We snoozed in bed until we heard the first motor race past us at around 8am. When we looked out the rear window, we fond a family of three cars and a few tents had camped right on our door step so we were a bit pissed about that until we emerged from the van to find most of the peninsula was covered with campers. All the level patches of ground were occupied anyway. Tere were more racing fans in Mexico than we thought!
The motors we heard belonged to motorbikes. They’d started the race at 6am, 100 kilometers away. They were loud and they were going quick. Dan made us hot chocolate and coffee while I sat atop the roof, hardly able to contain my excitement at witnessing an event such as this. Hot drinks in hand, we both sat on the roof of the car to watch the first few bikes go through. When we saw a chopper following a rider closely, we knew he was a serious contender. After he flew by us, Dan contemplated whether it could have been Taylor Robert. When he saw that his number was 33 combined with the fact he was out front and had a chopper following him, Dan was pretty certain it was Taylor. He’d raced MotoX and SuperX in his late teens/early twenties before switching to endurance races. Dan was pretty much his best friend since he’d bought a dirt bike off him back in the day.
The bikes continued and we became happier and happier with the spectator possie we’d chosen. We could see them coming full tilt at us from over the hill, then watch the plume of dust grow as they came closer, we saw wheels off the ground as they navigated the small whoops right by the car then brake hard for the downhill left hander before speeding up again to head over the next hill. All within sight of us!
There were breaks between the riders, maybe the classes had been released in waves, but usually it was a rider every few minutes. We started seeing quads after about an hour, when I went inside the van to make breakfast. It was hard to sit on the roof watching all the Mexican families eat their morning away so we had to give them some competition. Using the fresh veggies and huevos (eggs) we’d bought yesterday, I made us some onion, tomato and egg toasted burritos. Not as much food as everyone else around us, but it was plenty for us. Muy bueno (very good)!
The action continued for the next couple of hours and we got to the point where we’d edge away from the track as the riders got close. No barriers, nothing, just a feeble hollow concrete post a few feet away that I’m sure would crumble at the first hint of an impact. When the action slowed down, we got our chairs out to set ourselves up properly. Next was to open a couple of beers.
When the action seemed to have really stopped, we entertained ourselves in different ways. Dan did some house cleaning while I fashioned an Australian flag to hang off my chair using a fishing pole and my pink Australia jumper. The racers we’d met yesterday told us that Toby Price was in the competition, driving a car just for fun instead of his usual motorbike. Knowing that, I wanted to show my support! I was pretty happy with the setup in the end, the flag flew right at the side o the racetrack. Hopefully, unmissable to Toby if and when he came past.
Still no action, the bikes and quads were finished and we were waiting for the first wave of trophy trucks and buggies to come through. We knew that they were due to start on the course around 10am, so we had a while to wait. We entertained ourselves by throwing rocks at the fence posts across the road, starting with a fat one which Dan hit first, then challenging ourselves with a narrow post which again, Dan hit first. We were a couple of beers deep now so had bottles to put on top of the posts for our next challenge. A small group had gathered with us at the top of the hill and most of them were kids. Once we started aiming for the bottle, we invited the kids to join us and they started picking up rocks. Before we knew it, the bottle was shattered. One of the kids had nailed it on his first throw. We threw our hands up and shouted in celebration but he pretty much shrugged it off like it was no big deal. Ha, ha. His father said he played baseball and was a catched to which we replied that he should be the bloody pitcher!
A few more bottle throws later and a car came tearing over the hill in the distance. We’d probably had two hours of downtime so it was about right that the cars should start arriving now and this guy was booking it. Everyone left their chairs to crowd near the road for the next slice of action. When the white car passed us a lot of people cheered only to find it was a service car. The people inside had no helmets and were carrying more than one car’s emergency supplies. They were obviously racing ahead to their rendezvous point.
It was the perfect warning of what was to come. When he heard the first trophy truck, there was no mistaking what it was. We could hear the roar of the engine well before we could see anything and there was a chopper flying right there with it. We couldn’t believe the speed when we saw the black car peak over the hill. It put the motorbikes and quads to absolute shame, he was absolutely flying. We stayed as close as we dared to the road as the massive truck hurled towards us, the suspension hardly noticing the whoops.
