All the cars are now being prepared for the 2009 La Carrera Panamericana. Even our old trusty Volvo gets a face lift to better fit in.

Karl Scheible is back driving the Volvo with Dyana Marlett as copilot. He has a very impressive record with that car. The two years he drove it he was 3^rd and 4^th overall. He says he will take it easy…..

The construction of the new shop goes very well. It will be nice with some more space. We are planning to make the move in about two months. I’ll post some pictures soon.

The Buick of Othon Garcia has been sold to Hilaire Damiron from France. He is a former world GP motorcycle racer. This car is without a doubt one of the most beautiful and also one of the fastest Turismo Major cars in the whole La Carrera.

Let’s see how  Hilaire does on four wheels.

This very cool picture of the Stude of Lars Stugemo was taken by Enrique Giron at the Chihuahua Express last year.

There is a new book out about the La Carrera Panamericana that is pretty good. I found it on amazon.com

Our good friends Paco and Araceli (of Hudson fame) wants to sell their -69 Mustang road racer.

It has a rollcage, Wilwood brakes, Richmond transmission, 550 hp small block and lots more!

If you are interested and need more info, please give me a call.

Mats

Not a lot of things went right in the Chihuahua express for us. We broke pretty much everything that is possible to break.

It was just one of those rallys.

Anyway, if you can find a positive thing it has to be that everything happened at once. Now we have lots of time before the Panamericana to fix the problems.

We saw the Chihuahua Express as a good opportunity to test the cars and that really worked!

The cars will now be 100% better and we will be back for the Panamericana with lots of energy!

One last test drive before leaving for Chihuahua.

Ready for Chihuahua!

Our two Studebakers are now almost ready for the Chihuahua Express.

After each race we take them completely apart to check everything. Every part is thoroughly checked before going back on the car. Everything that is worn or has a fault is of course changed.

We do a leak down test and check the bearings on the engines. A lot of the times we end up changing bearings and piston rings.

Also we always try to make some improvements, to keep up with the competition.

When everything is back together we put the car on the set up plate to do the alignment and corner weights. After some testing, the cars are ready to go.

It is incredible how much punishment the cars take during a Panamericana or Chihuahua Express.

Today we started with the construction of our new shop. This is something we really have been looking forward to. We have a great design by local architect Oscar Torres and I know it will be a very nice and practical place.

As you may know we also have a construction company here in San Miguel so of course we are building it our selves.

Red hot gossip from Mexico!

There is a rumor about two very fast Studebakers with two new drivers that will race in Turismo Major this year.

 First is the Stude of Juan Carlos Sarmiento that won overall in 2004 and 2005. That car is now sold to Marc Davis from Belgium. He raced a Falcon in the La Carrera last year and finished a very good 9^th overall.

 Another very interesting rumor is that 2006 overall champion Gabriel Perez has bought the Studebaker of Ernesto Dominguez.

This car has never raced but it is supposed to be very good. It has a very strong Ford smalblock.

Gabriel has been very fast in his Turismo Production Ford the last couple of years so it will be interesting to see what he can do in this “all out” Turismo Major car.

I think we will see at least one of these cars in Chihuahua.

It is amazing what you can do here in Mexico!

We have just made brand new steel rear fenders for our Studebakers. If anybody needs something for a Studebaker, please let me know.

Here are some new pictures of the Mustang drag race car that we are building for a local racer.

We are using a 383 Chevy small block and power glide in the car because that was what the owner had. He also had a Mustang body sitting in his garage so we decided to go with the light weight of the Mustang and the proven power of the Chevy engine.

We are just about to finish the rear suspension. It has a 4 link, coilovers and a Ford 9 inch rear end.

Yesterday we trial fitted everything and it seems to be working great! The big 14x32 inch slicks fitted perfectly.

Race cars are probably 95% of our business but it happens that we do street cars also. This is a -70 Cadillac that we just finished for a client in Acapulco.

