We Place 3rd At The Yerington 300

The long awaited first desert race of the 2012 VORRA racing season was crazy!!! Just like last year (which was actually Romy's first race with the Dingo team), it happened over Memorial Day weekend. And just like last year, western Nevada got pounded with winter-like weather!


Working on the Dingo before pre-running.

The race took place in Yerington, NV and was about 300 miles long, total. Each lap took you from the pit area, which was just outside Yerington, around a huge 56 mile loop through the desert west of the town. The race was aptly named The Yerington 300. All classes that took part in the race did all 300 miles (three long 56 mile laps, and three shorter ones what were about 40 miles or so), except the really slow classes (like us, the VWs!) who only had to do 5 laps (3 long, 2 short), so we did a total of about 260 miles or so, give or take a few miles. In between each lap, you were allowed to stop in your own pit area to fix your car, refuel, or change drivers.


We passed tech inspection, and we're ready to race!

We came to the race a bit early so that we could go out and pre-run the course the day before the actual race started (which was Sunday). That gave most of us a chance to see the course and get a feel for what it was like before we starting racing. Before the race, I helped set up and test all the radio equipment. Unlike the short-track races, where you can see the car at all times, the desert races are different. When the car is miles and miles away, you need a radio to communicate with the people in the car from the pit area. That's the only way you know if anything bad (or good) happened. So it was important to have the radios set up and working. The weather before the race while we were pre-running was super cold! We had almost constant sleet coming down on us, and the surrounding mountain tops kept getting whiter and whiter!


All suited up to do our lap together as driver and co-driver!

Luckily, on race day, the weather turned for the better, and everybody was excited to get racing. I was in charge of the radio communication, and I also recorded our lap times and clocked in when the car got to each mile marker. There was some dead air in spots when the car went behind the mountains, so not all mile markers were clocked. That was really the only job that had to be done while the car was out on the track, so everybody else milled around or helped cook. We had some amazing pot-luck style meals which were sooo yummy! But whenever the car came back in for a pit stop, everybody sprung into action! We all had our individual jobs, and we tried to be really fast.


A picture of Romy, Crusty, and Dennis frantically trying to fix the car so we could keep racing.

Romy and I got to go out on one of the long laps together, which was really exciting! It was my first time in the car on a desert race. I imaged it would be a lot like when we take our baja out to the desert and go on the national forest or BLM roads, except a lot lot lot faster. I was half right, and half wrong. In our baja, I'm usually hanging on to the 'oh shit' bar in the baja, looking out the window, and enjoying the scenery. In the dingo, I was also holding on to the 'oh shit' bar, but I had almost no time to look out and enjoy the scenery. As co-driver, you have a lot of responsibilities it turns out!


As we passed one of the check points, Dennis snapped a cool picture!

First, the co-driver has to aid the driver in driving as fast as he can. So that meant I had to look at the GPS screen above my head and let Romy know if there were turns coming up, and help him judge how hard they were, and if he should slow down for the turn at all, or if he could go at full speed, etc. Also important was when we crested hills. The driver doesn't know what the road looks like over the other side of the hill, so I had to use the GPS screen to let him know if there was a turn right after the crest or if it was straight ahead. Another thing I had to do as co-driver was look in the rear view mirror. Since we are one of the slowest cars, a lot of the faster trucks come right up behind us and we have to let them pass. We have such a tiny rear view mirror, it was hard to notice when there was somebody behind us, especially since we were kicking up a lot of dust. Half the time, Romy noticed before I did. I wasn't too good at looking back, but eventually I got the hang of it.


Just pulled into the pits after a crazy lap around the track!

Another thing I had to do as co-driver was call out to the pits over the radio every time we passed a mile marker or a check point. This was quite tedious but as somebody normally sitting at the other end, it is really a good thing to do. That way, the other team members in the pits know where you are at all times. Also, if they don't hear from you for a while because something happened, they at least know where you were during your last point of contact. And if anything is of note along the course, the person on the other end of the radio can mark it down on the map as you go, so the next time, you have stuff recorded (like if the road is really rough at spots). Now comparatively, the driver's job is much simpler. All the driver has to do is drive! ;-P


Working as fast as we can during the pit stop!

