Sonora 500 10-14-06

[SOAZ]

Okay, My names Tim. I'm a newb to the site. I don't do any one type of adventure so I really like this site because one weekend it may be mountain biking or scuba and the next a trip to Japan.
Got back last night from a little weekend adventure. We raced the Sonora 500. (500 kilometers)
I did the 1st lap of 150 miles. Everything went great. Leading our class. Averaged about 50 miles an hour. (since the cars tops out at 68, it was a FAST course)
We ran from San Luis down to el Gulfo. Then along the beach for 10 miles. (it was absolutely beautiful! and since other cars didn't air down like us I passed much faster cars in higher classes along the beach! :smiley_drive: )
The second half of the lap consisted of running through the desert back up to san luis.
My partner got in the car and did about 30 miles when the motor blew. The fan broke and a VW will overheat almost immediately so it blew a whole out the side of the motor. The spark plug was still hanging on the wire, but there was a 2 inch hole where it should go in. OOPs! It was a lot of fun though. Beautiful area. I love going down there!
Pictures
Gratuitus changing shot. Stop staring!

10 minutes to go, belting up.

I basically try to sleep right before the start to get my nerves and concentration together.

And we're off. For a really fast and exciting lap!

our friends truck

Tired after getting out of the car

 

[SOAZ]

I did the same thing as my friends son, but with tecates once I heard we were out of the race...

The over all winner of the race! (I can't remember his name) He is a DAKAR rally racer and they just happened to be testing in the area and heard there was an offroad race so they bought some fire suits and overalled the race...
Wow!

Honey, I know its 5 am, but the border opens at 6 and there is no awards to wait around for. Lets hit the road!:suning:

I love this sport. The next race is December 30th. Its from Rocky Point to Caborca. We always need an extra hand, the more the merrier.
Hope you liked my little adventure!
:victory:

 

[Brian McVickers]

Hi and welcome
Great pics! Looks like a ton of fun :smiley_drive:

Brian

 

[BajaTaco]

Hey Tim, you finally made it to ExPo :clapsmile Welcome!

Sorry to hear about the blown motor, but congrats on the first lap lead - that is something to be happy about :ylsmoke:

The gentleman who won the overall is Ronn Bailey :clapsmile

So what are your impression of the first Sonora 500? You said it was fast! How was the organization. How about pre-running - did you do any? How was the navigation? What did you use for navigating?

 

[SOAZ]

Brian, thanks!
Bajataco,
Yep, now I remember! He was at a strip club on friday night and saw one of the guys racing the Sonora race and they started talking. The next morning he was there ready to race with his porter prerunner. (they have their sh@t dialed in)
I love the pro desert asociation. We raced and won the rocky point 250 which was their first race ever. Very impressive. I'll never race Whiplash again. The race started on time, it was well organized and by the day after the race they had our first place plaque with a picture of our car from during the race and presented it to us along with $400 cash, 100 to use at desert rat, 100 for sparco products, and 100 for bell.
Thats the best pay out we've had for such a small turnout.
We helped to "map out" the course several months ago when we ran from san luis to gulfo to rocky point so I saw a fair amount of the course then. It turned into a lap race instead of a point to point so we went and did it in our race car about 3 weeks ago. We got lost a couple of times, but for the race we had the GPS installed so navigation was easy. (not to mention its easy to follow the ruts of other people once the race is underway)
I'm going to buy an expedition c lowrance when the funds allow. (all desert races have their maps in the lowrance format so thats why my first choice is lowrance, plus I trust them from growing up on boats.
The race car has the baja 480 Lowrance gps. :beer:

 

[LexusAllTerrain]

[QUOTEI

love this sport. The next race is December 30th. Its from Rocky Point to Caborca. We always need an extra hand, the more the merrier.
Hope you liked my little adventure!
:victory:[/

QUOTE]

Great pictures, do you have the route from Rocky Point to Caborca?:beer:

 

[SOAZ]

Not in GPS form yet, but I'm going to go with the race organizers to mark the course. If you want to go on the marking trip or just run it once the GPS is out I'm down. I need to see it at LEAST once before the race.
Plus I'd like to do some research on that area and see what else there is to see in the area.

 

[LexusAllTerrain]

Not in GPS form yet, but I'm going to go with the race organizers to mark the course. If you want to go on the marking trip or just run it once the GPS is out I'm down. I need to see it at LEAST once before the race.
Plus I'd like to do some research on that area and see what else there is to see in the area.

Do you have some dates in mind?:victory:

 

[devinsixtyseven]

that looks like a blast !

im not familiar with the area at all, got some geos for the general vicinity?

-sean

 

[BajaTaco]

Tim, that is great news about Pro Desert. Glad to hear that they are doing such a good job.

 

[SOAZ]

Do you have some dates in mind?:victory:

Not yet. I was trying to get PDR to nail down a course marking trip and then set a trip to pre-run it sometime after that. It will likely be at the beginning of December or end of November.
I'll let everyone know as soon as there is more info.

 

[SOAZ]

that looks like a blast !

im not familiar with the area at all, got some geos for the general vicinity?

-sean

Just our race maps, but before the next adventure I'll be getting a lowrance expedition c and the new baja map software(hopefully it extends over to caborca RP area) If not I know the area from Gulfo to about half way to caborca pretty well.

 

[SOAZ]

Tim, that is great news about Pro Desert. Glad to hear that they are doing such a good job.

Its exciting. Its cheaper and better, not usually two things that go together, but I'm having a blast so far. PDR just needs more competitors, but that will come with time.

 

[SOAZ]

Multi talented. Pointing and driving! (it wouldn't have been as cool if I'd crashed while pointing...) :friday: