Contingency – the day before the race

This is only my second time out here in Baja for the race, and I am still trying to understand why they call today … Contingency Day. More on that in a little bit … this for me, and for the team … is the day before the race.

I can imagine that the day before the big race for anyone must be somewhat the same … a little bit of chaos, a little of bit of panic, a little bit of last minute planning and a little bit of enjoyment. It also is the day with a lot of packing <bg>.

The Jeep needed to be packed first … while this may not sound like a big deal, and on the surface may not look like a big deal … you have to remember that the you are about to drive for 700+ miles without stopping, off-road, at night and in a very rugged environment … add to it, that typically less than 60% of people who start the race finish… packing becomes important.

I guess you start by asking … “What could go wrong?” … hmmm … which usually is answered by “Just about everything!” … spare tire, check. 2 extra one check. Oil, better take several bottles. Brake fluid, yep. transmission oil, umm, yep. Anything that is liquid, make sure you have that. Could we break a drive shaft, umm, I guess … better pack one of those. Axle, yep, just in case. Transfer case … hmmm … yep, those break, so pack an extra one … in the end, you almost pack enough stuff to make another vehicle … and I’m not kidding. Unfortunately, you can’t carry everything, with you … so you rely on experience to tell you what to put in the race vehicle, the rest you pack into the chase vehicles.

Then you ask yourself, what could the people traveling in the race jeep need … remember, you’ll be sitting in the thing for up to 12 hrs … oh yeah, and if you have any issues, you may need to sit in the desert for many more hours waiting for help … so, food, water, first aid, warm clothes … you get the picture.

Then you just reminded yourself, that it could break down … so you are happy that you have spares … but you’ll need tools … so you pack those … and you’ll need lots of them … more than you can carry … so same routine … the rest go in the chase vehicle.

Once you’re packed … or mostly packed … what should you do … well, apparently for desert racing … you have a parade! With your packed vehicle as the main float.

I wrote a little about this last time … this race is a huge thing to Baja Mexico, it is their Indy 500, their Formula 1, their Nascar … and the driver and teams … are celebrities … the schools are let out, they close the main street and the race vehicles, make a slow progression through the route, ending at the tech inspection (which we passed the day before).

Our Jeep stands out … it honestly stands out amongst all the other vehicles … it is interesting, different and has a story. It, in a way looks out of place, like an old surfer amongst a throng of kids … some don’t understand it … but those who know the sport, give it a great deal of respect … Tim’s Jeep also has stories … it’s been there, done that … it has history … and I think for Tim, he learns a little more about it every time he comes here.

I gave an SD card to another racer that needed it for his GPS, when he asked me what car I was with … I said “I’m chasing for an old CJ Jeep”. The guy, in his twenties … “The blue and white one? I know that Jeep, my dad worked at the shop that built it.”

During the parade, Tim met several who knew the Jeep and told Tim a little more about it … “I knew a guy that raced against it” … I think more people took pictures of it, and commented how cool it was, then some of the vehicles worth 100 times more.

Contingency, turns out is where you put stickers on your car, and should you win your class (or something to that ilk), you get money from the people whose stickers you have … Slime sticker, worth $100 if you win your class … Autometer sticker, $50 … and so on … so we now have a few more stickers <bg> … I think one sticker is worth 100 free beers and 100 free tacos if we win … but I ‘m not sure on that one.

The end of the day before the race, is the drivers meeting … 284 competitors in this years 2011 Baja 1000 … with some cars up to 6 people … the drivers meeting, turns out to be 700+ people … there was the customary Tecate girls, the Mexican honor guard, the national anthems, a prayer, some  politicians, a few general announcements … then a couple of cautions about not running each other over … and finally the last minute course changes. This all ends by 830P … then everyone goes to “sleep” and rest … or drink and party … or fix and pack … or a little of all of the above.

For us it also meant the alignment of our lights … Tomorrow is race day … the 44th Baja 1000 … and we are going to be in it … I’m very excited to be part of this … not sure I can sleep or rest much … on the upside, I get to write my post<g>.

