Our Ghia passes Mercedes Benz #422, an original 1950's PanAm veteran. This big brick was officially clocked at well over 130mph on a straight by police radar. Good thing Barret took him down in the curves.

26Oct07; Fri. The race starts. The first leg is Oaxaca to Tehuacán. Oaxaca is at 5,000+ ft. Tehuacán, 5,481 ft. We have to use small carb jets, all the way down to 115. 130's are normal for sea level. Justin drives, and the Ghia survives, on harrowing mountain roads, with indicated speeds of 100+ mph. About ten cars crash today. The race stops for the night in Tehuacán. A big fiesta is held in the city tonight. The Carreraistas are well entertained. Justin has driven the Ghia to 5th in class, and 78th overall.

27Oct07; Sat. Tehuacán to Puebla. Today, the cars actually race back toward Oaxaca before turning north to Puebla. They run some of the previous day’s speed stages in the opposite direction. More crashes. The Ghia is in trouble. Both brand new rear 36mm axle nuts (from CB Performance) are failing, the metal too soft and the threads wallowing out. The team finds replacement nuts near midnight, changes oil, and rejets to 120's. Barret drove today and despite the nuts, discovers he can outrun the 356's and the one Ghia in his class. The Ghia is now running an amazing 43rd overall.

28Oct07; Sun. Puebla to Querétaro (alt. 5,971 ft), passing through Mexico City to get to Querétaro. Justin drives. The right rear axle hub and brake bracket separates when the bearing cap bolts back out, caused from vibration when the axle nuts were loose. Justin and Barret tow the Ghia to a garage where the damage is repaired, and drive on to Querétaro, the last car to arrive. The Ghia drops to dead last, 86th place.

29Oct07; Mon. Querétaro to Morelia (alt. 6,302 ft). The cars race on a new track in Querétaro before moving on to Morelia. To enter Morelia, the race runs four speed stages on Mil Cumbres ("1000 peaks"), 330 curves in 22 kilometers. But both rear torsion bars have drastically settled, and the Ghia is out of the running. Barret limps the Ghia into Morelia to a repair shop, where they reset the ride height by adjusting the torsion bars. The Ghia was riding so low the oil plate temp sensor has been broken off. We are again last. The CB axle nuts have really cost us. Before the oil temp sensor was broken, the temps were 250°+, our forced-air ducting not delivering enough air to the oil cooler. Should have used a fan.

30Oct07; Tue. Morelia to Aguascalientes (alt. 6,194 ft). The Ghia makes it without incident. Justin drives, but Barret drives one speed stage. They finish 2nd in class and 42nd overall. Without a residual pressure valve, the brakes go soft, the first push taking the pedal to the floor. Scary in the mountains. Should have used a valve.

31Oct07; Wed. (Halloween) Aguascalientes to Zacatecas (alt. 8500 ft). The cars race on a high mountain road called La Bufa, a few miles outside of Zacatecas. More crashes. Barret drives. The Ghia finishes 3rd in class behind a 356 due to a 19-sec. time penalty, but goes up two places to 40th overall.

01Nov07; Tue. The Carrera Panamericana ends. On this last day, the cars and service vehicles drove 426 miles downhill from Zacatecas to Nuevo Laredo (alt. 394 ft). There were several speed stages along the way. The racing gremlins strike us one more time. Barret does a frantic clutch pedal replacement, salvaging the part from a rusted-out dune buggy, when the cable hook on the Ghia's clutch pedal snapped. They reach Nuevo Laredo for a win, 3rd in class for the whole race. The slower 356 that won did so because we had been sidelined for two days.