AirSpeed VW Community Forums
General Forums => Air Speed Lounge => Topic started by: Geoff on November 04, 2014, 08:39:06 AM
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Just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone over the past two years that has helped organize and support the goal of getting a Fire Truck to La Mission Baja Mexico.
Everyone of your donations and WestJet raffel ticket purchases has made this come true.
If you want to follow the race team on their journey and are on facebook "like" our "DVKK" page or YOLO https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/139922182742819/
I wanted to thank all the great guys in the DVKK who have come together to support the Firefighter and YOLO racing, I'm proud to call everyone of them my friends for life!
Without these guys and their continued support of our comunity this massive undertaking would not have happend.
And without further delay.................................
We present the 2014 DVKK Racer! The only Cal Look Baja to run the Baja 1000 :-)
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We head out tomorrow for So Cal where we will finish up the racer and start placing sponsor decals onto the fresh paint! It's never too late to become a sponsor, drop me a line and I can make it happen. Sat we head South into Mexico to get prepped for the 1000!
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Please follow us on Facebook and help spread the word what these guys are doing.
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Thank you to CIP1.com for your continued support and becoming a sponsor of the DVKK racer!!!
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Awesome
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Good luck brotha, be safe and kick some ass!!!!!!!!
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mock up... ;)
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Wicked! It's 11am and the team oh crossing the border into the USA. In 24 hrs we should be at FAT getting our new engine!
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Just a little jealous!! Have a killer time man!!
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badass!!
geoff...are you going to get a chance to log some miles at the controls of this bad boy during the baja 1000?
great job YOLO, the firefighters, the DVKK and everyone that has supported this!! that's going to be a blast. be safe and have fun! :cool:
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We're here in SoCal, picking up parts at FAT, McKenzie, rancho... Now it's cerveza time!
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badass!!
geoff...are you going to get a chance to log some miles at the controls of this bad boy during the baja 1000?
great job YOLO, the firefighters, the DVKK and everyone that has supported this!! that's going to be a blast. be safe and have fun! :cool:
Definitely the best of luck and big shout out to everyone who helped make this happen , have a blast Geoff :)
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Thank you to everyone who bought a Westjet raffle ticket over the past two years and all who donated. The Fire truck has arrived safely in San Diego.
The race team is now in Mexico and prepping for race day, thanks everyone!
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Just simply said ... Awesome to the truck........ Good luck bro :)
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the team last in line for the tech!
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Geoff posts: "Some jack asses and three donkeys.
Mad dash for tech begins now!"
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More from Geoff before the Tech...
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Mo...
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one more showing the crowd!
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Grant Baylis and Geoff Peterson pre-running a portion of the 2014 Baja 1000. — with Lisle Fehlauer, Grant Baylis, Geoff Peterson, Brennon Quennell, Greg Gauthier and Ray Baylis in Ojos Negros, Baja California, Mexico.
Tags: LDL Production Services Inc.
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Tomorrow is the big day so to check on their progress follow the #575 car on score-international.com
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Thanks guys! Tech was a little longer than I thought, turned out another 40 teams came in behind us. Our line took 8 hrs!!!
Lots of time for refreshments. I've never seen a party like this before!
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On facbook DVKK facebook page Geoff is asking for assistance...
You can follow the cars progress on that link, car 575. They will also need a few people to text them on their race phones if anyone is avail thru the day - night. Web site is http://score-international.com/baja-1000-2014-schedule/
Send him a note if you can assist..
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Thanks Brian, looks like we will need a few people to watch the score tracker for say 1 hr and text the mile marker every 15 min. The race will start around 11 am for us and last 30 hours roughly.
Say you are doing 12-1pm at 11 you would look and see its at mile 63, text #575 now at mile 63.. 12:15 text again new position and again at 12:30 and 1pm. If you want to help or do more than one hour please post here and we will get back to you with times if we need it.
Thanks everyone!
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Say you are doing 12-1pm at 11 you would look and see its at mile 63, text #575 now at mile 63.. 12:15 text again new position and again at 12:30 and 1pm. If you want to help or do more than one hour please post here and we will get back to you with times if we need
Did you mean 12 not 11 if ur doing the shift 12-1 and tracking you via the SCORE website , every 15 mins to #575 the mile marker ? Just trying to be clear so we can help the best way for yah :)
So exciting and awesome ;)
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I can do the start until 4pm pacific time.
