I'm not sure how to put this without anybody being offended, but I don't really see the need for a GPS on a 40 loop that you go around 6 times and also get to Prerun as many times as you'd like. I'm a bike guy, been racing desert behind handlebars for quite a few years. i raced mostly hare and hounds and district stuff, no prerunning, no GPS, just chasing ribbons. I've also raced score, bitd and others on a bike and in a 10 car, so I understand the benefits of having one for long distances. I've said this before, I think people depend too much on GPS and spend too little time looking up! Again no offense to anybody just my perspective.... Racing these sxs's are basically like spec class cars the only way to have an advantage is entry and exit speeds in the corners and line selection, I think GPS makes people check up to early for corners(guilty of it myself that's why I know!) there were approx. 10 90deg. Corners on that loop multiply that by 6 think how many seconds you lose over each time you double tap the brakes. Because your co driver calls it out early! I too thought it was amazing that we were that far up with a STOCK can am(btw) we had the least amount of lights also...I do also know that quite a few of the competitors out there have score and bitd legal cars which require major addl. components which make their cars heavier and more complicated than mine! Anyways I'm a firm believer in the K.I.S.S method... Sorry for the rant! See you at the next one!
"Never Happy" makes sense unless you have a co-dog that's on top of things, knows your rhythm and doesn't cost you split seconds.
Having said that, we don't make mandatory to have a GPS but we strongly suggest it for a number of reasons:
1. Most of our races go into the night. It's good to know you're on the right track even though you see our ribbons and reflective tape.
2. Everyone nowadays has to learn to use a GPS if you are planning to race long distances, either loops or points-to-points. Sure you can do without it but it's really an advantage when ribbons have been destroyed, flown away and arrows and markers obliterated by racers.
4. It's like today, you would not think getting into a race car without a radio. WE used to race only with several stuck-stubs (cards) in our pocket and a few pencils to let our crew know whether we were down or not.
Times, they are chang'n. Besides, who doesn't want try at least once the Baja 1000 race. And there, you need all the advantage you can get.