ATRacing January 2007 Newsletter
ATRacing January 2007 Newsletter
ATRacing final 2006 Championship results:

Thank you to everybody who helped us get the second place in the 2006 Class 6 Championship in Baja Californa Sur and congratulations to all our fellow racers for making this a great season. It was really a season that embraced good, clean, old-fashioned racing. We look forward to seeing you next year!

CLASE 6
1st Place: 600 - Ricardo Betancourt, 827
2nd Place: 612 - Andrea Tomba, 764
3rd Place: 614 - Norman Ceseña, 697

For more Championship results, please see www.atoff-road.com

Loreto to La Paz Race: the end of the 2006 season

Well, my friends… It seems crazy but yet another season has gone by, and another year seems to have flashed past! As we prepare to sit with our families, in a cozy Santa hat, sipping on a hot, soothing "Glögg wine" (a traditional hot, extremely alcoholic, Scandinavian, Christmas punch… what else would you drink in 90oF in Mexico???), our minds start to drift on the season past, and on the season to come of course!

Our season this year finished late, as our last race was postponed in October due to the severe damage caused by Hurricane John in particular, and the new date was set to the 9th of December. Only 7 points behind the Class leader, the crew did a lot of preparation and we did a lot of pre-running on what had become one of the worst terrains I have ever witnessed, causing a carnage of cars along the race course. Not only did the hurricanes cause its damage, but the Baja 1000 ran over the same course on the 16th November, with over 450 participants, leaving an already wrecked course absolutely horrible. Along the race, several of the still deep arroyos between Loreto and Ciudad de Constitucion still held over 4 feet of water and the silt beds that now held holes that could easily swallow a VW Bettle, were deeper and wider than I have ever witnessed, as people had already covered any shortcuts or already carved up more solid ground.

Our 612 Explorer was roaring nicely the morning of the race, as the engine had been re-built to ensure that it would withstand the punishment that it was going to get over the next 300 miles, everything has been as sealed as possible to avoid any problems with the arroyos, and best of all, with luck of the draw gave us the first starting position in our Class, in what was going to be a very dusty race!

Unfortunately, the luck was to stop there, in what was going to become one of our most frustrating races…

Shortly after the start, as we ran across the long rock arroyo with several water pockets, before heading up the hills to San Javier, two things happened: (1) water managed to seep into the radio cables, causing the ear piercing high pitch that drills through your head in a mini-second, leaving us without communication and (2) we noticed some extremely heavy shaking of the hood, strong enough to quickly shear off the bolt keeping our life saving K&N Filter in place. We had to pull over to tie the filter down, watching our competition drive by… It was still early on… and our game plan was to drive safe and keep the truck in one piece to the finish line.

Getting into the driver seat again, we were now having to catch up a lot of slower vehicles, leaving us to drive virtually constantly with a maximum of three feet visibility. What we could see was the huge number of race cars that were pulled over on the side of the road or in the deep ends of the arroyos… We kept a solid pace and started picking off the vehicles in front of us, although we were struggling a little with the steering, and mainly blamed the slippery dirt for the lack of response. Then… we start hitting the silt beds near Piedra Parada, it seemed like a car grave yard, with trucks and buggies all over the place, sitting in a cloud of dust as they tried to get themselves out. Not to stand out, we quickly got ourselves stuck with incredible ease. Lots of digging, lifting, and packing later, we managed to get the truck out on harder ground. My faithful, and now exhausted co-driver Jose got in, we put our belts on, and… the truck just seems to dig itself back into the silt! Something is definitely wrong, but we cant put our finger on it, and are cursing and spitting as time after time, we have to go through the process of getting stuck, with a total of four victories for the gluttonous silt! Finally past the area, we have to make good time to make it to the next check before it closes, we get a good pace going, but are feeling even more problems with the steering, with a lot of play, and very slack response. We have a pit at the next check, so just a last sprint to check in time, and then the crew can take a look at the problem and then we can continue to a leisurely finish. The car that we are fighting over 1st place has blown his transmission, and only has 4th gear, so all is still in play. About a quarter of a mile from the check, with enter a fast, left textbook turn in a four wheel slide at about 60MPH, but instead of the tires gripping through the turn, we feel the outside wheel fold, and that feeling in somewhere very deep part in our stomachs starts… here we go again… Three flips later, we are lying on our side, unscathed expect for Jose taking a hard fall on his elbow, but the truck didn't get away so lightly…

Being so close to a major checkpoint, and the fact that we had plenty of enough inertia to make a lot of dust mixed with specs of green flying through the air, we quickly have some supporters come and see if we were ok, and help us right the truck. A quick look at the truck, and we new that this was it… end of the race, end of the season. The original problems we had had, were caused by one of the high beam bases breaking at the weld, first causing all the tubes to shake, in turn shaking the hood and breaking the filter. However, the biggest consequence was that it caused the wheels to toe out pretty seriously, virtually causing the front wheels to dig into the silt, making the problem even worse and ultimately leading to the play in the wheel to make the wheel fold under the car under the weight of the fast corner. The crew was quickly on site, looking and assessing the damage, and a sad silence seems to fall on this beautiful desert, as you could feel everybody's disappointment on knowing that the Class Championship hopes had faded away.

