Avid Racing goes to Baja...somedays your the bug, some days the windshield..

Ignore Amos · Jun 14, 2011

As many of you have seen in other posts...Avid racing took our recently completed 2011 BRP Can Am Commander down to participate in the SCORE Baja 500... As you wind down out of the mountains coming from Tecate..the first thing you see besides the deep blue waters of the Pacific is this ICON...it really starts you realizing that your are really here...

But as when in Mexico..first things first...and that means think like a Mexican and assilmilate into Baja..so the first stop in town on Wednesday afternoon (after checking into the Bahia and dropping off the Trailers) is to Hussongs Cantina to get our attitudes adjusted.

We spend the rest of the afternoon and evening getting the car ready for the very thorough SCORE tech inspection (every car must get approved before its first race with SCORE)..and double checking everything we brought. On Thursday morning we we registered with SCORE and got all the obligatory paperwork out of the way.

That afternoon we took the car to get teched..we were all a little nervous as if they find something serious..(and they are VERY picky) they may not allow us to race..but Dale had done his homework and outside of a few things they asked us to correct before the next race..we flew right though! That afternoon, Cory (who was to drive from RM 100-232)and his crew arrive to hotel and everybody got to the final prep of the car.. I cant thank Cory enough for all the help and insight allowing us to get the car ready like we did. Big thanks BRO! Thursday evening we all went out (I think there were 9 of us by then) and had a great dinner and went through our agenda for Friday..

Friday morning...

Cory and his good friend Billie took the car to Contingency early (something like 6am) to get us a good spot ( I heard like 6th in line)..even though we had already been teched and didn't need to go through..it's part of the tradition...and a great way to show off the car to thousands and thousands of rabid off road race fans....we did take our Helmets and suites which have to be inspected and approved so something was officially accomplished as well. If you have never experiences this in person, you missing something really special in off road racing.

its really a circus...the atmosphere is amazing.. you get a chance to see all the cars up close and personal...all the big dogs are there.

As well as the local "Big Dogs" these guys were VERY SERIOUS and very well armed

We had a load on the car...no wonder the car sat lower after contingency

JoeyD23 · Jun 14, 2011

very cool!!! Thanks for sharing and thanks for repping for the UTV community down there guys! I hope you take on the task of challenging the Baja Mil this year!

Ignore Amos · Jun 14, 2011

Thanks Joey! it was worth every cent to go...the 1k is in our plans and budget... but a lot more to include on the 500... just trying to do the write up as I get time today...stay tuned Amigos...and STAY THIRSTY!

Ignore Amos · Jun 14, 2011

the morning of a Baja 500 doesnt start as early for as it had in the past for me when bikes leave at 6am...in this case we were told to make sure we down at Grid by 11am by Sal Fish... we took no chances and were down in Grid by 10am!!! there we were able to meet with some of our other UTV competitors...the only other UTV we had seen up to this point was Bill Morris (1802) who had help set up our Hotel reservations and shared parking (and a number of beers) with at the Bahia...

so into the car we go...the 4 wheel race starts with the Trophy Trucks, 1 cars etc...and finally to the red headed step children...UTV's starting last..

Actually these guys started last...they were actual competitors in the RACE...with a real Doctor on board...they had to meet the same safty requirements as everybody else...I hope to never see them after this moment..but that was unfortuantly not the case..

Patiently waiting until our time comes...

A fools bliss!!

Almost to the start... we were really enjoying the whole thing...never was nervous...if we had only known

and then its our turn!

Into the first famous first turn...

about to hit the dirt washes and out of town...

Adio's Amigos!!!!!

next we'll get to some actual racing!

karter44 · Jun 14, 2011

That is a very nice looking Can Am. I was actually hoping you guys did well on this race even though I am a RZR guy. I'm friends with Adam at Turnkey and he was trying to get us updates about you guys durning the race. Hoping the next one goes alot better for you guys.

