John Magnuson

just returned from a three day race in Chihuahua Mexico call the "Chihuahua Express" - www.chihuahuaexpress.com . My brother, David, was my navigator and did an excellent job. Over the three days we covered about a thousand miles in my 1993 Mazda RX-7 of which about 350 miles were full speed "race" stages where the public highway was closed to traffic and we competed for the fastest stage transit time. Each day we left from the hotel in Chihuahua and raced to a city in the countryside and then raced back to the hotel along the same route. The second day was special because our destination and turn around point was the town of Divisidero on the rim of the Copper Canyon.

We accomplished our primary goal of finishing the rally and having a good time. However, we also surprised ourselves and many others by finishing first in class and second overall. The first place overall went to a highly modified Subaru rally car that was amazingly fast.

I can't tell you how much fun this race was. I have NEVER had so much fun in a car. The race was well organized. Safety and security were top notch. The roads were in excellent condition.

I recorded most of the race stages on video with my in car camera. I have loaded one stage from each day onto the video sharing website "youtube.com".

Please feel free to view, share or link to these videos:

Day 1, first return stage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAgSkdtA7Iw

Day 2, first return stage (partial):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5heQz6gw6Y

Day 3, first return stage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pk4-u9Sjtw

- John Magnuson

ReadyKW

Wow! Great job John, you are really are really moving on those public roads. Did you ever worry some local would forget about the closed road and suprise you around some corner? What was the competition like? Did you and your brother pre-run the coarse?

Thanks for sharing and congrats!

sevensix

iTrader: (1)

cool videos. what distance did you cover in what time?

grimple1

iTrader: (1)

congratulations! what was the highest top speed you got?

John Magnuson

I hit redline in 5th gear (I have the Japanese market lower 5th gear) many times which is about 180mph.

Yes, a local on the roads is always a worry. Fortunately this event has really good traffic control and the roads we raced on had very little in the way of access roads.

I was not able to prerun the coarse. My brother had the "route book" which gives detailed instructions of what types of turns and hazards are ahead. The sound quality sucks in the videos so you can't hear him telling me the turns ahead. Just like in WRC.

The competion in my class (2.4 liter turbo) consisted of about half a dozen Mistsubishi EVOs and Subaru WRXs. On a tight road they may have been able to compete with my FD but in this rally the FD's far superior top speed took the day and I won my class by a LARGE margin.

I was also second overall out of the 40 cars that started the race. My closest competitors were the unlimited class PanAm cars. They LOOK like classic cars but under the skin is a 3000 pound tube frame race car with modern suspension, brakes and a 500hp V8. Kind of like a NASCAR with a 1950s classic car body. They cost well over $100K to build and they can MOVE.

First overall was a very highly modified Subaru Sti that was really really well setup. It has HUGE tires and about 500hp. It beat me by a large margin.

hyperlitenerd

iTrader: (1)

I see some mods in your signature, but what do you have done to the car? Any safety mods? Ie. cage, harness?

Oh yeah, looks like fun! Congrats on the win. I will have to find one near me.

John Magnuson

Yes, a 6 point cage and 5 point harness is required. I have a 6 point cage with removable door bars so I can still drive the car on the street when I'm not racing it.

alloutFD

i hope i can race next time....

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

That definitely looks like fun.

What kind of tires were you running?

How close to the limit did you tend to drive?

Howard Coleman

iTrader: (6)

John,

WOW and congrats!

(an acquaintence from wisconsin entered... John Schantz. 54 olds w a 500 hp chevy. i will have to check to see how he fared.)

howard

John Magnuson

I ran full tread Toyo RA1 245/45-16 tires. I kept my foot down in the straights but I probably took most turns at about 85% (75% if there was a ravine with no guard rail on the corner exit!)

John Magnuson

Thanks!

I'm pretty sure he finished but I can't remember how he placed. I believe he ran in the "original" class. I have a ton of respect for the "original" class cars - other than brakes they're essentially the same 4000+ pound leaf spring equipped boats from the 50s that take 6 turns from steering lock to lock. I was amazed how quickly they can get through the stages in those kind of cars.

Rotary4tw

iTrader: (3)

John- Great work! Looks like an amazing event and I'm glad you and your brother enjoyed yourselves. (While kicking ***!)

NissanConvert

iTrader: (1)

I guess i get to add another rally to my list of "Need to completes" Good show!

RotaryBuddha

iTrader: (4)

Wow congrats, any engine bay pics you care to share?

Sukai94

John,

Congrats!

I think I found your shop by accident last Saturday. It was pretty funny stuff.

smog7

looks like tons of fun. ever think of racing in la carrera panamericana?

John Magnuson

La Carrera Panamericana does have a class now for modern cars. Someday I would like to do it. However the expense combined the large amount of time you have to be away for that race makes it impossible for me to do the race anytime soon. Maybe if my work schedule or finances improve I can consider it in the future.

John Magnuson

Here are some reviews of the rally:

Some good carnage pictures:

http://lacarrera2007.blogspot.com/20...not-rally.html

After race review:

http://lacarrera2007.blogspot.com/20...ie-bledso.html

One more:

http://lacarrera2007.blogspot.com/20...ahua-news.html

Montego

iTrader: (1)

man that's badass... congratulations

Fitzhumey

Congrats! What is the horspower on your car??

John Magnuson

We tuned the motor very conservatively for the race since we had to run on Mexican pump gas. (super rich with lots of timing retard) It was putting down 320hp to the rear wheels.

RX7 RAGE

iTrader: (22)

good job

sip

That is absolutely SICK!
I would love to do that, although I think maybe 100miles would be enough for me.
The roads there look very well maintained smooth, flat... nice.

RLaoFD

iTrader: (6)

Its good to hear that our cars can still hang with new technology coming out these days...

I look forward to doing things like that one day, but for now, one can only hope..