MagnusRacing

iTrader: (2)

Got back last week from a three day road rally called the "Chihuahua Express" which is run out of Chihuahua Mexico. I did this event in 2008 and 2009 in a turbo 3rd generation RX-7 which would frequently hit 180mph on the straight sections of road. This year I returned with my RX-8 which has a much more sane top speed but was still a TON of fun. We came in seventh overall - several of the days were at high altitude on mountain roads near the copper canyon and the poor renesis was really struggling to pull the hills at such a high altitude - missed that turbo!

If any of you have ever wanted to do rally racing on some closed paved public roads this event really can't be beat. Everyone is super friendly, the race is well organized and has tremendous support from the government and FIA. The countryside is beautiful and the roads are in great shape. It's relatively inexpensive also. You drive about 900 miles over 3 days and probably race at least 200 miles at speed.

The RX-8 held up really well and we had no problems at all. Although I did grind a hole in the exhaust pipe by the end from bottoming out and jumping the car so much

Here is some footage from day 3 which has some pretty fast stages out in the desert (we came in 3rd overall this day):

http://youtu.be/DsEQGDgKQxA

My RX-8 is set up for road racing (NASA) and did just fine - so bring your road racing cars out next year fellas! If any of you want more info about this rally race the website is here:

www.chihuahuaexpress.com

Happy to answer any questions.

- John