I’m not a big fan of car racing. But, the one type of racing that I do like is rally racing. Cars that are similar to what you can buy, jumping and drifting and basically going nuts on real roads – be it in the desert or through towns – is pretty dang intriguing.
I’m not a fan-fan, but I think it’s all really cool. Shortly after arriving in Guanajuato, Mexico, we found out that the World Rally Championship‘s Rally Mexico was being held in our own town. How about that?
It’s a very big deal, with tens of thousands of people coming out for the ceremonial start in the center of town. That was a bit much for us, as was going to the middle of the desert to watch the day stages.
During a hike up in the mountains with our friend Jason, we ended up in a pueblo where we got to talking with a shop owner. She informed us that, not only did a rally stage pass through the pueblo, but that the cars would be going by our house! What?!
In reality, the cars would be going by our neighborhood, about a ten-minute walk from our house. And we couldn’t say no to that, could we?
So, we checked the schedules online and found that they’d actually be driving through our neighborhood between stages, which meant they wouldn’t be on the clock, but they’d still be going nuts to get through town and on to the next starting point.
What that meant was that we got to watch the rally right by our house with barely anyone around. It was great. Really great.
To get an idea of how insane the race is and how fast these guys go in some bonkers conditions, watch the Rally Mexico 2014 highlights below. This should give you an inkling of what flashed in front of our eyes on this day.
And here, you’ll find a selection of pictures we took when face-to-face with some high-horsepower, desert-rattled hot hatchbacks. Vroom vroom!
Lastly, check out this very inspiring video celebrating the tenth anniversary of Rally Mexico. It’s quite a treat, even if you’re not a fan of cars, racing, or whatever.
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Ever been to a rally? Like this kind of goodness? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Having been on some of those roads, it’s easy to see why they choose the town for a rally. The cars are cool, but it must be awfully noisy!
It’s not so bad since a car comes by every several minutes. Not like 100 cars going by over and over again. Although, I’m sure it was really loud downtown for the opening. Thanks for stopping by!