Now we have a hard top car, ready to be painted!

What do you do if you have a two door post and you want a hard top?

Easy! You change the roof.

One of the Falcons is being rolled away to be painted and put together.

We started the preparation of the Jourdain Stude after the 24h rally. Now it is the Panamericana!

Another Falcon is soon ready to be tested.

This is a story on how anything can happen in the Panamericana!
Please look at the photo of my good friend Tim Smart. He was with our team last year in the Panamericana.
If you look closely, you will see a bruise on his fore head. That happened a few days before the start in Huatulco. After a very long day with the cars we were finally ready to go back to the hotel. Suddenly Tim drops to the ground! What the @#%$ happened?

What happened was that he was struck by a falling coconut!!!! What are the odds?

Luckily he was ok but this just goes to show that racing can be dangerous!

Now it is official!

We are very happy to announce that our good friend, Ralf Christensson is the driver for our yellow Volvo in the 2010 La Carrera Panamericana.

Ralf is a very good driver with many years experience from the Panamericana. 2006 was his best year with a 1^st place in Historic C with his Ford Falcon.

This year he will have a chance to challenge for the overall title in our Turismo Major Volvo.

The Volvo has been updated from last year with new front suspension, bigger brakes and lighter weight.

You can now follow us on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mats-Hammarlund-Racing/134846096534785?ref=ts

Have you ever thought about becoming a copilot? Will La Carrera be your first time in the right seat? Maybe you should check this out first.

It is Harri Rovanpera that scares the hell out of his passenger. Look how totally relaxed Harri is when he drives.

June 17 -10

We are very happy to announce the drivers of our two Studebakers for the 2010 La Carrera Panamericana.

Michel Jourdain and Harri Rovanpera!

Michel is without a doubt the most famous Mexican race car driver right now. He had a long career in Indy Racing league and CART (Champ Car) including several starts in Indy 500.

He raced full time in Champ car between 1997 and 2004. After joining Rahal Letterman Racing he became a championship contender with several wins and many top three finishes.

After that he has raced in both NASCAR and the World touring car championship.

Right now he has switched over to rally with a group N Mitsubishi. That transition seems to go very well with a win in the Spanish National Championship so far.

Harri Rovanpera is one of the best rally drivers in the world. He competed in the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 2006. During that time he drove for many of the top factory teams. He has 111 WRC starts with one win, 2001 in the Swedish Rally and 15 podiums!

It will be very interesting to see how he handles the transition from the small, 4 wheel drive WRC cars to our big Studebaker.

The preparation and update of the cars are now in full speed for the Panamericana in late October. The competition is tougher than ever this year so we really have to work hard to keep up with everybody.

Stig Blomqvist wins La Carrera Panamericana 2009!

Everything came together this year. Best driver/co driver, car worked without any problem, flaw less crew and lots of preparation.

We also had a car in second place with Lars Stugemo and Jonny Olofsson, fifth was Karl Scheible with our yellow Volvo and sixth was Ed Hugo in the LT.

First and second overall, first in Sport Major and 4 cars in the top six is something that you can only dream about.

I would like to thank everybody on the team; Drivers/co drivers, a wonderful mix of Mexican and Swedish mechanics and my wife Eva who handles all the hotels and makes sure we are all at the right spot at the right time.

It is truly amazing to see all the mechanics working until 3 in the morning every day. Then you have to leave at around six in the morning to get to the next service.

Lots of driving, no time for real food and 3 hours of sleep. Now try to repeat this for 7 days straight. Still everybody is happy and working like crazy helping each other. Extraordinary!

More pictures and stories will come.

Again, thank you everybody!

Mats