Description
By: Johnny Tipler .
The Carrera Panamericana was first run to celebrate the inauguration of the Panamerican Highway, and traversed the length of Mexico, from Tuxtla in the south to Juarez near the Texas border. Firms like Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Porsche took advantage of the race, and as class winner, Porsche even applied the event's Carrera name to its sportier models. Since its 1987 revival, it's been run rally-style with half-a-dozen special stages a day. Just as it did in the early '50s, half the entry comprises brash American stock cars, today mostly Panamericana specials based on spaceframe chassis and 600bhp NASCAR V8 engines and running gear, lurking beneath period Studebaker, Hudson, Lincoln or Oldsmobile bodywork. The '50s and '60s European classics are no less heavily modified.
Mexicans love a fiesta, and the arrival of La Carrera Panamericana at each of the provincial towns on its seven-day, 2000-mile progress through central Mexico provides an excuse for wild celebrations. Everywhere the entourage is mobbed by enthusiastic spectators, waving, cheering and demanding souvenirs. Crowds throng, brass bands play salsa, and the tequila flows freely.
Includes 350 colour images, maps of the modern and original 1950s routes, plus results.
- The story of the legendary Mexican road race, which lasts for 7 days and covers 2000 miles of central Mexico
- A race deemed more arduous than the Mille Miglia!
- Interviews with great names from the original series such as Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby, John Fitch, and Hans Herrmann
- Stunning, original and rare archive photographs bring the story to life
- Includes full history from 1950 to the present day
- Foreword by Jo Ramirez