The radio came in really handy while we were out on our lap. We were having so much fun, blazing through the desert (at an amazing average speed of 32-ish mph! But in sections we were doing almost 70 mph, pretty fast for a stock bodied VW Beetle off road). We turned a pretty hard right about halfway through the long lap, and then we stopped moving forward! Something broke!!!! Luckily, we happened to break down in one of the best spots it could have happened. We were close to a paved access road, and it was flat terrain, and we were able to pull over right away. Romy got out of the car and I radioed back to the pits to let them know we broke down and where. Then, after we figured out what happened (the pivot bolt on the rear control arm backed out and we bashed up the CV joint), I radioed for help and parts. Luckily, we had all the parts that were needed to fix the problem back at the pits. Dennis, Crusty, and Debbie came to our rescue with all the parts and even some snacks and juice! While we were waiting for them, a green baja bug drove out to check on us, and it turned out to be Tom Cruise! Okay, no, it was actually Tom Kruse, a much nicer man who helped us start fixing the control arm and stuff and get it ready for the new parts that were on their way.


The Desert Dingo out somewhere on the track. Not sure who is driving.

A while later (I think almost 2 hrs after we initially broke down) we were off again! I was so happy we were all able to fix the car and get going again, and that we were not out of the race! If we hadn't broken down, we would've finished 1st that day. . .


That's me and Paul sitting around while I took over the radio.

The rest of the race started to get really crazy. Apparently, we weren't the only class 11 with problems. The other teams were having just as many problems as we were, and when it came down to the last lap, all of the VWs left racing were within a few minutes of each other! Its amazing how over almost 300 miles, it came down to literally seconds, by the time everybody crossed the finish line. Bob was driving the last last with Romy as co-driver. They were right behind the Meeks (car 1142), driving like hell to try and pass them. In front of the Meek car was the Weirs (car 1156), all so close together. However, because the start was staggered, even though we were third over the finish line didn't necessarily mean we would finish third. Nobody knew who was going to win, so we just hoped for the best as all the VWs crossed the finish line together.


We finished!!! Just barely in 3rd place!!!

It turned out that the Weirs, who crossed the finish line 1st got 2nd place. The Meek car, who crossed the finish line 2nd got 1st place, and we got 3rd place (and also crossed the finish line 3rd). It ended up that way because the placement went by total time from start to finish, including pit time. Its amazing, because if we just were able to scrape off about 45 seconds from our total race time, we would've got 2nd place. If we could've finished a minute and a half earlier, we would've got 1st! But oh well, the whole race season is actually scored by points (not who won in individual races), which you get for each lap you complete. So now after the second race of the season, we are in second place by points in our class (class 11).


The 1107's lap times as recorded by VORRA.

The next race is in July outside of Reno. We will be in Norway over the summer, so we're going to miss that one, but hopefully the other people on the team will have a great time and maybe we'll finish first! Who knows, I am crossing my fingers and I'll be glued to the facebook and twitter updates when they come (July 14th and 15th).


All packed up and ready to head home. Now the weather decided to get good. . .

Prairie City 1st Doubleheader

We survived our first season racing with the Desert Dingo class 11 team, and we had so much fun that we're back for more crazy races! This weekend's double header at Prairie City SVRA started off the 2012 VORRA racing season. VORRA stands for Valley Off Road Racing Association, and they run off road races near the Sacramento and Western Nevada areas.


Romy talking to Melissa, a news reporter from Good Day Sacramento.

The race weekend started off really wet and muddy. It just kept raining and raining and raining, since earlier in the week! The rain didn't stop until Saturday morning. Many days of rain left the track so muddy that VORRA decided to cancel the first day of racing (Saturday), which defeated the whole thing about the race being a "double header." But instead, they decided to pack in a whole bunch of races the next day. The course at Prairie City is very short (about one or two miles), so that meant a lot of motos could be scheduled in one day. Unfortunately, the more races you pack in, the less time we have for fixing the car between races!


Making hula hoops!

So with Saturday a bust for racing (the VORRA volunteers spent the whole day pushing mud around the track in hopes it would dry out faster), we spent it getting some last minute work done on the car, and of course, some relaxing! Lynda showed me how to make hula hoops, and we got to meet some of the new people on the team this year. Debbie and Dennis from baja Mexico came out (who are building their own class 11 car in Mexico and will host us if/when we go down there for the Baja 1000 race in November), and so did Danielle, who will do logistics (I think, but I'm not exactly sure). That morning, the news reporters from Good Morning Sacramento came out to interview some racers, and do a race car engine symphony. Romy and I got to rev the engine and sound the horn for Saturday morning's live show! It was fun!


