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San José Del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Dubbed the “Happiest Race On Earth” the NORRA Mexican 1000 is filled with fun, but is still a tough test of endurance. Days one and two alone travel over 400 miles each day in special sections, which are on the clock, and road or transit stages that get them to the next special. In all, 1400 miles of the Baja Peninsula pass under every competitor’s tires; if they make it to the finish. The terrain provides the test, the spectacular Baja scenery and great times had along the way are the payoff. Entered on a whim, the Brenthel Brothers, Jonathan and Jordan, loaded up a car they had in the shop and finagled their way into the field at the last minute; they were the final competitor to enter.
“We kept hearing from everyone that it was going to be fun,” said Jonathan, “We had our old 7200 Championship winning truck, now with a buggy body mounted on it, sitting in the shop. There was zero prep on it, but we were going for the fun of it, we didn’t expect to win. We had only two crew guys, the newest guy at the shop Hunter, and our friend Rene who knows Baja like the back of his hand. It was Hunter’s first trip to Baja. We had a great result on day one, finishing in the top ten overall, racing with V8 powered unlimited cars and Trophy Trucks in our little V6 powered buggy. We never got out of the car; we were surprised how well we did. We really didn’t know how hard to push, Jordan and I had a slogan; we’re going to Cabo. Every time I got out of shape or started to go too fast, Jordan would say, we’re going to Cabo. This was the first time we would trade off driving, and my first time navigating for him. At first, I just followed the GPS, but we came upon some huge rollers at speed that caught us by surprise. We learned that the road book was important so I followed it closely; it took a lot of concentration.”
Jonathan continued, “Day two was fast! We learned that the car was not ducting enough air to keep it cool on such long sections at full speed. We had to slow down when it got hot but saw several others on the side of the course with blown engines so we made the right call. I really liked the rally format and we plan to come back next year with our Dakar Rally vehicle to do some testing. On the final day, Jordan drove. He scared the hell out of me. We figured out we were in second place and had a shot to win the Evolution class. He was pushing very hard; doing a great job but I think I have a control issue when I’m not driving. I was thinking we were going to die but I couldn’t freak out and lock up because then we would die. (He said while laughing). I called out the corners and reminded him it was my son Colton’s birthday and he was his Uncle and asked him if he wanted to see Colton again. We finished early every day, before dark, it was really cool; we are pretty pumped on the win!”
“We’ve never done anything like this so last minute, it was crazy,” said Jordan, “The little V6 car is fun to drive. Our advantage was the ability to go fast in the tight stuff. Our strength was found in the canyons and technical sections. The course and the rally format made it different than any SCORE or Best In The Desert race; it’s unique to all of off-road racing. Running at top speed and high RPM’s for so long is a different kind of challenge. Next time we will have a better idea how to run and will do more prep before we get there. The Grand Mayan resort was impressive; it was really cool being up on stage and receiving the winner’s trophy.”
Brenthel’s success at the Mexican 1000 is not surprising. Everything they build is created using state of the art CAD programs and then proven on the race course; Brenthel Industries leads the way by design. Their depth of knowledge and nimble manufacturing process allows them to work outside the box when it creates a better fit for the customer. Any job you have, big or small can benefit from Brenthel’s meticulous engineering and careful craftsmanship. Go to https://brenthelindustries.com or http://www.bajakits.com to find out more about the many services, highly developed suspension systems and race-proven products available from Brenthel Industries.
Photography By: Bink Designs & GetSome Photo