Brian
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Thanks Brian, ill send you the phone numbers and info via email.
It's all free text
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pre-race... thanks for the pics Lisle! LDL rocks
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it would seem they're finally off!!!! ;)
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Looks like they are in a number 2 spot out of seven. The website is pretty bogged down to get updates
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actually, according to the website, it looks like everyone in the class is in second place! ;) They're over half way through now, last check was 645 miles in doing 43.2 miles per hour!
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Every time I've checked they r doing under 15km per hour and are just over half way in the race , apart 40 hours of driving ? I hope they are okay , have you heard from Geoff at all Brian ?
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Nope, they've got satellite phones but I think cel coverage is poor in general.
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THEY MADE IT! JUST FINISHED THE 1275 MILESS. What a grind it must have been
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It's awesome !!!! I saw the miles at 1100 and was super excited , congrats guys :)
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Thanks everyone! We made it, had no charging for many hours and the fix took some time but these repairs are expected on a race like this.
Ill add more after a much needed sleep!
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I would finishing the race is as good as a win! (As almost half of the class didn't finish)
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awesome!! great job on a great race and congrats on the finish!! big hearty congrats and high fives to the YOLO race team, the firefighters, the DVKK, LDL productions and everyone that has supported this adventure!!
also incredibly cool that the firetruck made it to mexico, that is going to be such a usefull piece of equipment down there!
I would finishing the race is as good as a win! (As almost half of the class didn't finish)
absolutely. scrolling through the complete results list and it looks like over 1/3 are dnf...also looks like there were a few other Canadians in the mix (Saskatoon, port moody, Williams lake, west Kelowna (?)...)
http://score-international.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-Baja-1000-Overall.pdf
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Ok here's a quick rundown on the event.
In the few months since the GCVWS the YOLO team thought they would be racing a new car in another faster class. with only a month until the race it was decided to start prepping the Baja Bug just in case the other deal fell thru... and it did.
We (team members Erich,Brennon,Grant, Doug,Russ,Greg and myself) spent a few nights a week working on the baja, stripping it down, painting, shipping engine to FAT performance, Trans to Rancho and building a game plan.
I had no idea how much prep and planning went into this race, it's truly mind blowing!
For 2014 we had some great sponsors step up to help get the team back to Baja and most importantly making sure the Fire truck made it to the Mexican border. (Big thanks to everyone who bought a ticket at the gcvws or donated) So here we are, 6am meeting in Langley to start the LONG drive souith.
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One motorhome with trailer (quad and razor) one dodge truck with trailer- baja. 24hr on the nose we are in LA and heading to Newport for a hotel and rest....but first a trip to sponsors, Fat to get engine (https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.airspeedparts.com%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2Fuserpics%2F10002%2Fbaja3.jpg&hash=79eef43f4373ce65411603a05d079fb9867a4d4b)
The famous FAT Dyno, So many Cal Look HP engines have been tested here!
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and McKenzies off road to drop our trailers etc. Jeff at McKenzies went out of his way to help us even giving us the use of his shop.
The next day started early with everyone running around to get parts from suppliers and taking care of other business. Phone calls to mexico logistics to clear the fire truck, drop by Rancho to get the trans, NAPA to get calipers and pads for the motorhom since we lost the front brakes in Oregon!
Once all back at McKenzies the race was on! We had to install the engine, trans and a load of other things before 6pm! By 5pm we had a running Baja and new brakes on the Motorhome!
Motorhome brake rotor looks huge on the Baja wheel.
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Fresh Rancho trans going in!
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5pm we have a running Baja!
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The next day we packed up and headed San Diego for Sat Phones and .... Lisle from LDL and Graeme from Global news at the airport (keep an eye out for some vids)
We had a few hours to kill while we awaited the guys so we set up shop in a Walmart parking lot and began placing the decals on.
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It almost looks like a race car now!
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Once we had the guys it was off for the Mexican border, a quick inspection and a bribe of a few race decals we were in Mexico and headed for Baja Mar 20 min outside La Paz.
