2017 PORSCHE PANAMERA REVISITS NAMESAKE RALLY
Return to Mexico perfect for regional debut of second-generation sports sedan
The winner of the first Carrera Panamericana road race in 1950 was stock car driver Hershel McGriff in an Oldsmobile 88. While the Olds would, today, be thought of as an unlikely race machine, it was the car to beat in the late-1940s and early ’50s on the stock car circuit, thanks to its light weight and “Rocket” V8 engine.
Then again, Mexico’s La Carrera Panamericana was an unlikely motorsport experience, at least for North America. Run annually from 1950 to 1954, the border-to-border race was, in its first year, a nine-stage, five-day endurance event organized by the Mexican government to celebrate the completion of the Pan-American Highway. Much like Italy’ s Mille Miglia, this 3,000-kilometre road race would also prove to be extremely dangerous for competitors and spectators alike.
Because the 1950 event started at the border with Texas, it was attractive not only to the locals, but to all types of American race drivers, from Indy car to NASCAR and, over the following years, Detroit’s automakers. It also caught the attention of The Continent, and top European sports car manufacturers — Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and others — competed over the years. The race was part of the World Sportscar Championship for 1953 and 1954.
Porsche won the sports car category in 1954, later appropriating the Carrera name for its 356 — and subsequently the 911 — to commemorate the automaker’s class wins (also shortening Panamericana to Panamera to label its fourdoor sport/luxury sedan when it debuted in 2009).
When introducing the new, second-generation 2017 Panamera — primarily to members of the Latin and South American motoring press who hadn’t yet experienced the car — Porsche took the opportunity to include sections of the old Carrera Panamericana in the drive route. The automaker threw in a special “regularity” (also known as a time-speed-distance, or TSD) stage as a challenge, hence an excuse to invite a few auto writers from other parts of the world. (The Panamericana race was resurrected in 1988 as an amateur event and now runs as a seven-day, 3,200-km route, duplicating some of the original course through central Mexico. Much like the Targa Newfoundland in Canada, it takes place on public roads with official backing, and has special closed stages and fast transit sections.)
Porsche Latin America put some extra effort into the media event, affixing Carrera Panamericana decals to the cars — Panamera 4S and Turbo models — and adding driver names to the rear windows.
My driving partner — longtime Driving contributor Jim Kenzie — and I had the twin-turbo 2.9-litre V6-powered 4S for the long slog out of Mexico City to the tiny village of Sultepec, 75 km southwest of the sprawling megalopolis, in deeply forested foothills where the special stage was set up.
Given that Porsche didn’t want to create any international incidents involving blood and/or bent metal, the very well-armed members of the local police force closed the 10-km stretch of highway so we could get a taste of what the Panameras could deliver. As well, the time target set for the stage was a fairly conservative seven minutes, 35 seconds, meaning an average speed of about 80 km/h was all that was needed to achieve the desired outcome. Mind you, on the car’s navigation screen, the road still looked like a strand of spaghetti, with twists and turns that required a modicum of judgment. There were no run-offs, just rocks, trees, ditches and long drops into the valley — that sort of thing.
That we should hit the target time was not in doubt, at least in our minds. Employing an old strategy learned when competing in the Targa Newfoundland years ago, we simply launched out of the starting gate — easy with all-wheel drive and 440 horsepower on tap — blitzed the first couple of kilometres, built up a significant time surplus, and then gradually reduced our speed to match the time checks provided by our route guide. (Our iPhones doubled as stopwatches.)
What blew me away from this exercise had less to do with the new Panamera than it did race history. Not the ideal Porsche for tarmac rally stages — personally, I would have preferred to run the 911 Carrera 4 GTS — the big four-door is, nonetheless, a sports car. Heavy (1,870 kilograms for the 4S), stylish and luxurious — it competes with the likes of Mercedes’ S-Class, BMW’s 6 and 7 Series, the Jaguar XJ, Audi A8 and others, after all — the 4S offers impressive acceleration (zero to 100 km/h in 4.4 seconds, 4.2 with the Sport Chrono Package), prodigious grip and excellent communication with the road. The 550-hp Turbo’s launch is even more inspiring, posting zero-to-100-km/h times as low as 3.6 seconds and delivering a solid shove back into the seat when the throttle is pinned.
Yet it was the thought that the inaugural Carrera Panamericana winner, the aforementioned Hershel McGriff, achieved an average speed of 142 km/h during that 1950 race that sent my mind reeling. Seriously, Google McGriff or Oldsmobile 88 and imagine what it might have been like to manhandle that pig on twisting, looping highway roads over five days and 3,000 km. Reflect on this: Rear-wheel-drive Detroit iron, low-tech tires, no disc brakes, no ABS, no traction control, no airbags — pretty much none of anything.
Conversely, consider what’s available on the Panamera. Beyond the all-wheel drive and basic traction/stability control nannies, there’s adaptive air suspension (standard on the Turbo, optional on the 4S) which can be augmented with such systems as Porsche Active Suspension Management electronic damper control, Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control Sport — including Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus — and active roll stabilization, as well as a new electro-mechanical steering system. And I haven’t even touched on the car’s rearaxle steering, adapted from the 918 Spyder and 911 Turbo.
There’s no big epiphany here. Obviously, the fact they don’t build cars like they used to — whether for the street or the track — is a good thing. Even more so, though, is the fact Porsche continues to recognize and honour the impact motorsport has had on its past, while continuing to let it influence its present and future.