Baja 500 New Summit Notes

[Zambo]

Ha, we remarked the Loretto section at the 1000 Thursday before the race. If you weren't at the drivers meeting Thursday night you wouldn't have know about it. The gun toting farmer is probably holding out for money, when the race gets closer and the course is still going around his land the price will come down, should be almost free buy race day.

The last TWO times the course has gone thru that section in Loreto they've changed it right before the race. Who knows, maybe Sal has a deal in place to keep people from prerunning the normal route over the top so this is the way around that section for now. I agree Ramsey that prerunning this early is a somewhat wasted effort.

 

[Matt Stevens]

As bad as the summit might be I had myself convinced that sitting here at my desk for the 500 was the place to be. Then I saw the pic of the summit and now I feel myself coming down with full blown Baja fever. Daam IT! On a more serious note they did change the course out of the silt beds during the drivers meeting at last year's 1000. So I agree with just wait and see.

 

[jamoffroad1]

Hey guys- Yes I was driving the stock Lexus SUV and probably the third car through Friday on the course. Here is my .02 cents on this topic. First, I was stuck for 90 min. on the summit last year due to traffic and I would still take last years course all day long compared to the newly cut one this year. I feel us limited classes will be challenged for sure but I think it will surprise some top class driver's especially the wide track trucks or long wheelbase ones. Even if you have heavy equipment up there where do you plan to put them? No room to pass, no room for chase support? No room for error? If you have a spooled rear end (which is 99%) chances of rear tracking off line is going to happen on these slippery rock faces? In one area you cannot just back down or you may slide a bit then off you go for a long ride down the mountain. Safety is always a concern and I know this is meant to be a challenge, all good! but I just hope nobody gets hurt on this section? I also suggest that SCORE does something about this or bring your Jiffy Pop because this will be an exciting place to watch!

In the picture it doesn't look like much but 8 miles and 3 hours later is what I had to deal with. Pictures don't do justice but thought I would throw one in anyway.

Just be prepared and good luck!

that pic is of the easy up hill about 1 mile later is the killer one.

 

[BajaboundMoto]

I wouldn't get too worked up about all this; if it is as bad as everyone says (and it is) then SCORE will make changes before the race. That is why I never bother to prerun until Wednesday before the race and like to do my section on Thursday because everything changes so much and the closer to race day the closer the conditions will be to race conditions.
Don't waste your time in this section until later when you know more.

Exactly.

BJs words Saturday evening (not quoted but close)... Impossible to keep this section in the course. The bottle neck will start with Trophy Trucks.
If I understood his story correctly, on the new decent he threw the prerunner truck in reverse to help slow.

 

[KC Amigo]

I know you heard it before but here is my 2 cents. We went through on Saturday with a group of very experienced drivers in very good pre-runners and race cars. Everyone had problems(especially us). It was NOT fun. Even the guys with the big LS1 engines had problems getting through. This was on the second day of pre-running before the course got even more chewed up. I was told by another team that they could not get through RM 110 in their car on Sunday and had to turn back. The downhill @ RM 113 IMHO is the worst of all. It is extremely loose and steep with an off camber left turn from hell. The bikes were walking it down here. If your car is not 100% or you make any error you will go over the side and down down down into the rocks. If the course doesn’t change there WILL be a bottleneck in this section. I have absolutelty no doubt about it. It will not be a race it will not be fun and most of us will time out. Thanks again to Jeff,Dave and everyone else who helped us get unstuck and off the summit.
P.S. If you have not prerun this section don’t take these posts lightly or think they are exaggerated. See it for yourself. If you go to prerun this section, make sure you are 100% prepared to spend the night just in case. Most chase trucks even with 4x4 will not make it in to come and get you. We met a couple guys in SF that were stuck up there for a couple of days. Be safe!

 

[BUSBY]

Exactly.

BJs words Saturday evening (not quoted but close)... Impossible to keep this section in the course. The bottle neck will start with Trophy Trucks.
If I understood his story correctly, on the new decent he threw the prerunner truck in reverse to help slow.

I agree w/ Tim here.

