2009 La Carrera Panamericana

This is the hero card we made for the 2009 event. Yes, it's pretty similar to last year. W00t

Last year I did this all in English. The main audience for these cards is small town Mexican kids, so this year I translated our card. I made this up before Willy joined the team so he is conspicuously absent.

Armed details are guarding the Apple Farmer race vehicle. Step away from the car, Por favor.

Finnish rock band's car. Will get some pics of these guys as soon as I can. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyapwXBPg6Y&NR=1

This is the starting line, Hualtco, Mexico. Life is difficult. Almost everyone is here, Richard, Nate, Al, Oddvar, and me. Waiting for Willy to show up this afternoon. Qualifying starts today, will post results when I can.

Al on the phone at the bank. He can't follow instructions. Trying to change large amounts of US bills is an amazing pain in the ass and some places refused to exchange US dollars citing only "Politico" as the reason. Al just opened an account at a Mexican bank to get us some cash.

This Alfa is well prepared. One of our many competitors.

A well tuned Swedish Death Machine

Well prepared 544

Another well done PV.

Maserati dash

Ready to head to the Park Ferme, then qualifying.

Great guys. This car weighs 5000lbs

Volvo 1800 - I like these.

These ladies were washing cars at the Park Ferme, doing a great job.

Beautiful bmw

All of the competitors pose for the press. I weaseled my way into a press pass this year.

Don't know the story here. Did I mention qualifying hasn't started yet?

Stuck throttle. Qualifying has not begin

We got a 4:08 - still waiitng to see how that sorts us but asking around it seems it is pretty damn good. Richard will fill us in after driver's meeting. See the smug look on Richard's face?

These guys were making way across the banana plantation next to the qualifying finish line on foot with toilets. Yep.

State of the union - we qualified 11th, an amazing time for a 4 cylinder volvo. We lost some ground on Friday due to some technical issues but spent all night Friday solving them. Today Richard and Nate ran harder than ever, we are on out way to the driver's meeting to find out where we sit. Wish us luck.

These guys are rolling with us. Good team, nice people.

Good luck passing these guys! Spyhunter smokescreen in effect.

The world's number one service team.

This is a great car, hate to see it get bent. (Update - these guys are back in the race today)

Rolling mountains, blue sky - Mexico is beautiful.

Late to upload this, Richard and Nate took this footage practicing on the qualifying course.

We're back. Today we hit it hard. Richard and Al gave it the best flogging to date. The service team forced 40 feet of truck and trailer through the interior of Mexico city today - will take weeks of counseling to get over it.

Props to SuperDave and Al for the shirts. Hard to make us look dignified.

All the tequila we can drink.

They finally got our classification right. Apple Farmers are a freight train, we've got momentum.

We got pulled over by Federal Police. This is usually a sketchy happening and we were ready to negotiate. Al rolled down the window, the officer walked up and asked if we were with the La Carrera. Al said 'si', the guy smiled and shook Al's hand and wished us luck, then walked away. When was the last time a cop pulled you over to shake your hand?

The car is running really well. We lost the button on the distributor cap this morning and it was running slightly erratically but Nate and Richard still did real well, will find out more tonight. Our section times are pretty dominant right now. As of last night we were 1st overall in A+ and 17th overall including our slow runs on Friday. if the car keeps running well we are in very good shape. My internet connection is sub-dicey in Queretero so not sure what kind of updates I'll be able to get in. If I can't upload more pics I will try to edit this comment further to give updates later tonight - we have such awesome videos I wish we could upload but I just don't have the time to process them and the bandwidth is a barrier. Off to the autozone...

This is the winningest team in the race, based in Mexico, fielding 4 cars, most of them in the top 10. If they have time I'll ask them to show me their process - it is a well oiled machine and we could definitely learn a lot from them.

Ready for more work on the car and the awesome buffet at Fiesta hotel

Really nice day.

Nate was sick last night and both he and Richard needed sleep. I went to the drivers' meeting to represent the team. It was in the historic art museum in the center square. This is a large open-air building, totally stunning. They had a string quintet playing and fine refreshments. This is a brief clip showing a drivers' awards ceremony. We took 3rd behind the very fast 914 and the Alfa taxi cab team.

This maserati was so badass. Suck.

Here we are. Richard and Nate are staying in Room 1111 - fate smiles on us.

We drove by this double trailer semi wreck. The engine was 50' away, the 2 trailers were burned to nothing - the wheels were draped in the radials from the tires, all the rubber melted on the ground. The trailers were full of broccoli - smoldering piles of it on the ground. Insane, we could not piece together how the boulder ended up in the engine compartment

Men's club. Willy and Oddvar settled in the back of the pickup - smoking cigarettes and watching mexico go by. Every 4 hours we let them out of the cage and give them wrenches. These are two of the best mechanics in the whole race, and the race represents some of the best mechanics in the world. Learning a lot.

