963 Mile Trial
963 MILE TRIAL
STORY & PHOTOS BY JOE PARKHURST
A daring publicity stunt to prove the durability of their new Scrambler models recently took two strong young men, riding two equally strong new Honda Scramblers on a 963 trip from Tijuana to La Paz, almost the bitter end, of Baja California in Mexico. The entire affair was planned and staged by Walt Fulton and Jack McCormack of the American Honda Motor Co. in Los Angeles. The riders were Dave Ekins of Bud Ekins Honda in Sherman Oaks, California, and Bill Robertson Jr. of Bill Robertson & Sons Honda in Hollywood, Calif.
The trip took the boys over some of the roughest and meatiest country in the Western Hemisphere, 963 miles of what is laughingly referred to as a road that varies from a few miles of unique Mexican pave ment, fairly good dirt surface, cow paths, stream beds, open and unmarked desert, rocky paths, deep ruts, mountain sides, trackless stretches of sand, to mere trails through endless miles of giant cactus. The average automobile usually makes the trip in seven to nine days, though the "record" is held by a jeep piloted by a foolhardy soul who made it in just under four days. All of. them drove night and day. The in trepid Honda riders cut the time down to a mere 39 hours and 56 minutes, averag ing approximately 23 mph, including some short periods of rest, nine stops for fuel, and approximately six hours of being com pletely lost in an area where the road branched off every mile or so into sev eral other roads, only one of which was the right one.
I was invited along to witness the test. We flew in one of two Cessnas that kept an eye on the boys and supplied their fuel and food throughout the whole tour. Our plane was piloted by the noted rider John McLaughlin, who is also a Honda dealer in Duarte, California. Passengers besides myself were Don Miller, Bob Grant, a photographer of National note who contributes regularly to Globe News Svc., True Magazine, Time, Life, Sports Illustrated and many other major national publications.
The other Cessna was piloted by Walt Fulton, who with Bill Robertson, father of young Bill who was riding, carried the fuel and supplies for the riders. Several areas were so completely inaccessible even the planes couldn't get down so the fuel had to be dropped by parachute.
The trial began at midnight at the In ternational border in Tijuana, and prepa rations for the start were handled by Jinx and Sailor Main of Sun Fun Sports, Honda dealers in San Diego, just across the border from the start. The Barbour suited riders crossed the line at exactly 12:04 AM. 39 hours and 56 minutes later Dave Ekins, riding alone, wheeled up to the La Paz telegraph office and disptached a wire to an anxious group back home. Bill Robertson limped in a little over two hours later after having ridden the last two hundred miles on one cylinder. One piston had burned after an unfortunate experience with some inferior Mexican gasoline. This was a tribute to the sturdy machine that ran the last few miles with one spark plug removed and still carried its rider at over 50 mph on the few miles of paved road into La Paz.
Several incidents marred the affair but none were serious enough to stop the determined riders. On the first morning, while riding into a brilliant, blinding sun, flying down one of the faster portions of the road, they ran into a barbed wire fence in their path. Robertson was lead ing so Ekins had a moment to prepare for the encounter, but both riders were cut some and Robertson's machine suffered the loss of a few of its less vital compo nents (rear fender, etc.).
Another section of the road further South near Punta Prieta had been deeply rutted from rain and usage, then buried under a few inches of trackless sand that hid the underlying ruts. Ekins said later he fell off no less than thirteen times through the treacherous section during the night.
During the harrowing night when the boys had lost their way near San Ignacio, while we were resting comfortably in the luxurious Los Cocos Hotel in La Paz, Walt Fulton and Bill Robertson spent a furtive night sitting beside a roaring sig nal fire while worrying where the boys were. It turned out that they had made a lot better time through this perilous section and were much further on than they thought they would be.
Early the next morning we flew back into the desolate area looking for both the boys and the other Cessna. Countless at tempts to reach the plane by radio (call letters; "Honda two to Honda one")' re ceived no reply. There was a lot of wor rying done that day. It turned out quite well though as after flying at tree top level over the trail for an hour or so we spotted their dust clouds and buzzed them from about zero altitude as they sped down a fast section of relatively straight road.
As a novice flying enthusiast I must go on record in commending the two "old war horse" pilots, John McLaughlin and Don Miller, who together have logged over 7,500 hours of flying. I had heard for many years what a bush pilot was, but never before has anything been so graphi cally demonstrated to me. Our average altitude for most of the trip was under 500 feet, over mountains, through can yons, valleys, rocks, and about anything else you want to mention. It was a grand demonstration of the fine art of sport flying.
The citizens of La Paz hardly believed that they had made it in so short a time, and were even further perplexed when a short time later the boys rode right back out again heading by a different road for San Felipe on the Gulf of California side of the peninsula, and thence on to Mexi cali on the California/Mexican border a few miles east of Tijuana.
CYCLE WORLD congratulates the en tire Honda organization and all of the hard working dealers who contributed to this unique and marvelous demonstration of their sturdy new Scrambler. We plan on testing one of these bikes as soon as they are available, but not one of the two machines involved in the "900 Mile Trial de Mexico." Though we probably would not go too far wrong if that's just what we did. •
