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Day 9---
 10-23-03--Thursday,
Tuxtla Gutierrez Chiapas
Today we spent all day working with
the Carrera racers and getting ourselves set up as an official
Servicio crew. This is the day before the race starts
and it is spent with final car and driver preparation.
A surprising number of cars arrive unfinished and untested--some
are even shipped from Europe, the US, or Mexico not completely
assembled. One British team finished assembling their
car in Veracruz and then drove it down to Chiapas.
Another Finnish team car was detained for 5 days in Customs
before it was released. I got to work briefly on a
British Ginetta, on a helmet intercom
wiring problem, on a 54 Chevy with a loose connection
at the starter, and on a state of the art 57 Chevy with
an inadequate alternator. Don't tell anybody that
I can work on that stuff--let people think I only know BMWs!
 Late
in the afternoon there was a brief practice session for
drivers, navigators, timers, and scorekeepers--an exciting
start to the race week. After that, of course, there´s
a whole new round of problems and challenges to confront.
The day went very fast.
Day 10---
10-24, Friday, , Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas
to Oaxaca, Oaxaca, 2550 miles
Let Lil Schmutzi tell the days story....
Hi! Its me again. They've got
me all decked out in racing stickers and I look like a thoroughbred.
I ran out early, ahead of the racers and waited 175km down
the road at the La Ventose Service stop. I watched
the race cars come in--first the 200 mph Studebakers and
a few 160 mph 53 Fords and last years winning 54 Olds.
Stragglers kept coming for hours, their drivers fueling
cars and bodies. I headed out late, following the
racers, while Terry stopped to help anybody in need.
These curvy mountain roads are made for MINIs, but I must
say, I was surprised that the racers all kept ahead of me
on the long mountainous transit stages up to Oaxaca.
I heard there were a  couple
of wrecks when a Studie coughed its cookies and oiled down
the road. First an ambulance spun off the road and
then Frank and Evelyn Currie crashed their Mustang into
the ambulance. They are OK, but the ambulance driver
was hurt, we do not know how badly.
This was a long day of driving, even
for a MINI like me. I am going to enjoy my nice quiet
garage tonite.
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