Carrera Panamericana Mexico Race

Jetsetters pitted against regular Joes

High risk, high altitude, high speed but never strictly high roller

The race offered the rarest of chances. The super rich could test the limits of their trophy sports car purchase and it brought out the playboy in regular Joes who pulled out from the carport to line up on the starting grid. High risk, high altitude, high speed but never strictly high roller

Indeed the first winner was Hershel McGriff who drove a production Oldsmobile 88 with the same specs as it had when it arrived from his local car dealer. Plucky Mr McGriff scooped the $17,000 first prize. A sexy multiple of the $1,900 purchase price of his family runaround.

The debut race captured the world’s imagination. The impact of the race was global and instant. The big mythic names of motorsport decided they wanted a bit of the Carrera Panamericana action.

Serious interlopers like Ferrari headed down Mexico way

A vulture carnage of beak, blood and feathers

The notoriety of the race had spread so fast that Ferrari sent several cars in 1951. Though they did not comply with race specifications, the Italians were allowed to compete. And serious blood was spilt. Mexican race driver Jose Estrada declared ‘I win or I die’. He died.

Meanwhile Ferrari roared into the top two slots but Bill Stirling from El Paso came in third in his Chrysler Saratoga. The common man was still on the podium. The following year it was the turn of Mercedes 300SL’s to clean up a bird strike vulture carnage of beak, blood and feathers crashing through  the windscreen.

In 1953  Lancia scooped the sports category and a Lincoln won in the saloon section. The Carrera was now a battleground of works teams drawn by speed and safety-lite rules. The average speed had doubled and the bodycount reached 27. The 1955 Le Mans carnage brought a halt to the Carrera Panamericana.

The Carrera Panamericana is dead. Long live the Carrera Panamericana

Grease is the word, speed is the key and time is the essence.

Despite the red flag the Carrera Panamericana still made the imagination race. In 1963, TAG Heuer immortalised the road race in a fine timepiece, the Carrera Chronograph - an instant classic. Porsche christened a version of their celebrated 911 the Carrera. In 2009 they followed up with a four-door Panamera.

In 1988 the race came roaring back. Open to cars with a classic retro body shell it was a true celebration of the glory days. The iconic Raymond Loewy-designed Studebaker was to lay claim to the first 13 victories of the relaunched race. Grease is the word, speed is the key and time is the essence.

Health and safety was a new priority, but danger remained. In 2006 a 19-year-old driver flew off the road in his Jaguar E-type Roadster into a pine forest sending him into a coma. And while the mighty GM and Chrysler hit the bankruptcy buffers but their legend lived on, undimmed in the Carrera Panamericana.

Inspired by Motor racing