Day 1 • Oaxaca to El Camarón

To be held Friday, November 10th, 2006

The day started out with Kevin and I getting stressed out. On the way to Stage one, there were two topes (speed bumps) that were just BAD. Standing around these topes were some guys with machine guns. Welcome to Mexican Military checkpoints! The Military does not play around with their topes. In fact, we joked that they should make this place a tourist destination for having “the world’s largest topes”. Having the largest topes in Mexico has got to be worth something!

Luckily for the Unlimited Class and La Carrera Panamericana, the race is fully sanctioned by the government. La Carrera is like Mexico’s Tour de France. Three million people show up and line the streets … schools let out early … bands play in the courtyards … and the Military is willing to move their checkpoint so that we can drive around the topes!!! We LOVE MEXICO!

Moving past the topes and into the speed sections, we were like kids in a candy store. The asphalt is perfect. The banking of the turns is like skiing mogels. The scenery is breathtaking, with huge mountains and endless giant cactus lined hills. Each and every turn received new “ooohs” and “ahhhhs” from us. This is going to be some great racing!

The day of the race, we will be racing the three sections in the videos below, taking a break, and then racing these three sections in the other direction back to Oaxaca, for a total of six race sections.

Velocity section 1 (and 6 on the return trip):

Velocity section 2 (and 5 on the return trip):

Velocity section 3 (and 4 on the return trip):

- Bret Haller