We put in a 383 cubic inch, 420 hp GM High Performance crate motor. It is backed up by a 4 speed overdrive automatic transmission and a Currie Ford 9 inch rear end with disc brakes.

In the front we changed everything in the suspension and steering and also put on bigger brakes. A good thing with GM cars is that a lot of things fit between the different models. The AGR steering box is for a full size Chevy and it fit with minor modifications.

The car really drives nice now with no “boat feeling” at all.

It may not be a sports car but it does handle and brake very well. With the 420 hp you can overtake without any problem. We also put in a big aluminum radiator so there should be no overheating problems.

The last touch was the American Racing wheels that I think works on almost any car.

By the way, look how big it is! It almost doesnt fit on the transporter

The Studebaker that our good friend Jerry Churchill drove in the La Carrera and Chihuahua Express last year has been sold to a mysterious man from Oklahoma. The car was beautifully built by Jamie Hamm in Michigan and has one of the more potent engines in all of the La Carrera.

The photo gallery section has been updated with some pictures from the 2008 La Carrera Panamericana.

Now it is official.

We are bringing our two Studebakers to the Chihuahua Express. They will of course be driven by Lars Stugemo/Johny Olofsson and

Stig Blomqvist/Ana Goni.

The Chihuahua Express is not only a great race in itself. It is also a very good way to test your car for the Panamericana. 

The race is run during three days in the end of March. The big difference to the Panamericana is that you come back to the same hotel every night and that modern cars are allowed. Otherwise they are very similar. Even though it is “only” three days it is a very tuff race. They really pack in a lot of speed stage miles in those three days and the roads are absolutely beautiful!

For more info, click on the link to the left.

See you there!

November 25 -08

This is exactly how you feel after a fun but hard week of working at the La Carrera Panamericana.

At least Phil makes a great effort to keep his eyes open.

For you who don’t know Phil, he is the ace mechanic of Doug Mockett.

He was born in England and he has a back ground in Formula 1. He worked for Lotus the year that Ronnie Petersson was killed and Mario Andretti won the world championship. Now he lives in northern California and has his shop at the Sears Point race track where he works mainly with vintage Formula 1 cars.

November 24 -08

Do you ever wonder what happens to old Carrera cars?

Some end up in the living room!

This is the Mini that Araceli Ramirez (of Hudson fame) drove in the La Carrera Panamericana 2003. Fits perfectly!

Here is another Carrera racer that got tired of transporting, importing and exporting his car every year.

Richard Clark left his very beautiful and very fast 356 Porsche in our shop.

I don’t know how many class wins (Sport Menor) it has but there are many. I think it is a replica of a famous car that came to race in the Panam in the 50s from Guatemala. This car has a much stronger Type 4, 2 liter engine. Richard is returning to Mexico to race it in the Chihuahua Express in March next year.

November 14 -08

There are rumors going around that the world famous LT-Special is for sale!

This is a special car with a special history. There was one LT built in 1954 in Mexico City, to race in the -55 Panamericana. Unfortunately the race was cancelled so the car never got to race.

About 50 years later Juan Lerdo de Tejada (the son of the original owner) asked me to build a continuation of his car. We did and it has proved to be a pretty good race car.

It has 5 straight wins in the Sport Major class.

It finished 5^th overall in the -06 La Carrera Panamericana

It finished 3^rd overall in the -07 Chihuahua Express.

It really is a very FAST and reliable car.

There is a 5 liter limit in the class so the car has a strong 302 Chevy small block.

It has all the good stuff like AFR aluminum heads, roller cam, steel rods and forged pistons. Behind the engine is a hydraulic Center Force clutch, Tremec 5 speed and a Ford 9 inch rear end.

For questions about the car you can contact me or if you already know “this is my car”. Please contact Sam at drsam@dds4kids.net

Today I was very impressed.

