Buck 115

Yes. The portholes are backwards to allow more air into the engine. Anything to help keeping it cool. Although I have more issues with the gas temperature than with the engine. My engine works at around 170 degrees. When racing it may go up to 210... but as soon as get into a transit it will cool down quite fast back to 170... To keep it cool it is a must. Remember that we do not only race, we have to go through cities (along with traffic lights), small towns, etc. Therefore if the engine gets hot when not moving, you will not survive. Regarding the engine that you mentioned, it is impossible. This car was constructed for a very especific task: La Carrera Panamericana, thus the engine (and everything!) is within the rules wich indicate (and I had to look this up!)a maximum of 6,000 CC / 366 Cubic inches / 1 carburator up to 600 cfm. If you are wondering what the rules are, you can find them at www.lacarrerapanemericana.com.mx

Gary: Here are the pictures. http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=1498lymr.3q2qjazz&x=0&y=-d0h7o I am sorry the car is so dirty. As you will se they modified the hood to allow the engine to breathe since it can get too hot. Also the trunk was modified to let some air cool the gas tanks. So it has an intake and some exits. I added some pictures of the enterior as well as the breakes. Hope you can understand more than I out of them.

Gary N: Today I will take some picks and place them on the net. The engine is a Chevrolet 350. That is as far I know. Hope that from the pics you'll be able to see other details.

I am 41 and this last race was the 6th time I have done La Carrera Panamericana. How I got in love with this Buick? Well it goes like this: In 1994 I was working in Marketing at P&G. My boss at that time went to have dinner to an X restaurant and a waiter drop some wine in his lap. The owner of the restaurant came to apologize and they started talking about cars. The owner mentioned that since 1992 he raced La Carrera Panamericana and after a couple of glasses of wine my boss decided to sponsor this guy. A couple of weeks later my boss was moved to an international assignment and I took control of the brand. Then I discovered that we were sponsoring a car! So I called the driver (the restaurant guy) and told him that I was now in charge of the brand, etc. etc. He invited me to that year’s presentation of la Carrera since his car was going to be present there. Weeks later, at the presentation, I met the Buick for the 1st time. It was the first time I have seen a Buick Century 54 and I immediately got in love with it! I sponsor the Buick from 94 to 96. In 97 I left P&G and the Buick also changed hands. It was bought by another Carrera racer and he invested quite a lot of money on it. He finished 2nd that year. But he wanted to win so he decided to make himself a 53 Studebaker (much lighter, more aerodynamic). He took all the racing parts from the Buick to make his new car… In 98 the Buick (or what was left of it) was pretty much abandoned. In 99 I called the owner and ask if I could race the Buick. “Well – he said -if you construct it again”. So I managed a sponsor and invested 35K in the car. That year, 99, I race for the first time the Buick (and race for the fist time anything for that matter!). It wasn’t a good race. Out of 7 days, I only raced 4. Mechanically the car was a mess. Very frustrating. Early on 2000 the owner sold the Buick to a guy from Belgium. They raced it on 2000 and on 2001 they raced it again but crashed big time at la Bufa. This Belgian knew I loved the Buick so he called me and ask me if I wanted to buy the car as it was (very well crashed). Without seeing the car nor asking his price I said YES!!! (10K was the price by the way). On 2002 and a part of 2003 I spent quite a bit of money to leave the Buick as I wanted (around 55K). I raced it again (but now as owner!) that year. The raced lasted 5 hrs…. a car in front of me blew the engine and I grabbed all his oil in a fast curve. Back to the shop! (and another bill…) In 2004 I was about to race the car but one night prior to start “it was decided” that It was better for me to race another car (the Buick did not felt “safe” they told me) so I ended up racing a Studebaker instead. Loooong, looong, very long story. In 2005 I invested again more money, change brakes, engine and a new roll cage. It was an ok year but the new engine (done in the US by a guy that does NASCAR engines) was no good. Basically was VERY powerful but at VERY high revs (just like for an oval…). So in 2006 I decided to send the car to the Vega Family with the instructions I told you. They pretty much changed everything (again!!!!) but finally, finally, finally!!! I’ve got my racing car just like the one I dreamed for back in 1994. This year the car was great and I can not wait to race it again next year (by the way, I DO NOT drive the car except for La Carrera. So every year I can get the rush of driving it again!). My driving record/experience? Only la Carrera as described. Nothing else. Actually I get teased because I really drive slowly on my everyday car (never above 65). So when people ask me where did I learned to drive and how come I can place the Buick on top places, I tell them: “It is not me. It is the Buick! After all it has been running the race since 92, so he knows the roads already!”