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Baja Mar is a nice little development/gated comunity just a 15-20 min drive to Lapaz. Only problem is the main Hwy was washed out so the detour into lapaz made it a hour drive each way. Yikes! (https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbajadock.files.wordpress.com%2F2013%2F12%2Fensenadahighwayslideupdate.jpg&hash=cee89923942c833f6474c2da2f20c8575dffc820)
We spent the next few days in Baja Mar prepping the car and awaiting new team members from California (Rob and Chris)
Here team captian Erich Reisen plans out our pit stops and fuel consumption.
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We stayed busy with sponsor logos and safety checks.
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Two days before the race we moved into a Hotel in La Paz near the start line. Here we were able to get down to business, order our race fuel and drop our spare wheels and fuel drop tanks to "Baja Pits" They would then have fuel and spares placed along the course for us at the location we set. (https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.airspeedparts.com%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2Fuserpics%2F10002%2Fimage.jpg&hash=066c1c497aa8cc984bd4411142ed1833a7ee92de)
Time to register for the race and drink more beer. Just to be clear beer was drank during and after everything. It's amazing how you can survive on beer and tacos.
The day before the race is tech, in years past the team was in line and done in 3 hrs. This year we got in line early and the line was 9 blocks long wrapping around the streets of La Paz. Tech opened late so we spent 8 hrs moving forward very slowly....enough time for a beer, or two..... Or 3 dozen!
Two days before the race La Paz was a ghost town, tech day it was insane!
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Needless to say by the time we passed tech we were doing pretty well :-)
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Race day came and it was time to gear up, this includes a cathader, Kidney belt, neck support and helmet.....some much easier to put on than others :-) We got in the staging area early around 11am for a 12-12:30 start. Once again everything was delayed and we didn't get going till 2:30 or so. When the flag dropped we were off, two hard lefts on city streets followed by a straightaway then right into the river bed and we were officially off road!
As you may have seen before people are lined up on either side of the road with no barriers or safety wall. At first it's a little un nerving but you soon realize they will jump clear......well most of them.
We had 7 cars in our class and 240 total. A few days before we Pre ran the first 180 miles of the course to mark out danger areas and get a feel for what was in store for us. Although it was good practice the course was so badly chewed up from all the trophy trucks before us it was barely recognizable.
Video from the start.
http://vimeo.com/112623731
I was navigating for Grant Baylis and we were averaging 45 miles per f
Hours for a while with bursts upto 68 on the straight always followed by lows in the 15 mph in rough terrain.
At the start there's 8-9 helicopters above following mostly the Trophy trucks, we were 20 min out and doing 65 when we saw a helicopter come low along side us. Cool!! They guy is hanging out filming us!
A few seconds go by and were giving them the thumbs up when all of a sudden a truck passes us at over 100 mph showering us in dust and blinding us of all vision. We start to laugh... And quickly realized they were filming the truck.
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We pushed on as hard as we could passing some in our class and many others. We were in second place for many hours against a much better car and local drivers. These guys were GOOD!
As a newb to the Baja race I gotta say this is a brutal rough dangerous drive with potential for injury and death all around.
One spot we marked as dangerous came upon us fast, it was a HARD right with two concrete and steel posts in your face if you didn't make it. As we slowed to turn we saw a truck hadn't made the turn and impacted it then rolled 5 times. Both driver and passengers were airlifted with broken bones and head injury.
More and more cars succumbed to the course, the silt beds were 3 ft deep and from 100 yards to 4 miles long!
Night fell and we climbed a mountain pass with a cliff on drivers side and rock wall on pass.... One lane and faster cars pushing to pass. And then it happened, ALT light came on...... fack! The battery has 12.8 volts and dropping! We need all the lights we can get, it's pitch black out and on a dangerous road. 12.2 volts we start shutting down all lights but one pencil light that let us see 50-75 feet ahead. We were still going as fast as before but just less vision.
As we approached one hard right on the mountain pass we could clearly see someone just went straight off and didn't turn! Time to slow down a little..... We kept trying to contact our team on the radio but we were still too far out, 11.5 volts and slowly dropping!
