Chihuahua Express Rally Race - Video and Review
 

I just returned from a three day race in Chihuahua Mexico call the "Chihuahua Express" - www.chihuahuaexpress.com . My brother, David, was my navigator and did an excellent job. Over the three days we covered about a thousand miles in my 1993 Mazda RX-7 of which about 350 miles were full speed "race" stages where the public highway was closed to traffic and we competed for the fastest stage transit time. Each day we left from the hotel in Chihuahua and raced to a city in the countryside and then raced back to the hotel along the same route. The second day was special because our destination and turn around point was the town of Divisidero on the rim of the Copper Canyon.

We accomplished our primary goal of finishing the rally and having a good time. However, we also surprised ourselves and many others by finishing first in class and second overall. The first place overall went to a highly modified Subaru rally car that was amazingly fast.

I can't tell you how much fun this race was. I have NEVER had so much fun in a car. The race was well organized. Safety and security were top notch. The roads were in excellent condition. The race will most likely be run again next year and I encourage anyone who has a desire to do an open road race to consider it.

I recorded most of the race stages on video with my in car camera. I have loaded one stage from each day onto the video sharing website "youtube.com".

Please feel free to view, share or link to these videos:

Day 1, first return stage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAgSkdtA7Iw

Day 2, first return stage (partial):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5heQz6gw6Y

Day 3, first return stage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pk4-u9Sjtw

- John Magnuson

Man you guys are flying!! What was your fastes top speed flat out?

Really good driving skills.

Thanks, I could have taken almost all the turns faster but with this type of race you always want to leave a little on the table. Real roads are not as forgiving as a racetrack.

I have the lower "Japanese Spec" 5th gear ratio and reached redline in top gear many times - which is about 180mph.

Amazing, couple of questions

are you giving pace notes for this event? how long were the stages?

Yes, you are given a very good quality "route book" with all the transit stage information and details on all the turns and hazards on the speed stages. The sound quality on the videos came out crappy so you can't really hear my brother reading the upcoming turns off to me.

The speed stages ranged from about 10km to 40km. We had eight to ten speed stages each day.

nice driving John.

congrats and thanks for some fabulous video. too bad about the sound as it would have been fun to hear the rotary doing it's thing.

what tire pressure did you start out at? end with? what was the ambient temp?

i am planning the Silver State in sep but your road looks very tempting. loved the looong downhill straight in vid 1.

howard coleman

Yes, next year I'm going to have a better microphone for sure! I run THREE mufflers (gotta get under that 92db for Laguna Seca!) so the car it suprisingly quiet.

I started with a tire pressure around 30psi and at service they were at around 38psi. Abients temps were in the high 70s - Chihuahua has beautiful weather in April usually. The unshaved Toyo RA1 tires still look really good even after a 1000 mile rally. Since I wasn't pushing the car 100% in the turns they last a LOT longer than they do on the race track.

The Silver State is a great race and has a big advantage of being in the USA. However, I can assure you that the Chihuahua Express is a TON of fun and you get to do a lot more driving on more interesting roads. This year the entry fee was $1,500.00 - It'll probably go up a couple hundred dollars next year. Still - not a bad deal for a 3 day 1000 mile rally.

Here are some links to more info about the rally:

Some good carnage photos:

http://lacarrera2007.blogspot.com/20...not-rally.html

A summary review:

http://lacarrera2007.blogspot.com/20...ie-bledso.html

One other:

http://lacarrera2007.blogspot.com/20...ahua-news.html

congrats
 

John,
Congrats on the stellar finish. I got the text message from Pendejo and I was stoked for you and the rotary community. Nicely done. Dylan thinks so to, he liked your videos :) Will we see you in BW next weekend?
Brian

Thanks Brian!

I should be at Buttonwillow the weekend after this one and will run in TTA. See you there!

Congratulations!
 

Congratulations on a great race John!

I'll have to give Steve Waldman some grief about an RX-7 putting some whoop on him. I'll see him next month at the Nevada Open Road Race.

I really wanted to get my car down there this year but just didn't have the funds. I had some mild reservations about racing in Mexico but after reading your summary, I'm really gonna try to make it next year!

We're heading out to Texas next week for the Big Bend Open Road Race. Are you going to make any of the other Open Road events in the USA this year?

Thanks!

You really should try the Chihuahua Express if you like open road racing.

I probably won't be any more open road events until maybe Chihuahua next year. I'll be completing a season of NASA time trial but other than that I don't have much planned due to time and budget concerns.

John, I'm guessing (hoping, really) that since you're also running in NASA time trials that you meet NASA safety CCRs? Those trees are awful close, no chance to avoid them if you have an offroad excursion. I'd want the toughest side instrusion bars and roll cage money could buy (and full fire supression system, 7 point harness, yada yada. Must have been a total rush.

A 6 point cage, window nets, etc is required for the rally. However, if I went off into the trees at top speed I don't think anything would save me. I can assure you that I did not take corners anywhere near as hard as I do at track events. Nevertheless, I can't deny that an open road race is a risky event.