Jps1145's Little Baja - Build Thread

[jps1145]

Here's a teaser...
Left side tie rod...

[TexasBaja]

Action shot.


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[TexasBaja]

John I got to say you are a true Dezert racer and a fighter til the end. Great job on the finish.


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[Steve Arndt]

bad ass pic!

[TexasBaja]

Here is proof that he didn't steal it. He earned it.


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[jps1145]

Texan 180 “Race to Midnight”
515 Race report

We rolled into the ranch at about 8:30 Friday evening with just enough light out to be able to park the rig and get set up. By this time registration and technical inspection had closed for the night.
This was going to be an epic event (for Texas anyway), I could see already. There were more cars here than I’ve ever seen at a Texas event. We were scheduled for four 43 mile loops for a total of 172 miles. The race was scheduled to start at 6:00 pm and end promptly at midnight. If you tried to start a lap after 11:00 pm they were going to stop you on time, but could still get a finish. If your lap times would not allow you to complete the last lap by midnight, they would stop you, but still give you the finish. There were to be no DNF’s if you rolled through the start/finish line under your own power. This is a big change in the way things have been. For the better, I think.
As the sun came up Saturday I had already been awake with anticipation. Made some coffee had a little breakfast, probably shouldn’t have eaten the sausage…
We got registered and tech inspected, I need to remember to add the second fire extinguisher. Duane keeps letting me slide. One of these days he’s going to ding me…
Carl, my co-driver and I took off on a quick pre-run and shake down run. We did about a half a lap around to the back side of the pit then came in. The car was running great, but the rear shocks were way too stiff on compression. I adjusted them to where I thought would work and hoped for the best.
Carl began to complain of feeling a little less than 100%. He was over-heated and seemed dehydrated. He chose to sit the race out unless he didn’t start to feel better. I had to come up with a plan B. Stephan, a friend of ours was willing and had brought his helmet and suit. He is actually the guy that I originally supported in the first Texas racing event that I attended back in 2009 I think. So we were set.
Stephen got registered and we attended the Driver’s meeting at 5:00.
We were lined up in the “air cooled” class. There were eleven in our class. A couple of 1600’s, some 1200’s, class 9, side-by-sides (one of them was an animal! The guy was flying), and a few class 5 cars. I was third in class off the line. Our class was following the Unlimiteds (Trophy Trucks, Unlimited Buggies), water cooled (Class 10’s, Ecotech’s, etc.), Heavy metal trucks, and 4400’s. We were the last group. All vehicles were separated by only 30 seconds.
We got started no problem and within a few minutes a 1600 passed us then that animal in the side by side, never saw them again! We settled in and little by little we started to get by slower or broken down traffic. To be honest much of the race was a blur, literally and figuratively. The course was super rocky and actually pretty violent at our speeds. There are very few straight fast sections, the longest being about 1 mile max. My steering rack really got a workout. I really need to call up Dan’s and order the electric steering. I was whipped at the end.
We finished the first lap with no issues. Stopped at the pit for some fuel, Gopro card and battery, and off we went starting lap two.
Lap two pretty much like lap one. We missed a couple turns and got off course, but got back on quickly. Had the steering wheel yank out of my hands once and stalled the car. We did hit a downhill jump a little hard at one point which I think started to bend the left tie rod which threw us into a pretty big toe-out problem. I have not installed a good front bump stop yet and the tie rods just touch the upper frame at full bump.
When we entered the pit at the end of the 2nd lap Carl, who was now running the pit, told me the tie rod was really bent. He didn’t know I had a spare on the car. We should have changed it there…
We started lap three at which time the sun was pretty much down and it was starting to get really dark. There was no moon, so if you had no lights, you could not see anything. I installed some cheap lights with aftermarket HID kits on the side of each door. I probably have $50 in the two lights. They did surprisingly well. I also have a 20” LED light bar mounted on my front bumper. They all seemed to work well enough to keep a good pace. Looking at some of the in car video, it doesn’t look very good though, almost as if I can only see a little spot in front of me. I’m sure I can use a few more to get a better spread of light. However, based on the voltage drop I started to see as we drove into the night, my alternator was probably running just over its limit…
At about RM 7 there is ranch road crossing and then a slight left hand off-camber jump that lands you on the front left. That was all it took to finish off my left tie rod. We landed and took and immediate left turn into a bush! We both got out to assess the damage and new we could not continue like that. Note to self: more flashlights during a night race! We had very limited light, but managed to get the tie rod off and swapped with the new one in the dark. It took us about an hour. Long enough to keep us from starting the forth lap.
We got going again and kept a good pace through another 35 miles to the start finish. We radioed back to the pit when we were getting close and were told they were going to stop us. Really a bummer, because I knew we could continue and finish that forth lap.
I think there were 37 starters and about 12 that managed to roll back under their own power even like me without completing all four laps. That’s about 60% attrition rate! I’m stoked we got as far as we did, and not a single flat tire which is astonishing!
This is a great bunch of racers! Everyone is willing to help each other. The TDRA guys are all great people. They put on great events. My hat is off to all who volunteer their time and energy into this great sport.

