La Carrera Panamericana

I did this race last year. It was some of the most fun racing I have ever had. It kicks ass compared to the track and puts "fun run" rallies like Bullrun/Player's run/ETC to shame since it's a real race.

If anyone want so know that it feels like to be a pro-racer, this will give you a big clue. Nothing like coming into the town at the end of the day to thousands of people cheering and signing autographs and talking to racing enthusiasts.

 

Wasn't that the event where the Honda F1 allegedly were participating? Did that ever happen?

 

Nope.

Stirred pots well though

Covered it 2 years going back this year if it kills me getting there
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I remember being one of the disbelievers, yet user TheUnlimitedClass argued endlessly that the F1 cars would be there.

Left a very bad taste in my mouth.

 

What would be a good Choice car for this race? Say 1961 or older say sub 30k budjet for the car. JJ































You Just Met JJ

 

Depends on intent and ability

If you were to find an orig Pan AM car say a 53 ford or chevy for a reasonable amount and prepped it properly it would be stellar. You would have all the fun with less chance of hurting yourself the first time out of the box. I always wanted to do up a healy but they have been steadly climbing in price. Best value might be an older Dodge or Plymouth.

The Classes in the race go up to nutzo. the former president of Collgate spends a couple hundred grand a year to WIN and only managed that once or twice.

One of my favorite people EVER is a guy named Rusty Ward who has a Sudi Police car. The car is bullet proof (hand built tube frame with a Winston Cup motor) and has been hammered both off the road onto its roof and then literally beaten back into shape. He is from Austin and is a party waiting to happen. Just be careful where you follow him.

 

I'm in!

Shipped the car out today... Anyone else coming?
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Damn!! Last year at this time I was spending inordinate amounts of money and time getting my 1976 308 GTB ready for this race as an Unlimited Class entrant. Since a journalist pal who was to cover the race was my co-driver, I got a pass on entering my car which was too new for the La Carerra and too old for the Unlimited. The car was already a track-day set up car with roll cage and other racing/safety stuff (and was also a tad "rough" cosmetically), so it was a great candidate. The motor in the car was/is incredibly strong, so I really believe it would have done just fine (not to mention the fact that I wasn't going to try to keep up with the insanely fast – and I mean insane –*drivers who populate the pointy end of this race every year). And the full-race, tube frame, NASCAR-powered Studebaker police car is the coolest!

I was so damn psyched to put a real, live Ferrari in this race; I'm so sick of the q-tip/trailer-queen mentality of the average F-car owner (an especially dire situation in image-desperate Los Angeles as fellow F-chatters will attest). I was even going to install a breaker bar type light bar for a front bumper, like an old-school Euro rally car (a series which hosted several 308's back in the day – I'll post photos if I can find them).

Getting down to the wire, had just worked out the shipping of the car into Mexico (this event requires a TON of planning and detail work), but at the last – and I mean last – minute, I was forced to cancel.

Still haven't gotten over it. In the meantime, I started in on a vintage (track) racing foray, so I almost forgot about about the LC.

I will do this someday! In the vintage class. An air-cooled 356 seems like a nice, reliable (but kinda slow) rig for this event. The car-year cut-off is pretty old, like 1964 or something like that which limits the car choice for anyone not wanting to go the 1954 Lincoln route. Any Navigator/Drivers with some dough to burn out there?

Emil's ride looks insane: exactly the type of rig they wanted for the Unlimited class (but might be riding a little too low, remember, because of the road conditions, you can't set up the chassis like a road race track car).

I heard that the biggest roadblock for people entering the Unlimited class last year - the first year - was that people didn't want to sully their newish cars with roll cages and other such aftermarket safety requirements. Of course the intrepid Rachel tossed a roll cage in her pristine Lotus with no issue. She wound up being the only entrant to the Unlimited class last year (Rachel, did you win the prize money?!). I hope it gets better attendance this year; it's a great idea to have modern cars run this rally.

And to Tifosi12: the promoter of the Unlimited Class worked tirelessly to get this thing off the ground so there could be a modern-car alternative to the (very) vintage oriented LaCarrera and also to create a "legal" version of the Bullrun type of events in the U.S. His heart was in the right place, despite the Honda F-1 thing. I can only imagine he has sacrificed a ton of his own money so far getting this thing off the ground.

To everyone going: have a blast; it seems like an extraordinary experience you'll remember forever.

Pen
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