The power adapter on my computer went bad, I was dreading a huge time sink taxi ride around town to find a new one. The clouds parted and across the street from the hotel was a laptop repair place with my power brick in stock. "We're on a mission from God."

In a crowded square by the church waiitng for the cars to come in. Probably 2000 people here.

Barndt and Kurth in their Ford. El Día de los Muertos is coming up and they are decorating. These are my favorite Germans in the race and they are making the podium.

Get it? THis is the Alfa taxi team from Berzerkely, CA. These guys are super fast and have a great team.

This car is just cool

Martin and Conrad in the Alfa Taxi - they look pleased with themselves. We heard the Porsche 914 had some serious issues with running into stuff today - wiaiting to find out whether they are still in the race. There is a tight field at the top of our A+ class right now - lots of fun for everyone.

Nate and Richard said they ran like hell today. Will post results tonight after we get them. As of last night they were 18th overall.

These guys are the coolest. We identify.

Flickr video will only show a couple of minutes of video - links don't work so well either and I don't have time to debug it. Copy and paste this link to see the whole session: www.youtube.com/user/numeralsix#p/a/u/0/s8hl51GbJ_4 Finally getting this posted - Nate and Richard's Qualifying run. The sound is a little spotty- working on that.

Sunday drive - Flickr video sucks so this movie shows only partially. Copy and paste this link, don't click it, to see the whole thing:www.youtube.com/user/numeralsix#p/a/u/0/G-hQgRJ1lU0

We have a system for the car. Gas powered generator, 4 work lights and now the truck is pretty well organized. Last night we had to install a new temp gauge and change the brake pads, tighten all suspension components and go through our 50 item check list.

We picked up a second place trophy last night. We currently stand at 24th overall. Today we head for Guadalajara and the town of Tequila. (Ann, we will get more results up - don't look for other blogs)

Good day of driving and besides some totally innacurate directions from both the officials and our GPS, we made it to the hotel and got a good spot for the equipment.

Heading for Guadalajara this morning, running a little late. We made it to service just in time but the car didn't need much. We hopped back in the truck and made our way westward.

This region is covered in Artisan tequila places and is the headquarters for many global tequila brands including Cuervo.

Caught a ride with John and Nancy whom I mistook for Canadians because they are so nice. Hard to get a good picture from a moving car but the agave farms are massive - they all glow with that weird blue agave color in orderly rows of plants.

This is really beautiful country. It's the Mexican equivalent of the Napa vally.

Viva Alemania! Burndt is the life of the party. The Carrera organizers could use more Germans.

Everybody thought these guys were down for the count after a pretty serious wreck. They are now back in the game and everybody is glad to see them.

They finished 2nd in class today, 17th overall. Still not sure on the big picture results but we should be in pretty good shape. Here is some video from the first run of the day - (links are fixed from now on) www.youtube.com/user/numeralsix#p/a/u/0/8XPTn2BeYwY

Angelica is the navigator for Doug Mockett's Studebaker. I first met her at the beginning of last year's race when she was inducted into Scuderia. She's been the winning navigator in the past and she and Doug are hoping for a big win this year. Stig and Anna are making that difficult. The top 3 cars in the race all have woman navigators. Right on.

The driver's meeting was held here, more pics later.

The lucky taco car took a spill and was nursed back to life to compete. Tony's ride blew a motor and one of the lucky taco team members left so he is back on the road, as well.

Stanley is doing his Al G. impression with a british accent. We can't get enough of it. Al has lots of fans in the race.

This town is beautiful. I'd put it up there with Zacatecas for coolest city I've seen in Mexico.

The 914 is back in the A+ class after a serious gearbox failure that locked the rear tires and sent them into a rock wall yesterday.

Rick and James are driving a well prepared 2002 that is mistakenly place in the historic A class. Yesterday they had big problems and cracked 2 wheels. Locals took up the challenge and got them to a local aluminum welder who fixed the wheels and got them back on the road. It's crazy the stuff people can overcome in this race.

The light here is terrific - perfect 80 degree weather, nice people, unlimited supply of tequila.

A mariachi cover band started the night at the Curevo estate. We got very sad news that a candian husband-wife team, the Streslows, wrecked their corvette, going off a 30m drop off. They are both in the hospital and we are unsure of their condition.

This tree on the Cuervo estate had a palm growing out of the center of it,the whole thing maybe 50-70 feet high. Never seen that before.

I got bored with the mariachi band and wandered around taking pictures.

More diorama

There were these cool dioramas set up in one part of the Cuervo estate, very cool.

Ran across the room where the officials were calculating results. I took a quick picture and left.

Laying on the grass, tired, waiting for the drivers' meeting. Good omen.

Driver's rear axle seal was leaking. If it got any worse we could have oil covered rear wheel and a wreck. We begged and borrowed tools and used a BF Hamemr to fix. Worked until midnight and all is good.

