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View Full Version : Racing the Mexican 1000 on 3wheels!



carmen cafro
12-24-2010, 11:55 AM
The Mexican 1000 was the predecessor to the modern day Baja 1000 put on by SCORE. Last year NORBA brought back the Mexican 1000 for vintage vehicles including 3wheelers. Growing up on the east coast, I read about trikes racing in Mexico in 3Wheeler mag, 3 Wheel Action and ATV News. I thought it was insane to race a 3wheeler for 1000 miles but given the opportunity, I would do it in a heartbeat. The west coast racing scene was as very alien to me as I was a woods racer and I had to settle for racing the Black Water 100 in West Virgina. I still wondered what it would be like to race for 1000 miles in a foreign country? I got the opportunity to do just that after moving to San Diego. Now on quads, I was offered a ride in 93 with Doug and Mike Roll. We won the Baja 500, Baja 1000 and the SCORE championship. I was hooked and continued to race in Baja while running the Temecula Motorsports race team for many years. I still thought about what it would be like to race it on 3 wheels? Temecula Motorsports was sold a few years ago and without a sponsor, I was forced into retirement (and I'm only 49). When I heard that NORBA had a 3wheeler class, I got excited but without a sponsor and in this economy, I couldn't figure out how to pull it off on my own. I do own about 10 vintage 3wheelers including my trusty 85 250r but always wanting more suspension and motor, I am in the middle of building an XR650R conversion and a TPC450R. I figured that when I get one of these going, I would find a way to do the race. About 3 months ago I was contacted by the owner of TPC Trikes, Bill Casey to work together to race the Mexican 1000 in 2011 on a TPC. I was mega stoked! The TPC is one bad ass trike and definitely can handle 1000 miles. Bill would build a new trike and I would handle the Mexican logistics for the race. We've been working on things daily ever since. I wanted to start this thread for anyone interested in following the preparation and what goes down during the actual race. We would enlist the help of both of our sponsors and some new ones too. I'll post regular updates including equipment used, team sponsors, pre-run adventures and race coverage etc.

hang&rattle
12-24-2010, 12:07 PM
Thanks to you and Bill/TPC trikes for all that you are doing. This is really big. This is a very big deal. Not to put any added pressure on you guys, but if the showing is good, this will be huge for 3-wheeler enthusiasts. Pretty exciting. I wish you more than just good luck fellas, kick some behind!

rdlsz24
12-30-2010, 04:00 PM
Sweet that is awesome. This thread would get way more traffic if it was in Trikesylvania. I'm on here for a couple hours every day and just now noticed it!

Rob

Bretmd94
12-30-2010, 04:37 PM
Need another rider? :naughty:

I have always wanted to compete in the baja1000 with a team of skilled three wheeler riders (not a common breed) and try to beat as many quad teams as possible. I'm sure SCORE probably wouldn't allow it. I have ridden on the dunes my whole life, and always on 3 wheels. I have raced sport bikes, quads, and have extensive dirt bike experience.

I love that they are bringing back a vintage race for bikes like three wheelers. Wish I had the money to fund an amateur team for this (or even the money to buy a tpc trike for that matter).

carmen cafro
01-03-2011, 02:31 PM
Update: After looking at the effort and cost to do a race of this magnitude on one trike, the decision has been made to enter 2 TPC trikes in the race. This is cool and very smart on Bill's part. Any off-road race that Honda enters, they always have two entries. If one TPC team trike has a problem, you have another there to help out. Also, obviously the odds of winning increase. We're still discussing how many racers per team and who the racers will be. Most likely we will enlist the help of some Baja veterans who have won or at least completed the 1000 on 3wheels. There are some great 3wheel Baja champions like Brett Driscoll, Allen Fox, Lance Schoonmaker, Doug Roll, Mike Hallett, Ben Schlimme, Mike Coe, Scott Wright and Dean Sundahl. All these guy guys could still kick up some serious dust on a trike!

Bretmd94
01-04-2011, 12:26 PM
I am so jealous. I wish i had more money so i could go race against the champions from atc's past.

I saw that JT racing is making a comeback http://www.jtracingusa.com/index2.htm They would be a bitchen sponsor for a classic baja race!

dcreel
01-04-2011, 12:48 PM
I saw that JT racing is making a comeback http://www.jtracingusa.com/index2.htm They would be a bitchen sponsor for a classic baja race!