All gauge lights, fresh air fans were shut off. We still had 50 miles to go till we crossed a hwy.
About 20 miles out we contacted our crew and asked for the spare alt and tools to be ready. The reply came back, it's with the other driver/ crew 200 miles ahead! Oh shi!!!,!!,
We decided to meet our crew on the hwy and try to repair in any way we could.
We pulled the reg, all good. Checked all fuses, wires, belts etc... Nothing. So we used jumpers to charge the battery and removed the battery from our razor and strapped that to the car with jumpers to keep us going. The plan was to get to the next pit, have them radio our team with the alt and meet at a pit in between.
12.9 volts again one light and we were off!
To be continued.
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don't leave us hanging! ;)
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Awesome Geoff................future romance novelist :)
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Ahhhhhhh c'mon bro , then what ...... :)
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Great story ,Good read :D
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Part 2!
We head out with no charging and one light, We needed to get some 20 miles to the next pit in the middle of nowhere and the sooner the better! We went as fast as we could, thru river beds, washed out roads up and ove mountians and along beaches... not that we could see them with only one light. You could feel the temp drop and the air get moist when we were near the water and then..... WOW the waves were beside us! a short time later the charging was down to 11.2 and we shut off the air breathers and a few small items. A few minutes later we made it to the next pit, as they fueled the car we were yelling the directions thru our helmet " Call the pits at 472!!!! tell them to have Brennon drive back to 360 with the alt asap!!!"
We left without knowing if they contacted him, we had to push on the voltage was getting lower every minute. a hour later it was 10.5 then 10.0 and then 8.2 shit!!!! we have a long way to go and need to cut the last thing that was keeping us safe and on course. we decided to power off the GPS ( without this your completely lost in the dark, only a small arrow every mile or so to post the way) we slowed a little but kept going, now just following tracks from the last few cars. 7.5, crap... I'm doing the math and know around now is when it will start missing and back firing and we have 30 miles to go. we push on and as we head down a hill we see it go's straight back up a sharp incline and you can go left or right.... some locals are pointing left.. at this point we don't trust anyone since we have encountered so many booby traps. we get close and I see one is a lady and she has a look of terror in her eyes as she points left. I yell left left! He says "I don't trust them" and go's right...
as we crest the hill at speed we see whats there.... NOTHING! it's a sheer 15-20 foot drop and were hanging by the back wheels. the bottom had a short run out and we had no other choice but to drop in. I havent measured myself yet but i'm probably 2" shorter! and my neck still hurts but the car soaked it up and kept going! a few minutes later we were entering a silt bed with Trophy trucks and musch faster cars stuck in it. Keep in mind its 2am and dark as can be. We floored it in first,5000 RPM and slowly passed all the vehicles :-) the trophy truck driver threw his hands up in dis belief as we went by, so much for his $500 000 truck. Grant is killing it behind the wheel!
20 min later it happened, 6.9......6.8 and whamo! not enough power to run the light. It was now pitch black, ahh fu#K! The car was still running but we couldnt see. I grabbed my small LED flash light and taped it to the fender, another on the oposite side and away we went! We could see about 8ft in front and it was getting dangerous as we were in the sand again and the others would be catching up soon.
A few hundred yards ahead the car dies............... In the center of the path. Suddenly you feel very alone and wonder why i'm doing this. We jump out and put out the reflectors, as we do that we can hear the roar of the V8 trucks open headers coming and the lights pointing into the sky as they climb the hill we just cleared.
It dawns on us as they come over the hill they will be landing only a few yards from us at speed!
Here's someones video from a few years back, the first few seconds shows exactly what it's like when you can hear and see them coming (without the people around just you and your driver in black race gear). It's as dark as you have ever seen but imagine it almost landing on you...... and then another and...
http://youtu.be/ETGuJOsRlBw
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Whooly Crap , booby traps ,from the locals , why ? What a fantastic story , keep going , it's getting fricken more and more intense , in the dark , driving , on a crazy road , barely no lights , crazy .....
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We want more!! We want more!! Woot_Emoticon
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way to make us wait .............type already :)
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Sorry guys, not much time these days but doing my best.