If BJ had to throw his prerunner into reverse to slow down that's kind serious IMO

 

[buddy crisp]

Hey guys- Yes I was driving the stock Lexus SUV and probably the third car through Friday on the course. Here is my .02 cents on this topic. First, I was stuck for 90 min. on the summit last year due to traffic and I would still take last years course all day long compared to the newly cut one this year. I feel us limited classes will be challenged for sure but I think it will surprise some top class driver's especially the wide track trucks or long wheelbase ones. Even if you have heavy equipment up there where do you plan to put them? No room to pass, no room for chase support? No room for error? If you have a spooled rear end (which is 99%) chances of rear tracking off line is going to happen on these slippery rock faces? In one area you cannot just back down or you may slide a bit then off you go for a long ride down the mountain. Safety is always a concern and I know this is meant to be a challenge, all good! but I just hope nobody gets hurt on this section? I also suggest that SCORE does something about this or bring your Jiffy Pop because this will be an exciting place to watch!

In the picture it doesn't look like much but 8 miles and 3 hours later is what I had to deal with. Pictures don't do justice but thought I would throw one in anyway.

Just be prepared and good luck!

The picture of the "stock LEXUS" with street tires no less makes this whole topic embarassing to say the least.

 

[LRS1972]

We went over the Summit on Friday. The views are amazing and plenty of people will get to see those views for a long time while they wait at the bottleneck at the top. When you see the rock with the big X in the picture below go right. If you go left it will not be good. We went down with the turning break handles pulled hard and feathered them to make the turns. It was scary. We caught a big rock about half way down and it broke the fitting off our right rear caliper.

 

[chatterbox]

I know you heard it before but here is my 2 cents. We went through on Saturday with a group of very experienced drivers in very good pre-runners and race cars. Everyone had problems(especially us). It was NOT fun. Even the guys with the big LS1 engines had problems getting through. This was on the second day of pre-running before the course got even more chewed up. I was told by another team that they could not get through RM 110 in their car on Sunday and had to turn back. The downhill @ RM 113 IMHO is the worst of all. It is extremely loose and steep with an off camber left turn from hell. The bikes were walking it down here. If your car is not 100% or you make any error you will go over the side and down down down into the rocks. If the course doesn’t change there WILL be a bottleneck in this section. I have absolutelty no doubt about it. It will not be a race it will not be fun and most of us will time out. Thanks again to Jeff,Dave and everyone else who helped us get unstuck and off the summit.
P.S. If you have not prerun this section don’t take these posts lightly or think they are exaggerated. See it for yourself. If you go to prerun this section, make sure you are 100% prepared to spend the night just in case. Most chase trucks even with 4x4 will not make it in to come and get you. We met a couple guys in SF that were stuck up there for a couple of days. Be safe!

Yep good point on what vehicle you bring up there. I was in a bone stock Lexus with running boards and all and It is not even mine....Anway, that vehicle is extremely capable out of the box with 4Low and a center diff-lock etc. but luckily we did not have any problems except for the 3 point turn on one of the switch backs. The steep down hill was fun sliding sideways but we managed pretty good considering lack of grip. My biggest issue with the summit is a time out and the bottleneck situation. It took us 3 hours with nobody in sight. I may be able to shave off an hour in my race truck but that is about it! FYI- if any rain at all come race day and it will for sure be a parking lot.

 

[jim_moulton]

Just got back from Baja this morning. This section is the stupidest thing I have ever seen on a race course. And by race day its going to be impassable by 90% of the field.We made it through with 2 cars but the class 7 truck that was with us had a hard time and tried to go around only to find a dead end. He later made the hill and helped a buggy get down the other side that lost his brakes. We ran into B.J. Baldwin at mikes sat. nite and his comments were the bottle neck will start with the trophy trucks! Sal and Paul need to try and take toureg thru there.

If they don"t change the course is there anybody out there that wants to rent us a KOH type vehicle.

 

[harleys dad]

Just got back from Baja this morning. This section is the stupidest thing I have ever seen on a race course. And by race day its going to be impassable by 90% of the field.We made it through with 2 cars but the class 7 truck that was with us had a hard time and tried to go around only to find a dead end. He later made the hill and helped a buggy get down the other side that lost his brakes. We ran into B.J. Baldwin at mikes sat. nite and his comments were the bottle neck will start with the trophy trucks! Sal and Paul need to try and take toureg thru there.

If they don"t change the course is there anybody out there that wants to rent us a KOH type vehicle.

