Just got back from a trip down to watch the Baja 1000. There were 4 of us in a '77 Blazer, a Diesel Jimmy and my longbed '76 (with a Honda XR650 riding along).
We crossed the border on Thursday morning last week after driving all night, then made it down to Ensenada for the last few hours of tech inspection (read: big huge party). Met alot of cool folks, had some great food, and took in all the machinery there. We left Ensenada and headed to the sticks to find a spot along the race route, and ended up camping in the high country at race mile 83. We were awakened by a helicopter blasting over at about 100 feet above ground level - that's when the bikes started coming thru. They lasted for a few hours, mixed in with quads a bit later. After an hour gap or so the trophy trucks arrived, and that was too cool. We had an ideal spot on the course and they were hauling arse around a corner right in front of us.
After things died down a bit we headed east into the parched desert at a checkpoint with some big jumps around it. Then we went back west and camped in Valle de la Trinidad (somewhere around mile 530) for some night action. The racers had spread way out by then and kept coming thru in a steady stream all night. I was sleeping in the bed of my truck and would poke my head up and watch every once in awhile as they roared thru. In the morning there was a '77 Chevy short stepside from Class 8 that had stopped at the bottom of the hill we camped on with a broken rear spring. We went down and offered any assistance we could and chatted with the team members who were too exhausted or frozen to do much. We ended up giving them a C-clamp to hold stuff together on the truck. After about an hour they roared off with an engine that sounded like it had no top end left - turns out they won class 8 though. Then, as we were cooking breakfast over our fire, we looked up and noticed Chip Foose wake up from the camp next to ours and start putting on driving gear. We'd been next to him all night and never realized it. We walked over and said howdy and shot the bull for a few minutes - really nice guy, that one. When his Baja Challenge class car came along he swapped with the other driver (Troy Trepanier) and took off.
After that we departed the race and headed way up on an all-day trip to Mike's Sky Ranch in the middle of nowhere. It's a killer place that caters to motorheads, and I highly recommend it. Beds are $50 US and that includes breakfast and dinner. Lotsa good trails around there. We left there the next day for the beach and ended up cooling our heels in Ensedira on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Stayed there for the night and headed back home the next day.
Lots of good food, but if you don't bring your own you'd better like Mexican, cuz there ain't anything else.
Great, friendly people down there - forget about Tijuana and go see the rest of Baja.
Be prepared to break down and plan accordingly. Bring at least 2 spare tires. The '77 Blazer threw an alternator bearing and I had luckily brought along a spare alternator.
Remember it's a whole different world down there than we're used to...but's it's really pretty neat.
The race kicks all tail. A must see. Also, rent Dust to Glory from Blockbuster.
I'll try and post some more pics later.
We crossed the border on Thursday morning last week after driving all night, then made it down to Ensenada for the last few hours of tech inspection (read: big huge party). Met alot of cool folks, had some great food, and took in all the machinery there. We left Ensenada and headed to the sticks to find a spot along the race route, and ended up camping in the high country at race mile 83. We were awakened by a helicopter blasting over at about 100 feet above ground level - that's when the bikes started coming thru. They lasted for a few hours, mixed in with quads a bit later. After an hour gap or so the trophy trucks arrived, and that was too cool. We had an ideal spot on the course and they were hauling arse around a corner right in front of us.
After things died down a bit we headed east into the parched desert at a checkpoint with some big jumps around it. Then we went back west and camped in Valle de la Trinidad (somewhere around mile 530) for some night action. The racers had spread way out by then and kept coming thru in a steady stream all night. I was sleeping in the bed of my truck and would poke my head up and watch every once in awhile as they roared thru. In the morning there was a '77 Chevy short stepside from Class 8 that had stopped at the bottom of the hill we camped on with a broken rear spring. We went down and offered any assistance we could and chatted with the team members who were too exhausted or frozen to do much. We ended up giving them a C-clamp to hold stuff together on the truck. After about an hour they roared off with an engine that sounded like it had no top end left - turns out they won class 8 though. Then, as we were cooking breakfast over our fire, we looked up and noticed Chip Foose wake up from the camp next to ours and start putting on driving gear. We'd been next to him all night and never realized it. We walked over and said howdy and shot the bull for a few minutes - really nice guy, that one. When his Baja Challenge class car came along he swapped with the other driver (Troy Trepanier) and took off.
After that we departed the race and headed way up on an all-day trip to Mike's Sky Ranch in the middle of nowhere. It's a killer place that caters to motorheads, and I highly recommend it. Beds are $50 US and that includes breakfast and dinner. Lotsa good trails around there. We left there the next day for the beach and ended up cooling our heels in Ensedira on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Stayed there for the night and headed back home the next day.
Lots of good food, but if you don't bring your own you'd better like Mexican, cuz there ain't anything else.
Great, friendly people down there - forget about Tijuana and go see the rest of Baja.
Be prepared to break down and plan accordingly. Bring at least 2 spare tires. The '77 Blazer threw an alternator bearing and I had luckily brought along a spare alternator.
Remember it's a whole different world down there than we're used to...but's it's really pretty neat.
The race kicks all tail. A must see. Also, rent Dust to Glory from Blockbuster.
I'll try and post some more pics later.
