Baja 1000
-
Ben
- Executive Member
- Berichten: 40765
- Lid geworden op: 09.09.2004 - 16:57
- Locatie: Even ten noorden van de Paltz
- Contacteer:
Vandaag in de Telegraaf en ook in Autoweek een verhaal over een aantal V70 Cross Country, die nu XC70 heten, tijdens de BAJA 1000. 100 km door Zuid Amerika over wasbordwegen en ander gevaar.
Volvohistorie: 244-245-440-850-V70-V70-S60-XC70-XC70-245-S70-V70
-
Ben
- Executive Member
- Berichten: 40765
- Lid geworden op: 09.09.2004 - 16:57
- Locatie: Even ten noorden van de Paltz
- Contacteer:
En hier het verhaal uit de Boston Globe
In 'burbs or Baja, Volvo's a victor
By Royal Ford | December 12, 2004
BAJA CALIFORNIA, Mexico -- A dark and heavy sky hangs like an overturned skillet over this peninsula, spitting rain and pressing down on the mountains and the deserts, where piles of rocks have been thrust upward to form mountains, where cacti as high as three stories bristle across the flats, and where a dirt road, once deep with sand as soft as talc, has become a flow of muddy water.
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The road has been gashed halfway across at many points along the route, leaving three-foot-deep trenches that will wreck a car if you hit one. Climbing the mountains, or dropping into creek beds and canyons, there is the threat of big rocks. On fast, flat stretches, smaller rocks ping off the undercarriage like machine-gun fire.
They run the Baja 1000, one of the world's most challenging races, on these roads. The cars that do well here tend to look like insects, sitting high, their suspensions thrust out like the legs of grasshoppers, shock travel measured in feet, not inches.
But we are in a 2005 Volvo XC70 station wagon, the ride of the New England suburbs, where these cars are known for their safety and their good handling in winter weather.
Worried about getting to their ski homes or their fishing camps, New Englanders buy all-wheel-drive Volvos. This trip proves that even if your fishing camp is 600 miles down the Baja over roads impassable to many vehicles, you can still pack your fly rod and go.
We have been summoned here, said Soren Johannson, Volvo spokesman, because the company wanted to show us what the wagon will do in tough conditions. That's because, he said, while the XC90 SUV might be the car you'd expect to be the choice of the outdoor set, that car, in fact, has been selling more to those who want the image of the high-end SUV. It is the XC70 that sells to those who roll out to enjoy the outdoors.
Our test cars have been modified only with sturdy tires, boosted cooling for the power steering, and skid plates beneath.
We will cover more than 400 miles of the Baja, crisscrossing three times as we make our way north to south, from the Sea of Cortez to the Pacific Ocean.
We maintain a safe distance between all cars because the tossed dust is so thick you could crash not only into the car ahead, but also into one of those sudden ditches, a rock, a burro, roaming cattle, the squishy off-road sections of salt flats near the Pacific coast, or an abandoned car. Burned carcasses of cars and trucks litter the landscape, in fact.
And since we are 300 miles at all times from any serious trauma center (a helicopter is staffed with medics and kept at the ready) an accident down here would be a very bad thing.
And it is also possible you might even roll too fast into one of the remote military checkpoints that dot the route and are manned by teenage boys with serious guns slung over their shoulders.
The XC70 station wagon features Volvo's FOUR-C active chassis (Continuously Controlled Chassis Concept: a $995 option), which uses sensors to monitor what you are doing with the car. In effect, it combines with the stability and traction controls system to boost handling and safety by adjusting the shock absorbers, in fractions of a second, to reflect the car's behavior.
Cruise sedately, the shocks remain relatively soft. Speed up, get into some heavy cornering or pounding, and the shocks stiffen up. It does both in either Sport or Comfort modes.
We crawled and pounded over rocks, crept through water and mud as slick as Vaseline, drove gravel roads that were like driving on a bed of loose marbles. The Volvo adjusted for it all.
And it was revealing, during stops, to look out into the parking lot from one of the way stations that have become pit stops for the Baja races and remind ourselves we were driving a Volvo.
The same Volvo you could park in your garage in Lincoln, and then head out for a week of fishing -- at Punta San Francisqito, hard down the Baja.
© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
In 'burbs or Baja, Volvo's a victor
By Royal Ford | December 12, 2004
BAJA CALIFORNIA, Mexico -- A dark and heavy sky hangs like an overturned skillet over this peninsula, spitting rain and pressing down on the mountains and the deserts, where piles of rocks have been thrust upward to form mountains, where cacti as high as three stories bristle across the flats, and where a dirt road, once deep with sand as soft as talc, has become a flow of muddy water.
