[DeTomaso] La Carrera Panamerica- the rookie way ( WARNING - NO PANTERA CONTENT )

asajay at asajay.com asajay at asajay.com
Tue Nov 3 16:52:07 EST 2009


Hans,

That is an Awesome achievement.  Rookie status with a car barely ready  
and a pedal to the metal mindset.  You guys made it a long way.  And  
considering 69th place out of 100, when you didn't even finish, is  
pretty amazing.

I think Mad Dog ran this one yet a while back.  Have to get some  
feedback from him.

Asa Jay


Quoting Hans Lindbohm <hans.lindbohm at telia.com>:

> When I visited San Diego this summer and met with a number of very nice
> Pantera guys on this list, I mentioned that, me and my partner Peter were
> heading to Mexico this fall to drive the La Carrera Panamerica race.
>
>
>
> I promised to send a few lines and tell the story. Having just returned from
> Mexico a few days ago ( my stomach though, is still behaving like it was in
> Mexico ) – so here is the story
>
>
>
>
>
> THE LA CARRERA PANAMERICA
>
>
>
> About the race. It is 3 600 km, 7 days, from Huatulco in the south to Laredo
> in the North of Mexico. Hight difference from 0 to 3000 meter of altitude.
> About 600 km are timed speed stages and the rest are transit stages. Cars to
> enter must be from 1965 or older.
>
>
>
> ( http://www.lacarrerapanamericana.com.mx/index2.asp,
> http://www.panamrace.com <http://www.panamrace.com/>   )
>
>
>
>
>
> BACKGROUND- WHY LEAVE A COOSY OFFICE TO RUN LA CARRERA??
>
>
>
> It all started in the office in Stockholm in March this year. My collegue
> Peter, reading another Classic Car illustrated  – found an article about the
> La Carrera. As being the decision maker in our partnership he said  “ we
> must do this”.
>
>
>
> That was when my work started.
>
>
>
> First a car had to be found. We found out that old Volvos had been run quite
> successfully in the race. And by a coincidence there was a Volvo 544 1960 (
> “prepared” for the race by a Mexican driver ) for sale in Mexico city.
>
>
>
> Second we had to find somebody to provide service for the car during the
> race. The first low budget idea from me was that I would do it myself in the
> nights between the race days.. This stupid idea was luckily ruled out.
>
>
>
> Instead we got hold of a well known Swede, Mats Hammarlund, (
> http://www.mhracing.com.mx ) who is running one of the top teams in the
> race, and made him agree to take us on in parallel to 2 Studebakers, one LT
> and one heavily modified Volvo 544 as well ( however this one much, much
> more potent than ours ). Considering that his cars normally ends up in the
> top 10 – it was amazing that he took us rookies on!!
>
>
>
> After a long session of attempts to have our Volvo inspected, we at last
> took decision to buy it unseen (!!) otherwise we would not make it in time
> for the race.
>
>
>
> So end of May the seller was due to ship the car to the workshop of Mats
> Hammarlund.
>
>
>
> Instead of being notified of a successful delivery of the car ( which
> already was paid for ), the seller informed us that he had had un accident
> and the car was smashed and rolled off the trailer. However he promised to
> fix it (!) and deliver in one months time




