Baja GB 2006 (August 18th-20th)

[Jenna]

The event will be based at the Montpellier Hotel in Llandrindod Wells and kicks off with a ceremonial start at The Lake in Llandrindod Wells at 18.30 hrs on Friday, August 18th with competitors being flagged away by the Mayor of Llandrindod Wells, Councillor Tony Phillips and Lembit Opik MP. Two days of competition over a route of up to 320 kms will follow in the nearby Radnor forest complex, with the inaugural Baja GB finishing at 16.00 hrs on Sunday, August 20th.

Regulations have now been finalised for the bike and quad sections and the entry fee has been fixed at a discounted £200.00 to attract a larger number of competitors to the inaugural Baja GB. Riders will be able to tackle 270 km of forestry for this reduced fee. However due to the late completion of the regulations for the quad and bike sections, the closing of entries for the ACU categories has been extended to August 10th. Bike and quad runners will tackle three stages each day and be classified in a separate section of the event.

Awards will be handed out for two-stroke, four-stroke up-to-450cc, four-stroke over 450 cc and the quad class. The Clerk of the Course of this section will be Mark Vaughan from Mid-Wales, while Vic Madeley will act as machine examiner and technical scrutineer. John Collins will act as one of the ACU Stewards.

A major boost to the marketing appeal of the new event is the support from Sky Sports' World Motorsport programme. Britain's leading sports network has agreed to send a film crew to cover the event in detail and a comprehensive highlight programme will be shown on the Sky Sports programme on several occasions shortly after the event.

Regulations and entry information for the motorcycle, quad and car categories are available from the Baja GB office, 31 Market Street, Newtown, Powys, Wales, SY16 2PG, Tel: + 44 1686 626641, Fax: + 44 1686 626218, e-mail: secretary@BajaGB.co.uk. Regulations and event information can also be downloaded from www.BajaGB.co.uk.

[Maverick]

Excuse my ignorance but how "expierenced" would one need to be to do a rally like this? I have always thought of doing one but not sure if my novice offroad expierence would be enough to participate.

[Jenna]

Baja GB is a totally new event to the UK so its a bit unclear to what to expect, however i know that chris and his team are hell bent on not making the event so difficult that nobody wants to do it!.. the routes are all on forest tracks and private ground so should prove non-damaging and suitable for most bikes with a suitable set of tyres. I would say that you for sure wont need to be an ex-endruro champ to compete, however you will be riding with a few!!.. Patsy Quick and Clive(ktm) are almost certain to be running, Mick extance(honda) and Nick Plumb(touratech) also did mention they might be rinning.

The bike must be road legal and all riders must be members of an ACU Affiliated Club and hold a current ACU or SACU licence. Realising that this may put a few off you can buy one at the event as ACU licences will be available for British riders who do not hold a current ACU licence at a price of £15, you can also buy event insurance wich will cover you third party if your bike is not normally insured for road use, last i heard its likely to be £20ish for the whole event.


all the paperwork for the event is on Raidextreme, but a quick link is:

2006 Baja GB Moto/Quad Regs (raidxtreme)
2006 Baja GB Moto/Quad Entry Form (raidxtreme)
2006 Baja GB : info updates (raidxtreme)

[Maverick]

Thanks for the info Jenna, it could turn out into a expensive weekend for me by the sounds of it but might give it a bash. Roll on payday

[Jenna]

motorsport is never cheap

all can say is there is no other event like this in the UK, infact i doubt at all as the British tracks are very different from the those the Baja's run on in mainland Europe,

If you want the chance to be in the centre of it then go for it, if i still had the quad or the KMX be no question I would be doing it (instead of doing donkey event duties )...

Speak with Wendy/Sarah Tomley to check the places left as its limited to just 35 places for the first year'

Event and Entry's Secretarys.
Wendy Tomley.
Sarah Tomley

Cwm Cochen,
Bettws, Newtown.
Powys SY16 3LQ
01686 650430
01686 626641
Fax: 01686 628618
E-mail; wt@tomleys.co.uk

If anybody else from XRV.org is interested what about an XRV.Org team! I am more than happy to help with sorting your paperwork and logistics, may even be able to sort out a little sponsorship? and what better excuse for an XRV.Org meet to cheer on the riders! (remember this event is televised so great publicity for the site) and a chance to sample some of the best BOATS and tracks in the UK like Sarn Helen, the Gap road, club lane, little hill etc....