Romy's new (old) racing helmet!

Towards the afternoon on Saturday, the sun started shining and everybody's hopes went up for the next day of racing. We got together with some other class 11 teams and did a huge potluck for dinner. A French team from San Francisco cooked up some crazy good beef stew and passed around a huge carrot cake. Mmmmmm. And Crusty gave Romy his old racing helmet, so now Romy has his own helmet! Yay! The racing helmet is not like a motorcycle hemlet, although it kind of looks like one. It has an electrical connection to plug into the car's radio so you can hear inside of the helmet. It also has a microphone so you can talk through the radio too. And the helmet also has an air hose connection for fresh air can be pumped inside. Its really nice to have fresh air, especially when it's hot, because the helmet is all sealed up otherwise when the visor is down.


Crusty and Romy getting ready for a practice lap.

Last season (2011) the team got 1st place in class 11. We were really hopeful to start out the new season on top to defend our title. Last year, we were the only bug racing at the first short course. This time there were a bunch of class 11's racing, so we didn't have it so easy. In fact, there were 5 (including us)! As soon as we got out on the track, it wasn't looking good. We kept having engine troubles. The engine didn't sound very good and we didn't have very much power. :-(


Romy getting ready to race!

We did most of the 5 motos that day (or 6? I don't remember), however, I don't think we finished a single one. Each moto had 12 laps, but I think the longest we made it was about 5 or 6 laps. The belt kept popping off because the pulley was a little crooked. We couldn't fix it at the race because we didn't have another one. When Romy and I drove one of the motos, we had to stop because the belt just ripped up on us! We couldn't keep driving without the belt because the belt is what spins the fan, and it's an aircooled engine. The radio wasn't working, so nobody even knew our problem, so nobody from the team replaced it at the pits so that we could go back out again before the moto was over. Needless to say, we had a bunch of glitches that day.


It was muddy out there!

At some point between motos, we realized that the exhaust wasn't properly tightened to the heads, which was one of the reasons we were having a loss in power and the engine didn't sound right. After we fixed that, we were ready to get back into the race. However, halfway through another moto, the spindle broke and we lost the rear driver's side wheel! The tow vehicle took the car off to the side of the course, but by the time we could survey the damage, the moto was over. We used the break between motos to get another spindle on there and drive the bug out of the mud (hey at least we fixed it!). It required a lot of hammering, and me running back and forth through the mud to get the right tools from the pits. I almost lost a shoe! If only the radio was working. . . .


We got stuck on the track after our wheel fell off!

Anyway, even though we had a whole lot of mishaps, we did finish a few laps, which was important. Every lap you finish gets you points for the season. Sometimes winning overall is just about who manages to show up and finish as many laps as you can (for class 11 anyway). We don't necessarily go for speed! It is a VW, after all. Better luck next time!

The Dingo Races at Prairie City

This past weekend was the last race of the season for VORRA. The Dingo has been in first place for the entire season, mainly because we've been consistant in showing up to all of the races and we always finish (which is actually a big deal)! We finished the season with first place in Class 11. Yay!


Romy is ready to get in the car for the first moto of the day as co-driver.


These are the pits where everybody lives for the weekend. Lots of VWs in our pit!


Romy is getting strapped in the car before one of the races.

The race this weekend was a double header. Two full days of racing plus three fun races at the end. We came in the bus so that the camping would be more comfy. Since the race was a short track, we were able to sit in bleacher style seats and watch the cars race around the whole track. In the desert races, the tracks are many many miles long and go off in the mountains. You basically never get to see the cars except when they pull into the pits. It was fun to watch all the big trucks. We were the only Class 11 to race this weekend, so when we were "racing" they put us with other classes. Mainly other classes with VW air-cooled engines and funny looking Suzuki things. Romy got to be the driver for two of the 6 motos. He was co-driver for two others. I got to be co-driver for the 4th moto with Bob as the driver, and it was so much fun! It really feels like you're going super fast, but really you're not! Its just because you're going off road, ripping through all the bumps, skidding around in the muddy sections, and going over jumps. Nothing too bad happened to the baja except a weird persistent oil leak from one or sometimes both valve covers. Towards the end of the races, one of the drivers, Dave, overheated the engine by driving the car after the alternator belt popped off. The engine didn't sound very good after that, but it was the last race. Lots of work ahead in getting ready for the next season!


