La Carrera Panamericana

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 Juárez near the Texas border. Firms like Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Porsche took advantage, and as class winners, 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 last November provided an excuse for wild celebrations. As Johnny Tipler and his co-piloto Sarah Bennett-Baggs experienced when they drove the race in 2011 in a Porsche 914/4, everywhere the entourage is mobbed by enthusiastic spectators, waving, cheering and demanding souvenirs. Crowds throng, brass bands play salsa, and the tequila overflows. Includes over 400 images, maps of the modern and original 1950s routes, plus results of original events.

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 Juárez near the Texas border. Firms like Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Porsche took advantage, and as class winners, 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 consists of 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. The arrival of La Carrera Panamericana at each of the provincial towns on its seven-day, 2,000-mile progress through central Mexico last November provided an excuse for wild celebrations. Everywhere the entourage is mobbed by enthusiastic spectators, waving, cheering and demanding souvenirs. Crowds throng, brass bands play, and salsa and tequila overflows. Includes 350 images, maps of modern and original 1950s routes, plus results of original events.

Carrera Panamericana: the Mexican Road Race. In its day it was the longest, fastest and likely wildest international automobile race ever staged. A World Championship event along with Le Mans, the Mille Miglia, Nüburgring and the Tourist Trophy, most drivers considered it the best-and the worst-of them all. From 1950 to 1954, it was witnessed by ten million spectators along a nearly 2,000-mile course that featured deserts where the faster cars could reach 180 mph and 10,000-foot mountain passes requiring first-gear operation. Carrera Panamericana influenced engineering and marketing from Michigan to Modena. Ferrari designed and named a model specifically for the race. Lincoln emerged as a high-performance sedan and Porsche's Carrera was named in honor of its wins. The Pan-Am was so unconventional and fascinating that it came to hold the world's attention for a full week each year. It was one of the last of the great open road events and the first in which European and American cars could be compared and marked the return of US factory support to racing in America.

The fast-paced story of how Lincoln, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Oldsmobile, Lancia, Chevrolet, Porsche, Dodge and Mercedes-Benz won glory in the gruelling Mexican road races run between 1950 and 1954.

148 pages, 344 illustrations, size 8.25 x 11 inches. Why is this book considered by many automotive historians as the "Most Complete Account" of the 1950 Carrera Panamericana Race? When the inaugural "Carrera Panamericana" road race was run in 1950, there was very little coverage of the race printed in the contemporary press of the day. Most European publications totally ignored the race or perhaps they did not even know it was happening, and while a few US newspapers managed to print a paragraph or two on a daily basis, it certainly was not "front page" news and much of the information was questionable and sometimes inaccurate. Even the reports that appeared in the specialized "Auto Racing" magazines were sketchy at best, and it appeared that those magazines did not take the race too seriously, or attach any significance to the possible future potential of the event. Looking back, it was fortuitous that publisher Floyd Clymer secured the services of Roland Goodman, a US newspaper reporter living in Mexico, to cover the race in depth and to document all of the finite details such as the race statistics, accurate lists of the drivers, cars etc. Had the Clymer-Goodman relationship not happened, much of the history of the 1950 race would have been lost forever. All too often details become clouded over the years and the Spanish language custom followed by most Mexican parents of attaching the mother's name after the father's name such that the son Agustin of Mr. Garcia and the former Miss Lopez would be named Agustin Garcia Lopez and, at times, may be referred to as Garcia or Lopez, which makes for questionable interpretation of reports at a later date. In other words, you had to be there to get it right and Roland Goodman was Floyd Clymer's "man on the spot" and our thanks should go out to both of them for creating this comprehensive record of the 1950 "Carrera Panamericana."

Una prueba de antologia por México que, desde 1988, vuelve a ser la que era. Este libro, tras ofrecer un preambulo historico, traza la epopeya moderna de estas enormes limusinas americanas de los cincuenta, sorprendentes coches con un tamaño y una potencia descomunales, que se comen el asfalto caliente a un ritmo desenfrenado. Una carrera sin par, a través de suntuosos paisajes, con un trasfondo de tequilas y de orquestas latinas. A legendary race across Mexico. Since 1988, it has found a second wind. After a historical flashback, the book recounts the modern era of these huge American limes from the 1950s, these massive and powerful cars which cover the route at an astonishing pace. It's a race without equal through magnificent scenery to the rhythm of Tequila and Latin music. Une épreuve d'anthologie à travers le Mexique. Depuis 1989, elle connaît une seconde jeunesse. Ce livre, après un préambule historique, retrace l'épopée moderne de ces grosses limousines américaines issues des fifties : d'étonnantes autos massives et surpuissantes qui avalent le bitume chaud à un rythme endiablé. Une course sans pareil dans des paysages somptueux, sur fond de tequilas et d'orchestres latines.