Page 18 of Living Accessories 3 by Doug Mockett & Co.

la carrera panamericana 2002 victory at last in 2000 with alan baillie navigating we finished second overall by the slimmest of margins so it seemed 2001 was to be our year not to be ­ a broken clutch half way through put us far behind we ended up fourth overall and third in class of 90 starters that did it for 2002 we did our homework started preparing early and made sure no problems like before would bedevil us when we arrived for the start october 25 we were ready no more excuses the race was a dream the car ran like a dream we won outright 6 of the 7 days including the last day when anyone with any sense and the lead slows down to protect that lead not us pedal to the metal all the way we won by almost 5 minutes 4:57 to be precise a good margin la carrera panamericana is a 2,400 mile race/rally through mexico from the bottom to the top that takes seven days of driving hard all day and partying hard all night not for the faint of heart or weak of constitution the modern version is a somewhat tame re-creation of the original a road race created to publicize the opening of the pan american highway joining the usa with central america via mexico it ran from 1950 through 1954 the race became a huge international success bringing factory teams from ford lincoln ferrari porsche alfa romeo etc it was also one of the last of the open-road races run in the world the contemporary version still runs along the pan american highway most of the way portions of the road are closed off and the cars do speed runs along the course the winner has the best time in all 7 days there are more than 35 speed stages with average speeds ranging from 50 to 130 miles an hour no one believes me but honest ­ portions of a six lane freeway are closed down so we can race along it at up to 170 mph ­ try that in the usa where else can you be speeding through a town come up against a red light at 80 mph and have a cop hold back traffic so you can blast through and be waving you on along with a cheering throng try that in the usa it was a pleasure to win the 15th la carrera panamericana we have nowhere to go but we ll be back this fall to try again alan and i are a couple of grey-haired old duffers but we have a reputation to uphold now plus we re giving some thought to changing the name of the car from olds en nombre solamente olds in name only to age and cunning will always beat youth and skill 194

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