So there we are, the first of many much larger and faster vehicles are coming at us in the night. We scramble to cut the flash lights off the fenders and start waving the lights at the on coming truck. He crests the hill with rooster tails of sand flying up behind him. He see's us and go's wide! Close call!
We sit there in silence and listen to the roar echoing up the hill, damn... another one right behind it. We start waving the lights and this one comes by within a few feet! Ok it just got real, were really tired and need to get on the sat phone but can't with the cars coming.
2-3 more come by close and we get a break. I call while Grant watches for cars. The last mile marker we saw posted was 350, we figure we made it 3-4 miles from there so when the crew picks up the phone thats all we can tell them. Thankfully Thomas, Brian and another had beed texting our location thru the night. (THANK YOU!)Our crew last got a test " #575 @ mile 353" speed 0. That gave them our accurate location within a mile. I was on the phone with California Chris, he took charge and told me that our message at the last pit made it thru to Brennon and he was on the way with the alternator. once he met them they would head in to find us. ( the Baja had made it almost all the way out to the service rd where we had planned to meet, they only had to come in 3 miles or so.) against the on coming race cars.
Grant and I waved on a few more cars and needed a few min of shut eye. We couldnt lay down outside so I figured the safest place was in the car strapped in. Every car that passed I crinnged, eventualy getting a few min of shut eye.
Brennon had brought in the Alt and spare battery, the plan was to drive the razor in to rescue us..... but wait. We took the Razor battery for the Baja. Cali Chris is a smart guy and thinks fast. He scrounged some wire, made jumper cables and got the razor running with the car battery at their feet. They drove in and found us, it was just starting to get light out.
We spent a few minutes swaping batteries and trying to get each one started, within 10 min we were off!
It only took us 20 min to make it out to a safe location where all of us got to work swaping the alt and doing a once over on the car.
The Baja fired to life,it showed 14 volts and we had lights!... not that we needed them now that it was daylight.
We strapped Brennon and Ray in and sent them off for the next leg of the race. We were in second before the alt failed, now were last... time to catch up! Grant and I had been in the car racing for 12 + hrs and then a few hrs broken down. We were beat and needed some rest. Unfortunatly we all had to pile into the chase truck and start driving to meet the car at the next pits some 200 miles away!
more to come.
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Loving it..sounds like it was fun, but tiring all at once. PDT_Armataz_01_37
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wow this is awsome , i feel like im seeing this all through your eyes as im reading this . awsome discription of what its like being there .
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Part 4.
We were all jammed in the chase truck headed south, we had enough time to grab a quick bite at a gas station then back on the road.
We made it to the pit a few hundred miles away and awaited their radio call. We started to get broken raido calls and as they got closer it got clearer... "we have one flat otherwise all good!"
They pulled in and while ther pit crew fuled the Baja we replaced the rear tire and off they went. We now had a few flat tires in the truck, we took the opertunity to remove the tubes and use slime to seal the tires and air them up with the help of the BF Goodrich team trailer.
Time to hit the road again, were all beat and only getting a few min sleep each at times. We drive to a very small town another few hundred miles away. We get there around 6;30 and the car should be there soon. 30 min pass and we start getting broken raidio calls..... a few min later we hear Brennon. (he's been driving for 12 hrs) We need to swap out the navigator.... he's DONE! feeling sick. Tell Geoff to get ready!
Ahh fuuuuuc#####!!! I just wanted to get some sleep eye.. Before you know it your adrenalin is pumping and your excited to get back in.
I quickly throw my gear on and as it strap my helmet on the car pulls in! a very quick swap and were off!!
It's only a quick left, right , left and were back into the bush and desert... It feels good to be back in calling directions but after a while I notice im really getting thrown around and feeling it. Oh shit! in the hurry to get ready I forgot my kidney belt and neck brace.... it's going to be a long ride!!!
a couple hours go by and were running around 65 mph for most of it, we slow to 50 to enter a open sand area and soon see a truck flaging us down. We stop and they tell us were entering a area that has been taken off the course since theres a huge mud pit and many cars stuck. He say's we can go around any way we find and won't be penalised. Now we don't know what to think.....is this for real? We push on with the intent to hit every mile marker (they are GPS tagged by score) We may not come first but were going to hit every damn on of them!
it's only 15 min later when we feel the front end dip and slow us down?!? we stop and get out to look, everything looks good... one ratchet strap is gone and maybe that went under a tire and pulled us down?!?! Lets push on!
