starts tomorrow...should be epic...most entries ever (like 450). Unfortunately no Nissans that I saw on the entry list...a couple FJ Cruisers and a Mitsubishi Raider, but no Nissans even from former/current Nissan drivers like Boris Said and Carl Renezeder.

Isn't Bob Graham racing a stock full Titan? I hope so, my buddy gave him some headers to run on the truck.



Boris Said only drove the Nissan pro-2 in CORR.

Carl Renezeder drives a really beautifull in-house Chevy Trophy Truck in his desert racing endeavors.

SCORe is an expensive series to run if you are chasing points and running a truck class and the BajaMil is an expensive race to run. As a result you are seeing the mega buck classes growing and the minitruck classes like 7, 7s, and 7sx seem to be shrinking. You still get a lot of 10, 5, and 1600 cars because they are a lot less brutal on the wallet.

MDR and MORE seem to be attracting a lot of the "Sportsman" type of trucks and BITD has a large number of "stock" type trucks. Especially Fords because of the money offered by the factory.

I'll have to look into the Bob Graham thing and see what it has listed for him...and yeah, I knew Boris did the pro-2 thing but he and Renezeder were the only two I could think of off the top of my head with Nissan connections...

http://www.titan-offroad.com/raceschedule.php

Oh and re: your post on RDC, Bob hasn't raced a 7x in a year or more. He's campaigning the Titan now.

What happened? Didn't believe me?

No, no, no...I googled the names and came up with the offroad.com article on them and it said they raced the truck in class 7s....And...Damn...I thought I was the only XOC'r who reguraly was on that forum!! Gonna have to be more careful with what I say...Guess no more "Damn that Patrick is an ahole" threads over there.....

Surprise!

Yeah, I've been on there four or five years. I don't post over there because most of those guy race and I don't.

Ahhh...its the Stock Full class that he runs in in SCORE...and I post over there on a semi-regular basis, though more on a commentary and questions basis because I feel WAAAYY over my head on that board when people like Andy McMillen and the like come and post...

Holy lights Batman!!

[img]http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17296&d=1163626370[/img]

I think both of you are the most diehard dessert race followers!

I'm still waiting for someone else in the ATV race scene to pop up some day...

That's the Dale Ebberts Inland Truss Class 1 car. They have a tendancy to put on a light display at contingency.

Here was last year or the year before at contingency:





And fdreamer, answer your PMS!

That one looks like Troy's lightbar

Those cars are just flat ugly!!! Why can't they mount them clean and orderly? Hell the X has 6 straight across the top, spots for another 4 in the front bumper, plus the stock lights. Thats 12 and they all flow with the body lines. Again "YUCK" Looks like crapola!!!

Did anyone notice what they are doing to their BFG tires to get the traction they want? If they ran GOODYEARS they would have no need to grove.

I dont know who the crew cheif is, but he has some strange ideas. Dale Ebberts usally has good cars. They must have hired a hack!!!

I was noticing that on the bigger cars that they have a grive more similar to the CORR cars when they run back east in the muck. I was wondering if it had more to do with the fact that thing are going to be a little sloppier with all the recent rain.

Being that there are two different versions of the Baja T/A , I've noticed that they are all groved the same on both sides too. So I'm not seeing an inner Vs. outer tire difference. So it doesn't look like it's for digging in on the turns.

Baja T/A



Baja T/A kr (or Km or whatever the hell it's called)



The Jesse James pics didn't look groved.

I've yet to see pics of Gordon and Stienberger's trucks and how the Toyos are looking.

I really like the MTR and it would be great to see Goodyear runt he same degree of support in Mexico during the big races to get more guys on board. I don't think BFG has the numeber of clas and overall wins with a shitty product, but racer prices and giant pit support goes a long way in getting people on board with your product.

BTW; your brand loyalty is cool and congradulations on having great sponsor support, but doesn't Goodyear even need to groove their tires at CORR?

I've worked a lot of hours next to Lil'Joe the main man at Goodyear, he does most of the grove decissions him self. Yes they do grove for mudd on the short track, they also build the tires with softer rubber compounds. But for a 1000 mile race? How much will be like short coarse mudd? All those cut corners will start tearing off really fast. I ran some Goodyears that did not last 100 miles for that same reason, too much ciping in the lugs. Besides front tires need lateral groves for steering. Maybe they cut them for braking who knows.