Sal and Paul could care less, as long as they get the entry money unpassable means little. I am sure the answer will be its supost to be a challenge but who cares about the little guys that dont have a chance of making it past that area

 

[KC Amigo]

Just talked to 2 more teams who went out on Sunday. neither of then including the TT driver made it through and turned back @ RM 110.

 

[J Caster]

Sal and Paul could care less, as long as they get the entry money unpassable means little. I am sure the answer will be its supost to be a challenge but who cares about the little guys that dont have a chance of making it past that area

Why don't you just quit replying to any of the SCORE posts? Your negative posts are getting really lame.

We all know you don't like SCORE and don't need to hear about it in every thread.

 

[KC Amigo]

I just got off the phone with Sal He is aware of the problem and has sent a blade up there today to work on it.

 

[supernot]

Funniest part about baja racing is how everyone FREAKS OUT about one part of the course! lol

That section - ran it Saturday - Seperates the men from the boys - but lets be real here, half the field is going to be sitting there all night. LOG JAM for sure.

 

[OldGreen]

So . . . sounds like everyone should listen to the warnings and come prepared. From the racer's point of view, I totally get what you guys are saying. However, the last thing that your fans want to hear is that the course was too difficult for an off-road race. That's like saying that there is too much sand at the beach to play volleyball. Just because your race car is incapable today, doesn't mean that it has to be unprepared on race day.

My point is that everyone either needs to be prepared to make it or have an alternative plan up front so as to not become part of the problem.

In the mean time, I look forward to a day in the near future when I can be well enough financed to wait in a log jam in Mexico.

 

[supernot]

I know you heard it before but here is my 2 cents. We went through on Saturday with a group of very experienced drivers in very good pre-runners and race cars. Everyone had problems(especially us). It was NOT fun. Even the guys with the big LS1 engines had problems getting through. This was on the second day of pre-running before the course got even more chewed up. I was told by another team that they could not get through RM 110 in their car on Sunday and had to turn back. The downhill @ RM 113 IMHO is the worst of all. It is extremely loose and steep with an off camber left turn from hell. The bikes were walking it down here. If your car is not 100% or you make any error you will go over the side and down down down into the rocks. If the course doesn’t change there WILL be a bottleneck in this section. I have absolutelty no doubt about it. It will not be a race it will not be fun and most of us will time out. Thanks again to Jeff,Dave and everyone else who helped us get unstuck and off the summit.
P.S. If you have not prerun this section don’t take these posts lightly or think they are exaggerated. See it for yourself. If you go to prerun this section, make sure you are 100% prepared to spend the night just in case. Most chase trucks even with 4x4 will not make it in to come and get you. We met a couple guys in SF that were stuck up there for a couple of days. Be safe!

I was on the 212x bike and didnt walk down... but thought about it. That section was amazing.... I didnt see but 1 bike for the first 60 miles (starting at RM 40) but when I got to the base of the summit... I started seeing tons of people. We ripped through there and took note of how many people were "in a situation" .... helped one quad guy on the backside (just after the insane off camber left) fix his bent ty rod.... after that it was about a mile of very nasty rocks. Seriously 80% of the sportsman MX class is going to be littered all over that place (in bad shape) not to mention the quads, pro MX, and then the TT's and everything else that follows. Hopefully they keep that section, but somehow tame it down a bit. I dont think they can with 5 dozers ... but we'll see.

 

[supernot]

I wouldn't get too worked up about all this; if it is as bad as everyone says (and it is) then SCORE will make changes before the race. That is why I never bother to prerun until Wednesday before the race and like to do my section on Thursday because everything changes so much and the closer to race day the closer the conditions will be to race conditions.

Don't waste your time in this section until later when you know more.

Second that...

 

[jim_moulton]

Picture from rm 110.

 

[randy s]

my question is to the guys that have done the section. will the blade do any real good? it sounds like the best thing would be to carve some small turnouts on the roughest parts if it's at all possible to allow for folks to get by. it sounds like score is committed to run this section though or they wouldn't bother with a blade. so is the blade a real help or just a temporary bandage that won't stay on come race day? also, is there enough time to do this? and it will end prerunning the section at all for most because obviously if you can't get by a car, you can't get by a grader. this is still likely to be a cluster ---k on race day i'm thinkin' but we'll keep our fingers crossed.