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Well Day 2 started with a beautiful sunrise as we traversed to our first speed stage on our way to Mexico City.

One of things Hayden and I discussed prior to starting this race is what are the weakest links in man, machine and traverse. What is it going to take to finish this race each day, so we concluded the following: Mechanical-will the car break down and not be able to withstand  the 7 days of hard driving (check), Piloto-overdriving the ability of the car or the driver (check), Co-Piloto-LOSING your place in the speed stages and not being able to communicate what the severity of curve is coming up and having to go visual (check) and last but not least the infamous Topes-yes this will take a car out  of commission.  So what is a Tope (pronounced tow-pay), it is a State side speed bump times six and there are several of these throughout each transit stage in each of the small towns you travel through.

Let me digress for a moment, we started this race in a ‘51 Hudson Hornet competing in the Original Class.  Hey, it’s our first time we want to get a feel for the lay of the land so to speak.  We start the race without a Terra Trip Meter, not realizing how vital it is for getting us through the whole race with time and distance involved.  Okay not a problem, we have an odometer (that is in 1/10’s of mile-we’ll convert to kilometers on the way-riiiiight), & a $9000 IWC chrono watch to keep our time.  So that is how we start the race.  Our fuel guage goes out on the first day (no way we can repair it down here). Then the IWC chrono watch quits for no reason.  Well we are almost late to our third speed stage, because I think we have plenty of time except 15 minutes later that time has not changed.  So we hurry on to the next speed stage and make it on time (whewwww).  This is where Ricky-Bobby (see image on Day 1) save us the first time, they loan us a Timex Ironman watch, okay we are back in business-synched the time with the LCP clock, let’s go-who needs a Terra Trip!

Day 2 arrives so now we are flying through the stages and everything is going great.  Piloto is driving great, Co-Piloto, well I lose my place a couple of times, but I’m learning on the fly. The Hornet is cruising fine, motor humming with only a few rattles in the body, but not too much.  Everything is fine until we see this red Porsche in a transit stage and we are catching up to it.  My good friend looks at me and says “I’m going to take that Porsche” and we blow past that little red Porsche wondering why they are not going any faster.  Woohoo we are making up time, and we’re blasting around this slight curve.  We are pumped and simultaneously we say “Yeah Baby!” as the Porsche is left in our dust.  All of a sudden we look back at the road (which we only took our eyes off for a millisecond) and there is this OMINOUS HUGE YELLOW SIGN-yes the Tope sign is right there in front of us with some school age Mexican children standing beside the road waving at us.  There was no time to hit the brakes, only time to say “___________”  and then we went airborne.  The Hornet was flying through the air with her wheels off of the ground spinning round & round, the kids cheering us on as we went airborne in a record distance, and probably the drivers of the Porsche wondering ‘What the?”.  Then the Hornet came down with a huge thud and bounce, but no time to panic now, no there is another Tope right there again, so Hayden quickly hit the brakes to slow down from Mach 2 to Mach 1 and up we go again-WooHoo ain’t this fun!  Rust and dust fly inside the Hornet and there is this feeling of – Did We Just Do That.  Yep, the weakest link in the race – Speed + Tope = Not Good.  We limp the car to the next speed stage which is less than a mile out.  We realize the brakes are losing pressure as we go so we pull over right in line for the next speed stage.  We both jump out and I raise the hood to check the brake fluid level. One of the brake reservoir caps had came off so we quickly fill it up.  We start pumping up the brakes & they are going all the way to the floor.  Hayden crawls under the back of the Hornet and discovers really really bad news, both brake lines are broke as well as the rear shocks.  The saga has not ended yet, we have no cell service, so who rescues us once again, but Ricky-Bobby with their Sat Phone (remember we are rookies, first timers).  We made contact with our Servicio truck and two hours later through back tracking through the mountainous roads they get to us.  None the less, it is interesting to be stranded in a country that you can’t speak the language and wonder – What the heck!

The ride from hell is about to take place though, it is pouring rain and it takes us 14 hours to get to Mexico City.  Hayden is the CoPiloto now directing our driver where to go in this torrential downpour with the basic instructions of follow that Expedition, if we lose him we are toast in this city of 22,000,000 & 1,160 square miles.  We are being led by our most gracious host and sponsor Guillermo, but we are also having to maneuver two 18 wheeler trucks in our convoy as well through bumper to bumper traffic in pouring rain.  Driving in Mexico City in a small car is CRAZY NUTS, but even more so with a towed vehicle and two 18 wheelers in tow. Oh well, Life is an experience!

Thank you for the room Rocio and Guillermo!!!

What will tomorrow bring?

Enjoy!

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