Lil Joe was at the V2R race correct?? I recognized him from the big article DirtSports magazine did on him a few months back...I was like "Wow, this is so cool...That's Lil Joe!!" and he is little!!! I will try to post what updates I can glean from differing sources throughout the day on the B1K...

Bikes are off and running as well as ATVs though the UTV's (rhinos, arctic cats, etc.) won't start till AFTER everyone else as they are the slowest...no real updates...seems like a lot of radio issues and the Weatherman is not up streaming his audio feed as of yet...

I dunno either. I hope that with the harder kevlar compound that they use will hold up to the task.

Interesting little bit on Jesse James' attempt at this years B1K...

"Jesse James is debuting in a new Porter built Trophy Truck. Apparently James blew the engine yesterday while pre-running/testing. The West Coast Choppers crew pulled the engine out, and it was flown to California to be worked on. It was back early this morning and the truck was running again by 5:30am. The West Coast Choppers Trophy Truck made it to the AM Tech Inspection and will be ready to race later today."

Shannon Campbell and his crew are now on course with their Donahoe sponsored FJ...Hopefully not long now till Robby gets on course and starts passing people...

The "cars" are now all beginning on their way...Ebberts---the guy with all the lights in the previous posts is already out of the race...blown engine at mile 5!! Jesse James is past mile marker 40 so far...

damn...5 miles is all...that's a great way to ruin your day

Isn't Robby in a TT?

After the bikes and quads, the TT's go first followed by Cl.1 then whoever......

If you had the TTrucks and Class 1 and 10 cars going after the class 3 and other slower classes, a lot of people would be in big damn trouble.

Just for a second, can you imagine RG starting behind a semi stock FJ and it's brethren and doing what it takes to pass them on a goat trail?

Yeah, that is the way they should go...don't think their IRC tracker is working...all the sites are getting flooded and its hard to discern any info on anybody at this point...

Yeah, DirtNews, RDC and ORC are all getting flooded and there is huge lag and the trackers are hardly working.

EDIT: FUCKING HOLY HELL! I can't get anywhere on RDC. ODC , Or DirtNews. My head is going to explode.

Even though it is good for the sport and its popularity, it annoys the shit out of me that I have been folling it on line any year I haven't been down there with zero delays or issues.

I think that it says a lot about the popularity of the sport and how it needs some form of live or same day TV coverage for the big races.

I don't know if you saw th is, but when you hear people talking about how it's going to be wet and muddy it's because they have been there. This years edition is going to be ugly for a lot of people.

Check out these pre-run pics:

http://www.desertbaja.com/foros/viewtopic.php?t=141

http://www.desertbaja.com/foros/viewtopic.php?t=87

First fatality reported.....

"Accident reported on HWY 5 south of San Felipe between chase truck and quad. 1 fatality and 3 serious injuries. No further details."

That's what you get when you get chase trucks running backwards on a live course with race traffic coming towards you. Every year you seem to hear about some team that thinks that they are more important that a human beings life.

Not saying that's what happened or that's the story here but it just seems all together too common that it's happening.

Sad.

I also heard something somewhere about a Trophy Truck or 1 Car Vs. Pedestrian. Rumor or anything on the boards about it?

No...hadn't heard anything about a pedestrian yet...but it looks like RG/Andy McMillan and the 83 truck will be the first TT to cross the finish line...and appears as if they have a big enough time lead on the other trucks to secure another Baja victory for Robby...Great for Andy too...Damn...to be that young and that good...

Yup...RG and Andy are the confirmed TT winners...what a huge boost this should be for the sport...probly the two most marketable individuals in the sport (other than perhaps Pastrana...) And this ENDS BFG's run as champ of the B1K...gonna have to redesign those posters now...and how long before you see the TOYO posters and ads up featuring RG and Andy?? Oh...and check out the travel on this Rhino...think it has more travel than my poor truck!!

