Building a Race Car for the Pan Am

     I think it was one of John Ward's service crew that said, "when you think you've built it strong enough, build it stronger."Another famous Mexican racer said you need suspension, cooling, and brakes.

Keeping these things in mind, I first started using Camaro front suspensions and later using entire frames as the geometry was figured out and the parts availability was excellent in Mexico. The idea was to be totally repairable out of the local Mexican economy rather than trying to carry every possible replacement part. For example, if you went off the road (through no fault of your own) and bent an arm beyond repair, you could just go to a local junk yard and find a replacement part from any Buick/Olds/Pontiac/Chevy/Cadillac of the same size. The interchangeability of some GM full-size suspensions is amazing.

Also, the more modern full-size GM and Ford rear-wheel drive suspensions and frames have steering and tie rods that are well protected. They have nice rear axle mounting and coils with four-bar and disc brakes.

Another major factor in Mexico is the "tope" or speed bump.  These vary in size and are located anywhere they want to slow traffic-- usually at the entrance and exits of small towns. They are often marked, but you need only to hit one that isn't to know the impact. If you hit one, at say 50mph, anything hanging down below the frame rails is going to be traumatically removed. More than one shock mount, exhaust system, and oil pan have been whacked beyond repair on topes.

Build the best roll cage you possibly can because you could be betting your life on it. It should be welded to the frame and body. The car body should also be welded to the frame and all seams and braces on the frame should be re-welded. The cage should have as much side protection as possible and have good window nets.

I have 32-gallon fuel cells in my cars. After running out of fuel on the first day in the middle of nowhere I realized bigger can be better. Fuel lines should be made of whatever is most repairable.

Everything inside the car should be bolted down so in an accident your don't get smacked with a jack or some other heavy item. I have an ammo box bolted in my trunk to carry spare pieces.

So now you have your race car mounted on, let's say a 1984 Cadillac chassis, with the roll cage with lots of side protection, now you want the biggest radiator you can get. Also remember engine mods should only be those things that can be easily repaired out of the local economy.