After clinching a solid second-place finish at the inaugural SCORE Baja Sur 500, the reigning SCORE champion Steven Eugenio and driving partner Armin Schwarz now look forward to a real classic: This coming weekend (June 4-7 ), is the 47th edition of the Baja 500. This race marks the third round of the 2015 SCORE World Desert Championship. With the start and finish as always in Ensenada on the Pacific, Eugenio and Schwarz will race over 510 miles through northern Baja California at the wheel of their Galindo Motorsports #1 Trophy Truck. Schwarz and his navigator Bryan Lyttle tackle the first stint, with Eugenio and his co-pilot climbing aboard at race mile 260 to bring the Trophy Truck home.
For the first time since 2008 the race course will leave from it’s traditional start in Ensenada and turn North after the town of Ojos Negros to race through the epically beautiful “pine forest” section. From there the course turns East and down a 5000ft decent into the heat of the desert floor via the infamous Rumarosa grade. Once on the desert floor the race course will turn South through some of the harshest rock infested cross-grade that nature can throw at you. “I’ve raced this area many time before, just when you think you can rest a little it throws some more at you”, said Eugenio. “This is Armin’s section and it wont be easy, he has his work cut out for him, but I have no doubts. Armin and Bryan extremely meticulous on their notes and they’ll will know the best way through come race day.”
In this area temperatures are expected to be near 100˚F or more on race day. This is a true test on everything in the truck including the occupants. The engine and transmission sear with extreme heat of the desert and punish the driver and navigator. Skirting West around the Laguna Salada “dry lake” which is now wet from recent rains and impassable, the route then heads through extremely sandy terrain for the next 30 miles. “Waiting for us here are silt beds which are infamous for deep and very powdery dirt. You’ve got to keep up your momentum here, and you can only hope you don’t encounter any traffic,” said Schwarz. “At race mile 230 the route joins a stretch that is part of the Baja 250, which runs through mountainous terrain and canyons. This area can make or break you if you are not careful. We will push was much as we can and then Steven will take over and run the second half of the race into the finish.”
First up for Eugenio after the driver change is a highway section to the west, then from race mile 320 he encounters some real rally stages. “I’m really looking forward to this section,” says Eugenio. “The cross-over road is one of my all time favorites sections of Baja and I will make up time on the competition here,” Said Eugenio. Once we get to the Pacific I can really open it up and push for position, there is some rough terrain but Zeus eats it up. From Urapan in is pure Baja; I absolutely love it.”
After their podium result at the Baja Sur 500, the Galindo Motorsports crew has certainly not been resting on their laurels. “Zeus has received several technical innovations: The throttle valves are no longer controlled mechanically, but electronically via a drive-by-wire system. We ran the Baja Sur 500 with the Dougan’s eight-stack engine for the first time, in which each cylinder has its own throttle valve. In the meantime, there is so much draw on the throttle valves that it is almost impossible to mechanically control the throttle pedal. With the electronic control, the throttle response and as a result the driveability improve significantly,” explains Eugenio. Moreover, the team has tweaked the engine mapping. “This makes the truck smoother to drive. It was quite aggressive whenever we hit the gas,” said Eugenio.
Eugenio, Schwarz and Galindo Motorsports are now ready to take on the Baja 500. Their goal? “Victory would be great, especially for Steven. He has won the race four times so far in various classes – in Class 1600, Class 12, Class 1 and on a Pro Motorcycle – and now he is of course keen to take the win with the Trophy Truck, too,” says Schwarz. “But more importantly, we want to be fast and to finish well. To score another podium result towards a second championship would be brilliant.”
For Chico!
RIP