It is not everyday you get impressed or inspired. I have to say that I was very inspired watching the US election last week. That must be the ultimate “you can do anything you want if you set your mind to it” story. An African American guy from a not wealthy family becomes the president of the United States of America! Amazing and very inspiring!

On a slightly different level but nevertheless very inspiring was a meeting I had today at the nonprofit organization CASA here in San Miguel.

I was invited by the founder, Nadine Goodman. She, together with her husband started CASA 25 years ago. It is absolutely amazing what they have accomplished. They are probably most famous for their mid wife school. They also have a big day care center, library and a hospital. The hospital is mostly dedicated to children but they will see anybody. They employ over 90 people!

Please look at their website www.casa.org.mx  for more information and ways you can help.

Ok, so why was I invited? Their latest project, that is headed by a young man named Roberto is a mechanics school here in san Miguel.

They want to start a school for young people to become auto mechanics. To help them get a good job so they can support their family. I will try to help them any way I can. We will have another meeting next week.

Please check back and I will keep you posted about the progress of the school.

Mats

So why am I showing a piece of land on my website?

It is because this is the site of the new world head quarters of Mats Hammarlund Racing!

Just kidding, but it is the site of our new shop. We just managed to buy a piece of land on the way to Cineguita (for you who know San Miguel) about 4 km outside town.

It is a fantastic opportunity to be able to start with a clean sheet and design and build something that suits us exactly.

We will start cleaning the lot this week and as soon as the design is ready we are starting with the construction, hopefully in a few weeks.

US coordinator and Carrera veteran, Gerie Bledsoe left his little Nova in our shop. Unfortunately he broke the engine early in the race. We are now fixing that and some other small things that he wasn’t happy with.

Then we will prepare it for and bring it to the Chihuahua Express in March.

By the way, my first car ever was a -63, 4 door Nova that I bought in Sweden for 300 usd when I was 15 and fixed up for drag racing!

Things are now back to normal after this years Panamericana. The Swedes that came over to help have left and we are trying to catch up with the construction business.

I really want to thank everybody in the team that worked harder than ever this year.

Apart from the good overall placings (4^th, 5^th, 7^th and a class win) we are encouraged that Stig won two days and placed second three days. He had a flat tire and a fuel pump problem the first day that kept him from really challenging for first place. The car was brand new so we are still happy.

As you can see on the picture, the cars are already coming apart to be prepared for the next race. It seems like the two Studebakers are going to Chihuahua in March. A great race and a very good practice for the Panamericana.

Hopefully we will see you there.

We are now back in San Miguel getting a little rest after two busy weeks.

I have to say that the Carrera this year was a succes with three of our cars in the top seven and the fourth won its class.

Please click on this link for the final results. http://www.lacarrerapanamericana.com.mx/res08/absolutos.pdf

Stay tuned for more stories and photos from the race. Also i hope to anounce some exciting news.

Day 6

All our cars arrived safe and sound to Zacatecas.

Yesterday Stig won Turismo Major and was fastest overall.

After day 5:

1 Bill Beilhartz

2 Jorge Pedrero

3 Doug Mockett

4 Stig Blomqvist

5 Lars Stugemo

6 Richard Tysac

7 Pedro Garcia (Volvo)

One more day to go!!

Here is a short race report.

First day Stig had a flat tire on a stage and spun of. He changed the tire fast but lost some time. Later that day we had some fuel pump problems and lost some more time.

I am not sure of the placings for all the days but after the third day:

Beilhartz first

Mockett second

Jorge Pedrero third

Gabriel Perez fourth

Stugemo fifth

Blomqvist sixth

Pedro Garcia (in our little Volvo!) seventh

Today Gabriel lost an engine so i would assume our cars are  fourth, fifth and sixth after today.

Paco and Araceli were doing really well (fourth overall) but unfortunately spun of yesterday.

Yesterday Beihartz and Blomqviat were first and second for that day. Sometimes one were a few seconds faster and othertimes the other. Very even. Beilhartz is running impressively fast.

