PSST... Check Out My Plan For Next Years LCP

Great Photos And Report

Here is the latest entry from Hayden's #408 Hudson report from the 2009 LCP.


CLICK HERE

Bitchin Little Car For Sale

If you're thinking about running LCP this would be a great car to do it in and I know them personally.



CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

LCP Gathering At Club AutoVino

Today my son Will and I attended a luncheon at AutoVino in Menlo Park California and had a great time.

Speaking of Menlo Park... Just a few hours before the luncheon a plane was taking off from the nearby airport in East Palo Alto and hit a tall electrical tower causing it to crash thus killing three employees of Tesla Motors Inc. One wing landed on a day care home which caused it to catch on fire. Fortunately nobody was injured except for the Tesla employees. Just a couple months ago I was invited to tour the Telsa facility. CLICK HERE for news story and video.


Before a nice sized gathering of car nuts several people spoke.


(notice the wine barrel room)


The real meat & potatoes guest speakers were 2009 La Carrera Panamericana participants Martin Lauber and Conrad Stevenson.


You may remember Martin and Conrad drove the "El Taxi Perdido" Fiat. CLICK HERE The two of them gave a great day by day account of some of the more memorable moments from their LCP adventure. Will and I had a few moments to chat with them afterwards and right while we were sharing stories a guy walked up and said, "I have a nice tow rig and I really want to be on your team next year and will donate my services and truck." That's when I saw his eyes light up and I knew it was time to say, "Well I can't top an opening line like that so I'll just say good-bye." As it turns out they are going to run LCP again this years so we'll want to hear a lot more from these guys.

AutoVino showed us all a good time and great food and wine and you couldn't help but be impressed with the cars to boot. Looks alike a great place to become a member and swap some car stories not to mention get some awesome wine. MORE HERE ABOUT AUTO VINO.



After a bite to eat Will took a few laps on Laguna Seca on their virtual reality simulator and let me tell you this was state of the art. Even the seat jarred the driver around when going off track and during acceleration, braking and cornering. When Will finally hit a wall the car was steering and driving exactly as it would with the left rear wheel busted off. Amazing stuff.



I had to laugh... even the computer began yelling at Will just like I have for many years. SLOW DOWN!


There was a lot more cars out back but here a few that were inside.

Shelby Tid Bits

I have been playing with one of my best friends over the last few weeks down at the shop. Over 475,000 miles and still as much fun as the day I drove it off the showroom floor. And just as fast and beautiful too I might add.





















Speaking of great looking rides I think that new 2011 Shelby GT350 would look pretty cool parked in my stable. CHECK IT OUT HERE



And while I'm on the subject of fast Mustangs did you happen to see the prety little red special edition 2011 Mustang GT that King Petty, who holds the NASCAR record with seven Daytona 500 victories, drove today as he paced all 43 cars to the green flag for the 52nd running of the Daytona Great American Race.

Reminicing Memories and Momentos

Five days after Bob signed this my son Will and I were in Oaxaca at the far end of Mexico taking the car out of the trailer and the first team in line for registration and tech inspection.

HEY.... FOLLOW THAT COP!!!

If you ever doubt for a second that LCP participants don't get preferential treatment while taking part in LCP have a look at the following video but while you're watching it keep in mind this is'nt the exception to the rule... This is the norm just the way all LCP teams are treated. You can almost go anywhere or do anything and they welcome you with open arms.

The man shaking my hand in this photo was the top Federally in all of Mexico and clearly very well respected by everyone everywhere we went. As he shook my hand at the start of the last high speed stage of the final day he told us what a pleasure it was to have us racing in his country. WHAT? A pleasure to have us racing in his country??? Here was a man who for 7 days had helped us break every single motor vehicle known to man kind and then he made us promise we come and do it all over again.












