The folks over at the Unlimited Class Blog have been busy as hell uploading photos from La Carrera into their Flickr page. Their fisheye lens caught Lucky in action. If you look around, you might even find Gary Faules working his charms with a lovely lady!
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The kind folks at Go Fast Energy Drink have put together a quick, short video of Gary, Jon & Lucky from La Carrera. This is a nice little teaser of what’s to come.

One observation. In Mexico, the crowds are happy to pass a cold beer to teams as they reach the end of a stage. While we don’t get that in Ontario, I will say that there is absolutely nothing like having a course worker put a pair of ice cold cans (of anything) through the passenger window at the end of a stage!

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As exciting as racing in this years La Carrera Panamericana was I just can’t help but want to get back behind Lucky’s wheel for more… A LOT more. But before I go any further, please don’t get me wrong, the effect of having competed in the La Carrera is far from over.

One of the single biggest accomplishments for a car builder is to see his or her project not only perform well but in fact having done it against the very best competitors and having done it at a do or die level and that is exactly how I drove Lucky. Backing up several years ago I remember it was near the end of the year and I was in a very good spot to take the overall points lead for the national seasons championships with only two races left in the season. Right when I thought nothing could go wrong… That’s right… everything went wrong as my car took me head-on into a concrete retaining wall while doing over 125 miles per hour. The good news was I walked away unscathed. The bad news was there was not a single piece of the car that resembled a race car and there was only three and half weeks until the next event in the series. Back in those days I did not have the usual 8 or nine back-up cars that we typically keep on hand for such reasons these days. That meant I had very little time to build and test a car that had already taken me years to accomplish and as everyone knows even the best built car will have “bugs” that usually will only be found while thrashing the car. In an endurance series finding gremlins or any other type of problem can result in a less than satisfactory result and usually any car needs to be “dialed in” regardless of how well built it is.

On the following Monday after the crash I found myself along side my team of dedicated men building a replacement car that had ONLY a roll cage and not a single other part whatsoever in it. I mean NOTHING! With only 3 days before the next race I found myself buckled in the car sitting on Infineon (Sears Point) International Raceway on a test day waiting for the green flag to drop. If you asked me if I thought there would be something that needed attention I would have told you it wouldn’t be if but more like how many. I will never forget that day as I began tearing up the track and going faster and faster all the time asking myself, “When in the hell is something going to happen?” As amazing as it was, the “when” never happened. Not only did I go on to win that years seasons championships but that car kept on going until it had 4 more seasons championships and a lot more and not once did a single component ever break or give me a problem.

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As much fun as we had on this adventure I don’t think I have ever enjoyed saying, “Honey I’m home.” as much as I did this time. Make no bones about it… when someone tells you the La Carrera Panamericana is a rally and not a race, they haven’t got a clue what the hell they’re talking about. When was the last time you heard of someone passing another car on a narrow two-lane hi-way at 160 miles per hour? If that’s a rally I want no part of it. Who am I kidding? I live for this stuff.

To drive in a historical race such as this one and see your name in print up there with the likes of Phil Hill, Juan Fangio and many more, let alone run against 100 of the most beautiful cars in the world not to mention many of the top rated drivers from all over the world, well let’s just say it’s about as surreal as it gets. I am still having to pinch myself every time I wake up and ask myself if it’s true.
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La Carrera Panamerica is done for another year and I’m so impressed with our guys on Team California’s Best. They have represented The Garage well with a stage win and a podium. They finished 9th overall and 3rd in Historic C, which is incredible for a virgin rally team. Remember that while Gary Faules and Team CBR have many years of winning road races under their belts, they have never rallied and were driving a brand new car! Just an fabulous performance!
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I decided to do some hunting for images of Lucky in Mexico and the first place I headed was The Unlimited Class where Brett Haller always has some great shots. As I expected, the galleries are full of all sorts of cool photos and even a couple of early videos. Be sure to head on over and check them out.

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Just a quick note from Gary Faules, as he hasn’t been able to post any pics the last couple of days. Team CBR has now picked up two podium finishes! Yesterday on the super fast and dangerous La Buffa stage, they pulled off a 3rd place on the stage. The previous day, on the reverse running of the equally dangerous Mil Cumbres, they scored their first stage win!

Both stages have taken their toll on the field, with many heavy crashes. Yesterday, one car did 5 endos down an embankment. Fortunately the driving crew are fine thanks to their well designed safety equipment and some luck.

Keep it up guys, we’re rooting for you!

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Sunday’s stages at La Carrera promised to be the most difficult and have historically been the event’s most dangerous sections. Fortunately our guys are beginning to hit their groove and it is showing on the leader board. As of right now, Team CBR is sitting in 13th overall and 4th in class.

While visiting the new race track section, Gary kicked ass, including some La Carrera vets in some serious iron. The super dangerous Sunday stages seem to be where Gary found his calling. A super fast, super dangerous mountain road were just the combination for Lucky to shine. Well, maybe not quite so shiny after a bit of a hairy incident involving heavy oversteer and a concrete pole. No matter though, apparently the resulting rash looks pretty cool. It’s certainly better than the poor Vette that went over a drop off and burned.

You’ll have to visit Lucky’s blog for more killer images. I can’t wait to see the in car!

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Yesterday saw even more carnage than the previous day, with everything from a melted Corvette to spectator injuries. It sounds like some teams are having more than a rough go of things. For our guys aboard Lucky, things have been somewhat better. Well, except for the locked wheel! Following the scariest race conditions Gary has ever driven, a brake caliper bolt worked itself loose and caused a front brake caliper to lock up. With the help of a crowd locals, Lucky was lifted off the road. Unbelievably, they found the bolt on the road and reinstalled the caliper.

Nobody said vintage rallying was going to be easy!

After the break, check out a short in car video of Gary, Jon and Lucky.
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Yesterday was a rough day at La Carrera Panamerica for more than a few competitors. This BMW sedan appears to have suffered a fairly heavy roll, while many other cars have sustained substantial damage. Many of these cars are done for good, let alone not finishing the event. Several crews sustained broken limbs and other usual crash damage, but apparently nobody has been injured seriously.
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