NER had a big weekend this past Saturday and Sunday. Sunday was strong in Rhode Island. Sweet Berry Farm in Middletown hosted the SoBo (South of Boston) contingent of our club for a cars and coffee event. It was a bit misty and foggy but spirits were high and there was a strong turnout. The Newport Car Museum in Portsmouth hosted German Car Day all day as well. Many folks hit both events. Gunther and Maggie Buerman, owners of the Newport Car Museum, mentioned that they had a great crowd for their event with over 50 Porsches and a sizable number of Mercedes, BMW, Audi, and VWs on hand. Maggie was pleased to report that over 12,000 people have visited the museum since it opened earlier this year and that they are excited to host more events with our region in the coming year.
Many thanks once again to Roger Slocum for organizing all the great SoBo events this year. And thanks to the Newport Car Museum for the fun we’ve had there this season, too!
On Saturday, October 7th, some impressive cars gathered in Northboro to enjoy each other’s company and also to collect food supplies for the Worcester Veteran’s Inc. Food Bank. Our NER Treasurer, Robert Jacobsen, was the driving force behind this event and many local businesses came together to make it happen. This instance capped off a great season of cars and coffee event at LalaJava in Northboro, MA this season. 182 pounds of food was donated to the food bank which is especially important as we move into the holiday season. Many thanks to Robert and to all who attended the event and donated food to a great cause.
Our last tech session of the 2017 season was hosted by NER member, master technician, and driving instructor Justin Becker of South Shore Autoworks of Kingston, MA. Comprised of 36 NER and a few NCR members, the meeting room was standing-room-only. For over two hours, Justin fielded questions from the group and never wavered or was stumped. Thanks to Justin and his team and to all who attended.
Here is the story from fellow NER member Kevin Joeckel:
It was a standing-room-only crowd at the October 7th PCA NER Tech Session graciously hosted by South Shore Autoworks of Kingston, MA. Following some club notes and an event schedule update from Glenn Champagne, owner and Master Technician Justin Becker took the floor and expertly fielded over two hours of questions that covered a wide range of subjects, to include:
The Infamous IMS Bearing
The “silent killer” of Porsche’s first water-cooled engine was an early topic of discussion. Justin discussed multiple approaches to confronting the issue, from magnetic oil drain plugs to oil-fed replacement bearings. Note: South Shore Autoworks is an LN Engineering Preferred Replacement Shop.
M96 Cam Chain Wear Pads
The M96 has another silent killer, but this issue is easily diagnosed with Porsche compatible test equipment. Porsche used hard plastic wear pads to cushion the chains controlling the variable timing assembly in these engines. These pads will gradually wear through and should be replaced before the chain tears into the fragile and expensive timing solenoid. The good news: the chain pads themselves are inexpensive. The bad news: replacement requires partially dropping the engine. It’s a big job…around 20 hours of labor, but once completed, you’re home free for many, many carefree miles. The key takeaway: drive it hard folks. The solenoid “unlocks” above 4,000 rpm and relieves chain pressure on the pads, so don’t be afraid to keep those revs high.
Oil
Questions and discussion included preferred oils for heavy track use, viscosity, synthetic vs. regular, and preferred oil change frequency.
Tim Lahey and his son, Kyle, a future PCA club racer!
The New MA State Inspection
Few things inspire as much horror in the heart of a Porsche owner than drilling holes in a pristine front bumper. Sadly, the dreaded front license plate is now a requirement, and there was some great discussion on plate mounting options and a flurry of questions concerning test procedures. After careful consideration, South Shore Autoworks has elected to opt out of providing MA state inspections so they can better focus on their customers repair, upgrade, and track prep needs.
Alignment and Corner Balancing
South Shore’s massive Hunter alignment rig served as the backdrop for the question and answer session, and Justin provided a guided tour of this technological marvel, as well as a description of the process of corner-balancing a vehicle to optimize track performance. South Shore specializes in track preps, and as a PCA DE Instructor, Justin can tap a wealth of experience to help you build your very own track-day weapon.
Following the question and answer session, guests were invited to wander the shop floor which allowed an opportunity to view a truly extraordinary range of Porsche hardware, from a gorgeous deep red 356 to an awe-inspiring 991 Turbo in Graphite Blue on the Hunter alignment rack. Porsche’s of all flavors occupied every bay of this busy shop. The sheer variety offered a testament to the skill and knowledge of Justin and his dedicated team of technicians. Many thanks to Justin and everyone at South Shore Autoworks for a fantastic PCA Tech Session!
