La Carrera Del Norte - G&P goes south of the border

We just completed the NORRA Mexican 500, also know as the "La Carrera Del Norte" which is a new event for NORRA that runs from Ensenada to Mexicali, down to San Felipe and then back to Ensenada. We had a blast!!! Even managed to finish the event which can be harder than it sounds! LOL.

5th in class, 6th overall in the Evolution group.

Many thanks to all , Keith for his Co-Driving and master mechanic skills, Wes and Mike for handling heavy chase and refueling. Gordon and Matt for fast chase route planning and video efforts, and Gary and Vivian for fast chase and photography (Micro Touch Photography). With out the time and efforts of our support crew we would not have made it. Thanks to all, Grant.

Also we need to thank our Sponsors, Outlaw Offroad, Icon, General Tire and KC Hilites, and Designs and Signs for their continued support. You guys rock.

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Look for a new video soon of our crazy times south of the border. Thanks to



---------- Post added at 10:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:44 PM ----------

We all met up at Outlaw Offroad on Thursday and got the truck and gear all loaded up on the trailer. Short version is we got out of town and made it to Ensenada in time for a nice steak dinner and shots of Don Julio! Friday Morning was tech day and last minute prep in the parking lot.

Great race guys!!! Now I know why Keith was MIA last week.

Gary and Vivian caught up with us at the hotel Friday night and the next day we were off racing.



Day one was a long hard one. We got off the line and worked our way south along the coast. Twisty roads overlooking the blue ocean were awesome. About ten miles or so into D1SS1 the Yellow ToyoVette No 66 blew a left hand turn and we went from second to first as we tucked under him and made the pass. We keep this up until mile 17 were we stopped at the burning wreck of what was a sweet Class1 running the unlimited class. They had blown a turn and gone off the edge, upside down and in flames we drove through the smoke and stopped on the other side. Keith jumped out and went down to check on everyone, they were all fine, the guy had just blown his last fire bottle into the blaze. The back half was totally consumed and we had nothing that could have even made a dent in that blaze. We double checked with them, they were unhurt, so we took off. While Keith was getting strapped in we had two trucks in our class slip by. We were now third.
The next section was D1SS2 and we ran really strong, 51:43, then met up with our crew and got fueled by Gordon and Matt. They took off to setup the next remote fuel stop way out on course for D1SS3 while we made the transit up to the start of D1SS3, got topped off by Wes and Mike and jumped on the course.
The track did not match our GPS and both of us were alittle concerned about the course, it looked like someone had been dropping bombs on the mountain side. There was a CODE race that ran that morning over the same section, 120 rigs, TT's and other classes had torn up that trail. Crazy!!
After awhile we got the trail and the GPS insync and went over the mountains on what is called the ROCK GARDEN. It was a billy goat trail. We really kicked back and just took it easy. missing a turn in alot of places would have been a really bad thing. We came around a turn and No 727 had blown a 180 degree turn and had their right front wheel off the edge. We got around them and hooked up a tow line and got them back up on the road.
We got down the mountain and picked up speed in a narrow sand wash. We were talking to Gordon and Matt, and almost to our remote fuel pit when we got a flat. Fixed that, ripped in for a splash of fuel and loaded a fresh spare and took off. Just a few miles down the road we sheared off the left tierod pin and blew off the course flattening a couple of bushes and skided to a stop. THe boys came up and we changed out the pin with one off Gordons truck. THANKS Gordon!!, finished the race. Got our spare out of the dually and headed back out on course to find Matt and Gordon and bring them back to town.



lined up for the start in Ensenada! Then off we go!!

After all was said and done at the end of day one, we finished, and were only 33 min behind the next truck in our class. All the crew was safe and back at the hotel at 2:00AM. We got going about 6:30 am to start up for day two!

