Two Carreras, One Road: How a Mexican Race Named a Porsche and a Watch

Normally, the word Carrera on a Porsche is nothing that makes people think twice anymore. On the 356 it marked the top versions with the four-cam engine, on the 911 it came back with the Carrera RS 2.7 in 1972 and from 1984 it was simply the name of the regular models. Now the title of this article says that there are two Carreras. The second one has no boxer engine and no wheels, but it can be found on the dial of a Swiss chronograph since 1963. Both got their name from the same long road race in Mexico, which existed for only five years. So we like to give you a little insight into how this happened and why Porsche and the watchmaker from Switzerland met each other again several times in the following decades.

It All Started on the Carrera Panamericana

Credit: Porsche

The first Carrera Panamericana took place in 1950, after the Mexican section of the Pan-American Highway was finished. Over a distance of more than 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) the participants drove in several stages on public roads between the border with Guatemala and the US border, through mountains, villages and long desert sections. Due to many fatal accidents among drivers and spectators, the organizers stopped the event already after 1954.