Armin Schwarz - Project Baja - Baja 500 summary

Baja 500 summary by Armin Schwarz, Team AGM Class 1 driver:Dear Friends, now my wealth of experience of desert racing at its toughest has increased by another four and a half hours. That’s how long my stint at the Baja 500 lasted until I handed the car to Martin. The route was absolutely rough and crazy after rain weeks prior to the start. But we had a great starting position with starting number 103. Just 26 miles after we took off in Ensenada, we’d already overtaken 15 vehicles.
Then came a real test of patience when we got stuck behind a rival until Race Mile 130. There was no wind, so the dust was like driving in thick, brown fog. At times we couldn’t even see our GPS monitor in the cockpit. It’s useless to stop and wait for the dust to clear. Because first there’s a very good chance you’ll sink in up to your axles, and secondly you can guarantee a opponent will come from behind, and then you’ll be cought behind the nex one .

But eventually we overtook the guys and picked up speed. At the half way mark we handed our Buggy to Martin as leaders of the overall classification. As usual, Martin put in a fantastic drive and extended the lead – which lasted until Race Mile 328 when we think the gearbox shaft broke. We could change all gears but there was no drive. And that was the end of what could have easily turned into another brilliant day.
I’m certain that we’ll find a solution to the problems with the power transmission by the next race (SCORE Terrible’s Las Vegas Primm 300, 10 to 12 September). To be honest, I’m not holding much hope for the title anymore, which is a shame. But it also means we can pull out all stops when we go to the SCORE Terrible's Primm 3000. And when we tackle our big goal – a win at the Baja 1000.
Our teammate Armin Kremer put in a great performance holding second place for a long time. He shared the cockpit with NASCAR ace Boris Said who is a good friend of AGM and did some races already with us. Boris put in a great and spirited drive. Unfortunataly he ran very wide in two corners and it took them a total of five hours to dig themselves out, but they still managed to finish in the top ten. I congratulate you two!