Hundreds of prep hours over the recent months came down to a 36 hour window to get two cars from the @scoreinternational Baja 1000 start line in Ensenada, through 828.25 brutal miles of race course and back to the Ensenada finish line. That effort takes an army and we had one ready!
The @jaos_corporation #8188 LX600 suffered technical issues early in the race, leaving us running much slower pace than planned. After several attempts to remedy, both on the course and in the pits, the tough decision was made to end the race as checkpoints would be closing far ahead of us.
The focus was now on the @canguroracing #8155 which was already well on the way through the infamous San Felipe whoops. Darren W hopped out and I took the car at RM474 with Steve Procise in the co-driver seat. We made quick work into the narrow winding mountain section but started experiencing brake issues, the fronts being nearly completely locked and smoking hot.
We got out of the car several times to troubleshoot, finally resolving it by tinkering with the bias rod that adjusts pressure from the front and rear manual master cylinders. The brakes were better but not perfect.
We had some rough miles ahead, deep silt beds and crazy hill climbs. We were able to assist some stuck cars along the way, including dragging a Class 11 VW Bug up the side of a mountain as they bounced all over the road attached to the back of our car. I can only imagine what their side of the story is.
7 hours later we had made it to RM640 where @steve_prosise
would hop out and @tomonori_noto
would take over in the co-driver seat. The brake pedal bias rod complete failed early on in our driving leg, leaving us driving a bit slower and less precise than preferred but we safely made it into the pit at RM681.
Our amazing team jumped to work and came up with a brake rod fix that would restore some level of braking for Will C & Bryson's race to the finish line. Fortunately the fix held and the pair had a clean run to the checkered flag. The entire Canguro and Jaos teams were able to cheer them over the finish line. What a race!
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