It's getting close to the big day and teams are already jocking to play out team strategies and tactics. Some major players are winning over top navigators from other teams who are experienced with the entire course having ran it numerous times before. Some teams coming from Europe offer professional rally teams with lots of seat time in rally races. Personally I have the frame of mind that is one of drive it like you stole it and Jon will be helping watch my back.
Considering Jon and I are handicapped because we will be running against teams who have ran this course many times the smart way to run it as first timers is to use common sense, don't drive past our abilities and stay focused. Bad things happen when a driver loses concentration for only a brief instant.
Many years ago one of my biggest dreams was to go marlin fishing in the Sea Of Cortez and fight big-game in the same places as Zane Gray, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and others. Back then I had always been under the belief that if in fact that fantasy ever happened it would probably be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Now years later those dreams have become a reality but one of the best lessons of all is having realized dreams like these have no end and the first experience is just the beginning with many more trips made afterwards. Just like big-game fishing, running in the La Carrera Panamericana will hopefully be more than a one-time event. One that Jon and I can return to time and time again until we put all the pieces of the puzzle together and get it perfect. That being said, this race should be a learning curve and one that will help us learn all we need to learn.
2 comments:
Gary
When we got our route books last year two different people did different parts. A #3 turn to one was a #4 to the other. It will take a little bit to figure out the turns. Joe Harding gave us some good advice if the navigator looses his place in the route book let the driver know right away. It happens to all the teams and you will find your place again. it is easy to loose your place at first and it gets easier to follow the book they do a really good job of laying out the course.
george
George,
I remember in the early 70's the first time I drove to the tip of Baja long before there were any sort of good road. There was no electricity or phones back then so when you got to a gas station it had to be pumped by hand. I had purchased a book written by an author who had been many times. That book was amazing and we had to laugh most of the way. It really gave you a play by play every mile of the way. "Around the next corner is a dead cactus laying on an old cow carcass where vultures tend to hang out. Two miles from here is a fence post on the right but no fence. Possibly why the cow was dead. And so on.
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