[iswoolley]

Jenna, could you lay out exactly how this event is different to rallys such as the Cambrian, Hafren, Ryedale, Dyfi, etc. I've done a few of these in the past, including a couple of 2-day events. The entry fee was in the £30-60 bracket, so I'd be interested to know what the extra £150 buys, apart from Sky Sports coverage of me kissing a trophy on the top step of the podium!

[Jenna]

I guess the biggest difference is the event is run under FIA/FIM rules, basically Baja GB will be on the same standard as any FIA Raid like the Optic 2000, Masters, Baja Portugal and others, even the Lisbon Dakar runs under FIA rules (with an £6k entry fee!)

As far as i am aware the Cambrian, Hafren etc are all clubman events based around a single venue on a single day, they also have capped average speed limits which compared to an FIA/FIM event seam a little timid (Hafren was averaged at just 18mph in 2005 apparently), this year the lisbon dakar has gone out on limb to drop its speed limit to a mear 70mph average.

I can appreciate that the £200 entry fee may sound steep compared to a clubman event but sadly the further up the competitive scale the higher costs get, the forestry commission have demanded higher fees, the event licences are dearer, and the organization costs are also much higher due to the shear size of the event.

Guess what what i am trying to say is if your happy with a metro then great but sadly if you want a Merc it will mean deeper pockets! The £200 entry for a baja is cheap, this weekends Spanish Baja although more established has bike entry fee of 1125 Euros, this is for a near identical programme, Baja GB being 320kms over the two competitive days.

I will be totally honest and say the bike aspect of Raid is new to me as my past lies in enduro or MX and my background with raid is 100% car or truck based however i cant think of a better way at an affordable cost to experience an event on this level, traveling to and from Baja Spain will cost you more than £200 alone?

[iswoolley]

...the Cambrian, Hafren etc are all clubman events ... the further up the competitive scale the higher costs get...

Correct, and, correct. I didn't articulate it very well, but what I was really asking is why we should be contemplating an FIM level event when a clubman level event seems to have a similar mix of going, for a less than half the cost.

For comparison, most of the rallys I've entered have included liason sections on public roads (national UK speed limits apply), liason sections on forrestry tracks (low speed limits apply), and special sections on offroad going (no speed limits apply). I believe the low average speeds on the forrestry liason are for safety reasons, giving people time to fix punctures, etc. and still be on time for their next special. I've helped plenty of riders out of ditches on liason sections to appreciate the red mist needs reining in until it's time for a special. Also, typically on the 1-day events we've done 3 laps of about 60 miles each, with 2-day events running at 2 laps each day. There was typically a 20%-60%-20% mix of road, forrestry and special.

I can see how if you've come from full-on FIM events then the costs are pretty minimal. But most of the contributors to this site are either motorsport virgins, or have club enduro experience. I would love the chance to bang fairings with the likes of Nick Plumb, but realistically he'd give me a good roosting, and be showered and in the bar before I'd picked my Africa Twin back up!

I'm not knocking you or the event, and I'm grateful that you've given it some visibility here on the site. And if there's an XRV/XLV at the start you'll find plenty of enthusiasm and support for it coming from here.

[Whealie]

Any chance of more advanced warning on next year's event? Putting an xrv-org-uk team together, getting sponsorship and having plans (and practising) seems to me like a good idea. But to organise it for next month is just a no-no.

[Jenna]

The late info is directly down to the ACU draging its heels over what it wanted, the car and truck regs were sorted out and posted to the relivant clubs/forums about 8 weeks ago, i honestly didnt think any of the XRV.ORG members happend to have a spare Paris Dakar racer sitting in the garage they forgot to mention so never posted the car/truck regs in here.

Unless any major obsticles arise next month the 2007 event is going ahead, the Baja GB is apparently being organised on a 3 year run, however the costs will be probably double (or more), as the £200 entry fee was a subsidised consession to make sure the event run at full capacity this year.

For those that arnt sure of what a Baja Rally is about below is press footage taken from last years event on Baja Espana, this may explain a little better the scale of Baja over a normal enduro event.

Baja Espana 2005 Bikes/Quads entry
Baja Espana 2005 Autos entry
Baja Espana 2005 Trucks entry