And with $40k you too can build a suspension like that for prtty much anything. That Rhino racing is getting huge. And way out of hand already with costs. You can run a competitive 9, 5, 1600 or maybe even 10 car for what those guys are putting into those things. i'd take a race car that will be still racing in 10 years over the latest and greatest trend.

...and that rich with a family that has been racing his whole life. He's a great driver but being a McMillion has it's advantages.

As much as I dislike Robby's racing persona, I'm glad he finally won won after some frustrating outings at the Mil in recent years.

5,000 Trophy Truck Vs. idiot standing too close to the course.

TT - 1
Idiot - 0

http://www.dirtworksfilms.com/videos/ojosinsanity.wmv

Thats why I'm a big fan of the Jeepspeed classes...though it allows some modifications, you can still buile a 1/2 way decent race truck for under 10K...

It's closer to 20k but yeah, it's still expensive as hell to pre-run, travel and race. Especially SCORE.

Well, I'm not talking a competitive machine...just one that qualifies per the safety guidelines and would be allowed to enter the race....

I in now way want to start any argument here but if that's the only criteria, why bother?

I would guess that the Full Traction Jeepspeed has 40-50k in parts and labor into it if you or I were building it. I think that it's going to get even ore expensive with Jeepseed allowing Grands, Honchos and other V8 trucks into the series' open class.

Honestly, my nature would only allow me to be competitive or not do it at all. If I wanted to go trail ride the course, I could do that when there isn't a race going on. You could do that in anything. But if I did it, I would have to build something that I knew would wtihstand the rigors of racing and put me towards the front of the pack in my class.

There is a huge difference in the wear and tear on a vehicle when you are comparing merely driving a course and racing it. And it takes a huge toll. You also have to consider your personal safety and just barely getting it done might get you killed.

I would never want to spend just enough to be an alsoran.

but with a attrition rate of near 70%...just being consistent and finishing can go a long way...but I do defer to your deeper knowledge of this and would say that I was only figuring in the base cost of the vehicle--say $3K for an old Cherokee, and say $7K for the cage, fuel cell, and other safety stuff...but if you say its more that that I will gladly agree with you--I just didn't realize how much it cost just to get a vehicle up to spec....

Let's use that Cherokee.

Say you buy one for $3,000 that's a junker.

It's probably running a tired 4liter that you want to at least refresh or replace with a less tired 4.0. Unless you are leaving it bone stokc, you at least want to juice it up a little: Cam? Headers, exhauset and intake as a start.

So there is $1,500 on your stock motor plus upgrades and labor?

If you are lucky you are into your motor program for $3,500-4 for a runner.

What tranny are you going to use? Eventually you are either going to burn up the one you have and get it rebuilt or get yourself a new one and build it to withstand the rigors of racing.

You aren't going to leave the suspension stock but there are plenty of options that will run you from $1,500 to $5,000. Call RE, SkyJacker, Full Traction or any of the other XJ suspension manufacturers what a long arm suspension system that will get you about 12-13 in ches of travel will cost you.

Are you planning on keeping the stock rear end, gears ect. ? Even if you are you still want to take it apart, replace the axles wtih something a little beefier and truss the hell out of it so it doesn't snap like a twig.

A new rear end? Ask these guys what they are into their junkyward D44 after everything is said and done with cleaning it up and gears? and no one is welding a truss on theirs.

You'd be lucky to escape only spending $1,000-$1,500. and don't even think about calling Currie and getting one of their $3,500 race ready jobbers.

Then you have to get shocks. Bilstein 7100s will get too hot over the long haul so at a minimum you are looking at at least one 9100/wheel. At a minimum, with their racer prices you are looking at at least $500 a corner. Probably closer to 6+ if you plan to get a 2 or 3 check bypass.

Now you have engine and suspension.

And you can tie it all in with your cage. If you don't build it yourself, you are looking at at least 3-4k for someone to gut your interior and build you a legal race cage. Your fuell cell has to be built and tied into the structure and you are looking at 500 or so for that plus add-ons and plumbing.

Then when that's all done you can get the whole thing wired up.

Then you start spending money on other crap:

fiberglass
Seats
Harnesses
window nets
dash/guages
communications
GPS
air pumper
wheels
tires

Paint because you don't want it to look like crap.