We get upto 50 mph on the straight away, I ask Brennon "is it feeling ok..? He gives it a good turn of the wheels back and forth a few times. He replies " yup all good".
not 5 seconds later we hear a big BANG!!!! and faster than you can imagine the car turns right and is on two wheels as it veers off the road and into the air! We came to a rest in some soft sand... but hard! We both ask if each other is good? "Yup"
I grab my light and look thru the hole in the front to see we have both front wheels... as he turns the steering wheel only one wheel moves. Mother Fuuuuuu##er! we lost a tie rod.....again in the middle of no where and dark! The nut came off half a mile ago so probably no chance of locating it. we start to look thru tools and parts to try and fix it. I started to think about all that silt we went thru before... I look around the bulk head and it's packed with silt! I start sifting thru it and find the nut burried in it! Ok we just won the lottery! We remove the steering rack and replace the nut, 45 min later were back on the course headed for the mud hole!
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Part 4.
... I look around the bulk head and it's packed with silt! I start sifting thru it and find the nut burried in it! Ok we just won the lottery! ......
Alright, now you've got my full attention, bring on the rest !
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Whew , I'm holding my breath reading it , great writing Geoff. , totally on the edge of my seat . I know you're super busy and thankyou for taking the time to write this , it's truly a super kewl home town story :)
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Just awesome
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Part 5.
After the lucky fix of the steering rack we were pumped to be back in the race.
A few miles ahead was a mud pit we had heard about, the GPS had no warning of it so we pushed on. Roughly
a mile down the road an official with a flashlight was flagging us to stop. We noticed the same class 11 (stock raised VW Beetle) was just in front of us. The two of us were blown away that it had made it this far thru the silt and rough areas.
(it had passed us when we first broke down with charging issues) At least we made up our 6hr loss against the stock beetle lol.
The official warns us again of the upcoming mud pit, there are now 10 cars stuck in it and to avoid it at all costs. He say's if you stay left you will be ok. Great! We'll stay left.... of what and how far we have no idea we cant see anything in the darkness. The class 11 now lets us lead... That way if we screw up he will just go around. Off we go! the ground gets softer right away, it looks like were in a bay and skirting the muddy inlet/beach area. We stay left and see off to the far right lot's of tail lights stuck. Were off the gps path but not by much, cant see much around so we just follow the GPS beacon to the next virtual check point (thats all that matters) Bingo! we tag it! Now full throttle back onto the course....With the stock VW right behind us.
We get back upto 50mph and head thru the trails and darkness, The stock VW is sticking with us. Good for him! Not great for us as his lights blind us...so Brennon says. "i'm tired of this shit time to loose him" I'm still amazed at how much power this little 1600 has. Within a few seconds were cruising at 67 mph and the stock VW is just a memory. The next few miles we hit flat wide open dirt roads and make good time. As were talking Brennons answers are getting more delayed and breif. I relize he's been driving for over 16 hrs!
I start to talk more between calling directions to keep him alert, we push on.
The Baja 1000 in past had open road areas where the race cars would enter public roads and go wide open. For Trophy trucks that's 120-140mph! Many accidents and deaths have occured in the past. This year Score made a deal with the Mexican Goverment to use the public roads but have heavy penalties for those who speed. This means we need to watch out for 30mph and 60mph zones, if we go over you can loose a race quick!
We encountered a long 60mph section on a hwy then back into the bush. 15 min later we come across a very small town and it's 30mph, I call it out, Slow to 30!!! Then call out every few seconds 28.5 stay steady... 25.3 pick it up.... 31!!!!! Brennon was having a tough time, He was loosing his focus. Back into the bush again for another 45min. Once again we come across another 30 mph zone... Brennon mumbles something... Repeat? mumble mumble... Repeat I can't hear you. " I'm toast, it's your turn to drive"
I was already tired and soar but these were the words I'd been waiting to hear the past 30+ hours! To say I was a little excited was a understatement. To this point I had only driven the car around short distances and not even off road. The car hadn't event stopped and I had my belts off and door open. Brennon was too tired to climb out and just crawled over to Navigator. I'll admit I stalled it once but after that I was off!!!! at a whopping 30 mph, Fa###K He gave me the car at a 20 mile strech of speed zone lol. Oh well good practice until we hit the dirt.
