WIDE OPEN BAJA'S NEW BAJA TRACKING SERVICE AT THIS YEAR’S BAJA 1000!

New for the 2005 Centrix Financial Wide Open Baja Challenge (presented by BFGoodrich) is a high-tech new way to follow the race from any computer around the world. Click on the button below to track the race.

Thanks to a recently announced corporate partnership, Wide Open Adventures has teamed up with Guardian Mobility, Globalstar, Spirit Wireless and Waypoint Information Technology to offer the first real-time tracking of the historic Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 available to the public. Created just in time for the 37th running of this internationally renowned desert classic, the project will allow both Wide Open race organizers, event participants and motorsports fans the opportunity to track the progress of 16 individual race vehicles taking part in the 5th annual Centrix Financial Wide Open Baja Challenge. Made possible by an unprecedented combination of GPS and satellite technology, the real time tracking of the unique Baja Challenge race can be seen beginning on Friday morning, November 18, 2005 by clicking on the button above..

Each Baja Challenge (BC) car will be equipped with a Guardian Mobility Tracer GPS transmitter that will enable each participating team to be tracked via the internet. Now known as the “WORT” (Wide Open Race Tracking) system, the new venture will allow viewers to track the cars from the start through some of the nastiest most brutal off-road terrain in the world to the finish during the entire race.

“For Wide Open Baja and our annual Baja Challenge event to be chosen as the focal point for such a diverse grouping of technology speaks volumes about how far our event, and the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, have come over the past five years,” explained Todd Clement, managing partner for Wide Open Baja Adventures. “The race has now truly regained its rightful place on the international motorsports calendar, and this incredible project with Guardian Mobility and its corporate partners is the ideal way for race enthusiasts everywhere to watch our teams’ progress as it happens. The thought of that is very exciting for all of us.”

A unique Pro-Am race which pits professional drivers, media, celebrities and adventure seekers against each other in identical cars, the annual Centrix Financial Wide Open Baja Challenge has become an integral part of the most prestigious desert competition on the international motorsports calendar. For this year’s race, the Wide Open Baja organization and a support team of nearly 250 mechanics and service crew will be supervising the preparation, leasing and race support of 16 (a Baja Challenge record) identical two-seat, open wheel cars.

Each of the 16 entries will be driven relay-style by teams of three drivers and three co-drivers. As official entries in the Baja 1000, participating teams will compete against each other for winning honors in the “BC Challenge” class, as well as a top finish among the race record 350-plus entries expected for this year’s event. With the advent of this new partnership with Guardian Mobility, all 16 Baja Challenge cars will be equipped with individual tracking systems that will allow real time mapping of each vehicle as it makes its way along the challenging 700-plus mile course being used for this year’s Baja 1000.

Race fans will be able to track some of the sport’s biggest drivers, for as it has in As it has in past years, the Baja Challenge has attracted a remarkable field of racing talent for this year’s version, including newly crowned Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais; fellow Champ Car series driver Oriol Servia, NASCAR driver Boris Said, Pike’s Peak record holder Rod Millen and son Rhys (a highly acclaimed star in the motor sport of drifting), the highly popular Jourdain family of Mexico who won this event last year and 2005 Baja 500 overall winner and motorcycle legend Mike “Mouse” McCoy, star of this year’s theatrically released documentary “Dust to Glory.”

In addition to the sparkling list of motorsports celebrities at this year’s event, the 2005 Wide Open Baja Challenge will also be hosting famed hot rod designer and television star Chip Foose and ABC Television star Patrick Dempsey from the new hit series “Grey’s Anatomy.”

All of the event entries are funded by individual drivers, groups or corporations, who will pilot specially designed Wide Open Challenge cars that feature BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A tires, 20” of suspension travel and highly reliable 2.5-liter Porsche powerplants. Created as a truly turn-key event, the Wide Open organization provides complete vehicle preparation, entry fees, fuel, tires, driver training, SCORE licensing, hotel accommodations and hospitality.
Wide Open Adventures and the Baja Challenge are actively supported by BFGoodrich Tire, Centrix Financial, Monster Energy Drink, American Racing Wheels, Bilstein, SnugTop, Lowrance, PIAA, Auto Meter and Eibach.