with zero negotiation
> power

..we crossed our fingers for that.
>
>
>
> A month later the car was delivered to Mats Hammarlund´s work shop and the
> first real inspection was made. The body was OK, rust free and good looking,
> the roll cage was OK, and that was about it. The bad news was that, seats,
> pedals, brakes, steering, front and rear suspension, engine was far from
> “race ready”. Mats judgment was “hardly drivable at all
 “.
>
>
>
> Mats took the car apart with the goal to put it together and make it capable
> of running the 3600 km of the race. Considering the limited time, durability
> was the goal rather than performance. However time was short and he had 4
> more cars to prepare.
>
>
>
>
>
> THE RACE  -   PRELUDE
>
>
>
> 3 days before the start of the race me and Peter landed in Huatulco in
> southern Mexcio where the race started.
>
>
>
> Our luggage consisted of 83 kilos of car parts and a few T-shirts and
> shorts. The passage of the customs was a drama but we got away with only 75
> USD of fees!
>
>
>
> All cars were than gathered in a big parking lot. Amazing cars, Mustangs,
> Studebakers, Corvettes, Maserati, Mercedes, Porsches and our old Volvo.
>
>
>
> We immediately took the car to “tech” and had it approved (!). Then we took
> it apart and started installing a new steering column, a new head, cam
> shaft, distributor and twin Webers, in order to solve the remaining issues
> with the car.
>
>
>
> All other teams were at this time either signing autographs, training for
> the race or just relaxing. We ( = our mechanics ) however were working on
> the car day and night to get all parts in place.
>
>
>
> Not only driving the race was dangerous, one of our mechanics got hit and
> knocked out by a falling coconut!
>
>
>
> 2 hours before the qualification we got it all together!!!  The engine was a
> little bit better ( = stronger ) but all power was delivered between 4000 –
> 6500 rpm. Below that was – nothing – weak as dead horse.
>
>
>
> Well in such a situation you must love what you have. We got into the car to
> take a first training drive roaring above 4000 rpm. First thing we see is a
> fully wrecked Porsche 911. One of 4 cars who crashed even before the
> race
..another evidence that practice before a race can be dangerous!
>
>
>
> Well we did not crash but went straight to the qualification run. We had
> very good grip ( new Yokohamas ), and the car behaved well on the road ( for
> being an almost 50 year old Volvo ). The engine though was producing maybe
> 110-120 horsepower rather than the 160 hp we hoped for. And this only
> between 4-6000 rpm
>
>
>
>
>
> THE RACE – THE QUALIFICATION
>
>
>
> The qualification was a 7 km run.
>
>
>
> Our tactics was easy – don´t ever brake in number 0,1 and 2 graded curves.
> With a weak engine – speed is a valuable asset. For sharper curves, grade 3
> and 4, the brakes could eventually be used.
>
>
>
> We later learned that when going too fast into a curve, the Volvo had a
> tendency to get up and run on 2 wheels. This happened a number of times but
> we always came back on all four ( and not on the roof )
>
>
>
> For being almost our first drive it turned out OK. We qualified as 54 out of
> 100 cars.
>
>
>
> Not bad for one of the least powerful cars in the race – and the least
> experienced crew.
>
>
>
>
>
> THE RACE DAY 1
>
>
>
> Day 1 is a 650 km run from Huatulco to Oaxaca..  11 stages consisting of a
> speed section and a transit section. This stage is known as the hardest one.
> Starting in high temperature ( 36 degrees C ) and moving from 0 to 1500
> meter altitude.
>
>
>
> We started fully disregarding the status and age of the car and gave all we
> had from the first meter.
>
>
>
> First 2 stages went OK, but before stage 3 we got a vapour lock and the
> engine stopped. I run out, opened the hood and tried to cool the engine
> pouring mineral water over the fuel pump. Success. 10 minutes later we were
> moving again!
>
>
>
> The engine was very close to overheating all day and in the end we could not
> even stop to fill gas, since the engine was so hot, we feared that we could
> not get it started again in time for the next speed stage.
>
>
>
> With some luck we managed all speed stages and made it to the last transit
> to the finish line – when we run out of gas 6 km from the next gas station.
>
>
>
> Time was short so I stopped a Mexican car and got a ride to the gas station,
> got hold of a plastic canister, bought some gas, and got a ride back.
>
>
>
> Back at the car my partner had received a phone call from his wife which
> could not be interrupted. I filled the gas and pushed him in to the
> passenger seat and got going again.
>
>
>
> We refilled the gas and speeded to the finish line. A motorcycle police saw
> us and helped us through the rush hour traffic into the center of Oaxaxa and