Passing inspection

In our attempt in 2009 (read previous blog posts for details), the Jeep didn’t quite pass muster. We resolved the technical issues here in Ensenada, but where told that we wouldn’t be able to run unless those things got taken care of “better” for next time … so many hours (and I’m sure some money) from Tim and Dennis got the Jeep prepped for this year… still … we needed to pass technical inspection.

The goal for the day was to get through technical inspection and a variety of other “administrative” duties.

 

 

 

First on the list was getting into town, Jeep running … Tim and Brooke cruising the town and drawing tons of attention … I honestly think that the Jeep is much more memorable than many of the other “seen it before” race cars here <g>.

We stop by to get our “tracker”, this is a satellite based version of “onstar”. It servers both a safety function and a race function. The unit broadcasts via satellite the location of the Jeep at all times, the speed it is travelling, whether it is on its roof (no kidding) and if it has experienced a 9G+ collision (apparently small collisions are Ok). The unit also has an “ok” button and a “help” button … pressing either sends a message.

The unit is also used to show the progress of the Jeep, where the Jeep is on the course and make sure that it is obeying all the required rules (which in Baja aren’t many). They use the unit to track that no shortcuts have been taken, and that the speed limits (60mph max on city roads) are honored … if the Jeep “cheats”, penalty time is added <bg>.

With the tracker installed, tested and working … off to Tech. Which, seemed pretty straight forward … we passed with only a minor change to the routing of a hose … so … all set.

 

SCORE registration was next, making everyone in the Jeep sign release forms <bg> … after that a meeting for drivers and “chasers” at the BFG (BF Goodrich) pits … this is where they thank you for buying BFG tires, provide you a very detailed book with race course notes and GPS data files for the course.

… now we are all at the houses, Tim is loading the Jeep … Sheila and Michelle have landed in San Diego and will be joining us in a couple of hours.

 

 

Tomorrow is “contingency” … which is basically a parade, with us as the attraction.

Team Florida Vintage #1502 is set to leave the starting line on Friday around 1P PST … then 700+ miles (they have added 12+ miles to the course this week) to the finish line.

First full day – recon

We all arrived safely in Ensenada on Monday late afternoon. Tim, Dennis, Mark, Tom and Brooke about 1 hour after us. By 430 the Jeep was out of the trailer and parked … and everything was offloaded. It looks like it survived the drive without concern.

While some worked on the Jeep, a few of us went shopping … we are staying in 3 houses … Fulton, #76 and #14 … weird, one name, two numbers. None of the houses have hot water, although that was remedied today … and none seem to have heat.

We started today with a fine Brooke breakfast, the value of having a cook on an adventure is truly immeasurable <bg>. We put a chase radio into the rental car and headed out to spot a couple of places, this is where we will be pitting and changing drivers/co-drivers.

We left at 10A and got back around 530P … about 220 miles today. We came across multiple other racers doing the same as us … and many pre-running (this is when they run the course in advance).

Seems that most people we came across had some sort of car issues … we weren’t excused either … turns out our rental car had no oil, which meant some scavenging … and eventually finding 2 liters in what can loosely be described as a “village”.

Our final destination was the pit area at Borrego, Tim and Brooke discussed the location of North … we watched a few racers go by … and we pretended to be a pit crew … it’s hard to imagine that a place in the desert 2 hrs from anything will be transformed into a small town of over 5000 people on Friday.

We did a little pre-running of our own … well, Tim convinced Mark to use the rental car … to be fair, not much convincing was required … and I think they had taken the optional insurance <g> … never, ever buy a ex-rental car.

We’re back at “race central” (our unheated, but now with hot water houses) … dinner’s being cooked and we got a fire going … tomorrow is another day.

2011 Baja 1000 – take two

Tim Smith’s Florida Vintage Racing team is tackling the 44th Baja 1000. For me this is my second time participating in this and very excited to be doing so.

The race starts officially on Friday Nov 18th. This year it is 692.82 miles in length, starts and ends in Ensenada and has a time limit of 32 hrs … meaning, the team has 32 hrs to complete the course, or the race is over.

For me the race began a couple of weeks ago with some mild helping … Ok, real mild helping <g>. For Tim and Dennis, the race began longer ago, with lots of prep for the race Jeep.

