PAST IMPERFECT:The lure of an epic American road race was irresistible for European teams
THE PAN-AMERICAN Highway was a dream that existed in the minds of many American politicians in the 1940s. The idea was simply to construct a network of roads that would stretch all of the 23,750km (16,000 miles) from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. In 1950 the Mexican government finished their portion of the route and the Mexican ministry of transport hit on a spectacular way to celebrate its opening: a border-to-border road race run flat-out over the 3,200km (2,000 miles) of their newly completed road.
The rules of this were straightforward and allowed only the entry of large five-seater cars of the type that were then common in America. The first Carrera started from the northern border town of Ciudad Juárez, whose sister town on the other side of the Rio Grande is El Paso. The race was to finish at El Ocotal, close by Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala – a distance of 3,375km (2,090 miles). The Lincolns, Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles which made up the bulk of the entry that first year were a spectacular, if ungainly, sight.
The first running of the Carrera was judged a great success and the Mexican ministry of transport was moved to repeat the exercise, although future events ran in the opposite direction, starting at Tuxtla Gutiérrez before heading northwest to the finish at Ciudad Juárez. With the finish close to the US border, many more people saw the climax of the 1951 race and in Europe, several racing departments began to take note of this new challenge held close to the all-important US market.
The regulations were now broadened to include sports cars, with classes for different engine capacities. With the change of regulations came teams from the US and Europe. Mercedes-Benz sent a team, as did Porsche, Ferrari and Jaguar, while Ford, General Motors and Chrysler all contested the race. With the “works” teams came the greatest drivers of the day, including Phil Hiil, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari and Karl Kling, all anxious to tackle the challenge of the Carrera Panamericana.
And what a challenge! Its total distance was more than twice that of the famous Mille Miglia and it included roads that climbed over mountain ranges more than 10,000ft high as well as blasts across desert.
Perhaps the greatest of the five Carreras was in 1952, when Mercedes-Benz participated for the first time. The driver pairings were Herman Lang/Erwin Grupp, Hans Klenk/Karl Kling and John Fitch/Eugen Geiger – all driving 300Sls. The drivers did a full recce of the route and Klenk, in particular, made a set of pace notes to give advance warning of the most dangerous sections. In the race, the 300SL drivers found themselves hitting their top speed of 150mph regularly. It was while at this speed that Kling/Klenk hit a buzzard, which came through the windscreen and hit Klenk in the face. The pair continued until the next service area, where pieces of glass and feather were removed from Klenk’s face.
Kling/Klenk were in fourth place on the final day and by a superb drive over the final stage which displayed huge commitment (aided also by the retirement of the leading Ferrari) they took a famous victory in their battered 300SL. They set a new record time for the Carrera of 18 hours and 61 minutes: an astonishing average speed of 166km/h (106 mph).