Which is why you buy used. Your best move is to always buy a racecar from some other poor schlub that folloed his dream straight into bankruptsy after multiple refinances. It's a cynical approach but you will often get yourself a competitive racecar for less than half of what it would cost to build it yourself.

All of this is why I envy the guys who do it so much. Because there is no money in desert racing. For most guys like Dave, there is such a sacrifice of time and money and setting aside so many other things to prioritise your racing program. And I have one too many wives and three too many daughters and only so much money to go around to make that kind of sacrifice. Those lucky ones are those that are able to ballance everything and pursue their dreams more often than not for one race or one season at a time.

The rest of us poor slobs become fans.

I give!! I give!!

Well...maybe some more money will flow into it with the increasing exposure that Andy and Travis and JJ are getting it...Plus, with BFG losing its title to Toyo this year its put up or shut up time--either put some more sponsor money into their racers or conceed the title of best offroad race tire to Toyo or others....

Pastrana's race ended last night...
"#116
TP rolled it last night.
cought on fire, burned up
TP and Cassy ok...."

Bet he doesn't encounter rolling his vehicle, buring it up, and being stranded in the middle of the desert much in MotoX or rally racing!!

Oh he's wadded his Subaru in a big way. He just didn't get the stranded in Baja part.

Did you ever see this? :

http://www.vtcar.com/video/video_popup.htm

Was it a Suby he was driving or a "suby powered" class 1?? Didn't think he was driving the WRX down there...but yes, I had seen that video...the place that builds his cars is a couple hours north of here, as is the Rally school he and Andy McMillan go to in NH...

I don't think that CL-1 was subaru powered.

I believe it's an Ls-2 or Ls-7.

Thats what I would have thought...so who was it that brought the WRX out there??

I dunno.

I saw pictures of it and wondered how the hell it was going to cross the washes and the silt beds. That was balsy even trying it. I imagine on the wide open stuff they would be flying but the goat trails and the big washouts they didn't have the tire to just pound over anything and would have to finesse it a lot.

I'm really curious how far they made it.

Me too

I just read an unconfirmed report that someone saw it broken down at RM-45-50. I don't know if they got it going again though.

Check this video out of the beginning of the race....I just LOVE the sounds of the trophy trucks....unreal...

B1K vid...

Bad news on the only Nissan entered in the race--the Titan...broke down and out of the race at.....MM 77....They had none of the spare parts necessary to fix the truck...so they were done early...

Hearing TT's makes my willy tickle.

Love it!

Couple notes on some of the other classes...only one of the Jeepspeed vehicles finished--first ever I believe--and it was the Pirate4x4.com vehicle...and in the stock mini truck class it was the Mitsubishi Raider winning the class by only 30 seconds over an FJ Cruiser followed by one of Hall's Hummers (H2 or H3)...

x2

I have been thinking of building a Class 11 or a Class 5 for a few years....

But My X would be a Class 3 if I put in a cage!

I had a ride with a buddy of mine that works for Michellin, but I couldn't get off work

Maybe next time.

Official results are in...no UTV's finished out of 6 starters...and for those of you with girlfriends/wives...you can tell them that "Dr. McDreamy" (Patrick Dempsey from Grey's Anatomy) finished 4th in his class...

Quick question...where can you see what the requirements are for the different classes? Is horsepower the determining factor (why would and xterra be any different than a tacoma or new gen x, for example)

I would go to the SCORE website and download their rulebook...different classes are deterimined by many things...too many to list here but wheel travel, type of components, style of vehicle are a couple basic ones...

You can not download SCORE's rule book, they get 25 green and thats the only way.

Go to www.bitd.com and there you can download the rule book.

The rules are close to the same. The class names are different. For example; Score has "Trophy Trucks", BitD has "Trick Trucks".

Score has stock mini and stock full for their stock classes.

Best in the Desert has the class broke down a little more, 3100=stock mid size SUV, 4100= stock full size SUV, 3000=unlimit SUV.

It breaks down the same way for P/U trucks.