Well, the car goes back to its mechanics so they can pretty much go over it and check every single detail. These guys are VERY professional so, for example, they will review all photos of the car and videos to see it they can “discover” something that is not at a 100% with the suspension and stuff. They will also open the engine to review all it components and change whatever they feel needs to be changed. For example, last year based on the videos they decided to “do” a special carburetor just for me in order to fit my driving style. This year I noticed the difference. Believe me! So now I wait for they to tell me what are they going to do for next year. Interestingly, I do not know anything (nor do I care) about mechanics. So whatever they tell me that need to be done is just info that I do not understand. So the deal I have with them is that they have to assume that the car is theirs and they are free to do whatever they want without even asking me! Crazy? Well… maybe, but it works. At least that way they are fully responsible of the car and have certain “ownership” over it. Actually sometimes I think that I am just like “their” pilot and not their client! Since they pretty much tell me what to do. "Chief, now you have mega breaks and you are not using them to their full capacity! Break later and harder!", "Chief, although your engine does 7500 rpms without issues, we want you to change gears at 6,300. That will be faster", "Chief, you are using too many revs at the start! Don’t be a fool! Break the inertia and then push! This is not a ¼ mile race!" Or even worse! This year, for example, when they gave me back my car just 2 days prior to the race, they told me: "Remember the car you tested? Well… it is no more. At last minute we decided to change all the springs and shocks and some modifications to the back suspension geometry. So handling wise it is a new car. Use the 1st day of the race to get used to it. We think it is going to be better". And it was!!! It was amazing!!! After half a day, in the service stop I told them: “I don’t know what you did to the back of the car, but don’t touch it now! It is great!”. Basically my car was very stiff; like a go-kart. Now the back is very loose so you can throw the tail like a real rally car. This combined with the 500HP torque to push you out of the turn and you have a very fast car cornering. And the results this year speak for themselves. Everybody was very surprised on how fast the Buick was. And I was on top of those surprised! Now, these guys are pros. For perspective, on Discovery channel there is a program called Rides. They came down to Mexico to do a special program featuring these guys: The Vega Family. They not only prepare my car. They prepare around 8 for the race. And out of 20 editions, 14 times La Carrera has been won by a car prepared by these guys. So, going back to your question, I send the car to them and wait for them to tell me next steps.

I am not a fast traveling man! I am a VERY irresponsible one! Thanks for the compliments on my Buick. Yes, it is a beautiful car. In the next weeks I will place some videos from the race that were taken by a good friend, so you will be able to see the Buick in action from the outside. Everybody at the race told me that the car looked great, but funny enough, everybody LOVED the wheels (which are not the ones on the video above, after the crash I change them). The funny thing is that those wheels I got them via internet in Summit! And the other thing was the sound of the car. Yes, it sounds GREAT. However I have to admit that this is by accident. In previous years I had problems with the exaust pipes beacuse, given the McPherson suspention, they couldn't run all the way to the back. So they were placed right below at the door side. So it was terrible! The sound and the smell all day. So I took the car to a very small shop were this guy (in the middle of a lot of street dogs and a lot of junk) said he could send them all the way to the back with some creative solution. He basically made the pipes almost flat but keeping the same "volume" of flow in order to cross above the suspention arms and then back to the normal pipes again. Looks funny from below, works, did not harmed the power and now it sounds great. The guy that did this is called Fortino. So when people ask me what kind of Exausts I am using, I tell them "Fortino Racing". I bet there are now some competitors asking for "this brand" in several racing stores!