Pretty shots taken from a helicopter of dirt flying off a trophy truck as it drifts around a turn look amazing, but they don't convey how tough the Baja 1000 is. Within each of those trucks are members of a team that haven't slept for over 24 hours, yet they have to have the reflexes to tackle sudden 90-degree turns at high speed, swerve around slow-moving spectators on the course, and avoid becoming part of the inevitable accidents that happen along the way. Oh, and they have to accomplish all this under the piercing sun and in the dark of night—and the clock is always going. Stopping means you lose time and possibly your position in the race, so if a team stops, it better be for a damned good reason.
The course is grueling—so grueling, in fact, that every year, nearly half of the entrants don't finish because of irreparable damage to the race vehicle after an accident or an unexpected mechanical failure. And even if the car/truck/bike performs flawlessly, it isn't unusual for dehydration or sleep deprivation to cause major problems that lead to a DNF—or worse.
And this is the race in which Ford decided to test the durability of its new F-150 SVT Raptor. As if that wasn't a big enough venue with international coverage and a huge fan base, the company also invited a camera crew to follow the events as they unfolded. This footage is the basis for "Raptor—Born in Baja," a film about the construction of the Raptor R race truck and how it fared in the 2008 Baja 1000.
In some ways, Ford took a big chance in letting the cameras roll throughout the process. Had the truck fared poorly, it could've been embarrassing for the company; that it allowed the crew to chronicle the race was a sign of the confidence everyone had in the truck. (Of course, if the truck had done badly, it's possible the movie wouldn't have been released…)
The film starts as the team works on the prototype Raptor, getting it ready for race duty. While some proprietary details aren't shown on camera or are kept intentionally vague, you do get to see some of the construction, including when they cut off and remove the cab to install the rollcage. They manag to get the truck ready in a very short five months. Then it's off to SEMA, then to Mexico.
And that's where the real story begins. The night before the race, the team decides to check out the truck, take it off-road, and make sure everything is ready to go—and the truck dies. Hours from the start of the race, hundreds of miles from Arizona (where the truck was built) and thousands from Dearborn (Ford's H.Q.), the guys have to figure out what's wrong and fix it with whatever they've brought along. They're up all night trying to solve the problem and just barely make it in time for the race start.
I don't want to give away everything that happens in the movie, because you will have the opportunity to watch it on Speed on July 12. Suffice it to say there is no shortage of drama here. "Raptor—Born in Baja" is not a Raptor infomercial. It does a good job of showing what teams have to overcome during the 30-plus hours of racing. Camera views range from the aforementioned overhead beauty shots, to in-car views of the drivers, to tight shots of the road ahead as the truck makes its way over whoops and through fine silt. These angles give you a great feel for the race, and what it really takes to make it to the podium, let alone cross the finish line.
Then there are the personalities of the drivers and the team. There are genuinely funny scenes, as the guys give each other grief and make wise cracks. If they haven't been friends or teammates all that long, they sure seem like it, because there's a comfort level among the crew that comes across on screen.
After the movie was over, we had the chance to speak with some of the drivers about their experiences with the Raptor R. Greg Foutz is one of the drivers who is prominent in the film, and we chatted briefly about the 1000. He was with the team during the pre-run the night before the start of the race. While most teams don't sleep well the night before the race, this team didn't sleep at all. He said that because the repairs took all night, everyone on Team Raptor had already been up for more than 24 hours straight before the 1000 even started. There were times along the route where sheer exhaustion forced crewmembers to get an hour or so of sleep here and there, but there was no real shut-eye to speak of until the race was over. That caught up with Foutz during his leg behind the wheel, when he was so sleep deprived he was driving with one eye closed to try to reduce the double vision, and even though he was mere miles from the driver exchange point, he had to take a break, getting out of the truck for a couple minutes just so he could refocus and finish his leg of the race. During our conversation, he highly praised the team, marveling at how they managed to make some of the repairs they did, in the middle of nowhere, with limited supplies and little time.
While Ford's goal was for the Raptor to just finish the 1000, you can't have race drivers involved in the Baja 1000 and not have their thoughts aimed at reaching the podium. It became clear that at some point along the route, that's exactly what happened with Team Raptor. Those of you who have been following the Raptor or watched coverage of the 1000 already know what happened; for those who don't know, check out Speed on July 12 at 4:00 P.M. ET, when the channel will premiere "Raptor—Born in Baja" in HD, and watch the drama unfold.