> the finishing arch.
>
>
>
> What a day!
>
>
>
> In the evening at the drivers meeting there was a price giving. At the
> meeting I suddenly heard the number of our car from the speaker at the
> meeting!!. It can´t be right I thought and didn’t dare to go to the podium.
>
>
>
> But I was wrong, we ended up on place 37 and as number 3 in class this first
> day. Amazing!
>
>
>
> However an early success is the prelude to failure – which the rest of this
> story shows.
>
>
>
>
>
> RACE DAY 2
>
>
>
> Having survived the first day and the engine now running cooler and better
> on the higher altitude ( 1500 meters) we were even higher motivated.
>
>
>
> Up until midday everything went perfect. Our no braking tactics, made us
> pass the cars in front of us on the speed stages ( 30 seconds between the
> cars ) and we hoped to gain even more positions in the race.
>
>
>
> That was however the beginning of the end. In Mexico there are road bumps.
> These are not like regularly bumps – it is like rolling a car up on the
> pavement. These bumps can only be passed in a pace slower than walking.
> Anything else means your car has had it.
>
>
>
> So – at this point on a transit stage we turned round a corner in a village
> – and hit one of these super bumps!!!
>
>
>
> The front end of the car collapsed – and immediately we got a camber angle
> of 15 degrees on both front wheels. The car was un drivable
>
>
>
> The race was over for that day and nothing else than to wait for our sweeper
> truck.
>
>
>
> Riding on the back of the flatbed for 5 hours we got to the next stop in
> Mexico City. Only good thing was that we did not had to navigate through
> Mexico City which is a nightmare
>
>
>
>
>
> RACE DAY 3-5
>
>
>
> Each night we bent and welded the damaged front end to start the race – but
> during the days the front end or other things ( waterpump, fanbelt,
> alternator) broke down. So we could not complete one full day. The tow truck
> driver became our best friend
>
>
>
>
>
> RACE DAY 6
>
>
>
> Again everything was fixed, the broken front end was again welded together.
> However the camber was still very big and you could see that the front
> wheels were tilted in a strange fashion. Running the car on straight line
> was something like riding a rodeo horse
>
>
>
> As always – there was not a question about sparing the car – full speed!
>
>
>
>> From a position further back we overtook a number of cars on the speed
> stages.
>
>
>
> We made all speed stages but on the last transit – we brook down definitely
> 1,2 km from the finishing arch.
>
>
>
> The tech director of the race had seen our strange camber angle and forbid
> us to run for the last day. That was not necessary anyway – the front end
> was now beyond repair and the car would not roll one single meter..
>
>
>
>
>
> THE LAST DAY – DAY 7
>
>
>
> We rode in our service cars with our mechanics, who were happy to have had
> one night off from working on our car.
>
>
>
> This days adventure was that my partner Peter talked himself into the press
> car for a ride to a speed stage. However the Mexican Press Director was not
> happy about his company and kicked him out in the middle of the desert. Luck
> for him our service car came by and found him. No seats left though in the
> van, so he spent 3 hours sitting on a toolbox up to Laredo.
>
>
>
> The other cars in our team finished 1, 2, 5, 6 in the race. A remarkable
> result. The black sheep in the team was -  our car – which arrived in Laredo
> on the tow truck. Final result place 69!!
>
>
>
> SUMMARY
>
>
>
> Out of 100 cars I think a little more than 50 made it over the finish line
> in Laredo after 3600 km. Crashes and mechanical issues took a hard toll.
>
>
>
> We had a lot of spare parts – but not the front end parts wrecked. That was
> what stopped us – all other issues were repairable.
>
>
>
> The service team we had was fantastic – putting in a lot of hours each night
> on our car.
>
>
>
> So the only thing to do is to try again – which we hope to do next year.
> With a completely new and stronger front end / rear end / motor / and
> gearbox. Better prepared and hopefully more successful.
>
>
>
> WHAT ABOUT PANTERAS???
>
>
>
> Panteras can not run in the competition classes – however an entry in the
> exhibition class would be possible!! It would be great to see a Pantera
> entry next year in that class. However set that car up for a high ground
> clearance!!!!
>
>
>
>
>
> Hans Lindbohm
>
> # 4145
>
> Stockholm
>
> Sweden
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
>
> Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
>
> DeTomaso mailing list
> DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
> http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
>





More information about the DeTomaso mailing list