John from the Canada team - he says hi to the Mrs. back home in Sacramento.

There are no DUI checkpoints in Tequila, Jalisco, MX.

Cloudbanks on the mountains while the sun comes up

The black thing on the roof is their water supply. This is a common way for people to manage water but it sits in the sun and is a perfect place for bacteria to set up. I had no stomach trouble last year but this year, not so great.

This is one of the pages in our service route book. We are driving from Guadlajara to Aguas Calientes to serviice in a small village to the north. After that we all go to Zacatecas and party.

Nice to see a Karl Schleibe PV running down the big dogs.

Great car built for the 1955 LCP which never happened. Very cool team.

The Alfa taxi is racking up the trophies. Some early technical glitches have really put a damper on their overall time.

These women drive a great 911 and have been really competitive. I had a better pic but this one with Oddvar was great.

We would not be running where we are without WIlly and Oddvar's wrenching.

Over the shoulder bumper holder

Trophy from an offroad excursion

How many races have dudes in attack trucks with M16's dropping in for appearances. Some of the wealthier Mexican guys had their own private security details - I don't want to see their resumes.

One of the Meixcan Porsches had a mishap on the 2nd to last speed stage

Argentinian steakhouse in Zacatecas. Our table of 10 ate 3 portions of this.

Dinner at Garufo's was great. Not feeling so swell tonight, may go try to do 20 minutes of the donkey walk and come back for rest. Will post results tomorrow afternoon when we get to Zacatecas. For now things look pretty good. Here is some footage of a run today - www.youtube.com/user/numeralsix#p/a/u/0/Nc_BSyi2ghs

This is the final day. After some scoring corrections we find ourselves 4 minutes ahead of the superquick alfa. Nate and Richard are working it today to keep that lead intact.

Mexico is a really beautiful place. One day I'm going to take my wife, an old car and this route book and go do this race route at a leisurely pace.

We have 30 minutes to change tires, change the oil, change the plugs re-jet, and retune the carbs to get the car ready for the very long straight high speed section. We expect the car to hold > 6000rpm for up to 15 minutes - if we lose the motor we will lose the race. All part of the strategy. Apple Farmer Service FTW.

Stray dogs are everywhere in Mexico. The equivalent of stray cat population in an American city. As a dog owner I get pretty bummed when I see these guys in the road.

They finished the first part of the day strong. Nate called me and let me know they were holding about 125mph for 10 minutes and the car was running like a Swedish watch, not sure if there are Swedish watches but I imagine they are built with tractor parts. They finished the rest of today's speed stages without a hitch and made it to the finish

I've done this twice now and I still haven't figured out to what extent the Mexican population really is excited about this race - is this just a bunch of rich guys taking over Mexican streets for their own enjoyment or are the townspeople along the way proud to host the race. I've seen extreme evidence to support both cases - this banner sure makes us feel good as we roll into town.

At the end of the race the cars are scrutineered for compliance with the rules. We are in the tech section because someone in the race wanted to protest our car. Not uncommon and there were about 12 cars in the tech area. To the best of my knowledge they all passed except for one Porsche which refused to be teched, resulting in an immediate disqualification.

They make us remove the rockers so the valves are all stuck closed. Then we hook up a hose to the sparkplug hole of one cylinder. We spin the engine around and it pumps a volume of air into a measurement cylinder which measures that volume. Multiply that x4 cylinders and you can calculate the total displacement of the engine.

People kept asking if we had a V8 in there. Just a well-built volvo B20, cast-iron with 8 valves and 8 glorious pushrods. "Very good engineering" says Burndt! We'll take the protest as a compliment to Richard's driving but they could have just given that $500 to charity. Off to the banquet to see if we won.

Very cool building

The provided refreshments were lame so I took a cab to the liquor store and got us a mini-keg of bitburger and some chips.

Maximum Leader. How can we lose?

Pre-trophy entertainment. The ceremony started around midnight.

(sans peter)

Willy and Oddvar giving picturesque service to the old volvo

These guys took the podium tonight, consistently some of the coolest people in the race.

We won it. Willy drinks tequila from the trophy. This has been a long sleepless road. We got 1st place in A+ historico, and 16th overall.

Time to go load the car in the truck. Signing off. I'll upload some more videos when I get the chance.

As far as I know everyone made it safely through the race, but some of the cars did not.

Sorry for the errors yesterday, doing this from the road can be tough. Thanks to everyone for checking out this page, we had an overwhelming amount of support from people in the race and our friends and family back home. I'm safe in Austin, Nate and Oddvar took a plane from Laredo, Willy left to see his mom in Phoenix, and the Apple Farmers are trucking it back to Royal City. I'll post some more footage once I have time to process it, in the meantime we're all going to get some sleep. Here is a video from Gary Faules' awesome Carrera blog - www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE1WPycsPpQ&feature=player_em...

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