3 more days to go!

Today was the qualification. It is not really important, just to determine the starting order for tomorrow. Anyway, there is always a lot of prestige in this event.

Fastest was Jorge Pedrero with 2 minutes and 35 seconds. He lives here in Tuxtla so he is usually fastest at this stage.

Only one second slower and at the same second, 2.36 was Bill Beilhartz in his Studebaker  and Stig Blomquist in one of our Studebakers.

4th was Gabriel Perez.

5th was our good friends Paco and Araceli, also in a Studebaker at 2.41.

6th, Lars Stugemo at 2.42 in our other Studebaker.

7th, Doug Mockett at 2. 46.

8th Pedro and Jeusep in our Volvo. Only 3 seconds slower than Mockett at 2.49!

3 of our cars in the top 8 out of 105 cars. Very good!

The LT with Sam did also good without any problem what so ever.

Mats

Lunch break with the crew in Tuxtla.

Tomorrow start the qualification! very exciting.

Now we have arrived at the start in Tuxtla Gutierez. Tomorrow we will get the cars thru tech inspection, check everything, test and get them ready for the qualification on Thursday.

Friday morning starts the race!

We are on our way!

Jonny and Sven is calibrating the fuel gauge on the famous "Stugemo Studebaker".

We are leaving for the La Carrera in two days.

The cars are almost ready so now we went on to try to make the crew look nice.

Stay tuned for more pictures and updates.

Mats

Studebaker assembly line.

It hasn’t been any update on the news lately.

Partly because we are a little busy getting all cars ready but also it hasn’t happened anything special.

All the cars are tested and work fine.

We are mainly working with cosmetic things, organizing all the spares and tools, getting the logistics right for each day, checking hotels, airline tickets, rental cars and so on.

Apart from the mechanics we have working here there are a couple more coming in from Sweden starting next week. It will be fun to see everybody again.

Please check back, I will try to post as much as I can before and during the race. We will leave for the start in Tuxtla in exactly two weeks.

Good luck to all of you who are racing and I will see you there

Mats

September 4 -08 

This is for you who just can’t get enough of the La Carrera Panamericana. By the way, I think most of us that have tried it feel that way.

Please check out the blog of Gary Faules. It is really great with lots of fun articles about the La Carrera and things related to it. He also finds a lot of interesting videos that he shares with everybody. The last one he found is one that was made by our own Lars Stugemo, owner/driver of the blue Studebaker.

Here is the link to Gary’s site with the Stugemo video.

http://lacarrera2007.blogspot.com/2008/09/another-great-video-from-2007-la.html

Hers is the link to Gary’s blog

http://lacarrera2007.blogspot.com

Saturday I was invited by Eduardo Leon (president of La Carrera Panamericana) to the Queretaro race track for a NASCAR Mexico race.

This Stockcar series that actually has ties with NASCAR in the US has been very successful here also. 14 races per year with over 40 cars competing for the champion ship. Every race is televised live on the Latin American version of “SPEED”.

This is of course the track that we race on in the Panamericana and as you can see on the pictures it is an impressive construction. Apart from the road course they are also working on an oval and an 1/8 mile drag strip.

 You always meet lots of Carrera friends at these events. 3 time La Carrera winner, Carlos Anaya is racing in the series. The Vega family with Efrain, Efrain Jr. and Ubi were there working with some of the top cars.

Othon Garcia was there watching and Paco and Araceli (of Hudson fame) came Sunday.

We will be back on the track Friday with our two Studebakers to test. Stig is currently in Oaxaca doing pace notes but will be back in time for the test. Paco and Araceli are bringing their Studebaker also to test.

I will post some pictures from that during the weekend.

Big news for everybody in Historic C!

My fellow Swede and very fast driver, Ralf Christensson will not be able to make it to the La Carrera Panamericana this year.

To me he was the favorite to win the very competitive Historic C in his Ford Falcon.