ADVERTISEMENT
The road has been gashed halfway across at many points along the route, leaving three-foot-deep trenches that will wreck a car if you hit one. Climbing the mountains, or dropping into creek beds and canyons, there is the threat of big rocks. On fast, flat stretches, smaller rocks ping off the undercarriage like machine-gun fire.
They run the Baja 1000, one of the world's most challenging races, on these roads. The cars that do well here tend to look like insects, sitting high, their suspensions thrust out like the legs of grasshoppers, shock travel measured in feet, not inches.
But we are in a 2005 Volvo XC70 station wagon, the ride of the New England suburbs, where these cars are known for their safety and their good handling in winter weather.
Worried about getting to their ski homes or their fishing camps, New Englanders buy all-wheel-drive Volvos. This trip proves that even if your fishing camp is 600 miles down the Baja over roads impassable to many vehicles, you can still pack your fly rod and go.
We have been summoned here, said Soren Johannson, Volvo spokesman, because the company wanted to show us what the wagon will do in tough conditions. That's because, he said, while the XC90 SUV might be the car you'd expect to be the choice of the outdoor set, that car, in fact, has been selling more to those who want the image of the high-end SUV. It is the XC70 that sells to those who roll out to enjoy the outdoors.
Our test cars have been modified only with sturdy tires, boosted cooling for the power steering, and skid plates beneath.
We will cover more than 400 miles of the Baja, crisscrossing three times as we make our way north to south, from the Sea of Cortez to the Pacific Ocean.
We maintain a safe distance between all cars because the tossed dust is so thick you could crash not only into the car ahead, but also into one of those sudden ditches, a rock, a burro, roaming cattle, the squishy off-road sections of salt flats near the Pacific coast, or an abandoned car. Burned carcasses of cars and trucks litter the landscape, in fact.
And since we are 300 miles at all times from any serious trauma center (a helicopter is staffed with medics and kept at the ready) an accident down here would be a very bad thing.
And it is also possible you might even roll too fast into one of the remote military checkpoints that dot the route and are manned by teenage boys with serious guns slung over their shoulders.
The XC70 station wagon features Volvo's FOUR-C active chassis (Continuously Controlled Chassis Concept: a $995 option), which uses sensors to monitor what you are doing with the car. In effect, it combines with the stability and traction controls system to boost handling and safety by adjusting the shock absorbers, in fractions of a second, to reflect the car's behavior.
Cruise sedately, the shocks remain relatively soft. Speed up, get into some heavy cornering or pounding, and the shocks stiffen up. It does both in either Sport or Comfort modes.
We crawled and pounded over rocks, crept through water and mud as slick as Vaseline, drove gravel roads that were like driving on a bed of loose marbles. The Volvo adjusted for it all.
And it was revealing, during stops, to look out into the parking lot from one of the way stations that have become pit stops for the Baja races and remind ourselves we were driving a Volvo.
The same Volvo you could park in your garage in Lincoln, and then head out for a week of fishing -- at Punta San Francisqito, hard down the Baja.
© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
Volvohistorie: 244-245-440-850-V70-V70-S60-XC70-XC70-245-S70-V70
-
Ben
- Executive Member
- Berichten: 40765
- Lid geworden op: 09.09.2004 - 16:57
- Locatie: Even ten noorden van de Paltz
- Contacteer:
En ook nog uit de Vancouver Sun
Baja trek puts Volvo to the test
XC70 tackles the toughest terrain for a wagon
Angela Forgeron
For CanWest News Service
Friday, December 17, 2004
The 595-km desert drive took participants through some of the most beautiful parts of the Mexico's Baja peninsula.
CREDIT: Bruce Benedict, Volvo
The varied terrain of the desert allowed drivers smooth, fast runs and slow, careful trudging.
ADVERTISEMENT
BAJA, Mexico - 'This is not an ordinary test drive," announces Bryon Farnsworth, a two-time winner of the Baja 1000 -- the granddaddy of all desert rally races -- over fish tacos.
El Malarrimo Enduro, a 595-km drive organized by Volvo across Mexico's most famous stretch of desert, "will scare you once in a while" or put you in el malarrimo ("close to danger").
"Baja exposes you and your vehicle to lots of danger, and in many ways," says Farnsworth, the drive leader for a three-day run through one-fifth of the 2004 Baja 1000 race's official course.