Ignore Amos · Jun 14, 2011

Racing in Baja is not what most people imagine it to be...I think most have seen "Dust to Glory" a pretty inspiring and well shot movie.. but one thing that is hard to understand is the diversity of the terrain...how is changes so dramatically from the coast as you head inland. Its such a beautiful place.. that is almost too bad that you really don't have a chance to take it all in while your racing..anyway I'm here to tell you about our race...not be a travelog for the Mexican peninsula.. As I mentioned earlier..the Rock Stars of the Sport (translate: the really fast cars) get to start up front while us golf carts get to tag along at the rear...it's all true of course..we don't deserve to be any further up front than we are..and at this point are just a hazard for the brutally fast TT's/Class 1's.. I do hope this all changes as better and faster UTV's start participating on a regular basis (with homage to the few UTV's that have run competitively in the past) so my point here is that by the time we get our butts down the course...it has been pulverized by they 200+ vehicles that have already been before us...which leads me to where our story gets interesting.

Short story is we were 22 min up on the next utv at RM 26...passed all the 11 cars and class 8's trucks except one...we were in the midst of passing him and went through a dammed up creek that was clogged full of stuck cars..most of which were trapped by the mud pit that was established by hundreds of high powered vehicles going through this water trap in a very short period of time...

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the class 8 backed up trying to clear a chain link fence hitting the front end of my commander (I'm sure he had no idea we were there).

flipping me completely backwards and then we rolled down about another 10 feet down into the creek landing on the driver side with 2-3 ft of water in it

..the Mexican's righted us...picked us up and spun us the direction of the hill we just came down...

we went back up and made to the top.. but look at the left bottom control arm...dragging as we go up...

but heard a terrible sound from the front suspension..we got out and the left side spindle was completely broken

here's the video if you hadn't seen it already...

[ame="http://youtu.be/irxY9Y9o4eQ"]YouTube - ‪baja 500 2011 la roca‬‏[/ame]

We did get to the other side and promptly were greeted by hundreds of too happy (Drunk) to help spectators..

Quite honestly...a number of guys jumped into the problem..they helped pull off the flattened front tire (took a direct hit from the now free lower control arm) and ferveriously went to finding way to reattached the upper to lower control arms using Bailing wire giving a shot at getting up to the next Baja pit where there was a welder 10+ miles away.

We had not been able to raise out chase crew on the radio for this side of the race (Cory and Crew)
because of the terrain we were in... we had asked another chase team there at the site to see if they could have Weatherman or BFG relay to let our chase know where we were and our situation... so we load up after our 1.5 delay

and started down the course at a brisk 2-3 mph...I was totally blown away at the help we received..and how they got us back into the race..even though at a greatly reduce pace

As Cory has stated earlier...while he was waiting for at what was suppose to be a drive through spot check at Ojos Negros...he became worried when all the class 11 (stock VW bugs) went through with no sign of us...they did start coming back towards us on the course (again as mentioned an open road to public traffic) and we were eventually where able to make radio contact...Cory had already lined up a welder by the time we rendezvoused with them on the course and they followed us back into Ojos Negros to see what could be done to get us back into the race...

As soon as we pulled in Cory and his crew had the spindle off and worked for over an hour and a half trying to put the spindle back into some sort of shape so as we could hopefully get back into the race. I understand the stock Can Am spindle is not the most robust and was never meant for the rigors of racing in Baja...no excuses...but AFTERMARKET VENDORS, take note!

At about the 2 hour mark we able to get the car back onto the course...and it actually felt pretty good! I was hopeful that the welds and reinforcement that Cory was able to get on the spindle would hold up to the rigors of another 450 miles of Baja! but knew it was a long shot..especially knowing the course was only getting even more brutal and unforgiving up ahead.