Changed out the air filter, checked all the fluids and went over the truck. All was well. D2SS1 was really the reverse of what we had come in on, it just ran farther south. We were banging and bouncing along. This was NOT the Mexican 1000 course. Because of heavy rains the lake bed was off limits so NORRA had laid out the course on alot of the old SCORE routes. Great if you are a TT, not so much for a 7000# caged Raptor LOL. We were still having a blast and making time as best we could.

The boys were all at the correct fuel points and we jumped into the last section D2SS2, which was a bear cat. Part of it is the very well known "Zoo Road" which had Raptor eating whoops. There were sections that I have never seen such big ass whoops. We broke both rear lower shock mounts, had to stop each time to take off the shock. Even so we were two minutes faster than the last guy in our class. Then the fix it all fun began...after beer and tacos at the Pool. Gordon has a buddy with a kickass place we were blessed to have access to. Keith did his thing and we were back in the Bar and doing shots and downed 30 tacos around 10PM. Some boys hit the town, Keith and I crashed for some much needed sleep. One more day to go!!















---------- Post added at 12:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:13 AM ----------

Day Three, back to where we started! D3SS1 was a trip back out Zoo road. Considering all the havoc it had caused us the day before we took it real easy and ended up about 4 min slower than the next truck in class on the section. But we did not break anything. The next section was a smoother road and we were able to really pick it up. THe truck was running great and we start to get our groove back. we ran a time of 40:21 which was 2nd in class and third fastest time overall for D3SS2. We fueled up with the guys, the old white dually has a 109 gal transfer tank that was really handy, like having your own portable gas station. We started out strong but the brakes started fading and we ended up 2 min out from the next guy in class. Our left front pad was gone and we were metal on metal. D3SS4 ....well...300 yards down from the start I overdrove the truck over some jumps and ran it off the road. Another broken tierod pin. Gordon towed us back up the hill to our support trucks and Gary saved the day with a spare out if his magic black box. We finally got it back on course and used the gears to slow down. We made it to the finish. Finished all the stages and no penalties.

It was a blast. Got some great ideas for beefing the rig for next time!

Congrats Grant. Sounds like you had a great time with a solid finish.

Thanks for sharing the experience with us.

Raptizzle said:

Congrats Grant. Sounds like you had a great time with a solid finish.

Thanks for sharing the experience with us.

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Thanks Tizz...we all had a great time! it was a blast.

Great job! Looking forward to whatever is next. Looks like an awesome time running around down there!

That's absolutely awesome guys! Congrats on the finish. Just finishing a race like this is a huge accomplishment. Really shows what the truck can do even with the mods that were done to it.

Tizz I say we take your truck and race it!

Fun shit!!!! Dam I am jealous!!!

MTUH3 said:

Great job! Looking forward to whatever is next. Looks like an awesome time running around down there!

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pat'sRAPTOR said:

That's absolutely awesome guys! Congrats on the finish. Just finishing a race like this is a huge accomplishment. Really shows what the truck can do even with the mods that were done to it.

Tizz I say we take your truck and race it!

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Hockster said:

Fun shit!!!! Dam I am jealous!!!

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Thanks Guys! Mexico is the real shit. Its hard to put it all in words but hauling ass down back roads, twisty trails and old sand washes is just fun fun fun. There were places that we went dead ass slow with one wheel up against a rock wall and the the other on the edge ( Wiz's side ) of a long drop into a canyon....and places we were running over 105 mph just flat ass flying. All the people we met along the way add something really special.

The last day, we were somewhere in the third section and got a flat. We had the new one on and were just getting it off the jack when this cool orange buggy/prerunner came along and even though we told them we were OK then spun around and helped load up the flat and jack and got us on the way just that little bit faster. The were a support rig for Tequila Los Valientes. When we got to the finish then came over and handed us a gatorade bottle half full of Tequila straight from the barrel. Awesome stuff. We told them we thought is was great and they tossed in a full bottle in the truck to share with our crew. These guys were fun and we hung and partied with them for awhile before going back to the pits at the hotel and loading the truck. Our whole support crew passed around that bottle while we decompressed from a great three day adventure. Cant wait to get back to Baja Mexico!!!