"You will be in situations you cannot control, from run-ins with military guards with AK-47s to trucks passing within millimetres of your mirror to the terrain and even the water and food. You're never far from danger."
Touching down in San Francisquito, a tiny seaside village clinging to the Sea of Cortez, and a two-hour flight from Phoenix, Ariz., is not for the faint of heart. The 10-seater plane circles the coastline twice before descending on to the dirt runway, its boundaries marked by white-painted rocks.
San Francisquito, an 80-km run from the nearest sign of civilization, is in the midst of a sandstorm. The fine grains are harshly whipping across the barren landscape; the only escape is to retreat into one of the 11 awaiting 2005 all-wheel-drive Volvo XC70 Cross Country wagons that will set the pace for the mid-week journey.
Over the course of three days, the convoy of silver wagons is set to cover 595 kilometres, 354 kilometres of that on the Baja course. And though it's not truly off-roading -- there are rough tracks through the ever-changing landscape of sand, the awesome salt flats of the west and rocky Sierra San Pedro mountain range -- this is likely the toughest off-piste terrain a wagon driver will encounter.
"When we first looked at organizing this drive, Volvo wasn't sure if the XC70 could do it," says Farnsworth. That's not to say the Swedish automaker didn't have faith in its vehicles. But when the typical Baja race vehicles consist of topless "truggies" -- a cross between a truck and a buggy -- with heavy-duty suspensions and shocks and fully modified pickup trucks and motorcycles, one wonders what the heck a station wagon -- not even an SUV no less -- is doing wandering through this desert.
Though, six test trips later across the Baja route, a few XC70s were down nothing more than a flat tire. And four trips beyond that, only one of the 24 wagons fell victim to disaster -- the result of an inexperienced off-road driver who took a dip too quickly and pierced the radiator. The vehicles are slightly modified for this ride with Pirelli Scorpion S/T 215/65R16 tires for better grip, a skid plate to protect the underbelly of the car and a larger oil cooler to deal with the 27 C heat.
We head out from San Francisquito toward San Ignacio, a 225-km jaunt, half of the trip through lunar-like terrain, the remainder on tarmac, scheduled to take five hours. The stretch starts out on dirt, winds through a cardon cactus forest and eventually hits a seemingly never-ending track of white sand. Imagine commandeering a subway, gliding over the smooth rails of the track -- this is what it feels like to blow through the slick, glistening sand at 100 kilometres an hour.
The next morning, the route takes us from San Ignacio -- a temporary home for California grey whales that migrate from Alaska to the lagoons of Baja California Sur -- on to Muleg nine hours later. After pounding across dirt and sand so dusty it's difficult to find the road ahead at times, the convoy comes across the mighty salt flats. The dried-up seabed is miles from the ocean, though seashells, scrubby vegetation and outlines of dried salt show its once-underwater presence.
Out of nowhere, like the desert oases that tease off in the distance, we come across the fishing town of El Datil. Well-dressed children appear from the one-room, pressboard school. The town, not even a mention on the local map, sits along a salt-water lagoon -- far from the Pacific Ocean -- that abounds with seafood. Farnsworth -- who has become familiar with the local children -- hands out tennis balls ("I didn't have any soccer balls to match the wagon's reputation of being a vehicle to haul around soccer kids," he says).
With the dust again behind us -- and in our path from the car ahead -- we push on in the afternoon sun toward Muleg. The Swedish Volvo representatives warn that "this is where the driving gets tough." We head into Sierra San Pedro mountain range, under the shadow of the 1,140-metre Cerro San Juan, which sits smack dab in the middle of the Baja peninsula. On a map of the south portion of Baja California, roads are notated according to terrain. We are travelling the toughest, marked by hyphenated lines -- "poor roads."
We come by deep drops that bottom out in dried riverbeds and start the climb back up the other side of the hill. Hazardous rocks are spray-painted pink, a warning that if you cross here parts of the car might be left behind. Winding up through the mountains proves to be the biggest challenge so far. The rock climbs and extreme heat have taken their toll on many a cow and goat -- some present only by bleached bones, others freshly dead with turkey vultures circling overhead -- but the XC70 chugs along without so much as a huff. And then we come across a Humvee full of green-clad AK-47-toting men.
At points during the route, your stomach dips like a whirling roller coaster. It's that sensation from dropping too quickly -- and then there are times when your belly stirs with fear. Will we make this rock climb? Will we slide off course? And then there's the fear of: What the heck are the military men with big guns doing in the middle of nowhere?