Have you ever taken a wrong turn on the freeway and then realize not only is it the wrong way but you don't have a clue how far into the wrong direction it will take you before you will be able to find a place to get turned around? Well that's exactly what happened one day to Jon and I during the 2007 La Carrera Panamericana. After realizing we had taken a turn onto a different freeway which Jon assumed was the wrong one I just pulled off to the side of the freeway. As soon as we saw one of the Federallys who was traveling with the LCP cars we flagged him down. To make matters worse the Federally didn't know either but he knew how to find out and within a few seconds he pulled over a local police officer and told him we were in a hurry and needed directions. As bad luck would have it we were now on the wrong freeway and it was a LONG way to turn around but as good luck would have it the Federally smiled and said, "FOLLOW ME!" With that he turned on his flashing lights and we began backing up on the freeway and kept on backing right on up the on ramp in oncoming traffic until we got back to the freeway which would take us the right direction. If that wasn't cool enough then the Federally kept his lights on stopping traffic until there was an opening for us to pull out into traffic. As soon as were were back on the freeway the Federally gave us an escort thru traffic flashing lights and all that got faster and faster as we went on our merry way. VIVA MEXICO!

A Good Tune And A Fast Race Car

Baby Driver Left 10 from Gary on Vimeo.

Another LCP Video

A Car That Can Make You Smile AND Win LCP

Our good friend Stacy who ran her 1957 Fiat 600 Abarth with us during the 2007 La Carrera Panamericana is selling one of her cars. Having personally seen this car perfom well I can assure you it would make a great addition to anyone's collection let alone a proven performer should you want to take on La Carrera panamericana and the price is right.

1957 Fiat 600 abarth vintage race car: SCCA, VARA, La Carrera Panamericana

Description - This is a one of a kind vintage turnkey race car in great condition. It is currently set up for vintage racing: road racing and road rallies. It is also street legal (licensed and titled)




History- In the history section; this car has been raced for over 20 years on the west coast with numerous wins and many top 5's, it has competed with Vara, SCCA, SWMS and pro auto, and participated in the 2007 La Carrera Panamerican, An historic 7 day road rally across Mexico with competitors from all over the globe. The car had the smallest displacement in the race and therefore was started last in the 100 car field, It not only finished every stage and every day of the race without a mechanical failure, it crossed the finish line in the top 50, ahead of many cars with V8"s and many times the displacement, and support. It won the popular award and was one of the few Carrera cars featured in the Automovil Magazine (see pic). It is also featured is the book La Carrera Panamericana – “The World’s Greatest Road Race!” by John Tipler. If you are familiar, with the Carrera Panamericana the you will have an idea of the capabilities of this car: many cars with engines more expensive than the cost of this car do not finish the race;)



There is a YouTube clip of the car racing in the La Carrera. Go to Youtube.com and type in the title La Carrera Panamericana 2007 Fiat and watch/listen to the car race by.

The car comes with all receipts in a hard bound binder

Engine:

· 903cc based race engine. Abarth type cooling system with PBS pump and two radiators and electric fan (fan does not need to operate unless the car is not moving in extreme temperatures) Custom exhaust with built in silencer.

Fuel System:

· fuel cell

Gearbox:

· 4 speed fiat 600D based with 9/39 ring and pinion: shifts perfectly in all gears.

Body:

· No rust and appears to have not had any rust repairs. Coated with sound proofing material.

· Back rear and rear windows are lexan. Orrigional glass windows will be included




Chassis:

Front Suspension: Original configuration Abarth type racing leaf spring
Rear Suspension: Original configuration with race modification (lowered stiffer springs)
Steering: original rebuilt
Brakes: Front disk/race, rear Abarth aluminium finned type
Wheels:

· 13in aluminum

Interior:

· 2x Corbeau seats

· 2x 5 point racing belts.

· gauges

· Rally computer

· Fire system

· 6 point roll cage

Spares:

· Spare set wheel identical to ones on the car. Spare of original front drum brake set up. Complete set of Koni shocks


Selling Price is $16,500.

Please email me with any questions you have regarding the car.

Stacys_b@yahoo.com

For All The Marbles

One of several high speed stages on the last day of the 2007 La Carrera Panamericana as Gary Faules and Jon Emerson attempt to make up some time to make sure they get on the podium...

The Distinction Of A Mil Cumbre Battle Scar

During the entire 7 days of hard racing over 2000 miles through Mexico during the grueling world famous 2007 La Carrera Panamericana driver Gary Faules and navigator Jon Emerson had only one minor incident. Petty impressive considering this was their first LCP event on roads neither had ever seen before. The car didn't get the name Lucky by chance. The night before at the drivers meeting teams were advised by the president of LCP, "Do not, try to win this stage." Watch what happens a few seconds after Jon tells Gary, "Use all the road." By the way, Gary and Jon won this stage.

