gaskets and they even tried to save the old ones and get her to still seal but she just didn't want to race this year. So we've got a year to rebuild the race motor and get get her ready for the 2nd annual Mexican 1000.

[SteveG]

Bummer! I was wondering why I didn't see any pictures of it other than contingency.

[ChaseTruck754]

Funny - I was just coming here to post the below info I got via email from John this morning. It is one he was CCed on and he forwarded to me after I asked how the Elco did. Such a bummer... No use in posting the pics as it was the one above and one more which just shows a close up of the break.


"Don, Greg;

Thanks for all the help out on the Cuota on Thursday! As it turned out, we broke the crank… errrr, well, I should say, the crank broke us!

We loaded the El Camino on the trailer Thursday morning after it stopped dead in it’s tracks and headed back to San Diego. We had another motor in one of John’s trucks so we decided to pull the motor and drop it into the El Camino in an attempt to get the El Camino back together and try to make the start at BoLA. So, we got back, the guys at the shop had the engine pulled and we began pulling the motor out of the El Camino. We got it out with little trouble and swapped out the engine components and propane intake system. Once the block was all built, we popped it into the El Camino and proceeded to get it all back together. We finished a little after midnight… it started fine and we warmed it up… running great! Then as the engine was warming up and the cooling system started to pressurize, we popped a geyser to the roof! I thought we’d just split a hole in the upper radiator hose… oh, were it that easy, no, we actually blew a hole in the intake manifold… CRAP! So, we decided to pull the intake manifold off and swap it out with the original El Camino motor… crap again, no gaskets… after midnight… hmmmm… So, I pulled the intake manifold off the original (but very broken) El Camino motor, and it came off beautifully, the gaskets were in superb shape… Ever try to reuse intake manifold gaskets, oh, did I mention that the intake manifold was fit to the block, heavily ported; very small margin on the sealing surface… hmmm… well, it really didn’t work very well… it leaked! Go figure.

So, now it’s 0530 and we have to make a decision, break down the intake system, go find an early morning parts shop, and then hope of all hope that a new gasket will actually seal a non matched intake manifold… we decided that there would be little or no return. Still had 15+ hours of driving to get to a point to start the race, day 3, stage 1 or 2… the math just didn’t work out… so we had to throw in the towel. Bummer, that’s racing! We still had a great time! I only feel badly for the folks that were all prepped to drive in such an epic adventure!

So, we’ll pull the motor out of the El Camino, and I’ll build a new one… John is all primed to race some of the local races to get it broken in so we’ll be ready for the next Mex 1000. We already have a brand new forged steel crank for the motor… I just need to pull the top end off the old motor and determine what parts need replacing and we’ll go from there.

I’ve included a couple of pics of the damaged crank. We did have some luck, the engine locked up before the now, two pieces of the crank, got out of sync so we didn’t put any valves through piston tops. There was quite a bit of shrapnel in the motor as you can imagine so the cam is trashed, the pistons are pretty scuffed up, but the top end is ok. We’ve come to the determination that the crank had a flaw… it appears that the oiling system was clear, all the bearings had plenty of oil, the only journal that was trashed was the main right next to the failure.

That’s the rest of the story… thanks again for all the support and help"

[Broncodawg]

It was heartbreaking to hear that the ELC's motor locked up and then finding it sitting on the toll road waiting for a tow just sucked. Attaboys for trying to stay in it and we kept hoping you guys would show back up as we went down.
When I've got some time, hope to do a writeup of the Raffonator experience as it is pretty epic! Haha

Better luck next year to Team Autofab!