The dust has settled, time to say Gracias!
It’s Sunday morning and I’m home in Mill Valley looking over photos on my computer. I’ve had a little time to reflect and there’s not much I can say to top what’s already been said by others. What an adventure! What great friends! What great roads! What great Mexican people! What great tequila! It was just wonderful and I want to thank a whole bunch of people and if I forget anyone, please forgive me.
Special thanks to;
My friends Famous and Rob at eBay Motors for their support. To Randy and Gentry at Bringatrialer.com for their friendship and support. To Jon Norman and Dan Marvin for a kick ass motor and support with all the last minute parts requests. To Glenn Oliveria for his advice and help. To Tasha McVeigh for being my dear friend and lifeline to Swirl and to home. To all the great people at Swirl for supporting me and not hating me for taking the time off to do this once in a lifetime adventure. Especially to James Phillipps, Jen Conway, Katie, Bo and Annie L for their support from Swirl. To John Ryersen for making our team t-shirts and jackets and hats; fantastic! To Jay Jarvis and Amanda Jarvis for their support and help with the car and its graphics. To my brother Edward and my nephews Colin and Justin for following the blog each night and wishing us well. To Cathleen Cannon for writing about us in the Alfa club newsletter and for her never ending enthusiasm. To all the the Alfa guys and girls and for their words of encouragement via the blog and especially to Ulrich who last year won this class in his Alfa Super and who didn’t hesitate to share a single tip; Thank you Ulrich! To my CSRG friends for follwing the blog. To Gerie Bledsoe for getting us down there, well before we ever left the Bay Area. To Paul, Darrell, Nancy and John for support and advice before, during and after the trip – you guys are an inspriation. To the many unnamed folks who helped us along the way, like the countless spectators who pointed us in the right direction as we were about to take a wrong turn. To Rochelle for putting up with weeks of my fretting, planning and talking about this trip. To Bill, Peter and Christine for all their hard work and humor – we did it! And finally, to Conrad who at one point leaned over and says to me; ‘you know, there aren’t many people I’d do this with’ then proceeded to tell me who to drive for the next 210 km – you’re a great driver, a fabulous engineer, an incredibly decent human being and a valued friend. Thank you all!
Our team t-shirts. Not clean for long!
A photos of a very cool Volvo P1800 for my nephew, Colin. Hey buddy!
Darrell and Paul helping us out yet again.
Two faces only their respective mothers could love.
What Germans bring to Mexico. Beautifully done.
Typical crowd lining the streets and overpasses as we enter a new town.
Team Apple Farmer Volvo. A great car driven by even better guys.
A not so unusal moment of levity.
He's the faster one. I'm the taller one.
Their interior. Many buttons and guages.
Our interior. Fewer buttons and guages. More laughs.
Bring a Trailer decals worn with pride!
When bad things happen to good cars.
How the heavy hitters rolled.
How the heavy hitters drove.
A few moments later we hit the magic 220 km mark. Give or take.
What follows is just a bunch of photos that I never got to post. No particular order. Enjoy and thank you for being a part of our La Carrera Panamericana adventure.
http://motors.ebay.com
http://www.bringatrailer.com
http://www.lacarrerapanamericana.com.mx
Congratulations on a succesful trip, I really enjoyed your blog. I look forward to racing with you again – next year.
(PS, today is my 70th Birthday, now I have a new goal – La Carrera)
Don Queen
Amazing! It really is a motivating, and has me thinking – maybe someday, La Carrera. But I also know you and Conrad are world class guys, not nobodies from California, and judging by some of the wrecked cars, you did a great job in addition to podium finish. Thanks again for taking time to keep us riding along with your blog!
Congrats again!
Thanks for the blogging too.
The only problem I see is you just said it was a “once in a lifetime adventure.” My wife likes to casually throw that phrase around as I’m angling to run the Carrera every year. She’ll say “I thought this was a once-in-a-lifetime deal.”
I hope we will eventually reach peace with every other year. I hope you will do the Carrera again. There is nothing else like it.
Cheers,
Lucha Libre Racing
inspired to finish Trevor’s Super….been jonesing to bomb around in it with the boys for way too long. You guys look to have had sooo much fun, be fun to mock up a Team Super contingecy for events.
Martin and Conrad you are the best. Dropping the carburetor cap sounds like something I would do…just wish I had Conrad’s skill and vision with respect to retrieving it. Was the rain as good (or bad, depending on viewpoint) as at Infineon??? You know how I love driving in that kind of weather. Following your trip was great voyeuristic fun…kind of like our tagging along on the California Mille without the wind and engine music, or the reality of the One Lap of Marin. Best wishes to both of you, and your team, for a happy holiday season. We will see you next Spring, God willing and the creek don’t rise too much. Best always, Bob and Brenda