Here in the USA the biggest Off-Road race of the year is about to unfold. The 38th SCORE Baja 1000.
This year the race course starts and ends in Ensenada Baja Mexico. ItÂs a non-stop 709 mile race with a time limit of 30 hours. Competitors will start in 30 second intervals starting at 6AM until the last one is off the starting-line. Vehicles are grouped by class. There are motorcycles, quads, stock Volkswagen bugs (Kaefer) and unlimited Trophy Trucks. A record high of over 350 vehicles entries is expected.
The race course is well known to the teams and drivers have been pre-running the course over the last 4 weeks. Most of the race is held on public dirt roads and the few rules call to only stay within the dedicated race-course. Vehicles have tracking devices to enforce just that. Not too may sections have speed-limits. A team can setup pits anywhere they want alongside the racecourse. Support vehicles are prohibited on the course but can otherwise roam around as needed. Some of the bigger teams even use helicopters to chase the racecars, but it is illegal to fly in spare parts.
There is one two-way radio channel that SCORE is using to organize the event. On this channel medical emergencies, race cars in trouble, status reports for the checkpoints and anything important is handled. The Operator for this service is Bob Steinberger, he runs a Radio Business during the week and volunteers his time on race-day. His nickname is ÂWeatherman as he once tied a radio antenna to a weather-balloon in order to get better radio reception. The nickname stuck ever since. For the Baja 1000 he will be positioned high in the mountains of a national Park in Baja at an elevation of 9.500 feet. The high elevation will improve radio receptions.
If you want to follow the race from home this year you can as race-dezert.com will stream the Weatherman-Channel over the internet. Simply follow this link to listen into the race conversations and read as it unfolds. Race Starts Friday 6AM PST (GMT-8) / Thursday 3pm MET (GMT+1).
SCORE race vehicles reach top speeds of up to 140mph but the average speed is expected to be around 45-50mph. Keep in mind the entire racecourse is one single stage.
