La Carrera Panamericana Film to premiere at Monterey Auto Film Festival

"valkyr" (valkyrfilms)
08/04/2014 at 13:00 • Filed to: monterey car week, road rally, race, la carrera, porsche, vintage, porsche 356, mexico, classic, benton performance, jeremy heslup, john benton, rob curry, the last great road race, veracruz, zacatecas, automotive film festival, monterey, automoto, world class, documentary, premiere, film

THE LAST GREAT ROAD RACE is a feature documentary that follows mechanic John Benton, driver Robert Curry and their team, 2000 miles across the heart of Mexico, as they push the limits of their 1962 Porsche 356b Racer.

The film was shot during the 2013 edition of La Carrera Panamericana from Veracruz to Zacatecas, and directed by filmmaker Jeremy Heslup | @jeremyheslup.

The film will premiere August 15, 2014 at the Monterey Car Week, World Class Automotive Film Festival at the Golden State Theatre.

SYNOPSIS: In the 1950’s the Mexican government created a race to celebrate the opening of the Pan-American Highway. Cancelled after only four years because of too many deaths, and then revamped in the late 80s, the rally today, is widely considered the world’s last true great road race.

The 2000-mile, 7-day road rally snakes it’s way through the heart of Mexico, From Veracruz on the Gulf, to the mountain region of Zacatecas. The cars are required to be pre-1975, but can be modded to anything from enthusiast to a nascar-like setup with nearly 1000+ hp. Classes divide the field of more than 80 competing teams running Porsches, Alfa Romeos, Mustangs, Studebakers, and many other vintage cars outfitted specifically for racing. The entire race is 100% legal as it is escorted by Federal police who compete for the honor to support the event.

John Benton from Benton Performance ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a vintage Porsche shop in Anaheim, invited us (Valkyr) along to follow their team through the race as they ran their modified 1962 Porsche 356b in Sport Menor class.

Costing a small fortune to even compete, La Carrera has become an iconic event over the past few decades and as the event lacks any substantial cash prize, bragging rights and legacies are the only real trophies.

The race was an incredible gritty, intense adventure. Stay tuned for the full length film, THE LAST GREAT ROAD RACE, releasing on Vimeo ON DEMAND.

DISCUSSION (1)

BKRM3 > valkyr
08/05/2014 at 10:16

This film looks incredible. Any idea on distribution yet beyond the festivals? Netflix? iTunes? Amazon? I'd love to see this!