I look so funny in the racing suit and helmet. I look like a little kid!


Packing up the Dingo to take it back home (which is the Santa Cruz Mountains, south of the Bay Area).

Lynda brought her hula hoops which she made out of irrigation tubing. She taught me how to hula hoop and it was so much fun and totally addicting. Especially when the super decked out team next to us in the pits started blasting music. They were all drunk watching us hula hoop. We had a mini audience. Lynda gave me a hula hoop to take home. I got Romy addicted to it too! Watch out Burning Man 2012! Saturday night was a lot of fun because Bob brought an old drum out of a washing machine and it became our fire pit. The tiny holes punched in the drum looked so cool as the flames made them glow all crazy. Best fire pit ever. We told a scary story around the campfire, since it was right before Halloween. It was the kind of story where one person adds a sentence, and then passes it on to the next person. The story turned out really funny. One guy kept changing the weather every time it was his turn!


A video of Romy getting strapped in the Dingo for the 5th moto.

The Desert Dingo Races in Fallon

The Desert Dingo and Skittles take off, into a cloud of dust.
Over Labor Day Weekend, VORRA held a 24-hour endurance race. It was split over two days, Saturday and Sunday. Each day you had 12 hours (from 8am to 8pm) to get as many laps that you could on the 40-ish mile track. It went winding along the basin and range Nevadan desert, over playas and winding up canyons over the ranges. It was dusty as hell, but surprisingly not that hot!


The start of race day #2 on the playa outside of Fallon, NV.
It only got up to 90F, but you know, "Its a dry heat." So it was very manageable as long as you were in the shade. Romy got to the race early on Thursday night to help put the baja through tech inspection. The rest of the team arrived Friday night or Saturday morning. A lot of the people on the team were actually at Burning Man, so there were a few people helping out this race who normally aren't on the team.


The Desert Dingo pulls into the pits.
Romy had a lot of fun driving the car during both days of the race. I had my first dust experience (which I had avoided until this weekend), and realized that the dust isn't that bad. Its so fine that you don't even notice it, except when it combines with the grease in your hair and forms a sticky form of natural 'hair product.' It gets all over, and can't be avoided, so you just have to accept it.


Another shot of the Dingo in the pits, and Crusty's cool old truck.
Three Class 11 cars started the race, and we were the only to finish! One of the Class 11's broke down on the first lap on the first day due to a busted transmission. They put in a stock transmission another team gave them, and managed 1-3/4ths of a lap before that one broke as well. Then they just started partying. The other class 11 (Skittles) made it through most of the race but were taking it slow. They seemed to stop a few hours before the race ended, but I'm not sure why. We were able to finish 12 laps over the 24 hours! (7 on the first day, 5 on the second) Thats pretty damn good! Actually, it pretty amazing that we FINISHED the race without breaking down like the poor other bajas! This means that the Desert Dingo is still in first place in our class. Yay! First place! But, we did break both shock towers off the front, punch a huge hole in the drivers side fender, and totally screw up the front suspension. Fun!

Next are some pictures I took as the sun was setting at the end of race day #2. The Dingo was on its last lap, but most cars were already done, so the air was quiet, calm, and clear. These next pictures are why I like the desert. Especially at sunset!


Nicole and my shadow.



Beautiful blue sky and poofy clouds.



The sun burst through some clouds to give this shot a glowing effect. I did not photoshop this at all!



I saved my favorite for last. Typical basin and range landscape under a sky speckled with nice clouds.

First Desert Race: The Desert Dingo

Romy joined a Class 11 team that does off-road racing. The car is called The Desert Dingo (check out www.desertdingo.com). Here are some pictures from the Yerington, NV, VORRA race this past weekend.



The Desert Dingo and other Class 11's line up at the starting line.



Romy getting ready to drive.



Pit stop time.



Romy and Jim, ready to drive off on the last lap!



For now, electrical tape number.



The Desert Dingo finished the race.

The Desert Dingo is currently in first place with 100 total points in the Class 11.
Next race: USA 500 July 15-17 near Reno-Sparks, NV.