Diabetic Baja 1000 racer steals the show with ad hoc Starlink Mini setup
A dirt bike rider stole the show at the Baja 1000 by completing the grueling 1,000-mile race while live-streaming to his mother using Starlink Mini the whole time. The rider, Ben Hundter, and his brother David, completed the race in 31 hours 30 minutes, which is a pretty long FaceTime video call, all things considered.
A video of Hundter finishing the race has made the rounds online, partly due to the racer’s eye-catching Starlink Mini setup. As could be seen in the video, Ben Hundter’s 279X Sportsman Moto class Sherco was equipped with a huge Jackery battery at the rear. The Starlink Mini was duct taped to the rider’s head. The iPhone that Hundter was using to FaceTime his mother was also taped to his chest.
In an interview following the race, Hundter explained that he had always wanted to race the Baja 1000, but his mother was hesitant since he has Type 1 diabetes. And while she did allow him to participate in the grueling race, she had one condition—he has to livestream the race to her the entire time. As such, the Starlink Mini, with its low power consumption, light weight, and high speed internet connectivity, became the perfect solution for the dirt bike racer.
“I wanted to race the Baja so bad, but my mom wouldn’t let me because I have type 1 diabetes. She said the only way I could race it is if I was live streaming to her the whole time, so I have her on my chest right now,” Hundter noted. He also joked that he and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk came up with the duct taped Starlink Mini solution.
Elon Musk did see the video of the dirt bike racer completing the Baja 1000 while live-streaming through Starlink, and the CEO seemed impressed. In a reply to a video of the Baja 1000 participant on social media platform X, Musk stated that the feat was “cool.”
Completing the Baja 1000 this year is already a feat in and of itself, so Ben Hundter and his brother David are coming home as winners. Unfortunately for the brothers, they ended up running afoul of a road closure during the race, resulting in the team running an “illegal line” through the peninsula, as noted in a Jalopnik report. This resulted in the brothers getting a 17-hour penalty and a disqualification.