Amy Lerner has long loved the sort of racing vehicles that look best covered in dirt and dust. From Dakar and Morocco to Baja and back again, Lerner has covered lots of ground racing all over the globe.
Her latest adventure will see her cover more than 1,400 miles over six days. And she’ll be doing it in a race-prepped, factory-backed side-by-side. That’s the who and the what of it all, but I’m always curious about the why. So I reached out to Amy to learn more about the challenge ahead of her.
Photo by: Amy Lerner
What Is The NORRA 6-Day Rally?
The NORRA’s Baja 6-Day Rally unfolds along an arduous route across the Baja Peninsula. All of the action begins in Ensenada, with the finish line situated way down in Cabo San Lucas. The entire route is 1,450 miles. And this is a mixed-class racing event, so you’ll find classics, trophy trucks, side-by-sides, motorcycles, and all sorts of things in between.
The race isn’t a pure slugfest, like the Baja 1,000. That event sees you running from the moment the green flag drops until you cross the finish line. NORRA, on the other hand, calls itself ‘the happiest race on Earth’ and part of that is due to having the racing action take a break each evening.
You drive hard over the course of a given stage. Then you arrive in a new Mexican beach town, take a breather, have some food, and enjoy your adventure before firing back at it the next morning.
Amy previously got a taste of the NORRA spirit back in 2016. She chased legendary off-road racer Rod Hall for a documentary called One More Win. Fast forward ten years, and Lerner has suited up to drive the race for herself.
Photos by: Amy Lerner
“Not only was Rod riding in his legendary Bronco, which he won the Baja 1000 with overall, but he was driving for the first time with his granddaughter, Shelby,” Lerner tells us. “What we did not know at the time was that the 2016 NORRA race would be the last time that Rod Hall was behind the wheel of a race car, making it the last time he drove in a race. Looking back on those moments, I still get emotional thinking about the first time I ran NORRA ten years ago with Rod. The fact that we were there with a legend like Rod Hall and able to capture him racing the way that we did was really special.”
“After filming Rod Hall, NORRA’s Baja has always been something that I have wanted to do, and this is my first time racing the big race, so I couldn’t be more excited. The Baja, which was previously known as the Mexican 1000, went from Ensenada down to San Jose del Cabo. So will NORRA’s Baja this year. I’m super excited about the route because of all the time I spent in the area and knowing the history of the whole race.”
Photo by: Amy Lerner
The Perfect Tool For The Job
While you can run NORRA in nearly anything, Lerner has a real weapon of a vehicle for her entry. The Polaris RZR Pro R Factory is a race-prepped side-by-side utility vehicle with well over 22 inches of wheel travel front and rear, 35-inch tires, 255 horsepower, and a 34-gallon fuel tank.
You can drive it fast. You can drive it hard. And this RZR will laugh at anything you place in front of it. Amy says it’s nearly perfect right out of the box and allows for on-the-fly adjustments.
“In terms of driving, the Polaris has a dynamic suspension system that comes pre-loaded with six different modes that allow drivers to adjust the suspension on the fly,” Lerner says. “The suspension can adjust to rocks, flats, hills, sand, anything. Drivers can quickly make micro-adjustments and max out their performance while keeping that incredible stability needed to have confidence.”
What Makes NORRA Great?
The Baja 1000 certainly gets most of the desert racing headlines, but everyone who’s run NORRA only has great things to say about the event. According to Amy, “NORRA’s Baja might be one of the more anticipated events locally because it has overnight stops in so many towns. Every evening is so fun, and all the teams are celebrating in the local communities, which is so memorable.”
“The Baja California 1000 can blur by a town at three o’clock in the morning, but this NORRA race is more structured so that spectators can cheer on drivers. There are also more vintage cars in the field, old buggies and bikes, making for a bit wider range of cars. That is always fun.”
“NORRA also has set up Fan Fest celebrations that go on at the start and end of each day. The race organizers really try to engage the locals who live in the places the rally route passes. It is a big party atmosphere.”
Photo by: Amy Lerner
During the Baja, however, you either see the trucks off at the start, roll across the finish line at the end, or maybe get lucky and see them blast by in the middle of the desert. Still, the racing action is fantastic, according to Lerner.
‘The variety of terrain drivers encounter in a relatively small number of square miles is astonishing,” she says. “We will see the famous Baja silt beds, then there are 12-foot cacti with their arms leaning over the race course that leave no room to get out. The wide variety of the terrain and the challenges that come with driving it is unlike any place else on earth. Some parts of the NORRA race feel like you are driving on another planet.”
The NORRA’s Baja 6-Day Rally is currently underway. Racing action kicked off in Ensenada on May 2nd. The event concludes in Cabo on May 7th, and then there’s an awards and dinner event the following evening.
I think it’s safe to assume that everyone at that dinner will be totally wiped out, but wearing huge smiles after an awesome off-road adventure.
