2011's Best Pace Cars

Race series: Spanish Rally Championship Series

Infiniti has set out to kick up some dust in this year's Spanish Rally Championship Series. The company has outfitted its G37 S Coupe with a full roll cage, custom race suspension, beefier brakes and racing seats so it can keep pace at all of the rally races. Other features include a full safety harness and a fire-suppression system in case of an accident. The 2011 Spanish Rally Championship kicked off April 1 at the Rally of Villajoyosa in La Vila Joiosa, a coastal town in the southeastern corner of Spain.

Watch Video:  2011 Infiniti G37 Coupe and Convertible

Race: Daytona 500

The 2011 Daytona 500 has already come and gone. But 20-year-old Trevor Bayne will never forget it, as he became the youngest person ever to win the legendary kickoff to the NASCAR season. During this year's nearly 4-hour race, 16 cautions were called, allowing the 2011 Ford Mustang pace car to strut its stuff in front of the more than 150,000 live spectators and millions more on television. This year's Daytona 500 marked the first time since 1970 that a Ford product served as pace car, and the Blue Oval outfitted its Mustang GT with special Daytona Red paint, upgraded wheels, unique mufflers and suspension bracing.

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Race: Indianapolis 500

With its unique color options and proud pace-car graphics, the 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible Indy 500 Pace Car is one of the most coveted vehicles among muscle-car enthusiasts. (Seriously, it's on nearly every collector's wish list.) Now for the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500, Chevrolet has teamed up with race organizers once again. The tricked-out 2011 Camaro SS Convertible Pace Car features Summit White paint, orange racing stripes and an orange leather interior. Look for the slick drop-top to lead the pack on May 29 with Donald Trump behind the wheel.

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Race series: Formula One

Mercedes-Benz has a long history of providing safety cars for Formula One. For the past two seasons, the Silver Arrow has provided series organizers with a fabulous SL63 AMG for pacing duties. This year, Mercedes upped the ante: A specially outfitted SLS AMG will lead the open-wheel racers into battle during the 2011 racing season. Largely stock, the vehicle carries a more aerodynamic light bar that's illuminated by LEDs and a custom carbon-fiber hood with a forward-facing camera.

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Race series: MotoGP

BMW doesn't pull any punches when it comes building cars, especially one that paces the faster-than-light motorcycles on the MotoGP circuit, the world's premier motorcycling championship. The German automaker took the newest addition to its M stable, the 1-Series M, shed as much weight as possible through the use of carbon fiber and polycarbonate, bolted on an adjustable rear wing for additional down force, and packed in a new Akrapovic exhaust for a little more power. Sporty cosmetics include large "M" striping, black wheels, black exhaust tips and black grilles.

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Race series: 2011 American Le Mans

Porsche is an automaker that's more accustomed to vying for position among the race pack than pacing the field. But this year's American Le Mans Series will be fronted by a 2011 Porsche Panamera Turbo. Understandably, the German automaker left its powerful 4-door sedan largely stock. The only changes come in the form of a new paint scheme and a safety light mounted to the roof for added visibility.

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Race: Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour

In Australia, few race venues are as famous as Bathurst, and while the Bathurst 1000 is the most legendary event to be held on the hallowed ground, the Armor All 12 Hour is no less entertaining for fans of production racing cars. This year's event took place in February and saw the number 8 Audi R8 LMS GT3 take the final checkered flag with a total of 292 laps completed. Audi also served up the pace car for the event in the form of a specially equipped 2011 S4 sedan.

Watch Video:  2011 Audi S4

Race: Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Fla.)

Not every pace car has to be able to turn impressive lap times. Take this Honda FCX Clarity, for instance. It led the racers at this year's Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the first race in the 2011 Izod IndyCar Series. And believe it or not, this isn't the first time that the hydrogen-electric fuel-cell vehicle has seen track time. It also served as the pace car for the 2008 Indy Japan series. Honda says its performance is comparable to a vehicle equipped with a 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine and has a range of 240 miles.

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Race: 2011 Gator-o-Rama 24 Hours of LeMons

When it comes to reeling in a field of $500 pieced-together hunks of junk, there's no better machine than this 1958 Edsel Ranger. What better than a cool piece of junk to pace a grouping of junkyard race cars? Organizers of the 2011 Gator-o-Rama chose to use the coupe, painted flat black and equipped with a 390 cubic-inch big-block V8 from a 1967 Ford Galaxie, for its looks. The big rat-rod may lack the technological sophistication of some of the other entries on our list, but it makes up for it with lots of thick, white shag carpeting and a set of undeniably cool Lincoln mag wheels from the 1970s.

Bing: History of the Edsel

James Tate cut his teeth in the business as a race team crew member before moving to the editorial side as Senior Editor of Sport Compact Car, and his work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Automobile, Motor Trend and European Car. When not writing, Tate is usually fantasizing about a vintage Porsche 911.

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