And thank you, Kevin, for helping us get this information to the rest of the membership!!
https://porschenet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/IMG_4744-jpg.webp7861200Sterling Vernonhttps://porschenet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NERegionVectorLogo-siteicon.pngSterling Vernon2017-10-10 10:17:192017-10-10 10:49:53Getting Technical At South Shore Autoworks
On Sunday, October 8, it all came together. Over 500 people converged on the track at Palmer Motorsports Park to enjoy a really fun day with great cars, awesome parade laps on the track, and great people – “Porsche On The Mountain” sponsored by Porsche of Norwell. All this despite a sudden downpour and major winds at 8:30 am that morning threatening everything that many people had worked hard to arrange.
By all measures, especially considering this was the first time this event has been held, it was a huge success. It isn’t just about the numbers – which easily beat our conservative estimates. It was the smiles of the people at the event. It was the general happiness that was clearly on display. Those are the real measures of success.
Spectacular race car – top notch restoration
It’s funny to reflect on the fact that we didn’t have long to pull all this together. The first materials started coming together in late July. That’s barely more than two months to get the word out, figure out the logistics of the event, what we would be doing, and how it would all work. Al Sandy from Palmer worked tirelessly to promote the event, gather sponsors, create custom trophies, herd us NER cats so that we lived up to our end of the bargain, and generally create something far bigger than most of us could have imagined at first.
It is a true testament to the intestinal fortitude of Al and folks like John Dunkle and Glenn Champagne that this event not only came together, but defied the weather to become something people will remember. It sure helps to have an amazing track to drive on all day. Even at parade lap speeds, it is a very exciting ride. I was in my 1973 Porsche 914 on stock-sized skinny tires and I’ll tell you that coming down through Turn 7 at full throttle – and this car is often full-throttle due to lack of grunt – was a very exciting place to be! And yet another very special moment where I had my son by my side – this time for his first ride on a major race track.
Another amazing father-son-bonding-moment: first time for him on the track! (thanks, John Dunkle!)
Palmer, and Al, specifically, were incredibly generous to invite Homes For Our Troops, our club charity, to be the beneficiaries of a big portion of the entry fees [update: this event raised $3,000 for Homes For Our Troops!! – an absolutely outstanding performance!]. Melanie, their representative, had her son, Dillon, with her at the event. It was a very happy moment for me to offer the 914 to Dick Anderson, our president, to give Dillon a ride on the track, likely his first time on a race track as well. This was perhaps the best way I can think of to use a Porsche.
I also greatly enjoyed seeing the number of kids who climbed into the shiny, new Porsche GT3 Powerwheels car that we brought to the track with generous help from Ron Savenor. Many kids had a blast spinning the tires and getting hands on with a vehicle at a type of event where they typically can look but can’t touch – a very hard thing for kids. Ron didn’t miss a beat agreeing to help facilitate this as soon as he heard the idea.
I met Tom who introduced me to Abby, his daughter. Abby only has her learner’s permit. But she has already purchased her first Porsche 944 and is doing all the work on it herself! I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see young people get into this brand, 944’s specifically (great cars), and join our family. It’s an absolute pleasure to be in a family like this. Abby, you are phenomenal!
Abby bought this car before she has her full driving license. And she’s doing the work herself to fix it up and keep it going. Abby is awesome.
Al even thought of our furry visitors and had biscuits available for them. My daughter loved being able to facilitate the process of helping dogs make those biscuits disappear.
The staff at Palmer worked really hard in ways that most of us will never see. Porsche of Norwell embraced this event from the outset and very generously provided a huge amount of advertising support – not to mention bringing new Porsches to the event – for participants to try out!! Imagine your first Porsche test drive happens on a race track (at reasonable speeds and safely, of course)!! Our NER volunteers also put in great effort to bring this event to fruition. All of our regions in Zone 1 helped to promote the event as well as many of our regional sponsors and friends in the business. The fun that everyone had made every bit of it worthwhile.
Yet another fast Anderson!
We’re already looking forward to next year and will soon be learning from our missteps and building upon our successes. We thank all of you who braved the weather and came out to enjoy the day. Your smiles and your happiness are what all of this is about. We’ll see you there next year. If not before. [visit the 2018 event page to learn more and sign up for the 2nd annual event!]
https://porschenet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/633FED85-5DEE-4975-9C54-DD60FBD6EEF8-jpeg.webp6001200Sterling Vernonhttps://porschenet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NERegionVectorLogo-siteicon.pngSterling Vernon2017-10-09 23:34:082018-05-04 11:09:18Camaraderie on the Mountain
I’m sure you’ve heard of Max Hoffman, legendary Austrian-American initial importer of Porsche cars to the United States, successful agitator for the Speedster concept directly with Porsche, for the Gullwing Mercedes 300SL concept with Mercedes, and primary importer of many other automotive brands to the US. Oddly, aside from his induction in the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2003, of course, his legacy has been largely uncelebrated. Until now.
