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The Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sedan and sports car racing event on open roads in Mexico similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy. Running for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, it was widely held by contemporaries to be the most dangerous race of any type in the world. It has since been resurrected by Pedro Dávila, Loyal "El Tio" Truesdale, and Eduardo "Lalo" de Leon as a classic velocity (speed) rally. == 1950 == After the Mexican section of the Pan-American Highway was completed in 1950, a nine-stage, five-day race across the country was organized by the Mexican government to celebrate its achievement and to attract international business. The 1950 race ran almost entirely along the new highway which crossed the country from north to south for a total distance of over 2,178 miles (3,507 kilometers). The first of five annual races began on May 5, 1950 and was entered by racers from all over the world representing virtually every motor sport: Formula One, sports cars, rallying, stock cars, endurance racing, hill climbing, and drag racing. Because it started at the border with Texas, it was especially attractive to all types of American race drivers from Indy cars to NASCAR. Bill France, the founder of NASCAR, was there for the first race as well as later races. The Mexican government's representatives worked closely with the American Automobile Association and other motor sports groups in the United States to organize and promote the event which was limited to stock sedans with five seats. Piero Taruffi and Felice Bonetto, both Italian F1 drivers, entered a pair of Alfa Romeo coupes specially constructed for the event. However, many of the 132 competitors were ordinary unsponsored citizens from the United States, Mexico, and elsewhere. The entrants include nine women drivers. The first race ran from north to south beginning in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, across the international border from El Paso, Texas, and finishing in Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, Chiapas (formerly known as El Ocotal) on the Guatemala-Mexico border opposite from La Mesilla, Guatemala. The event comprised nine "legs" or stage. At least one leg was run each day for five consecutive days. The elevation changes were significant: from to above sea level, requiring among other modifications the rejetting of carburetors to cope with thinner air. Most of the race was run between and . The first four places were won by American cars and American drivers. The winner, Hershel McGriff, drove an Oldsmobile 88 at an average speed of . Though less powerful, the car was substantially lighter than its big Lincoln and Cadillac competitors, meaning that it would eventually pull away from them on the steep, winding course. The car (which had cost McGriff and his partners only $1,900, when the winner's purse was 150,000 pesos (around $17,200 U.S. dollars) ), had another advantage in its weight - it was much easier to stop, meaning that McGriff finished the race on his original brake shoes when the big cars were re-shoeing every night. The reason that this was so important was that neither McGriff nor his co-driver were capable of even the most basic maintenance to the car.〔 McGriff also noted that the control afforded by his manual gearbox gave him a significant advantage the last day on the gravel roads in Chiapas, when he finally passed the Cadillac leading the race. The best placed European car was an Alfa Romeo sedan driven by Italian driver, Felice Bonetto. The race, however, set its bloody and dangerous reputation right from the start: 4 people (3 competitors, 1 spectator) were killed during this event. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Carrera Panamericana」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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