Six Days, No Back Brakes, and One Hell of a Fight - The NORRA Mexican 1000
The NORRA Mexican 1000 has a reputation for being one of the most enjoyable races in Baja. It's known as "The Happiest Race on Earth," but that doesn't mean it's easy. Beneath the smiles, spectacular scenery, and incredible camaraderie lies six days of brutal terrain, long hours, and relentless punishment for both machinery and competitors.
This year I had the opportunity to navigate the SCG 008 alongside Darren Skilton as we set out to evaluate the platform in true Baja conditions. What followed was one of the most challenging, rewarding, and memorable weeks I have experienced in off-road racing. (Click here to read all about the race and what Norra is all about,the car, and the driver.)
The race started with adversity before we had even started the race. Whether we would make it to the start of the race, was literally hanging in the balance, literally up until an hour before our assigned start time. But, wonder above wonder, we made it to the start of the first stage.
Stage 1: Three fan belts and a brake caliper
By 8:40pm, after three specials and a day that tested every limit of the car and crew, we were in. Just barely, but in.
Stage 1 set the tone for everything that followed. We went through three serpentine belts during the day, which sounds straightforward until you understand what changing a serpentine belt on a car like this actually means: getting underneath the car in an awkward, barely accessible position, in the heat, on the clock, with every component of the car red hot. Three times. Then, nine kilometres from the finish of the final special, the rear brake caliper broke clean off and wedged itself into the wheel. The car was effectively undriveable. We nursed it across the line anyway.
Standing there at the end of that first day, I genuinely didn't know whether we'd make the start of Stage 2, let alone finish the event. The car was in, the crew was exhausted, and tomorrow was completely unknown. But that's Baja. You get the car in, you fix what you can, and you go again.
Stage 2: Getting to the start line was already a win
Stage 2 almost didn't happen for us. We took a late start, the car simply wasn't ready in time , and collected a penalty before we'd turned a wheel. What followed was one of the tougher days I've had in motorsport: brutal, rocky terrain that ate the rear fenders clean off the car, and then, somewhere in the second special, the rear right brake sheared off completely. The day before, it had been the left.
We were left with no choice. Strip what was left of the rear braking system, run on fronts only, and keep going. The third special that day was where it all clicked, despite not having back brakes, proper race pace, the car doing exactly what it was built to do. That stage reminded us why we were there and invigorated us.
Stage 3: Finding a rhythm in the chaos
By Stage 3, we'd found something close to a groove. Mission San Borja, terrain I'd actually made roadbooks for previously, opened proceedings with deep rocky canyons that tested every navigation call with zero visibility in a wall of dust as we kept passing people. The second special opened up into flat-out desert, long straights between cacti at full race pace. Then the third hit us with oases and massive boulders. The deep ruts, palm trees and monster rocks running into San Ignacio, is a staple for many veteran Baja racers, the kind of terrain that makes you genuinely question whether the car will hold together.
It did.
Stage 4: All eight cylinders
Stage 4 brought its own revelation: the previous night, the crew discovered the engine had been running on six cylinders (We had suspected something was not all kosher with the power delivery). With all eight firing for the first time, the car felt transformed. Big salt flats, absolutely flat out, the truck maxed out across the pan. A flat tyre in the second special, 160 kilometres of relentless rocks, was the only blip. We rolled into Loreto in daylight, which felt like a luxury, as we celebrated along the ocean.
Stage 5: La Paz or bust
Stage 5 into La Paz was, without question, the hardest day of the event. No rear brakes means your braking points move far back. The third special was brutal, concentration levels I haven't had to sustain for that long in a very long time. We missed corners in the vegetation because there simply wasn't enough front brake to scrub speed in time. We pushed through it.
Rolling into La Paz with the ocean breeze and the crowds was a special moment, it cut through the exhaustion. One day left.
The Final Stage: The fight to the finish
The final stage opened perfectly. Rear brakes finally sorted overnight, we had proper stopping power for the first time in days. We were fast, we were clean, and the first special was our best of the entire event.
Then, 90 kilometres from the finish, disaster struck, we ripped off our left front wheel.
What followed was the kind of improvised motorsport that Baja seems to specialise in, raiding parts from the car itself, rebuilding the hub on the side of the track, and limping toward the finish line on willpower and wire. On the way to the finish things got worse as we lost clutch as well.
However, Darren’s driving skill and sheer will power, got us into the finish line, a day I will never forget.
What NORRA actually is
People who haven't done Baja sometimes picture it as a straight-line desert blast. It's not. It's six days of relentless mechanical attrition, navigation demands that change character every hundred kilometres, and the kind of problem-solving under pressure that no training camp can fully replicate. We ran most of this race without rear brakes. We lost serpentine belts, fenders, cylinders, and a wheel. We never lost the plot.
For anyone who races rally raid, who coaches it, who prepares riders and drivers for the demands of events like Dakar, NORRA is as honest a test as the desert offers. While the navigation is not challenging or difficult, the terrain and the strain it puts on the car, driver and navigator is a true test.
We kept moving. We made it. And the car, battered as it was, made it too.
A true testimony to will power, grit, and sheer determination.
