Bob Gett
After the last post last night, we found out that the officials published the final overall results. We finished 23rd overall. That's a very good result for us. Last year we were 34th out of 100 starting cars. There were 115 cars starting this year, including 5 professional drivers. We finished ahead of many fast cars with highly experienced teams, including former winners and professionals. We were able to do this by not only driving the speed sections fast, but also having a very nimble and bulletproof car and by not making mistakes. Having been able to race in every speed section was a big accomplishment for us. We left Zacatecas early this morning (after a very late night). We flew to Mexico City where we have parted ways.
Bob Gett and Bob Paltrow return to 2010 La Carrera Panamericana
Bob Gett and Bob Paltrow are running the 2010 La Carrera Panamericana, the Great Mexican Road Race. This will be our 3rd year in a row. The Bobs have been road racing together for many years (see www.ktrmotorsports.com), but there is nothing like the Carrera in the world. It is a serious test of driving skill, endurance, resilience and courage.
We will be driving a 1959 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider Veloce (Chassis 1495F07608). This car is somewhat unique in that it has been a race car since it was new, having raced in many SCCA and historic events over the last 50 years.
Our race car was initially built and continually improved over the last 3 years by KTR Racing of Ayer, MA. Andrew Funk, KTR's GM will again provide support during the event, along with our local mechanic Ruben Olivas.
The route this year will cover 2050 miles, including 370 miles of speed sections, over 7 days. The race follows a rally format on paved Mexican roads.
Approximately 110 teams will compete, 50 from Mexico, 25 from the USA, 4 from Canada and 30 from Europe (10 different countries).
We have set up this blog on Posterous so we can share our experience, as it is happening. I plan to send photos and updates from my iPhone throughout the event, whenever we have cell service. I will also upload photos and videos to my Phanfare site after the event. There are photos from the last two years there. Go to http://bobgett.phanfare.com.
You can read our blog from the 2009 race at www.bobsatcarrera.posterous.com.
The official Carrera website is www.lacarrerapanamericana.com.mx/
Wish us luck.
Bob and Bob
Contributors
Awards Ceremony
The Closing Dinner just concluded, at 1:15am. It was held at the Quinta Real Hotel in Zacatecas. This hotel is very unique in that it is a converted Bullring that was built in 1866. It is an amazing space. We finished the event at 2nd place in the Sports Menor class. This is a very good result for us and we are happy. We won't know how we finished overall until they post the final results on the Carrera website. Stay tuned for more posts and pictures.
We Finished!!!!
Just crossed the final arch. We are very excited. We ran every stage, every day. Tequila time.
One more Section
The clutch is working fine. We just ran the famous La Bufa section outside of Zacatecas. We are now waiting for the officials to reverse the timing controls and we will run it again, in reverse. Our last section.
Posted
by Bob Gett
Lucky Break
Turns out the problem was a loose nut the fell into the pedal box, stopping the clutch peel from moving fully. Weird.
Issue #2
The clutch developed an issue during the first speed stage. It basically won't fully disengage. Fortunately, we don't need the clutch to shift, but do need it to get moving from a standing start. We were able to run all the sections and made it to the service stop. Andy says something broke inside the clutch housing. The question is do we take the time to fix it which means we will miss the last 3 speed sections of the event. Or to we take a chance and run with the problem risking breaking down on the side of the road. Stay tuned.
Start Day 7
We are now at starting argument our final day. There is no way we can beat the #189 Porsche. So we we most likely finish 2nd in class. They are super fast. Good news we are now 24th overall out of 119 cars that started the event. Our strategy for today is to bring the car home.
We made it
Andrew replaced the broken oil line and we raced to the next checkpoint. We got there with 5 sec to spare. The really good news is the oil pressure was good the rest of the afternoon. We ran 3 cleans stages and just arrived in Aquascalientes. Another big crowd to greet us.
We're off
Andrew replaced the oil line and we are underway. But will be late for checkpoint
Posted
by Bob Gett
Day 6 Morning
We just finished running the morning sections. We are now in the town of Teocaltiche for the service stop. We ran the speed sections well. However, during a transition section we hit a heave in the road at high speed. It broke an oil line. We were lucky to make it to the service stop, but Andrew is not sure yet if we can continue. He is working on it now. Bummer. Stay tuned. PS. Found a Red Sox fan here.
