ATRacing May 2007 Newsletter
ATRacing May 2007 Newsletter
San Jose Pista "Loco" Sandoval:

18 & 19th April

After the various technical and mechanical difficulties that we have had in the first two races of the season (some would call it bad luck…) we were very eager to make our mark in one of Andrea's favorite short courses, the Pista "Loco Sandoval".

The truck was tested prior to taking it to San Jose, and it seemed that the glitches had been taken care of, even though the team decided to run a stock 5.0 FORD engine, to avoid any difficulties, and at least get a result in the Championship.

PROBAJA as usual put up a great show, and the mechanical revision filled the San Jose baseball stadium with cars, trucks and fans, and it was also nice to see some new major sponsors, such as Honda, Parts Plus, and to see that TECATE took a big presence again.

As usual, Andrea was trying to get the most testing time possible, so they headed to the track on Saturday night to test the truck on the actual course. After a couple of laps, that showed how rough and punishing on the suspension the track was, the engine started to loose power. It was after 8.00pm, and it was starting the get dark, and a sullen mood started to come over the team. Chief Mechanic Banda comes to the rescue .."It is probably the engine springs. I just happened to have brought the new Edelbrocks ones with me… and tools. Do we have enough lamps to give us light to take the engine apart?" That's all that was needed for the team to start taking the engine apart, on the side of a track in the desert, with no lights but handheld torches, and a handful of tools, but with a lot of resourcefulness and will. At 1.30am the engine was ready, and Andrea was able to try it. It was bitchin, and finally roared as had been hoped for. With the new HP, Andrea wanted to adjust the shocks. With no sleep, fueled by Hot dogs that Ana had been able to bring in from the nearest town ( half an hour drive away..), the crew was like " No problem!". About ten laps of adjusting and testing later, the truck was ready shortly after 3.00am, and the team was able to get a couple of hours of sleep before going over the truck at around 6.30am.

The track must have been filled with close to 10,000 spectators, and all the races were very exciting with lots of participants. When it was time for Class 6, which was racing together with Class 8 Stock, Andrea was lined up next to the rivals Tonio Cazarez and current Champion Ricky Betancourt. At the start, Casarez strong V8 managed to put him in front at the first corner, with Andrea slotting in, in front of Betancourt. The crow cheered at what was going to be an exciting race. However, the hand of bad luck was yet not ready to release its grasp on ATRacing. After barely half a lap, Andrea lost power and the engine started overheating, from what seems to have been a distributor problem. Andrea had no choice but to keep the engine going at mid revs in order to be able to complete the 10 laps, and finished third.

When interviewed after the race, Andrea was still full of smiles. "This is racing. Things happen. The whole team has put in more than 110% effort, in both time and effort, but these are mechanical parts, and over those we have little control. We try our best, but sometimes, the have a box full of surprises of their own" said Andrea. "The day that we can control those surprises, and that parts start being bullet proof, is the day that there will no longer be any racing!"

ATRacing teams up with Toyo Tires:

ATRacing is honored to team up with Baja 1000 winner TOYO Tires for the 2007 season, giving the team what is undoubtedly the best dirt tire available. Even more so, what we are stoked about is that Toyo's race tires are exactly the tire that you can buy at your local tire shop. No prototypes, no "racer only US$600" tire, but the tires straight from the store. What you see is what you get, and what you get, is the best! www.toyo.com


ZAMP is on our heads!:

The fairly new helmet company ZAMP is making itself known for producing some high end products at an incredibly reasonable price. Its rage is very wide from parker pump prepared helmets, to carbon fiber helmets to motorcycle helmets. Look out for our forthcoming product reports. www.zamp-racing.com

Morfo Racing grows to cover more of your racing needs:

Our wonderful racing Mexican sponsor Morfo Racing is covering a wider range of racing services, not only covering intercoms and radios, but there own line of safety equipment such as shoes, gloves and race suits at very reasonable prices and great designs. They are using us as a testing ground and sound board for the off road race orientated products, and we can see that they are going to do great.

Morfo is also offering their own helmet painting service which is first class. Look out for the new ATRacing design!

For those of you in Mexico don't forget that you don't have to hassle with importation or complicated shipping…

Change of date for Circuito Bronco:

The challenging race Circuito Bronco that will cover 3 laps of the technical 16 kilometer course on Saturday, with another 3 laps on Sunday was postponed from the scheduled 11th of March to the 24 & 25th of March. It will be inaugural race on this circuit, promising a huge party and mechanical revision on Friday. It's going to be a LONG race week end so get your coolers ready…


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