SCORE Baja 1000 entries close on 29 October, 133 teams already in for a 964 mile Cabo to Cabo loop

A 964 mile loop that never leaves Baja California Sur

The 59th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000 runs from 9 to 15 November 2026. SCORE published the official course on 3 October, and the headline is that for the first time in the race's history the entire route stays inside the state of Baja California Sur.

It measures 964.66 miles. Start and finish are both on Avenida Centenario in San Jose del Cabo. From there the course climbs the East Cape through Los Barriles and San Juan de Los Planes, swings past El Centenario and Cerro del Mechudo, pushes north to Loreto and San Jose de Comondu, then turns back down. There are four physical checkpoints, at race miles 213.60, 405.39, 604.07 and 781.49. Every class gets the same 40 hours to finish.

Bikes leave at 1 am Pacific time on Friday 13 November. Cars, trucks and UTVs go at 9 am.

The entry window shuts this week

On 20 October SCORE said its registration staff would sit at Hotel Catedral in La Paz from 20 to 22 October, one of the last in-person windows for teams based in Baja California Sur and the rest of Mexico. At that point 133 teams had entered, drawn from 30 US states, Puerto Rico and 10 countries, with 23 of those entries in the three premier SCORE Trophy Truck classes. SCORE expects the field to pass 250 teams by flag-off.

The hard deadlines are now. Online registration closes at 9 pm Pacific on 29 October. In-person registration closes at 5 pm on 30 October.

Mexico News Daily reported on 13 October that roughly 250 teams from 15 countries are expected, and that the race is projected to put about 35 million dollars into municipalities across the state. The same report noted Cabo has appeared on a Baja 1000 course map only twice before, in 2000 and 2007, and only as a finish.

What an Indian crew should take from this

Baja is a logistics race before it is a driving race. A privateer entry means a competition vehicle shipped across the world, a SCORE membership, a chase crew, spares at four checkpoints and pre-running days on open Mexican desert. For almost every Indian off-roader, that is a dream, not a plan.

The realistic ladder from India still runs through the Rainforest Challenge. The 12th RFC India wrapped up in Goa in August with 62 teams across three categories. Ujjal Namshum and Chethan Chengappa of Manabhum Off-roader's Club, Arunachal, defended their 4x4 Extreme title with 2,253 points out of a possible 2,600, ahead of Kranthi Kumar Vengala and Rajeev Lal on 2,052 and Viddesh Madgaonkar and Sahil Sadekar on 1,962. Sarjerao Kawade and Rushikesh Patil of Team Sahyadri Offroaders Pune won 4x4 Modified on 1,633 points. Athul Thomas and Binil Babu of Team Killerbull took 4x4 Stock.

Namshum's win carries an automatic entry to the RFC Global Series finale in Malaysia. That is the point worth holding on to. There is exactly one world final seat that an Indian driver can win by driving in India, in a monsoon in Goa, in a vehicle built in an Indian workshop, and it is already claimed for this season.

One closing note, because Baja footage travels fast on Indian feeds. Pre-running and racing in Baja happen on a permitted course with marshals and checkpoints. Nothing in that video justifies a run up a riverbed in Coorg, a beach blast in Goa or a line through reserve forest at home. Find a club event, get permission from the landowner, and keep the fun inside the rules.

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