How awesome would that be?? You should pitch it to them..

Bretmd94
01-04-2011, 01:03 PM
Also I was thinking about this the other day.... I don't know the rules and regulations but if it is a vintage race wouldn't that not allow the TPC trikes as they are really a 04' or newer bike?

dcreel
01-04-2011, 01:16 PM
Also I was thinking about this the other day.... I don't know the rules and regulations but if it is a vintage race wouldn't that not allow the TPC trikes as they are really a 04' or newer bike?

Good point..

RapidRick
01-05-2011, 10:29 PM
Spoke to Brett last week. He's interested

Bretmd94
01-12-2011, 07:49 PM
Also I was thinking about this the other day.... I don't know the rules and regulations but if it is a vintage race wouldn't that not allow the TPC trikes as they are really a 04' or newer bike?

I looked at the rules, Posted this on .org as well. 1991 and older machines. I hope they are going to let the TPC trikes fly.

2hundredx
01-12-2011, 08:02 PM
damn i hope so. i was getting excited. If not, yall should still try. Maybe a rebuilt vintage like a built 350x or waterpumper? Or like you said an old custom trike. This is sweet

Bretmd94
01-12-2011, 08:05 PM
I am willing to bet you can fit a 450 motor into a custom 250r frame. Could still do the newer dirtbike forks, after market swinger and shock. I would think the TPC guys have the ability to make it too.

RapidRick
01-13-2011, 10:09 AM
How about a Nicholson 500 with a 250R front end and a Pro-Link swinger? Fits in Class 8A :naughty:

Bretmd94
01-13-2011, 04:16 PM
How about a Nicholson 500 with a 250R front end and a Pro-Link swinger?

That would be awesome!

Xpress
01-13-2011, 05:02 PM
Why have I only just now spotted this thread???? This is AWESOME news!!

ctk
03-12-2011, 12:42 AM
what is the update on this. I would love to at least get on the pit crew

RapidRick
03-15-2011, 11:27 PM
Well it's May 4-8. Haven't heard anything but I'm going to watch b/c it's so close. Anyone in SoCal planning on going?

Bryan Raffa
03-16-2011, 06:22 PM
I looked at the rules, Posted this on .org as well. 1991 and older machines. I hope they are going to let the TPC trikes fly.

So how this all going to fall into play? has this been a issue yet? has it been resolved?

carmen cafro
03-16-2011, 06:32 PM
Because the TPC is based on an "old design" (being on three wheels), the promoter first agreed to let us run the race. He now has started waffleing and now our entry is up in the air. So we have started working with SCORE to get an entry in the Baja 500 and race against the quads. I spent this past weekend in San Felipe, Baja Mexico with Bill from TPC. We tested some desert set ups and I feel we got the trike working good enough to run with some quads. We ran a section of the San Felipe 250 course which was mega rough and the new Elka shock,linkage and GPR stabilizer did the trick. I'll keep everyone posted on which race we end up doing. One way or another, we're gonna run a 3wheeler in Baja! Here's some pics from my place in San Felipe.119697119698119699119700

Bryan Raffa
03-16-2011, 07:10 PM
Heard you guys were down there through Kimmie ,, wanted to ask how it went? How big of section did ya do? even if it was for a few at the invasion ,, I was glad to meet ya!..

carmen cafro
03-17-2011, 08:16 PM
Yeah it was good to meet all you guys at the Invasion. Wish I could of got there earlier and rode more. In Mex, we rode about 10 miles of the San Felipe 250 course from mile 167-177. It was on Old Puertecitos Road which is a strait line of solid 18" whoops without a break. I don't like that many whoops but I wanted to see how the TPC handled with the new swing-arm, shock, linkage, and stabilizer. It worked damn good but still needs some more fine tuning. I haven't raced in 4 years and I'm going to be 50 soon so the whoops kicked my but.

firefirefire90
04-22-2011, 12:57 AM
Interesting read as this is in my backyard. Glad to see TPC trikes actually went off and did something after the first initial build.

phantombiker
09-17-2011, 12:41 AM
anybody know what ever came of this?

Dammit!
09-17-2011, 12:32 PM
I spoke with Sal from SCORE extensively about running a trike in SCORE events. He was absolutely dead set against it and wouldn't budge an inch. Crying about insurance even after I offered to get my own, asked about the events in Mexico instead of the US, he never relented even a little. SCORE is dead to me until somebody with some balls is running the place.