La Carrera Pan Americana

Steve Marshall · 11-01-2003, 06:42 PM

I just got done doing this race in a 1968 911L. Have you guys heard of this race? Scary as hell. A 911 is THE car to run. We added a little oil, cleaned the wind shield and changed tires once. The speedo drive went out but that's about all we had to deal with. What a great car! Man was was it scary.

ubiquity0 · 11-01-2003, 06:48 PM

Sounds like alot of fun! Any pics?

Steve Marshall · 11-01-2003, 07:16 PM

Just got them back, but no digital. I'll scan some on Monday.

Of the interseting things I observed, the Mexican strapped to a wooden crate, strapped to a semi truck with no cab, windshield, roof or doors driving down the interstate at 110 k/hr wearing nothing but a helmet and a goose down jacket had to take the cake.

If you've never seen a 1954 Studebaker pile drive a cop and then immediately leave the scene to avoid a time penalty, I think Mexico is the only place it can happen.

Or, there are not many places you can see a 1950 Ford hanging over a cliff with the rear wheels 3 feet off the ground and the front ones pointed down a two thousand foot drop on LaBufa.

Only in a Mexcan race can you experiance a Studebaker doing 180MPH on a public road, or a cow dragging a tree across the road in front of you in a speed section.

Snakeskin Ville was a crowd favorite. Passing thu a desolate desert area lined with snake skin vendors every 1/4 mile for 10 miles was right out of Mad Max. I was anticipating a dune buggy with a roof mounted 50 cal to cross the road being chased by the crazy guy in the air machine to cross the road at any time.

Then there was the kid goat hearder carrying a jack rabbit as big as he was that he bagged with a sling slot.

Pictures to follow.

Carrera Sled · 11-01-2003, 11:25 PM

Sounds awesome! Good thing you made it thru in one piece. Are you familiar with the Pink Floyd video of their running in the race a few years back? It's good: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/6302427355/qid=1067760373/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-1915191-4428634?v=glance&s=dvd

Bob's Flat-Six · Bob's Flat-Six's Garage

Steve,
Please post some pix
This race has always sounded like a south of the boarder blast to me.
Where did you start and finish and how many days did it take to complete?

Jim Richards · 11-03-2003, 06:25 AM

Steve, this sounds hilarious! I can't wait to see the pics.

304065 · 11-03-2003, 06:51 AM

Steve, how did you compete in a 68, I thought the cutoff year was 62 or 64?

Steve Marshall · 11-03-2003, 07:19 AM

Historic B is for cars built from 1940 to 1965 and more recent models aesthetically and mechanically similar. There was actually a 1969 911 but they didn't catch it and probably wouldn't care unless it was contending.

There were 3 911's and a 912 and several 356's.

82Euro · 11-03-2003, 07:40 AM

That had to be an awesome experience! Definitely share your pics with us please!

CHILI · CHILI's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Steve Marshall
I just got done doing this race in a 1968 911L. Have you guys heard of this race? Scary as hell. A 911 is THE car to run. We added a little oil, cleaned the wind shield and changed tires once. The speedo drive went out but that's about all we had to deal with. What a great car! Man was was it scary.

Excuse my ignorance, but isn't that the race from where the Porsche Carrera got its name? Or, were you being sarcastic?

thabaer · thabaer's Garage

Tom Conway here at Carquip and Ron Appleton who used to own Specialties Inc. have done it. My old mechanic was trying to talk me up into building my SC for it about 10 years ago. Some back issues of Pano have articles about it.

Hmm, nothing at carquip about it but they have some good links on the site http://www.carquip.com/links/index.asp

Bob's Flat-Six · Bob's Flat-Six's Garage

Si, The Carrera name honors this race.
A lot of Porche history in this race back to the early 50's where the 550 Spyder, 718 RSK and 356's proved themselfs.

ttweed · ttweed's Garage

Steve-
One of our local clubbies ran it this year in his yellow 356. His name is Ted Myrus. Last I heard he was running midpack out of 75+ cars. I can't seem to get the www.lacarrera.com website to come up now. Are the final results up somewhere?
TT

Tspringer · 11-03-2003, 09:00 AM

A friend and I are planning on running this next year. My understanding was that the cutoff year was 1965. I would love to run my '69 911S hotrod... but figured I couldnt due to the year???

We have been talking about buying a '63 or '64 Ford Galaxy 500 with 427 and 4 speed, then gutting it, modifynig the suspension and brakes and packing extra wheels and tires into the back. Seems a good car to run it in.... but I would still much rather take the 911.

ErVikingo · 11-03-2003, 09:10 AM

Steve,

Glad to see you made it through with minimal or no mechanical gremlins. Looking forward to the pics......

Cheers, Juan

mwbaum · mwbaum's Garage

Congratulations....that is one hell of a race. I have always wanted to do it in a 356....

Steve Marshall · 11-03-2003, 10:45 AM

Thanks Juan! Your pistons held up fine!

Tom, The Yellow 356? There was one racing, but Myrus is not listed as the driver. Myrus is listed as the Navigator in a Ford Falcon in exhibition class. Sporcar.com might have some results.

I don't think they let big blocks play. A well built Porsche is all you need.

We built a 2.0L S specification motor. If I had it to do over again I would use S pistons and E cams. The S cams are way to peaky. Low range torque is what you really need.

The only mechanical issue we had was the speedo drive, which normally wouldn't have been a big deal but it was connected to our Terratrip computer. Other than that, we tightened the lug nuts and kept the windshield clean. This was not the case with most of the other cars, certainly not the highly modified ones.

ttweed · ttweed's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Steve Marshall
Myrus is listed as the Navigator in a Ford Falcon in exhibition class.

It may be that he didn't run it in his own car, then. When I heard he was going, I just assumed he would drive his HSR 356, but I may have "jumped to confusions"....

TT

ErVikingo · 11-04-2003, 03:46 AM

"Thanks Juan! Your pistons held up fine!"

Hey Steve, can I say I (sort of ) ran the Panamericana now???

Glad they worked OK for you, I was cheering for you from here. Good work my friend!!!

304065 · 11-04-2003, 05:09 AM

Hmm, I gotta get a copy of the rule book. I was discouraged by the cutoff year, not being a 356 guy, but if you can run a car that's similar (SWB) this might be the event of a lifetime. I wonder how many SVRA/HSR/Old School PCA guys we could get to run?

How much is the entry fee, like $4k?