[TimS]

Very nicely written, sounds like a good race. I wouldn't mind seeing some go pro of your car in action, if it's handy.

I like the trophies. I also like that you get the trophy at the race... question, though, do they send you a plaque to personalize it, or does it remain nameless?

Thanks for sharing.

[jps1145]

Very nicely written, sounds like a good race. I wouldn't mind seeing some go pro of your car in action, if it's handy.

I like the trophies. I also like that you get the trophy at the race... question, though, do they send you a plaque to personalize it, or does it remain nameless?

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! The trophies are generic and get no name engraved on it, unless I want to do it...
I have all of the video on my pc, just need to convert some of it and edit it down so it is watchable. Nothing really spectacular. I got most of the race except for right before we bent the tie rod.

[TexasBaja]

Very nicely written, sounds like a good race. I wouldn't mind seeing some go pro of your car in action, if it's handy.

I like the trophies. I also like that you get the trophy at the race... question, though, do they send you a plaque to personalize it, or does it remain nameless?

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! The trophies are generic and get no name engraved on it, unless I want to do it...
I have all of the video on my pc, just need to convert some of it and edit it down so it is watchable. Nothing really spectacular. I got most of the race except for right before we bent the tie rod.

Generic??? I worked my butt off to make those.....We just forgot to put the classes on there. I think they are better than a Tractor on top... We do want to hear your input and will try to do better next time.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Generic??? I worked my butt off to make those.....We just forgot to put the classes on there. I think they are better than a Tractor on top... We do want to hear your input and will try to do better next time.

Nicely said TB and they do look nice.

[TimS]

For the record, I think they look great. What kind of process do you use to get the image on there? I assume laser cut for the shapd. I like that you get them the day you win them, but I also like the personalization of the ones we get at BOR. I was just wondering if there was a way to get the best of both worlds by sending out a plaque after the fact to personalize and get instant gratification, too.

[jps1145]

easy cowboy! I wasn't bagging on them. maybe generic wasn't the right word. They look great, I love it! they are just not personalized, but how could you do that before the race?

[CentralWAbaja]

For the record, I think they look great. What kind of process do you use to get the image on there? I assume laser cut for the shapd.

My guess is plasma cut, printed vinyl, and TexasBaja practicing his TIG skills? Am I close?

In any case, they are very cool looking, and at the end of the day it is what they represent that matters. I figure it is sitting on your mantle you know who earned it

[dustymojave]

John...and the rest of you racers
I suggest carrying a couple or 3 LED flashlights somewhere secure but EZ to get to in the car. Headlamp as well as handheld. Put the handhelds on lanyards long enough to go over a helmet and around your neck so they don't get lost in the dez. The miner's lamp headband will stretch enough to fit around your helmet or hang on your chest to light up what you're working on fairly well. Make SURE in prepping the car that the flashlights have fresh batteries and work.

Don Harper had an Eveready miner's type headlamp around his neck when I rode shotgun in the AGS 5-1600 in the MORE ORAF 400 a few years ago. Good thing because at 10:45PM, the left rear trailing arm snapped off and left the car stuck blocking a wash. We were rescued in time to get dragged back into main pit as the sun rose over the horizon. I used the red LED function to wave racers away out of the wash and into the bushes upstream of the broken Baja Bug. EVERY car EVERY lap got the idea and went around us.

http://www.batteryjunction.com/energize ... aQodViEAdQ

[jps1145]

Thanks Richard, those would have been super helpful.
I picked up a new set of harnesses by Pro-Armor before this race. They come with a little net pocket on one of the shoulder straps that hold a small LED push button light. Those helped, but one of the miner's lights above would have been awesome.
This was only my second night race, the first one I spun a rod bearing before it even got dark.