He will for sure be back next year and hopefully also in the Chihuahua Express.

Stig Blomqvist is here right now testing the new car but more from that later.

Mats

Yesterday we took out the new Studebaker for a first test run. Everything seems to be working well.

We will mount the front end this weekend and then next week some more testing.

Today we did an event with “Feed the hungry”.

Feed the hungry is an organization here in San Miguel that helps children in the poor villages around here.

If you have ever been in San Miguel you probably don’t think there are to many poor people here. If you go outside in the villages there is a whole other picture. Feed the hungry builds kitchen in schools where the kids can get a nutritious meal a day. Currently they are feeding 4.000 kids every day that probably other wise wouldn’t have a good meal.

It is a great organization that does a lot of good. Please look at their website, maybe you can help in some way.

http://www.feedthehungrysma.org

Mats

Maybe I should rename this section because this is not really news either.

Anyway, today we are going to speculate on who will win the “big race” this year.

Let’s start with actually speculating that Pierre will not race this year. Also I will not mention any of our cars.

He has a very good crew in Oscar and Phil.

He has one of the best and most experienced co drivers in Angelica Fuentes.

His car has been developed for maybe 10 years and Doug is a great driver.

Who else?

Bill Beilhartz was impressive in his new Studebaker at the La Carrera last year and also at the Chihuahua Express. He also has an experienced, Mexican co pilot in Jorge Ceballos.

Our good friends Paco and Araceli will also be very fast this year.  They have done the La Carrera together for 10 years. This year their trusty Hudson is resting. They are driving a very fast Studebaker that has been second overall many times (that is actually a NEWS!). They were fastest of all the classics in the Chihuahua Express this year.

They are using an updated Hudson engine. With their experience and service from Efrain Vega, they can win it all.

Another Mexican that is very fast is Othon Garcia in his big Buick.

Rumor says he has a new engine for this year. With some luck and more consistency he will place very high.

Historic C will be incredibly competitive this year. 28 cars entered with lots of very fast Falcons and Mustangs.

Bill Shanahan will debut his new Falcon. How many years has Bill done the La Carrera? Maybe 20 years. He has won Historic C in his Corvette.

My fellow Swede, Ralf Cristensen is always very fast.

Richard Tyzack was really fast last year in his Mustang.

Former class winner and US Coordinator, Gerie Bledsoe is making a comeback in a new Chevy Nova.

Ok, these are my personal thoughts. Please let me know if you think I forgot somebody.

Mats Hammarlund

This is not really news but more a rumor.

There is talk down here in Mexico that MANY times overall winner Pierre DeThoisy will not compete this year.

Piere has not missed a La Carrera in about 15 years so this would be big news if he doesn’t show up.

Pierre, a former professional race car driver has been the man to beat for the last 10 years here in the La Carrera Panamericana. 

Let’s see if he will be here in October.

The "Projects" is now updated with photos of a Mustang Drag Race Car that we are building for local racer, Oscar Torres.

The “projects” is now updated with recent photos from the building of Stig Blomqvist’s and Ana Goni’s Studebaker. It is always the last details that are the most time consuming.

Our Master Fabricator, Anders Berg is working hard fitting all body panels, making panels for the radiator, cold air intake and so on. The rest of us are busy fitting all hoses, instruments, electrical system and other little details.

Stig is coming down to test the car in a couple of weeks so please check back for more news from that.

Hello race fans.

Welcome to the new website of Mats Hammarlund Racing!

A lot of people have been in touch wanting more news and updates from the wonderful world of racing in Mexico. This website is made so that we can update it very easy. I promise we will post news regularly so keep checking back.

Most of you already know the biggest news here: We are building a new Studebaker that will be driven by Stig Blomqvist and Ana Goni. Stig is of course a former WRC world champion. Even though he is a fantastic driver, the car is brand new and it is his first time here in Mexico. It is VERY hard to do well the first time here and also with a new car.