NORRA 500

[exp24]

We are ready for our second time at the 500 this October. Is anybody else racing or spectating?

NORRA

NORRA: NORRA 500 Off-Road Rally Ensenada Mexico

www.norra.com

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

We are ready for our second time at the 500 this October. Is anybody else racing or spectating?

NORRA

NORRA: NORRA 500 Off-Road Rally Ensenada Mexico

www.norra.com

I'm suppose to be down there racing... Kind of waiting on a few things from the team I'm helping out but stoked. It'll be my First NORRA 500.

I have some questions for you though since you've ran it before.

How many miles are you guys expecting to be "Special's" vs Highway sections?

We're limited on fuel in the car so I'm trying to plan out fuel stops.

 

[exp24]

There is a transit from the start of downtown Ensenada to out of town. And usually, 2-3 more they are on the highway, so no one speeds. We usually pit once for a 250-mile stretch in the transit stage. They give you ample time to complete the stage and incorporate any regular pitting without going over the time. The maps come out days before, so no one preruns the course. What is the fuel range, and what type of vehicle are you racing?

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

There is a transit from the start of downtown Ensenada to out of town. And usually, 2-3 more they are on the highway, so no one speeds. We usually pit once for a 250-mile stretch in the transit stage. They give you ample time to complete the stage and incorporate any regular pitting without going over the time. The maps come out days before, so no one preruns the course. What is the fuel range, and what type of vehicle are you racing?

That's the thing... We don't actually know the fuel range and we're just kind of hoping it's better then 2mpg...

It's an F100 but with a big boy motor on 40s but...... we only have a 40gal cell. So millage is like 100 miles at best IMOP. But if there are more transit stages we'll be able to average quite a bit higher.

I forgot about the transit to out of town... maybe we'll splash right before we hit dirt.

I've raced the 1000 so I have a little bit of an idea but because they don't give out the race course early I'm trying to be cautions on fuel.

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

Also... What class are you guys going to race in?

 

[exp24]

We run the Pre-run truck category. Any vehicle with working doors. Let me know if you have any other questions. I am looking forward to the course and staying in San Felipe than racing back on a different course to Ensenada.

We run a 60-gallon with the Holley hyramat for fuel pickup. SBF 400 hp at the crank on 37's. last year we figured 4.5-5 mpg conservative.

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

We run the Pre-run truck category. Any vehicle with working doors. Let me know if you have any other questions. I am looking forward to the course and staying in San Felipe than racing back on a different course to Ensenada.

We run a 60-gallon with the Holley hyramat for fuel pickup. SBF 400 hp at the crank on 37's. last year we figured 4.5-5 mpg conservative.

Nice.

Yeah this truck has like a 700+ at the crank... She's a beast.

Its the the F100 that the Isenhouers have been prepping.

 

[exp24]

That's a nice truck; the brothers do great work! Hit me up when you're down at the race.

 

[chaser]

I'll be down there. I am leading the safari class and help with some of the organization of it.
The specials will be around 70 miles or less. Norra is trying to make it easy on vehicles (utv) with limited fuel range.
This years course will be fun with a few new sections thrown in.

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

I'll be down there. I am leading the safari class and help with some of the organization of it.
The specials will be around 70 miles or less. Norra is trying to make it easy on vehicles (utv) with limited fuel range.
This years course will be fun with a few new sections thrown in.

RAD!

Thanks for the insider info. That's a lot of help on my end haha.

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

Welp... Race Week starts tomorrow for me.

Who's all going? Where are you staying? And what's your favorite spot to eat in San Felipe?

 

[exp24]

Truck looks great! We are headed down first thing Thursday morning,

 

[Giant Geoff]

Need a passenger/co-rider and someone to chase?
Text me if you can make it, 714-265-1450.

 

[charlie brown]

wow. race is over now. this is just my prospective from sitting at home being a key board fan watching.

coverage was boring as hell. i could not understand 1/16 of the words coming out of the mouth of the guy in front of the camera. ok, i am there more for the race and the trucks. although they did show some, it was very obvious who was the new part owner..

i hope they don't loose the true NORRA experience.

how about you?

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

Wow.... Race is over and that was rad!