There was good reason for the speed zone, The Hurricane that came thru the month before destroyed many areas and this was one of them. We were at sea level and surrounded by cliffs on both sids. The hwy was just opened in time for the race but boulders the size of small homes were littered on the hwy. Homes washed out and trees everywhere. Fresh slides were evident all over. If the trophy trucks came thru here full tilt more land slides were sure to have happened.
20 miles go by very sloooooooooooowly
But it's my turn now and into the dirt we go! What an incredable car! with power steering it's so nimble and light feeling, the limited slip diff pulls you thru the worst conditions.
we start to climb some hills covered in large sharp rocks shaped like pyramids 8" high. Brennon now more awake or just scarred shitless a newb is behind the wheel starts calling out directions. Mainly "Slow the fuck down!" and "Save the tires" Ok ok I get it!
He's pointing out ahead "this area gets bad take it slow". sure enough the road is only 6-7 ft wide with washouts on both sides that drop into darkness. Yes I had white knuckles... And now some asshole is trying to pass me?!?! WTF? Oh damn it's that stock beetle! Either i'm not going fast enough or he's crazy! I look over and i'm doing 45mph on some sketchy shit so I find a spot and pull over. He fly's past and is throwing big rocks off his tires. Brennon is awe struck at how hard he's pushing it.
A hour passes and were almost at the pit to hand off the car. Erich the team owner said only one thing before the race started... " Just get it to me in good shape" Well we put in a new alternator, changed the tires and did an alignment, what more could you ask for :-)
As we pull up the stock beetle has pulled over and looks like he's going to need a bunch of work to keep going. Those last few miles tool it's toll.
I pull it into the pit and the guys get started checking it out, Grant my orig driver comes to the drivers side to help me out thinking it's Brennon... I can clearly hear him say What the f? I'm grinning ear to ear, that last few hours driving was a blast!
No time to rest we all do our jobs, fuel, oil I change a right front that had a bend in it and away they go! They have 400 miles and lots of time to make up!
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Pure and simple awesome
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Great story Geoff! Thanks for sharing the adventure that we've all dreamed about.
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That sounds like a blast.
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That's just awesome Geoff !!! I remember chatting outside your shop awhile back about that one spot you were freaking out about and you drove it !!! Wow , what a blast , Are you guys going to rent the bug out for supervised 5 minute trips on a property so we can get a lil thrill of it to ? I'm in for a lil rip ;)
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a buddy of mine was there and got a few pics of you guys.
http://svtatau.com/2014/11/update-for-alp-and-the-boys-at-airspeed/
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Cool! thanks for posting that.
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Fast foward to 14 min then you can see the whole field come thru, filmed near the start.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-FziA6UZEw
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Good job on the racing and the writing. Thanks for sharing.
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MAD MAX...................eat yer heart out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Great story. Thanks for sharing.
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Great read, thanks for posting! Was that stock beetle from Colorado?
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Lisle put together a short clip from Ensenada when we went pre running in the razor. No in car footage yet but hopefully soon.
Ok looks like the link only works if your on Facebook. Ill try another link soon.
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It wants me to log in as Geoff on facebook to let me see that link
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no Brian, it wants you to dress like Geoff...when he is in drag.....
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Hahahaha !!!
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Just got word a short 15 min documentary is almost ready for viewing. Mid march I was told.
(https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.airspeedparts.com%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2Fuserpics%2F10002%2Fnormal_yolo10.jpg&hash=e23a400e8c22329825035890e8372f66ab734385)
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here's some coverage and info on the Baja 1000 in the Score Magazine.
http://read.uberflip.com/i/501768-score-journal-issue-4-2015/48
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And a preview to the documentary..
https://vimeo.com/127781455
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And here's the short documentary we watchd say night.
https://vimeo.com/119003651