Head of the class

All German Auto the best of class 1 at Tecate SCORE 250

While in the process of negotiating 232 miles of desert terrain at high speeds, there is plenty that can go wrong.
Missing a sharp turn after cresting a hill. Clipping a tree alongside the course. Sideswiping large bouldes.

Toss in mechanical failures and it's apparent that just finishing an off-road race can be considered a victory in itself.

But when just about everything goes right, as it did Saturday for the All German Motorsport team of Escondido, victory can taste pretty sweet. Even if it comes by the slimmest of margins.

"We were really consistent with our driving, and we had good radio communications," said veteran off-road racer Martin Christensen, who co-drove the All German Auto BMW-powered Gimco that took top honors for Class 1 at the 22nd annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 on Saturday.

Christensen and his co-driver, Chris Aimes of San Marcos, teamed with driver Armin Schwarz of Germany and his co-driver, Bryan Lyttle of Murrieta, in covering the dusty course along the eastern coast of the Sea of Cortez in 4 hours, 8 minutes, 22 seconds.

Their finish time was a mere 12 seconds ahead of Class 1 runner-up B.J. Richardson of Las Vegas in a Bunderson-Chevy.

"At the halfway point, we were in third place," said Christensen, who founded All German Auto of Escondido in 1991. "Armin handed the car over to me and we drove aggressively for 1 1/2 hours. We took a seven-minute lead and we began to calculate our time. Luck was on our side."

Luck goes right along with skill more often than not when it comes to taking the checkered flag.

"I like to think that luck is when opportunity and preparation meet," Christensen said. "But sometimes you still have to have real sheer luck. There are so many things in this type of racing that can take you out."

Lyttle, who has been with the team for eight years and also serves as crew chief in addition to co-driver, said things ran "really smooth."

"We figured out what we needed to do, and our pit organization went very well," Lyttle said. "Race day can always be a little nerve-wracking, but it turned out to be real uneventful."

The race was indeed uneventful for the All German Auto team from the standpoint of breakdowns or crashes, leading to Christensen's first Class 1 victory and the first-ever SCORE win for Schwarz, a veteran World Rally Championship driver. Class1 in the SCORE Desert Series is for single- and two-seaters of unlimited power.

The All German BMW-Jimco averaged 56.05 mph on a course where top speeds can reach up to 140 mph on straight sections.

In addition to the Class 1 victory, the All German Auto team placed fourth overall out of 263 starters. Only three teams in the SCORE Trophy-Truck class for unlimited production trucks finished with a better time.

"The race was all about keeping pace," Lyttle said. "We really stayed on it."

Christensen, 39, won back-to-back Class 10 points championships in 2002-03 and placed second by two points in 2004. Class 10 is for single- or two-seaters with engines limited to 1650cc. Christensen's first full season racing Class 1 was 2005.

Schwarz, 44, joined the team at the end of the 2006 season with a resume that includes German Rally Car championships in 1987-88 and a European championship in 1996.

"Armin got very interested in racing Baja, and he wanted to become a driver for All German," Christensen said. "He's a good, competitive driver, and it's been a good fit. He flies in from Germany for the pre-running and the races."

The SCORE season opener, held Jan. 24-27 in Laughlin, Nev., did not go as well for the All German team.

"We were ninth the first day at Laughlin, and then we had issues with the clutch and the CV joint," Christensen said. "It wasn't a good day."

The situation improved the following weekend at the Parker 425, a Best In The Desert Series event. Driving solo, Christensen started 67th and drove his way to a third-place finish.

"We were a last-minute entry, we did no pre-running and we had no GPS," said Christensen. "We had a lot of cars to pass, and that ended up being a real good day."

The race-week preparation for the San Felipe 250 began with pre-running the course on Tuesday and Wednesday before the event.

"There is a high level of commitment needed from the co-drivers when we pre-run the course," Christensen said. "We test the notes that they take and make sure our GPS positioning is accurate."

While the drivers and co-drivers needed to be at the top of their game, so did their car.

"A big thing that played a role in our success is the Xtrac transmission," Christensen said. "Xtrac is a top-end transmission company that designs gearboxes for Indy cars, Formula One, World Rally Car Championship and the Paris-Dakar Rally. All German Auto has been a developing partner with Xtrac for the past year now, and we installed a 383-B tranny that was absolutely a crucial component for us."

The six-speed transmission delivers 800 horsepower from the motor to the drive axles.

"There's a fine line separating the right amount of power from the engine to the transmission," said Christensen, who also noted the importance of the installation of a ZF Sachs torque limiter, which keeps the engines from racing the RPMs too high any time the buggy takes flight over jumps.

Also providing support is the 35-member race team, most of whom are volunteers. Among Christensen's more avid supporters are his wife Jane, and children Jacob, 8, Sofia, 6, and Laura, 4.

"Jane and the kids are a big part of our racing," Christensen said. "It's a family-owned team, and it's the only way to go."

Christensen says All German Auto has no plans to rest on its laurels after winning the San Felipe Class 1 crown.

"We are constantly developing and making modifications," he said. "We won't go back to the San Felipe result and say, 'OK, we won and we don't need to do any more.' "

There are plans for expanding the team for the rest of the six-race SCORE season.

"We are adding a second car and a second driver to the team, so we will be a two-car team for the rest of the season," said Christensen, noting that three-time Rally Car champion Armin Kremer will be added in time for the next SCORE event, the prestigious Baja 500 scheduled for May 30-June 1.

Contact staff writer Rick Hoff at (760) 740-3545 or rhoff@nctimes.com. Comment at sports.nctimes.com