ARMOR Rides The Baja 500

Intel Corporation wanted to see how a new solid state drive handles shock and vibration, so they teamed up with DRS for one of the most punishing tests imaginable - the SCORE Baja 500 motorcycle race. An X10 Tablet PC with the new drive survived 500 jarring miles of hot, dusty Mexican desert.

The test was proposed by Troy Winslow, Intel's marketing manager for NAND products, who is also an accomplished "weekend" motorcycle racer. "In this particular test we were doing a proof of concept in withstanding shock and vibration," Winslow explains. "We wanted to show that the unit was running the whole time and could withstand severe shock and vibration for 11 hours."

The SATA II (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) solid state drive was installed in an ARMOR X10 Tablet PC. The computer was then attached to Winslow's Intel SDD/DRS Technologies Honda CRF450X using no special mounting hardware. "We just strapped it on and added some duct tape to make sure the straps didn't come loose," says Winslow.

The race course featured not only punishing off-road terrain, but very dusty conditions and plenty of heat, both from the desert environment and the motorcycle exhaust. The X10 Tablet PC came through, running flawlessly even after more than 11 hours.

"In our view, it was mission accomplished. Baja was a good torture test of the drive and of the ruggedness of the ARMOR computer. They both survived great." And so did Winslow, who finished second in his class.

Watch the race video »