We thought we’d been seeing dust before, now we really experienced it. The truck covered everything on the far side of the road in a thick plume of brown dust and as it flew around the downhill left-hander, it threw rocks out to the group of spectators standing nearby. Wow, what power. I figured the first car was Robbie Gordon since I’d read he qualified first and the car was pasted with Monster sponsorship, but there’s no way I could really tell, he just went by so damn fast.
The trophy trucks kept coming relentlessly, with a dedicated chopper for each of the first five cars at least. We noticed that one car had a chopper with matching livery, so it was owned and paid for by the actual team and not a broadcaster. This is definitely a rich man’s sport! We cheered louder and louder as each car screamed past us, seemingly getting faster and faster. The kids around us were over-excited just about as much as us, taking as many photos in their iPads and phones as possible. Can’t say I was much different, but I made sure to just stand and enjoy the sight and sound of a few trucks going by without filming.
Onto our last beers, I was sure Toby Price must have already gone past so we shut up the van and went for a walk up-circuit where we could hear them going by us flat out. Everyone so far had slowed down for the whoops and were under braking into the corner downstream of us. I wanted to hear what these machines sounded like at their limit.
There was a lull in the racing so we walked the track, hopping off where I thought they’d be full throttle. Sure enough, when the first car went by, he didn’t lift off and we heard the full roar of the V8 engine. We hung out here for a bit, egging on the trucks that went by and even saw our first buggy from here. We mucked around with photos, in one of which I lay down on the ground per Dan’s request. Amongst the flowers, I looked totally serene until a truck went roaring by. The result was a womanly accident-looking stain on the bottom of my pants thanks to the red flowery cactus that was full of liquid.
When the traffic dulled again, we walked back to base, seeing buggies go by. It seemed that the trophy trucks were done for the day. There’d been about 20-30 vehicles in each class, except for the quads which only had a handful. It had definitely been a unique event to watch and all for free too! Made me wanna buy a dirt bike and go adventuring in a different way.
When we got back to the van which Dan had locked, we discovered that the back door no longer opened. This was an issue since it was the only way to get into the car. While all the Cabanas’ door handles operated perfectly from the inside, you couldn’t unlock the driver’s door from the outside and none of the other exterior door handles worked, except the back door. Bugger. Dan made a worried face but I told him not to worry as I could fit through the rear window. He balked at that but I got straight into it, there was no other way to get into the car! After squirming my shoulders through the small opening, I struggled when I reached my torso, but eventually wiggled my boobs through the window. From here, I could reach the internal door handle and pop the back door. Success! Now to get myself out. I didn’t want to go backwards and squish my tits again so I opted to go forwards, with Dan holding my legs horizontal and pushing me through. We got huge laughs from the camp nearby when we got to my arse, which Dan had to massage through the window to get it through. A good bit of entertainment for everyone, including ourselves.
A few stragglers ripped past us as some of the campers packed up and made their way out. I should mention that during the whole event, cars were driving on the live track getting to wherever they needed to go and pulling off the road at the last minute or just parking their car to one side of the road for the flying bikes/trucks/buggies to go by them. Not really what you’d call safe conduct. I didn’t see a single man with a whistle or a vest!
We retreated into the van to make lunch from our left over chicken. The sun had come out for most of the racing, but the clouds had come back over, making it cold and foggy yet again, so we were happy to be inside for a change. We’d run out of beers which meant I was proper drunk, as it should be on a race day. Dan cooked up a storm of chicken, beans and salsa in a tortilla. We scoffed them down, then I collapsed into bed to sleep off the alcohol while Dan shut the curtains. We heard a competitor once every now and then and I raised my head to see what they were. It was a mix of everything, but they’d probably all had mechanical issues considering they were coming past this late.
After a nap, we killed the rest of the day playing cards and thinking about getting out of this foggy weather and into the sun. When 7pm rolled around, I felt well enough to eat something so made myself some white rice. Dan was still on his cereal trip and stuck to his cornflakes and granola for sustenance. We spent the rest of the night listening to the Elon Musk biography, getting trough a whole chapter on Space X before calling it quits and rolling over in bed for an early night. Cleo was ok up front this time since there was no one left to set off fireworks. She’d spent most of the day inside anyway, scared of all the noises. The short time that she was outside with us, she sat in our laps like a pussy cat, not wanting to be too far from us in case the scary noises got to her.