Best in the Desert
CAR and TRUCK
CLASS and NUMBER SYSTEM

CLASS # Description - PRO Only
CLASS 1000 Class 10
CLASS 1100 Class 10 Light
CLASS 1200 ProTruck
CLASS 1400 Trick Truck - Unlimited Truck
CLASS 1500 Class 1 - Unlimited Car
CLASS 1700 JeepSpeed 1
CLASS 2000 Class 1/2 - 1600
CLASS 3000 Class 3
CLASS 3100 Pure Stock - Mini SUV
CLASS 3700 JeepSpeed 3
CLASS 4100 Pure Stock - Full SUV
CLASS 5000 Class 5
CLASS 5100 Class 5-1600
CLASS 7100 Class 7 S - Stock Mini
CLASS 7200 Unlimited Mini or Mid-Size Truck
CLASS 7300 Pure Stock - Mini Truck
CLASS 8000 Class 8
CLASS 8100 Stock Full
Sportsman Class Only
CLASS 1800 Safari Pre-Runner

Complete comprehensive listing of classes, names, approximate class distinctions with approximate costs:

http://www.desertrides.com/reference/racing_classes.php

Couple pics of some of the more interesting vehicles...Proof that a NEAR stock vehicle can run in the Baja...this Avalanche had very little in the way of mods beyond the cage and window netting...only made it to check point 1--no reports of it making it any farther than that....

The Dodge Raider who the Stock Mini class over Rod Millen's FJ, Rod Hall's H3, and Gavin Milton's Honda Ridgeline...

and of the Titan that raced...

does stock mini class use the stock suspension and engine? if so, that is pretty hardcore.

Yes, stock as delievered from the factory.

You can only double shock and increase spring rate.

The motor you can do some mods but, most dont. Headers and a air duct is all the average stock racer gets. Rule state you have to use stock ignition and computor.

Lucky for us in Nissans we have more HP stock than most will with mods.

so basically, use trd coils if you have stock ones basically, and you have to use shocks that toyota uses on the tacoma, for example.

That is so awesome for some reason. it seems like alot of people would want to enter in this class. is it just the wear and tear that it puts on your vehicle that people want to avoid? it seems like this would be really fun to do if you dont have the money for the really expensive upgrades.

Isn't that the Mitsubishi Raider?

Damn...yup...you're right...When I say "Raider" my brain still goes back to the old Dodge Raider SUV (which was a Montero knockoff) so I suppose its only fair that the new MITSUBISHI Raider is a Dodge Dakota knockoff...but still impressive that it beat out the Hummer and Ridgeline which have both raced extensively in other races...

pic of the Scoobie, which was racing in the Sportsman Car class...

Here is the post by the driver of the Scoobie on what happened...sounds like he is defending himself as he's probly been getting a lot of flak on having a "car" out there...but really...if VW bugs and Rhino's can be entered, there is no reason a Scoobie can't be as well...

"this is ryan, the driver for the first, and only 78 miles.

the stats:

we averaged 42.3 mph (gps) before we broke!

we never got stuck! we passed so many people in the silt!!!!

I broke a clutch slave cylinder at rm32, and started pushing the car too hard, and broke a lower control arm.

We past 25? cars, and truck that broke earlier than us, and thats the luck of baja, no parts on the wrong side of the coast. bummer.

we have all come from offroad (walkers, robby gordon's, rick l. johnson-congrats to both of them on their wins!!!), and we know what it takes to run baja, even just to finish.

running the 1000 is just for fun, and it was, and we will be back next race for more "fun runs" with some wrc safari level suspension that we couldn't get on the car in time, because i made the choice to go to baja 2 months ago.

big thanks to all involved:

SCOTT G. OF PLACAR IN TEMECULA, CA
CHRIS TUSOW OF PLACAR
GREG OF MILLENIUM MOTORSPORTS (RACE ENGINES)
JIM, AND CHRIS AT RANCH MUFFLER
THE WHOLE GRAVEL CREW-NICK, BRIAN, MARVIN, MARTTI, JESS, ETC, ETC

BFGOODRICH FOR THE TIRE SUPPORT!!!
KC FOR THE HIDS
OZ RACING FOR THE WHEELS
PLACAR FOR THE SHOP/FABWORK/ETC
PCI RADIOS FOR THE TECH SUPPORT
APPLE COMPUTERS FOR THE SUPPORT"