If it's Tuesday, this must be El Paso

Ray makes adjustments to the safety harness to fit an
XXL co-driver.

Tim and Ray arrived in El Paso, Texas, on Monday; Tim by air, Ray in his truck hauling the Porsche on a trailer. Dinner was at Rudy's Bar-B-Q located next to our hotel. Very Texas!

First thing today, we drove down to the border crossing at Santa Teresa, NM. This is a lesser used crossing than the one in El Paso, so it would take less time to get us straightened out. What needed straightening mainly was our paperwork for the Porsche.

It is necessary to get a Temporary Vehicle Permit issued by the Mexican Banjercito. Each car must be owned by one person who is bringing it across the border. And each person may bring only one vehicle. Since the truck is in Ray's name, Tim's name was added as an owner on the Porsche registration in Arizona. In addition, there is a refundable fee involved.

In order to apply for a Temporary Vehicle Permit from the Banjercito online you must enter a 17-digit VIN, as has been in use since the early 1980s. But the Porsche is a 1968 model so has an older style, much shorter VIN. In order to process an earlier car you must first enter the VIN from a newer car, then follow up immediately with an email giving the correct information for the car that needs the permit. That is what Ray did. Unfortunately the person doing the paperwork at the other end did not see the follow up email and we received a permit for Ray's 2001 Cadillac. In Tim's name.

It is not easy to cancel this permit once it has been issued. And it must be cancelled before it goes into effect, in our case before 17 Apr 2013. It can be done at a Mexican Consulate, but only at certain Consulates. And it must be done in person. The nearest such Consulate with a Banjercito was in Chicago, a good 8 hours one way from where Tim lives.  So Tim had to move his flight up a day in order to be at the border crossing prior to the 17th. It took a few minutes to locate someone who spoke English, and she did not immediately understand the problem. Eventually we were able to get the permit on the Cadillac cancelled and a new one issued for the Porsche. We also got out tourist Visas filled out and stamped, so we are ready to go tomorrow.

Then it was time to do a little work in the car. Tim had only been in the Porsche briefly in December. Now with suit, helmet and HANS at hand it was time to get properly fitted. The early 911 is a rather small car. Add a full roll cage and other safety gear and there is even less room. Tim is not a small person. It may require some assistance to get the helmet and HANS in place, all of the belts, window net, intercom connection, etc. installed. And once there it is unlikely that Tim will be able to get out for a short break. But he can reach the controls he needs and is ready to give it a go.

We cross the border on Wednesday with about eight other teams, hoping to get any remaining paperwork finished quickly. We met with those other teams at 6 PM to get the details of our convoy to Chihuahua, about 220 miles south of the border. We leave the hotel at 7:30 AM.

As of today there are 58 cars entered. Entry List. I guess we shall see how many will start on Friday morning.