The Baja 4000 is a biennial off-road charity rally and road trip organized by the creators of the largest amateur rally in the world, the

Budapest-Bamako The Budapest-Bamako or Great African Run is a charity car race in Africa, and the largest amateur rally in the world. It is a low-budget version of the Dakar Rally, and goes from Budapest, Hungary to Bamako, Mali through t ...

. It's a low budget, amateur version of the famous

Baja 1000 The Baja 1000 is an annual Mexican off-road motorsport race held on the Baja California Peninsula. It is one of the most prestigious off-road races in the world, having attracted competitors from six continents. The race was founded by Ed Pearl ...

and Dakar Rally. The first edition was held in January 2017. The rally started in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and traveled 4000 kilometers on the Baja California peninsula in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. In 2018 before the second edition of the event organizers changed the event's name to Baja XL.YouTube
/ref>

Philosophy and rules

The guiding principle of the Baja 4000 is the same as the

's, ''Anyone, By Anything, In Any Way''. There are no restrictions on the vehicles or individuals that can enter and no set routes. Participants have to complete daily stages between Los Angeles and

Cabo San Lucas Cabo San Lucas (, "Saint Luke Cape"), or simply just Cabo, is a resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. As at the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 202,694 inhabitan ...

and back. It is not a timed event. Points are awarded for completing daily stages in certain time periods. In addition, there are

geocaching Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific l ...

challenges along the way for additional points. If a team does not complete a stage, they are still in the race. Cars do not have to arrive at the finish line, only participants. Teams can participate in racing or touring categories.

Route

The rally will spend a long day in California before entering Mexico at Mexicali. Teams drove south on the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...

side of the peninsula and north on the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

side. *

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

More than 4,000 kilometers were covered within 10 days.

Charity

The Baja 4000 is primarily a charity event, that raises donations for abandoned children and orphans in Mexico through Corazon de Vida.

Name Change

In the summer of 2018 the Baja 4000 changed its name to Baja XL to further differentiate itself from other rallies following the Baja + number format.

References

{{Reflist

External links