Johnny Tipler

Huatulco:

Day at La Isla hotel Huatulco, fitting seats and harnesses in the 914, cleaning the truck and having a cooling swim before heading down town for registration & medical. Most of the race cars were already in the paddock – said hi to Jochen Mass (interviewed previously for 911 & Porsche World) set to race a Mustang. Dinner in Huatulco zocalo to the strains of Manu Chao. Tech/scrutineering tomorrow.

Final stages of getting the car through ‘tech’ inspection (scrutineering) plus our helmets & race suits checked. Had names sign-written on helmets too – proper souvenir if nothing else! Lots of guys here who I’ve met previously and who are in The Book. Went ‘up-town’ to find a blacksmith who made a bracket to mount the rearview mirror: see pics – then back to hotel for a quick dip, brake-bleed and (hopefully) a test session next. Qualifying tomorrow.

Lengthy meeting for co-pilotos at the Hotel of Dreams last night, followed by lavish nocturnal picnic and welcome at golf club. Gear selection and braking issues decided us not to bother with Qualifying this morning – they allocate you a place whatever, so we spent some time at a VW specialist’s in the Huatulco boondocks getting things tweaked, the thrashing the car up and down the local dual carriageways. Now checked into beach-side hotel. It’s tough going…

Started from Huatulco on the pacific coast yesterday morning, car running OK but lacking first gear, making hill starts tricky. Then one of the rear hubs started rattling and got progressively worse so we cruised after the first two stages till Service. Bill and Jared fixed it, so we could really go for it in the mountain stages. Handles like a big go-kart! Arrived downtown Oaxaca to heroes welcome. Exhillarating! Thousands in fiesta mode. Back to hotel for shower then return to zocalo for meal and daily prizegiving. A lot of cars crashed out early on…
Day 2. Started late, got lost in Oaxaca on Day 2 today, so missed the first 3 stages. Still no 1st gear, selection generally not great, but car handles well. Blasted mountain stages again, incessant corners, Sarah calling the numbers according to severity of turn, able to drive them accordingly. Very exciting. Lots of sheer drop-offs but all a challenge. Tehuacan in full-on Fiesta as we passed thru. Pulled over by four biker cops on Harleys on outskirts of Puebla: there followed a full on police escort downtown, sirens wailing, lights flashing, flat-out, absolutely manic as they waved all other traffic out of our way – one even came off on a cobbled corner so we stopped and picked him up, put him back on the bike, and the madcap dash began all over again! Everyone clamours for autographs and photos with the crews. Fantastic!

We checked out of Oaxaca yesterday morning – an hour after the Coyote Convoy left – and stalled at a student protest (par for the course in Oaxaca), and Jared drove us out onto the incessant twists of the original Carrera Panamericana route towards Huatalco. The further south we got the more humid, with vegetation ever lusher, loads of coconut palms replacing yukka and cacti.  More protestors delayed progress by half an hour (and the rest of the convoy by 3 hours, it turned out!) and we hit the winding coast road maybe 100 klicks short of our destination. By now a handful of competition cars was with us, including the Jochen Mass Mustang, passing and re-passing the truck.  Checked into La Isla resort hotel and headed for a beach restaurant for man-size Margueritas and red snapper.

Some work to do on the car – in sweltering heat – like my seat fitting so my helmet clears the overhead roll-over bar tubes. Acclimatising to restrictive HANS device as well. Now it starts to get serious…

Another all-day session on the road, early doors from San Miguel d’Allende to Oaxaca, via Puebla and Tehuacan. Major truck wreck en route, incomprehensible with wrecked semi truck facing the way it had come, plus tangle of totalled lorries. Amazing mountain scenery, new cacti species. Flagged down a cab to lead us to the Fiesta Inn. Shopping for odds & ends at Costco and Sears over the street from the hotel. Next stop: Huatulco on the Pacific.

Left Laredo at dawn, Friday, last rig in the 20-truck Coyote Convoy and never saw them again till San Miguel Allende, 14 hours later, having been pulled over numerous times at checkpoints (Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey, Saltillo, etc), and hauled up at San Luis Potosi for driving on bridges prohibited to trucks ($300 fine).

San Miguel zocalo was in full-on fiesta mode which was fantastic – and the drummer had the same Sonor kit as me! Today’s respite from the confines of the truck sure is welcome. Time to get the stickers on the 914, catch up with blogs, etc.

We’re heading into Mexico this morning – having spent 6 hours taking the truck and racecar into Mexican customs at Nuevo Laredo last evening to get visas and permisos ticked off – much waiting in line and more waiting around, pleading ones case to get back into the States going back into Laredo, Texas to our hotel. And got fleeced $100 for not wearing seat belts…! Still, the Coyote Convoy is poised for action as a dozen or so trailered racecars are set for the off.