Mint 400 - the great American off-road race

woodcote · 6th-Mar-20, 08:06 PM

The Mint 400 - which is happening near Las Vegas this week - is probably the most famous desert race on US soil, given that the arguably more famous Baja 1000 takes place over the border in Mexico. Desert racing in the US and Mexico began as soon as there were cars and trucks to race - commercial drivers would time their runs from one town to another over long stretches of desert road. Racers then modified their cars, trucks and bikes to go faster in the dusty, bumpy and extremely hot conditions. By the sixties, specialist desert racing vehicles - dune buggies - were developed using big wheels with lightweight chassis and glass fibre bodies.

The Mint 400 ran for the first time in 1968 and the 1971 race was the backdrop for Hunter S. Thompson's 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' - he was paid big bucks by Sports Illustrated to cover the race. AutoWorld recently released a Baja Bronco that paid homage to the Bill Stroppe-prepared car driven at that 1971 Mint 400 by Parnelli Jones. That's the red, white and blue car...

The gold and white car - Big Oly - won the 1973 Mint 400 in the hands of Parnelli Jones. Both these might get a run out on my HO track this weekend. And I really should post up something about those AutoWorld off-road cars in the HO section.

Live coverage of the 2020 Mint 400 is online: themint400.com

Over the past week and through to Sunday there have been loads of different classes running through the desert circuits. The big race - The Mint 400 for Unlimited and Baja Trucks - is on Saturday. It'll be fun!

Scuderia_Turini · 7th-Mar-20, 12:21 AM

Cheers Andy,
Have never heard of this event - will try to watch some coverage at the weekend.

Leo

woodcote · 7th-Mar-20, 12:01 PM

Maybe this will tempt you more Leo...

woodcote · 7th-Mar-20, 01:55 PM

Jenson Button bought a truck and raced in both the Mint 400 and Baja 1000 last year. He's not there this year, as far as I can see. Driving with Chris Buncombe and Mazen Fawaz, Button came 55th overall and 19th in the Spec 6100 catergory at Las Vegas twelve months ago. Their time over three laps was 8 hours, 34 minutes and 42.438 seconds. Here's some video of Button's first test session in the desert...

Button writes about the experience in his latest book "How To Be An F1 Driver: My Guide To Life In The Fast Lane". I've just finished it - it's not bad. He described the problems he had driving off road - going too slowly and hitting all the lumps and bumps. When he finally had the courage to go as fast as he was being told to go, the truck skipped over the top of the ruts and the suspension deals with the undulations.

Scuderia_Turini · 7th-Mar-20, 05:36 PM

Thanks Andy but that first video did more to turn me away than intrigue me! So much hyperbole and overstatement. I'm a great believer that the more hype there is, the less exciting the event will be.
Only approx 90 minutes to the live coverage ...

Anyway, I've got my old Bronco ready for a few laps after dinner.

Leo