The real beginning of the race for me, began with prepping our truck for chasing, towing and driving in the desert about 3 weeks ago … our race, would include driving the truck from Florida to Mexico, towing the race Jeep behind us and bringing everything back … Abuelo (my dad) is the real worker and genius, he’s spent the last 3 weeks changing brakes, shocks, wiring lights, packing trailer bearings and multiple other tasks … I only hope that when I get to be in my 70s, I am half as capable as he is.

Our role is Mexico will be to support the race Jeep and the team, this is typically called chasing … as we try to follow the race Jeep around the course, getting in front of it to provide food, support, change of crews, etc …

I’ll try to post something everyday, trying to share this adventure with friends and family.

Here’s a couple of web sites to look into to learn more …

www.score-international.com – official race website.

www.race-desertz.com – popular desert racing website which will have live updates of the race. They will also have a live radio relay, so you should be able to listen to race radio traffic

www.racetheworld.net – IRC is the company that provides the “tracker” for the race vehicles. The race Jeep will have an IRC tracker and you will be able to follow the progress of the Jeep on this site. The Jeep this year is number 1502.

More tomorrow … tonight we are in Calexico, CA. Waiting to cross into Mexico at Mexicali and then make our remaining 180 miles to our race headquarters in Ensenada.

Baja 1000 Race Day – Chase 4 – our “media” team

Most of the pictures in my posts  have come from Rob (http://www.rwcs-photographics.com/). As you may have figured out, he’s very good … this post comes from him …

 

The day starts with the normal coffee hunt and how to plan for the day, now that Michele and the extra car will allow us to be a lot more mobile than before. Quick check with Brandon &  Brooke that we can split our efforts to cover both the start and the wash entry as good positions,  so  we can ensure that #1503 is in the can....  we are set to get moving for  9.30 for the melee of the START at the staging for the top contenders.

Michelle is quickly set up and  effortlessly acquires MEDIA schmoozing techniques and we hit the crowds in the start area.

Great atmosphere with all the driver being good natured ,  and up for talking and poses before they get down to the serious biz of racing. I get distracted by the pit dollies....  yet again with Michelle just reminding me about its the  cars !!!!!

Time flies and we get down to the wash into position and await the entry .  things all come alive with the crowds as the car fly down the wash, great to be taking action stuff and Michelle is doing just great .. Official Camera No 2 status

We capture a ton of shots with Michelle running out of card space of  20 gb !!!! .....  I shake my head in disbelief ..  position one was 600+ shot for me , but  Michelle breaks the shot record with 1300 shots ...  saying things like it’s not working anymore ... fixit  robin !!!!

1503 hoves into view we get the team shots and then we are off to next slot ...

TRAFFIC this is not good and we are distracted into a roadside stop for local TACOS ....  quick pit stop and then we get to OJOS Negros and get on course to wait for 1503 ..  a few entries pass trough numbers all over the place and it dawns on me that we have not been quick enough , Team Florida is moving faster than we thought so we head to next slot..   

Distance / time real problem and as we get close to the driver swap location we both realise than daylight / time is a now real struggle so “Get to Borregos” is now the mission .. Radio is dead so we can’t raise anyone of  the new plan... We get to the PIT by 4.15 , dock with John & Juan but the sun is dropping out of the sky so just I just start shooting whatever’s moving as they pit in clouds of dust, shouting pit crews and crazy spectators.

Huge part atmosphere .. this looks to be fun and we plan night shoot locations and dawn start ideas ...

chatted to Juan’s new friends from Legato   and thinking on the day.....  when suddenly  Brooke appears to say 1503 has stopped with transmission problems.. We all get packed up asap and then we are off again to get to  the new rendezvous point

Bugger ... we were all doing so well but there you go ...side benefit thing  being we get to sleep in the  apartments back in Ensenada, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the Borregos pit party would’ve been much more fun. Anyway our day was done .. we have some good pics for Team Florida, Michelle now officially RWCS Photgraphics No 2.. < watch out John you are about to need a new camera  & lenses >  and another day will dawn tomorrow.