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A fun day to see the Carrera Panamericana

Article and photos by Eliseo Carrillo

This year and since 1988 the Carrera Panamericana has been run in its new version. Expectations were high this year since 5 time winner Pierre de Thoisy was coming back in a 300SL MB and 3 time Mexican winner Carlos Anaya had an even better Studebaker to compete against the 80 participants of this year’s race.

Tehuacan-Puebla Section of the Carrera Panamericana 2002

I made plans to go see the velocity stage of Tehuacan with close friends from the Alfa Romeo Arizona Owners Club, Mauri and Mark Congleton. We left the big City with a tray of pastries and refreshments heading towards Puebla and then kept going to Tehuacan. The roads were to my surprise very good and the exitement was growing. Upon getting to Tehuacan, we took a smaller road to Huajuapan where the last velocity stage of the day would take place. Very small and twisty road and time was getting tight as they close the road about 1 hour ahead of the time the velocity stage begins. Mark was in charge of directions and practicing his near to “perfecto” Spanish. We finally crossed the “control” where the stage ended and knew we had made it in time. We found a very nice place to be safe, be able to park the Jeep and have a good view of about five turns. The place was amazing and the view was mind shocking. Mark, Mauri and myself were amazed by the beauty of the country side. The “Patrullas” (police cars) started to go by quite fast and we knew the first cars were about to pass.

For this year two Club Alfa Romeo Mexico members were in the race: Jorge Alija and daughter in a Giulia Sprint and Sergio Nieto as a co-driver with Oscar Uribe piloting a 356. Although not in an Alfa, Jorge was a proud member of the Alfa Club in the race.

All of a sudden “Vrooommmm” we hear the first car coming down from the hills!!! It was Carlos Anaya a Mexican and past winner of 3 Carreras. The sounds, smell and adrenaline were in the air. Mark was amazed at the speed Carlos went by in his 1954 Golden Hawk Studebaker. Then came Doug Mockett in an Oldsmobile also with some speed. A lot more Studebakers went by, a Volkswagen that even Mark asked if it had a Porsche engine but no, a VW engine it had. Then a very peculiar sound we hear, it was Italian Arturo Merzario and ex-F1 driver from the Scuderia del Portello Team in a Prototype Giulia Spider. He was going so fast I was getting more exited! Then came Clay Regazzoni in a 1900 from the Scuderia del Portello and was going as fast as I have seen those cars. Peter Vigliano from Texas and Bud Holm went by in their GTV and more big American V8’s were going by. Another of those beautiful sounds came, Prisca Taruffi (Piero’s daughter) in a Giulia Sprint was going by also from the Scuderia del Portello team. In the same team came Davide de Bernardi in an early GTV and Marco Cajani in another 1900 which also raced the 1953 Carrera, both from the Scuderia del Portello.

We then see the beautiful 300SL driven by 5 time winner French Pierre de Thoisy and co-pilot Carlos Macaya from Costa Rica. It is such a nice car for this race we all said. They were going really fast and went thru. All of a sudden we hear tire “squeaks” and see the 300SL sideways on the next turn. We were able to see all this because Mark spotted a great place where we could see a great part of the speed stage. I just started pressing the camera button (click-click-click was all I could hear now). They were lucky enough to save it. We later saw the exact spot where they went of, boy were they lucky we thought!

More cars went by and then Roger Mortimer from Canada in a very stock Giulia Spider went thru. I was still missing Jorge Alija in his very fast Sprint and Sergio Nieto who had mechanical and a suspension problems respectively.

No more cars were going thru and we then headed into Tehuacan, a very small and picturesque town which practically throws the year’s party for the Carrera! There we were able to meet with Peter and Bud who were enjoying the party and the race.

We left Tehuacan towards Puebla and found Sergio Nieto and their 356 in a trailer by a gas station. They were very luck to stay in the road after a spindle broke on their 356, that’s what they get for not using an Alfa I thought. On the road to Puebla we were in between many race cars and then……I hear this very nice sound again. It was the Sprint of Prisca Tarufi!! We escorted Prisca into Puebla going about 90-100 mph in a limited stage. This means that the time to make it from point A to B is given but this was not a speed stage, what a blast. When they went by we obviously waved and had a chance to smell the good gas in their car, much better than Mexico City’s pollution I thought.

We then got into Puebla and I turned into Mexican curious as Mauri and Mark wanted to buy some local pottery. We also were very hungry and after some shopping went into a very local restaurant to try some Mole and the inevitable Grasshoppers!!! Mauri liked them but I think Mark did not enjoy them as much. It was getting late and we still had a two hour drive to Mexico City so we called it a day.

This year's Carrera Panamericana final results were:

Place Car # Drivers Class

1 133 Doug Mockett (USA) and Alan Ballie (GB) - Oldsmobile First overall

2 10 Jorge Pedrero (MEX) and Angelica Fuentes (MEX) - Studebaker First Turismo de produccion

3 3 Luis Unikel (MEX) and Alfonso Oneto (MEX) - Studebaker Second Turismo de produccion

7 155 Arturo Merzario (ITA) and Vinicio Marta (ITA) - Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider “Prototipo” First Sport Menor

20 267 Peter Vigliano (USA) and Bud Holmes (USA) - Alfa Romeo GTV Third Historic “C” *

21 406 Prisca Taruffi (ITA) and Antonio Maglione (ITA) - Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint First Original Panamericana

24 262 Davide de Bernardi (ITA) and Mose Franco (ITA) - Alfa Romeo Giulia GT Second Historic “A”

32 405 Marco Cajani (ITA) and Marco Rossi (ITA) - Alfa Romeo 1900 Second Original Panamericana

42 261 Roger Mortimer (CAN) and Endre Koszec (CAN) - Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider Sixth Historic “A”

44 178 Oscar Uribe (MEX) and Sergio Nieto - Porsche 356 Third Sport Menor **

65 14 Ray Regazzoni (ITA) and Pablo Hoheinohe (ESP) - Alfa Romeo 1900 Fourteenth Turismo de Produccion **

68 181 Jorge Alija (MEX) and Mariana Alija (MEX) - Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint Fourth Sport Menor

Notes on Results:

* Peter should have been the winner of class Historic “A” but his engine was a 2.0 and was sent to a higher class which should have been Historic B, but was sent to “C”…..it’s just one of those things.

** Sergio who is also a member of the Club Alfa Romeo Mexico had some suspension problems. That’s what they get for running their 356 instead of their Giulia Sprint I thought!

*** Clay and Pablo went off the road and flipped their 1900, luckily non resulted injured. They were able to continue after some repairs.

**** Jorge, also a member of the Club Alfa Romeo Mexico had major difficulties in this race, they even did a complete engine swap!

I found later during the week that Clay Regazzoni and Pablo Hoheniohe went off the road and flipped their 1900 with no injuries to them. They were able to continue the race but way back in the standings. Mexican Carlos Anaya retired after being penalized for not entering the final control at Morelia on it’s own as they were towed into it. We saw that Pierre de Toisy had an of road excursion missing all possibilities for the lead. After all this, Americans Doug Mockett and Alan Baillie in an Oldsmobile took the lead all the way to Laredo and proclaimed as winners of the Carrera Panamericana 2002.

I have been planning to enter La Carerra Panamericana since 1988 when I first saw the race, in ether a GTV or a Sprint. As long as it is in an Alfa I will some time make this race, then, I will hopefully write another article for all of you Alfa enthusiasts to enjoy. Don’t forget to visit: www.lacarrerapanamericana.com.mx for more information.

Viva Alfa Romeo and Viva México!!!!

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