Winning Mil Cumbres

For many years the Mil Cumbres stage of the world famous La Carrera Panamericana has been reveled as the most dangerous stage of the entire race and and in the process has claimed not only many cars but tragically it has taken many lives as well; So many in fact that after Gary Faules and Jon Emerson won that stage during the 2007 LCP it has since been removed from the event. DO NOT let the sound on this video fool you since it is only being heard through the mic on Jon and Gary's helmets, these guys are seriously hauling the mail. Gary and Jon show how a good working relationship between driver and navigator are paramount thus giving each other the confidence each other can feed off of.

For the record, when Jon loses his place in the log book for a second or two I had to laugh and when all was said and done this was the only time during the entire race that it happened and he was flawless. Since the LCP Studebaker's are known for being built on tube frame chassis with Nascar Winston Cup engines that are capable of doing 200 miles per hour it was exceptionally rewarding to pass one even if it was between him and a donkey.

CLICK HERE FOR LARGER SCREEN

Gary Faules & Jon Emerson Winning Mil Cumbre Stage Of LCP from Gary on Vimeo.

A Hero's Welcome In Tehuacan

The greeting that La Carrera Panamericana participants are given as they enter every single little village or major city in Mexico is simply overwhelming and there can not be enough said to thank the citizens of Mexico for their awesome hospitality and generosity.

Here are some short segments as we enter the beautiful city of Tehuacan Mexico.

La Carrera Panamericana Wine & Cars

Auto-Vino in Menlo Park, a storage facility for exotic cars and wines -- what a combo! -- is having a luncheon on February 17, 11-30-2:00 devoted to La Carrera. The guest speakers will be Martin Lauber and Conrad Stevenson, who did exceptionally well their first time in the Pan Am last year.

For those of you who may not recognize the team of Lauber and Stevenson CLICK HERE



Here the official announcement from the Auto-Vino web site. Hope to see you there!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ABOUT AUTO-VINO

The great PanAmerican Road Race, The Mexican Road Race, was perhaps the greatest of all the open road races of the early 1950s. From 1950 thru 1954 the event raced in five days from the southern tip of Mexico to the Texas border. All the great American and international auto makers participated, as did the top SCCA, USAC, FIA, NASCAR, Indy racing drivers plus amateurs. The event celebrated the opening of the Pan-American Highway. For the past several decades the event has been recreated as a seven-day stage rally – race called the La Carrera Panamericana. Top pro, amateur and vintage racers compete each fall in this rally – race that run the length of Mexico. For 2010 the event date is October 22-28.

The speakers at the AutoVino Racers lunch February 17 are 2009 La Carrera PanAmericana participants Martin Lauber and Conrad Stevenson. They will present a multimedia program about competing in their Alfa. Lunch is $20. RSVP to AutoVino 650-533-3809. The location is 205 Constitution Avenue in Menlo Park California. 94025, about 25 miles south of San Francisco.

Ate A Lot Of Great Food In Mexico But...

Some things stood out more than others. You dont have to read Spanish to know this is an article about something that everyone who ever ran La Carrera Panamericana is very fond of. Cheap and delicious. YUMMY.

CLICK HERE...........

Living It All Over Again

It's been a long time since Jon and I raced Lucky through Mexico during the 2007 La Carrera Panamericana but today was the first time I was able to watch much of the in-car video from that adventure of a life-time race. Not only is it fun to watch but NOBODY has come close to having the quality in-car footage that was made possible through the knowledge and high-quality state of the art video equipment that Jon Emerson set us up with. The footage I have been watching today is so good that I found myself having to remember it was ok to relax.

I love the parts where Jon says, "Right one. Two left watch out for cliff after the dip in the road just beyound the crest. Caution loose gravel ahead. This section of the road is looking good. Right Zero. Nail it and dont stop until the checkered flag!"

Thanks Jon. You really made my day. For that matter now I can relive the entire race stage by stage for the rest of my life.

Coach Dick Sutherland's Bandon Tigers