NZV8 — February 2018

(^138) themotorhood.com
The next day, we headed back into Ensenada
for the first day of ‘Contingency’, where all the
competitors go over the start line for a media
interview and have the final safety inspection.
Contingency is normally done on one day, but,
due to the high number of entrants, it was held
over two days this year, with the smaller classes
and bikes doing theirs on Tuesday and the
Trophy Trucks and bigger buggy classes going over
on Wednesday, the day before the race.
Contingency is a big part of the SCORE Baja 1000,
and the area was alive with heaps of locals mixing
with the race teams as they proceeded down
Boulevard Costero in front of the cultural centre
and around the corner into Calle Rotario for their
final inspection. The route was lined on both sides
with vendors selling event merchandise and race-
car components. However, it was the street-food
sellers making their fish tacos that let me know I
really was in Baja. All of the stands seemed to be
family run, with a real party atmosphere, and all
seemed happy to have a gringo from New Zealand
take their photo. Not knowing when we would
next have dinner, we loaded up on pizza and pasta
to help fuel us for the next 48-plus hours.
TO HAVE ANY SORT OF VISIBILITY
PAST THE BONNET, HAMMOND HAD
TO BACK OFF FROM MILLEN
Wednesday, and time for Mike and me to head
1000km south to Loreto — but not before we had
the chance to experience the track first-hand in
the team’s pre-runners. Having done Contingency
the day before, Rhys and Hammond had one last
day to pre-run the first few 100 miles of the race
course before the flag dropped the next day. This
section would be critical for Rhys and Hammond,
as they would come up quickly on a lot of the
slower classes and needed to pick the lines to
pass them in the tight and twisty early part of the
course. We would get to do the first 50 miles with
the guys, before picking up the rental and starting
to drive south.
Mike jumped in with Rhys and I went with
Hammond. To get to the start of the course proper,
we drove on the highway down to Ensenada,
through the toll booth, and then through town,
all in a race-prepped utility task vehicle (UTV). We
love this place. Once on the course, it very quickly
became apparent how tough the race would
get. To have any sort of visibility past the bonnet,
Hammond had to back off from Rhys and allow
enough time for his dust to settle.
We all met up at a petrol station in the middle of
nowhere, where the guys filled up and we left the
team to head south, expecting to see them again
in around 40 hours at our pit stop in La Purisima.