Here is my Race Recap from a Team Manager & a Co-Driver perspective.

Somehow I became 'Team Manager'. If you know me at all, I used quotes for a reason . But I actually pulled it off. From Registration, Insurance, Hotel accommodations, to pit strategy it all worked out. Am I a professional. No. Did it work. Yes.



First on the list was getting the team a proper trailer. Luckily I work within the desert racing world and I directly work with all of my companies race teams. So... through daily conversations I get to ask a lot of people questions about stuff like NORRA. I ended up talking to guy named Mike Podratz and he had a nice YIRO Trailer for sale. Locked down a deal with him and the owner of the team. Second on the list of Hotels, insurance, and who would be doing what. We had a total of 11 people come down and luckily they were all solid and took the race seriously, but also with a good attitude. It's important to remember that we're all doing this for fun...



Wednesday:
Chris and Nick Isenhouer prepped the truck very well. It was washed and ready to put on the trailer when we got there Wednesday Morning. @Motiracer38 (Brian), Chris (owner of truck), and myself picked up the fully loaded chase truck and race truck and headed out to do a few errands. Picked up some cash, converted said cash, bought a go pro, and then met up with Nick, Chris, and Mark McNeil just before crossing the border. Border crossing went relatively smooth. NORRA had worked with the border so we didn't have to declare anything and we were in Mexico headed to Ensenada.



We made it to our hotel (San Nicolas Hotel/Casino) which was right next to tech. It had great safe parking and it was really nice to be able to just walk back and forth from tech/training/drivers meeting without having to figure out a safe spot to park each time throughout the week.



Thursday - Got the truck through tech! Only issue was mounting up the STELLA. It just needed a little adjustment to fit the wires properly.



Friday - Race Day: Chris and I took the start. I had asked Chase 2 (Marks truck) to stay with us at the start to make sure we left the line without issue. It's kind of funny how anti climatic NORRA is considering you start in town. You just drive through town with all of the regular traffic, stop lights, and whatnot. They gave us 30 min to go 14 miles. We got to the end our First transit with the whole crew there and waited for our time to leave.



Friday - First Special: It was really Chris's first time driving the truck and it was my first time co-driving with Chris. Our goal this whole trip was to finish. We had some learning to do about calling out the GPS notes to each other and figuring out what worked. I guess my mic was stuck open so our Chase team got to hear me sound like a dummy calling out corners (not a professional).

My workspace




Will continue later and add pictures...

 

[Motiracer38]

I drove a chase truck for Wally and had a blast. I have no comparison to previous NORRA races but with the rally transit sections it sure made the pace of pits slower and more enjoyable. The driver complained about skinny rock crawling trails more suited towards UTVs but he also hasn't raced Baja before. The vintage racers are definitely not the main show anymore but it didn't feel taken over by golf carts on course yet. It felt more like a bunch of old guys out for a poker run. The food wasn't great though.

 

[exp24]

We had a blast, after last year's incident, we were ready for redemption. We loaded everything up on Wednesday to head out first thing Thursday morning. I had two trucks with four pit guys to handle the weekend needs. Tech was flawless and Scott at PCI dialed in our GPS's.

Friday morning, we started first in our class. The race day plan was to drive at a conservative pace with no driver/co-driver changes. The pits were flawless, and we finished day one first in our class and 3rd overall for group 2. That night, we just checked over the truck, replaced the air filter, and tighten one track bar jam nut. Shout out to the fab guys for welding a minor repair on the radius arm to protect the brake line.

Saturday, we started 3rd overall off the line, and the goal was to get it to the finish! San Felipe was rough through the whoops, but the truck did well and felt planted. At the first pit, we noticed the electric radiator fans were intermittent with power, found a loose connection at the cannon plug, and were able to fix the issue. We continued through the day and had no other problems. The truck ran and operated the best it ever has! We finished the race first in class and 2nd overall in group two! NORRA was a memorial event, and I enjoyed the course layout with various technical, tight, wide-open, and rough sections.

The plan is to do a complete prep on the truck and have it ready for the NORRA 1000 in April; thank you to my co-driver for calling out a flawless race and pit crew that handled business as usual!

 

[exp24]