Carrera Panamericana
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The Carrera Panamericana was (and is again) a sports car racing event on open roads in Mexico, similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy. It counted towards the World Sportscar Championships.
After the Mexican section of the Panamerican Highway was completed in 1950, a multi-stage race across the country was established to celebrate this feat.
In 1952, the Mercedes-Benz 300SL of Karl Kling/Hans Klenk was hit by a vulture in the windscreen, injuring the codriver. The screen was fitted with additional vertical protection bars, and the team continued to win.
Due to safety concerns, the high speed race was cancelled after the Le Mans 1955 disaster.
The Carrera was resumed in the 1980s as rallye for vintage cars only.
Despite their rather small cars of the time, Porsche enjoyed some success in the race, mainly class wins. Later on, they called some of their cars Carrera, after this race. (They did the same with the Targa).
Eduardo León is the organizer of the Carrera Panamericana vintage auto racing event
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