La Carrera Panamericana 2010 is here!
Dad and the Victoria are back in action and Dad's trusty co-piloto this year is Shields Richardson. Dad and Shields successfully raced in 2007 and 2008, bringing home top honors in the Original Pan Am class.
Dad and Shields, Chihuahua Express 2008
Then I got to go last year and we had quite an adventure!
The Victoria, Dad and me - La Carrera 2009
What is this race, you ask? Well, let me tell you a little story here. You can read other posts about our experience last year. Also check in with Gary Faules at www.lacarrera2007.blogspot.com for the most up-to-date that any of us north of the border can get our hands on. He has great pictures, reports and videos.
They went down on Tuesday, went through tech on Wednesday and prequalifications yesterday in Tuxtla Gutierrez on a track. From the report from Dad, sounds like it was pretty wild. Some spin-outs, some mechanical issues and some wheels rolled away. The Victoria had an issue: a bolt came loose from a rotor and damaged the sensor for the in-car rally computer (Each car, well most actually, have rally computers on board for the co-piloto to use for measuring time and distance. Where this is most helpful is for the following the route book that measures everything in kilometers so you know exactly where you are in either the speed section (the hauling ass part) or the transit section (actually, still hauling ass)). Tom (the mechanic) had another sensor but it was for the Terratrip computers, not the one that is in our car. Sooo what that means: Shields has to go off of the kilometer marker signs that are usually on the sides of the road that the book sometimes tells you about. He's also going to use his GPS to help. A big accomplishment for Dad and Shields was figuring how to change the GPS from miles to kilometers.
Results from qualifications: The were sitting at the top of the cars in their class and about the middle of the pack overall (100ish cars entered total). This doesn't really mean much because 1) these qualifications were done on a track and not quite the same as racing out on the open road, 2) you really don't want to drive at your full capacity on this day - this is a 7 day marathon, not a sprint, 3) it would be shitty to crash on Day 0, 4) some people when 5 laps instead of 4 or even 3 laps - are you getting understanding the chaos yet?
Friday was Day 1 of racing. Beginning the day in Tuxtla Gutierrez and ending in the city of Oaxaca, they had a long 12 hour day in the car. See the map here.
Report from Rico (Dad) and Ramon(Shields) on Day 1:
Made is safely! Most important part. Car ran well. Overheated a a little - thought we had this figured out, obviously not. Roads very windy and not in great shape because of recent storms. Lots of cars on the side of the road, assuming with overheating issues - really high elevation and hot and humid. Our friends Brad and Derek, USC Trojans, in their beautiful yellow Lincoln, crashed very badly. See photos on Gary's blog. Word is that Derek is ok. He was transported to the hospital. Rough day on all teams. Car to Tom to try to figure out overheating problem and to re-jet. Results: First in class! Our good friends, the Gregorys, from Vancouver were 2nd in class and a beautiful white corvette 3rd in class. One day down, 6 to go.
Photos from Alex Ostrop (racing with his Dad Wilhelm). They are farmers from Canada.
First Place trophy
Looking at the camera: Shields, Dad, Alex
Not looking at camera: John and Chrislana Gregory and Stewart Robertson
Top of the podium!
*****UPDATE: Just got a call from Dad and more accurate results came in this morning. They DID NOT get first in class - they got a 1 minutes penalty (not sure from what) and are 2nd behind the Gregorys by only 30ish seconds. And that's ok!
On to Day 2 - to Puebla!
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