Twenty kilometres down the tough track, our convoy stops for a photo opportunity. When the earth starts to rumble, we know the Humvee isn't far behind. Everyone runs for his or her car to zoom off so the military can pass by, hassle-free, but, alas, one of the vehicle's security systems has locked the ignition and the group cannot proceed. Next thing we know, the military men have climbed a cliff to look down over our little group. This, I hope, is the closest we come to danger. Miraculously, the Swedes ignite the quiet XC70 and we're quickly back on course.
The third morning is a well deserved retreat from the rocky roads and eye candy for the soul. We head out on tarmac, slaloming around the cliff-clinging roads above the Sea of Cortez. Each turn produces a panoramic view of the mountains rising from the sea. Slowly, we come across a dirt road and descend on to a beach. The water is crystal blue and invites some of the group in for a swim. This and the overall ride, says, Volvo, represents the spontaneity of a cross-country driver. And indeed, we are happy to be far, far from el malarrimo.
Starring in this adventure (with a goal to get "from Point A to Point B rather than getting there quickly") is Volvo's XC70 (base/tested price $46,495/$53,745) equipped with leather upholstery ($1,950), premium sound system with 11 speakers and in-dash six CD changer ($1,500), premium package ($2,000) and sport package including 16-inch Xenia alloy wheels, Speed Sensitive Steering, Four-C Active Chassis, Dynamic Stability and Traction Control System (DSTC) and Emergency Brake Assistance (EBA).
This report is based on a presentation by the manufacturer, which paid the freelance writer's travel costs.
© Copyright 2004 Vancouver Sun
Baja trek puts Volvo to the test
XC70 tackles the toughest terrain for a wagon
Angela Forgeron
For CanWest News Service
Friday, December 17, 2004
The 595-km desert drive took participants through some of the most beautiful parts of the Mexico's Baja peninsula.
CREDIT: Bruce Benedict, Volvo
The varied terrain of the desert allowed drivers smooth, fast runs and slow, careful trudging.
ADVERTISEMENT
BAJA, Mexico - 'This is not an ordinary test drive," announces Bryon Farnsworth, a two-time winner of the Baja 1000 -- the granddaddy of all desert rally races -- over fish tacos.
El Malarrimo Enduro, a 595-km drive organized by Volvo across Mexico's most famous stretch of desert, "will scare you once in a while" or put you in el malarrimo ("close to danger").
"Baja exposes you and your vehicle to lots of danger, and in many ways," says Farnsworth, the drive leader for a three-day run through one-fifth of the 2004 Baja 1000 race's official course.
"You will be in situations you cannot control, from run-ins with military guards with AK-47s to trucks passing within millimetres of your mirror to the terrain and even the water and food. You're never far from danger."
Touching down in San Francisquito, a tiny seaside village clinging to the Sea of Cortez, and a two-hour flight from Phoenix, Ariz., is not for the faint of heart. The 10-seater plane circles the coastline twice before descending on to the dirt runway, its boundaries marked by white-painted rocks.
San Francisquito, an 80-km run from the nearest sign of civilization, is in the midst of a sandstorm. The fine grains are harshly whipping across the barren landscape; the only escape is to retreat into one of the 11 awaiting 2005 all-wheel-drive Volvo XC70 Cross Country wagons that will set the pace for the mid-week journey.
Over the course of three days, the convoy of silver wagons is set to cover 595 kilometres, 354 kilometres of that on the Baja course. And though it's not truly off-roading -- there are rough tracks through the ever-changing landscape of sand, the awesome salt flats of the west and rocky Sierra San Pedro mountain range -- this is likely the toughest off-piste terrain a wagon driver will encounter.
"When we first looked at organizing this drive, Volvo wasn't sure if the XC70 could do it," says Farnsworth. That's not to say the Swedish automaker didn't have faith in its vehicles. But when the typical Baja race vehicles consist of topless "truggies" -- a cross between a truck and a buggy -- with heavy-duty suspensions and shocks and fully modified pickup trucks and motorcycles, one wonders what the heck a station wagon -- not even an SUV no less -- is doing wandering through this desert.
Though, six test trips later across the Baja route, a few XC70s were down nothing more than a flat tire. And four trips beyond that, only one of the 24 wagons fell victim to disaster -- the result of an inexperienced off-road driver who took a dip too quickly and pierced the radiator. The vehicles are slightly modified for this ride with Pirelli Scorpion S/T 215/65R16 tires for better grip, a skid plate to protect the underbelly of the car and a larger oil cooler to deal with the 27 C heat.
