The cars are powered by the aforesaid Subaru flat-fours paired with four-speed manual transmissions, and the all-important 20 inches of suspension travel come courtesy of an A-arm suspension front and rear with Bilstein shock absorbers. In four of the 10 years Wide Open has enabled clients to enter the race in its cars, every car entered has finished the race, with the current high being 20 finishers in 2007. They’re so tough that particularly well-heeled customers can actually enter the Baja 1000 in one. Off-road racing and scenery like this: It’s a rough life. These cars are tough-mechanical punching bags that respond better the more they are abused. Although Wide Open’s inexperienced customers aren’t blitzing the desert at race pace, that doesn’t mean they are easier on the equipment. Assuming competitors actually finish (plenty don’t), the race takes at least 15 hours to complete, depending on the route. Much of the road is or was at one point part of the course for the Baja 1000, the grueling annual race down the peninsula that in past years has approached 1000 miles in length. But don’t expect to encounter too much traffic. Also, these are all technically public roads. Aside from the brief rock-crawling sections, not a foot passes slowly. Nearly all of this wends through corridors of cactus barely wider than the car. Our route rips through every type of desert terrain imaginable: sandy washes so deep and fine they suck the car to a stop the second you back out of the throttle stretches of rocky pile-ups that have to be crawled across at a walking pace broad, flat roads that allow the exploration of terminal velocity and mile after mile of hard-packed rolling dirt waves called whoops. Rather, it’s an adventure tour taken to the extreme, a full-on, three-day adrenaline bender spent rocketing across desert plains in purpose-built off-road race cars. It’s not a school, so don’t expect a lot of one-on-one time with the guides. We’re in Mexico with Wide Open Baja, an adventure company that offers just that: the opportunity to crisscross the Baja peninsula at full throttle. Truth in Advertising and Equipment Inspired by Everlast We soar a good 20 feet through the air, nose canted slightly downward, and land without so much as a thud or whump as 20 inches of suspension travel absorb the landing. “Let’s see how this goes.” Without lifting off the throttle, the driver plows into the berm at full tilt, and the car bounds off the top. “Nope.” A bar juts from the sheetmetal dash in front of me, and I grab it. The barely muffled Subaru flat-four at our backs screams at 5000 rpm as it rushes us toward the berm. “Have you caught any air in one of these yet?” The driver’s voice crackles over my in-helmet radio. A berm almost as tall as the car looms in our path. I’m riding shotgun in an off-road buggy tearing across the desert, dust hanging in the air behind us for what seems like a quarter of a mile.
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