SCG Boot takes Baja 1000 class win as Bronco R fails to finish

OF THIS year’s Baja 1000 field of 264 vehicle entries, the spotlight was undoubtedly focused on the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus Boot and the Ford Bronco R.

Both first-time entrants were inspired by 1960s Baja rigs, and both went head-to-head against each other as the sole entrants of the Class 2 unrestricted cars/trucks category.

The two-day cross-country rally, which was held over 1288km of cross country tracks, concluded with the Boot crossing the line with a total time of 33hrs 59min 14sec, a gnat’s whisker of just 46 seconds before the 34-hour cut-off mark.

Unfortunately for Ford, the Bronco R copped myriad race-stopping damages to its components, before malfunctioning cooling fans forced the team to call it quits after 933km.

According to a CNET report, the decision was made to retire the Bronco R in the interest of safety as the next section of the course involved driving over mountainous terrain where recovery would be nearly impossible. Instead, the team nursed the Bronco R to the Baja 1000’s finish location in Ensenada, Mexico, on tarmac.

Despite being handed a comfortable lead by the Bronco R’s misfortunes, the Boot’s journey wasn’t all that smooth-sailing, either, with the team having to stop to deal with a broken spindle with just 78km to go.

Fortunately, the chase team managed to deliver the parts and the Boot was fixed just in time to make it across the finishing line to take a class win.

Top honours for the Baja 1000 was taken by brothers Alan and Aaron Ampudia in a ID Design Ford Raptor Trophy truck, who crossed the line in 16hrs 10min 36sec, 10min 30sec ahead of Dakar-winning Australian Toby Price and Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah in a Ford F-250 Trophy truck.