We head out from San Francisquito toward San Ignacio, a 225-km jaunt, half of the trip through lunar-like terrain, the remainder on tarmac, scheduled to take five hours. The stretch starts out on dirt, winds through a cardon cactus forest and eventually hits a seemingly never-ending track of white sand. Imagine commandeering a subway, gliding over the smooth rails of the track -- this is what it feels like to blow through the slick, glistening sand at 100 kilometres an hour.
The next morning, the route takes us from San Ignacio -- a temporary home for California grey whales that migrate from Alaska to the lagoons of Baja California Sur -- on to Muleg nine hours later. After pounding across dirt and sand so dusty it's difficult to find the road ahead at times, the convoy comes across the mighty salt flats. The dried-up seabed is miles from the ocean, though seashells, scrubby vegetation and outlines of dried salt show its once-underwater presence.
Out of nowhere, like the desert oases that tease off in the distance, we come across the fishing town of El Datil. Well-dressed children appear from the one-room, pressboard school. The town, not even a mention on the local map, sits along a salt-water lagoon -- far from the Pacific Ocean -- that abounds with seafood. Farnsworth -- who has become familiar with the local children -- hands out tennis balls ("I didn't have any soccer balls to match the wagon's reputation of being a vehicle to haul around soccer kids," he says).
With the dust again behind us -- and in our path from the car ahead -- we push on in the afternoon sun toward Muleg. The Swedish Volvo representatives warn that "this is where the driving gets tough." We head into Sierra San Pedro mountain range, under the shadow of the 1,140-metre Cerro San Juan, which sits smack dab in the middle of the Baja peninsula. On a map of the south portion of Baja California, roads are notated according to terrain. We are travelling the toughest, marked by hyphenated lines -- "poor roads."
We come by deep drops that bottom out in dried riverbeds and start the climb back up the other side of the hill. Hazardous rocks are spray-painted pink, a warning that if you cross here parts of the car might be left behind. Winding up through the mountains proves to be the biggest challenge so far. The rock climbs and extreme heat have taken their toll on many a cow and goat -- some present only by bleached bones, others freshly dead with turkey vultures circling overhead -- but the XC70 chugs along without so much as a huff. And then we come across a Humvee full of green-clad AK-47-toting men.
At points during the route, your stomach dips like a whirling roller coaster. It's that sensation from dropping too quickly -- and then there are times when your belly stirs with fear. Will we make this rock climb? Will we slide off course? And then there's the fear of: What the heck are the military men with big guns doing in the middle of nowhere?
Twenty kilometres down the tough track, our convoy stops for a photo opportunity. When the earth starts to rumble, we know the Humvee isn't far behind. Everyone runs for his or her car to zoom off so the military can pass by, hassle-free, but, alas, one of the vehicle's security systems has locked the ignition and the group cannot proceed. Next thing we know, the military men have climbed a cliff to look down over our little group. This, I hope, is the closest we come to danger. Miraculously, the Swedes ignite the quiet XC70 and we're quickly back on course.
The third morning is a well deserved retreat from the rocky roads and eye candy for the soul. We head out on tarmac, slaloming around the cliff-clinging roads above the Sea of Cortez. Each turn produces a panoramic view of the mountains rising from the sea. Slowly, we come across a dirt road and descend on to a beach. The water is crystal blue and invites some of the group in for a swim. This and the overall ride, says, Volvo, represents the spontaneity of a cross-country driver. And indeed, we are happy to be far, far from el malarrimo.
Starring in this adventure (with a goal to get "from Point A to Point B rather than getting there quickly") is Volvo's XC70 (base/tested price $46,495/$53,745) equipped with leather upholstery ($1,950), premium sound system with 11 speakers and in-dash six CD changer ($1,500), premium package ($2,000) and sport package including 16-inch Xenia alloy wheels, Speed Sensitive Steering, Four-C Active Chassis, Dynamic Stability and Traction Control System (DSTC) and Emergency Brake Assistance (EBA).
This report is based on a presentation by the manufacturer, which paid the freelance writer's travel costs.
© Copyright 2004 Vancouver Sun
Volvohistorie: 244-245-440-850-V70-V70-S60-XC70-XC70-245-S70-V70
-
Ben
- Executive Member
- Berichten: 40765
- Lid geworden op: 09.09.2004 - 16:57
- Locatie: Even ten noorden van de Paltz
- Contacteer:
Dat heet bronvermelding :razz:
Volvohistorie: 244-245-440-850-V70-V70-S60-XC70-XC70-245-S70-V70
