La Carrera Panamericana Road Race

September 13, 2001 - "The cameras arrived!" That’s how Mike Haney began his story. "Boy these guys are small, and they fit perfectly." Mike decided to use the XCam Wired cameras from X10 in order to document his participation in what he calls a "very challenging environment." As Mike put it, "My team and I are preparing to run the legendary La Carrera Panamericana road race in October."

The La Carrera Pan Americana road race was begun in 1950, and just happens to be where the Porsche Carrera gets its name. Day one starts on October 26, from Tuxtla Gutierrez-La Ventosa - Oaxaca on the Pacific coast of Mexico, and ends on day 7, the 1st of November at Zacatecas - Concepcion del Oro - Neuvo Laredo two thousand one hundred miles north on the Gulf of Mexico coast. The race will cover most of the length of Mexico, from southern Mexico to northern Mexico. This race attracts people from all over the world and all walks of life.

Mike and his crew will be participating in the race driving a 1966 Mercedes-Benz 230SL Roadster under the "Historic-B" class.

The reason they chose the XCam Anywhere to document their success, according to Mike, was because of the camera’s compact features, and its easy usability. "After reviewing your products," Mike says, "It seemed like a very good choice for our needs."

"Our plan is to mount a video camera to the roll cage in the car, and in the support vehicle." From there they "plan on using a simple AC inverter to power a VCR mounted in the trunk which will record the event," Mike says. The cameras will be only a few feet away from the VCR’s, and mounted in place, so that they can catch every move as the car makes its way up the raceway across the Mexican countryside.

Well, the cameras are there, and Mike and his team were "excited to see them." They’re fitting the car for it’s rollcage now and will have a mount made for the cameras shortly. After a test run weekend set up for the 15th and 16th of September, they will be able test the cameras and the recording system, and X10 will see some preliminary clips of the setup.

Mike and his crew are also working on their own article about their car’s past, which proves to be an amazing story in and of itself. And once the race is done, X10 will receive a full report on the event, including video, pictures, and complete details of the race’s progression. Once we receive all that, we’ll be publishing another story, which will show how our friends did in their competition in the La Carrera Panamericana, and we’ll be sharing with you what they shared with us.

It’s a tough call to say who’s more excited about the outcome, X10, or Mike and his team. At any rate, we can only wait and prepare.

Reviews and articles about / from the race:
http://www.lokari.de/classic_and_sports_car_panamericana.html
http://www.eimsdirect.com/race/
http://www.speedvision.com/%7Edata/publish/classics/02rally/201116a.PHOTO_LARGE.JPG
http://freespace.virgin.net/joss.ellis/M_Race.html

The official website for "La Carrera Panamericana" http://www.lacarrera.com

Send comments or feedback on this article to xzone@x10.com