Go to the Motorsport Memorial home page
Selected database

Search
Enter at least 3 letters. Search in all databases is limited to name and surname
Search into field:
Given name and surname
Circuit
Vehicle Brand
Race
Notes
All of these fields
Return records from:

All databases: Motorsport Memorial and Lest We Forget
Selected database only

 



Carlos Polanco
 
Complete name: Carlos Javier Polanco Álvarez
Birth date: ??.???.1968
Birth Place: unknown, unknown
Death date: 25.Nov.1990
Death Place: Antofagasta, Chile
Nationality: Chile
Gender: male
Age at death: 22
 
Event date: 25.Nov.1990
Series: Monomarca Nissan Sunny [Chile]
Race: Trofeo Nissan Cidef - última fecha
Event type: race
Country: Chile
Venue: Roca Roja (Antofagasta)
Variant: road course (early 1970s-mid 1990s)
 
Role: driver
Vehicle type: car
Vehicle sub-type: touring car
Vehicle brand/model: Nissan Sunny B11 1.5 Sedan
Vehicle number: 25
 

Notes:
The Monomarca Nissan Sunny, also known as Trofeo Nissan Cidef - Cidef was the Chilean Nissan importer - was a racing series organized in Chile in 1990. It was reserved only to strictly standard Nissan Sunny B11 1.5 Sedan, a model manufactured between 1989 and 1990. Forty competitors, including experienced drivers and newcomers, took part in the eight-round championship. Five of the races were held as support event in the same meetings as the Fórmula Tres Chilena.

One of the leading drivers of the series, Carlos Polanco, 22-year-old from Viña del Mar, Chile, lost his life in an accident which happened on Sunday, 25 November 1990 during the final round of the Monomarca Nissan Sunny, held at the Autódromo Roca Roja in Antofagasta, Chile. Polanco drove the Nissan Sunny #25 entered by Gastón Ross. Trying to pass a competitor on a fast bend, Polanco collided with him and lost control of his car, which left the track overturning six times. Carlos Polanco was thrown out of the cockpit, hitting his head on the asphalt and suffering critical injuries. He remained in a coma in an Antofagasta clinic until he died four hours later.

The event was broadcasted live by the TV program "Deporte en Vivo" for the Universidad de Chile Televisión.

Owing to this fatality, Iván Silva promoter of the championship, decided to stop the series which was never more organized. The title was assigned to Juan Pablo Silva of Santiago, racing for the Automotriz Eliseo Salazar, after battling Carlos Polanco for the championship all season long.

Located along the B-510 road at the southern end of the town of Antofagasta, in northern Chile, a few kilometers east of the coastal highway Carretera Panamericana, the Autódromo Roca Roja was inaugurated in the early 1970s. The road course was abandoned after a flood destroyed the track in the mid 1990s, and the place turned into a landfill.

 
Sources:
  • Magazine La Tercera, issue of 13 May 2013, page 75, retrieved by website http://papeldigital.info/lt/2013/05/13/01/paginas/075.pdf .
  • Website Foro Club Volkswagen Chile - Foro Carreras, thread "Upgrade de Cordovez, Keoo bakaneitor" posting by "Master", message http://www.club-vw.cl/foros/index.php?s=ccd92dda286d92e10c720adb0b58e5db&showtopic=2645&pid=29377&st=0&# .
  • Website El Mercurio, article "La pista se abre otra vez" by Marcelo Palomino M., page http://diario.elmercurio.cl/detalle/index.asp?id={ebf9fd10-59c5-448f-99b3-f80f19c917e8} .
  • Website Wikiwand.com, page http://www.wikiwand.com/es/Deporte_en_Vivo .
  • Website Wikipedia, page http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trofeo_Nissan_Sunny .
  • Website MyHeritage, page https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-1-411728751-1-526322/carlos-javier-polanco-alvarez-in-myheritage-family-trees .
  • E-mails by Alberto Ruz Abello, dated 31 July 2006 and 02 August 2006.
  • E-mail by Jesper Hvid Petersen, dated 12 October 2013, citing website http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd4hoduPR-M .