Now… on the good side… because YOU KNOW that there is also a god side… everybody was safe and healthy, we crashed not only near our crew, but very accessible to get the trailer and start our journey back to the shop, but best of all? We crashed a quarter of mile from Ana and her pit vehicle, so not only did she not have to worry for hours on end whether we were alright or not, but once we had our ears pulled for crashing and trashing the truck, we were drinking something very cold and munching on home made empanadas and burritos, with home made Habanero salsa!!!

There is a lot to be said for the adrenaline and personal challenges fixes that we get though racing, however few things mean as much as the support of our families and our crew, who in our minds and our hearts, all sit in the car with us whilst we are racing, and whether good or bad, there are few things that fulfill you as much as a team and family being one. To all of these unique and beautiful people, Thank you for always being there and bearing with us, and for making this a true heartfelt family!

A big thank you as well to our extended family, our sponsors who keep helping us do what we love, and give us some of the best products to work with.

Although the Class Championship slipped through our fingers this season, we are already ready and rearing to go to grab it next season!

ATRacing: What's happening in 2007?:

Right now the team is an predicament, as we had planned to battle with the bigger Class 8 trucks, using our Class 6 Explorer, however, the team was left with the idea that they would like to win the Class 6 Championship next season and settle some pending scores, so we will find out at the beginning of the year.

There are also some strong rumors that ATRacing may be building a Class 8 Pick Up…

Want to participate in the Baja 1000 2007?:

ATracing are also trying to put together a team of one or possible two vehicles to partake in the next Baja 1000. This will be a legendary event, as it celebrates its 40th Anniversary, will run approximately 1,500 miles ( as though 1,000 miles weren't tough enough…), starting in Ensenada and finishing in Cabo san Lucas. There will also be a day's presentation and events in Tijuana, and two days of revision and festivities in Ensenada. If you are interested in being part of the team, and driving or co-driving not only a piece of the Baja 1000 but also a part of history, please contact Andrea on andrea@deseabaja.com

What's in store for 2007?:

2006 witnessed a division of racing circuits, with several promoters joining interests and starting the "50 Years of Baja Off Road" Championship, whist the Baja California South Championship (AEABCS) continued separately.

Apart from that, a short course Championship (Autodromo Baja Sur) was also held, based out of San Pedro, presenting five races over the season.

There were optimistic talks about the various promoters all getting together for 2007, leading to higher purses, and a larger number of total entries per race, rather than have them scattered over several races. However, there seems to have been some irreconcilable differences, and at the moment there seems that there will be at least two different Championships.

Here are the two current "provisional" calendars that we have been given. As it seems, there will definitely not be any shortage of races!

Calendario del Campeonato 2007 AEABCS

Enero: Pista, Autódromo Hnos. Monroy, AEABCS
Febrero: Ruta, SJ-CSL-SJ, San José A.C. y San José 500
Marzo: Pista, Autódromo Luis Loco Sandoval, AEABCS
Abril/Mayo: Ruta, Dos Mares 500, Club Automovilístico La Paz
Junio: Ruta, La Paz a Los Barriles, Autoclub Coyote Pits
Julio: Ruta, Carrera Nocturna "Cabo 250", Club Zorros
Agosto: Ruta, Loreto 400, Autoclub Loreto
Septiembre: Ruta, Cimarrones 250, Autoclub Cimarrones

Calendario ProBaja:

FEB Pista Monroy. Show internacional. Curt Leduc y Evan Evans.
MAR Pista Gavilanes.
ABR Circuito Bronco. Pista Fam Osuna.. 3 vueltas de 18Km.
MAY Carrera Nocturna Baja Sur 300. San Jose del Cabo a La Paz.
JUL Coyote 300. Ruta Original La Paz Todos Santos San Antonio Divisaderos El Tecolote
AGO Circuito Bronco.
SEP Loreto San Jose. Sabado de Loreto La Paz y domingo La Paz San Jose

NEW Race Course for 2007: Circuito Bronco.

The Osuna Family, large land owners in the La Paz area, have succumbed to their sons Umberto And Juan Carlos's passion for Off Road racing, to convert part of their beautiful Ranch land on the road to Los Planes into an off road haven. The family has worked closely with Manolo Nunez of ProBaja to introduce an 18 kilometer desert route, all inside their own private property, as well as a 2 kilometer Short Course, to satisfy all pallets!

We wish the Osuna family the best of luck on their new Project, and look forward to trying out the new tracks.

2007: Keep looking at www.atoff-road.com

Special thanks go out to Russ and to all of you who have made www.atoff-road.com into one of your favorite site, making the site climb to the top of Baja Racing web pages. Keep us in mind in the new year if you want to keep up to date with what is happening South of the border, or if you want to advertise your product or services to a perceptive target market.

Thanks to everyone, and best wished to you all and your families for the New Year!
ATRacing Crew

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