When we were back at the mud hole...it was depressing watching all the cars and trucks that we had blown by pass us back..one by one..I thought if the car could hold up..and I drove conservatively...that maybe just maybe attrition would take its toll and we could finish without timing out... but that was all just wishful thinking...Baja is not forgiving... As we came into a area that was about 20 miles from where we repaired the car...the course started getting very silty and whooped out...at first it seemed the car could handle it but all of a sudden the spindle gave out...we were finished. We pulled into a flat area and got to take a look to see what we could do. This time we were able to make radio contact with Cory and crew. We were 20+ miles from the next pit and down a pretty rugged and remote part of the course. Dale, my co-driver and builder of the car thought we could take all the left side front suspension off the car..counterweight the car and drive it out as far as we could...so...while starting to pull the car apart...a pretty beat Class 8 truck goes blowing by us and off into the distance.. or so we thought. A few minutes later a guy in a driver suite comes running up the course yelling at us to come help- apparently just out of sight of us, they had rolled it (I think the 2 or 3rd time that day) and they needed us to help them roll it off its side.. well, why he was running was unapparent to me because there wasn't really any hurry as they were 5-6 hours behind the next truck in their class..but we appreciated his urgency and proceeded to help them right the truck and help them on their way. Here's a pic of Dale heading back to the Commander to finish up the suspension so that we could get out here too...

so after removing everything on the left side of the suspension...we radio the guys that we were starting our trek out and see them somewhere down the course..here we are just about to take off...I think Dale enjoyed riding back there..but I think he held his breath most of the way.

Again, I was staying on the Radio with Cory and they were able to point us toward a short cut back to Hwy 3 which would allow us to miss some really rugged parts of the course with our three wheels racer..

Dale did about 15-20 miles up there...kudos to his naive ass thinking I could get her out of there without crashing...surprised me too!

I have to say a HUGE thank you to my co-driver and good friend Dale Brand of H-Town Performance who built, maintained and persevered with this BRP Commander...to the all the guys who put so much time and energy into getting us to this race...Bruce, Cory, Billie and the rest of our chase/pit crew Shea, Shane and Jimmy!

Also a ton of thanks has to go to my other main Sponsor, Turnkey UTV (who's bad ass suspension got drug all over and still looks perfect!) and GBC Tires who both enabled us to get to this race despite short deadlines and big odds!! of course much thanks to my other sponsors as well (muzzy's, BEARD seats, Rigid lights, Rugged Radios, Factory UTV and AIRDAM Clutches)

Well..this is where the journey ends for us for this Baja 500...hope to see you all at the Vegas to Reno...we hope to have 4 wheels by then!

ADIOS AMIGOS!

JoeyD23 · Jun 15, 2011

awesome story! Sometimes you beat Baja, but mostly Baja beats you! lol

Brian B · Jun 15, 2011

Great story Mike! Thats a drag about the truck taking you out!

I cant wait to join you guys next year!

tatum · Jun 15, 2011

I love reading the stories about Baja and that was a classic.Keep up the good work and get yourself some heavy duty spindles made.
Or you could have Corys car on a trailer behind the chase truck for a parts car if you need them.Im sure Cory wouldnt mind.LOL
Good luck at the 1000,maybe I will see you down there.

Ignore Amos · Jun 15, 2011

Brian and Hans...thanks for the encouraging words...but you guys better be down there for the Baja Mil....lets show SCORE that not only can we compete with each other and finish...but do better than a lot of the other classes...

VIVA MEXICO!

az_amsoil · Jun 16, 2011

Love the story, HATE the ending!

Glad to see you guys before the start (and repping AZ)! I'll be down for the 1000 again. We'll have a class 1 and a TT running, but if I can help I will do what I can

Maybe we can all take the noob (Brian B) out for some nice French cuisine at the Paris?!? Or at least get him a BWHD before the race!

Brian B · Jun 17, 2011

BWHD? I'm afraid to ask!

Ignore Amos · Jun 17, 2011

just go with it !

Brian B · Jun 17, 2011

Right on!

I'm going down for the 1000 with Bob. He'll be helping with AGM as usual but if I have the chance, I'd be happy to help with Avid/Desert Toyz in any way I can!

tatum · Jun 17, 2011

Hopefully I will be down there pitting for a class 1.For sure will help if I can.

Ignore Amos · Jun 27, 2011

Here's a quick video my son just put together... it was suppose to be longer...

it was shot in 1080P hd so move up the qaulity of the player if you like

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxcK0ajeX2o"]YouTube - ‪2011 Baja 500 Avid Racing team video (HD)‬‏[/ame]

dmurray · Jun 28, 2011

Nice Video!

Avid Racing goes to Baja...somedays your the bug, some days the windshield..

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