Max Hoffman memorabilia display
On Sunday, October 1, 2017, organizers created an event called “Driven to America”, held at the Max Hoffman Center in Muttontown, NY to celebrate Mr. Hoffman’s mark on Porsche, specifically via the air-cooled rendition of our iconic marque. Being the first event of this sort, it was hard to know what to expect. Would it be the East Coast Luftgekuhlt? Or would it be a history-oriented cars-and-coffee type of event that required some of us to buy hotel rooms? Would it be a mind-blowing assembly of automotive hardware or a tepid collection of familiar models? There were no reliable predictions. But hopes were high.
I had a family event in CT Saturday evening, so I knew I’d be at least headed in the right direction to make it to Long Island. But it was still going to be a logistical challenge. Josh P., who you know from his stellar Luftgekuhlt article, was headed down to experience this and I desperately wanted to join him this time, after castigating myself for missing the big trip to LA. I cleared my plan with my better half – I would attend the event with my 10yo son while she attended to our daughter back in RI (no mean feat due to the iron will of my 7yo). I booked a room in Syosset, NY so we could roll in Saturday night from CT and be up early for Sunday’s show.
When I went to register for the show, I had to select the car I was bringing to secure a spot – but the selections allowed only cars from between 1953 and 1998 – the air-cooled cars – to be chosen. I had planned to bring my water-cooled 997. Suddenly that was not an option. I’d have to dig deeper into my automotive bag of tricks. My only air-cooled car, a ‘73 914 1.7 in Phoenix Rally Red (orange, with German humor applied), had been in storage for almost a full year. I had no idea what state it would be in after that. But, of course, I’d pull it out and drive it 350 miles in a weekend. Why wouldn’t I? I called my car storage facility and they got my car sprung and ready, meaning they started it and put some air in the tires. I decided an oil change and general look-over at German Motors in Providence would be prudent. Dennis, the lead mechanic there, was a huge help as usual. Overall the car didn’t need much – a miraculous thing in a 44-year-old car.
The drive to CT was pleasant enough. Not much foliage yet, but the rolling hills of northeastern CT are fun enough as is. The party at my sister’s house in West Hartford was lovely. My 17yo nephew drove his ‘68 Dodge – good guy. So we got a good picture with him and my stepfather, who formerly owned a lovely little Jaguar E-type in British racing green.
My son and I calculated a 10pm ETA in Syosset and hit the road from CT. Traffic was pretty light and soon enough we crossed the Throg’s Neck (we called it “Frog’s Breath” as kids) Bridge and soon were on the LIE. Just before 10pm we rolled into the lovely Comfort Inn.
The morning alarm was unwelcome but we got moving along and packed up. After a quick bite at the hotel, we fired up the cold, sleepy 914 again. No problem. Wow. It was 11 minutes to get to the site according to Waze. Only, Waze actually took us to a golf course nearby first. A lovely early 911 targa was just as lost with us there and we worked together to get the correct extra mile down the road to the Max Hoffman Center. As we rolled in, we got into a line of phenomenal cars, mostly old 911’s. In an early taste of NY attitude, the guy in front of us couldn’t be bothered to wait in line and waved insistently that he should be let through immediately even though there was no room for him to get by. Gotta love NY.
We quickly got parked up on the “promenade” next to a green 914-6 and remained one of two 914’s at the event for some time. Two more eventually showed up but one quickly left, seemingly after not getting an instant offer for the full $97k asking price posted in it’s window.
It was not even 8am yet and there were a decent number of show cars on display. The weather was a bit chilly and stiff in the shadows. But the DJ was squeezing as many decibels out of his system as it seemingly would allow, perhaps in an attempt to heighten the festive feeling. It was difficult to converse at first. My son and I surveyed the cars near us – many of the G-bodied cars and 993s in every imaginable hue, Josh and Nicole’s among them. Then we moved closer to the house and found an odd pairing of a lovely 930 in silver in front of a Porsche Diesel Junior tractor in red. Both were pristine and highly visual feasts for the eyes. I struggled to conceptualize the juxtaposition but enjoyed the view just the same. After passing a few lovely 356’s standing at attention guarding the rear “great lawn” we found the heart of the show.
There was an oddly-bright, blue pool set in the center of the “great lawn” with two plastic swans swimming on the light breezes. Around this pool were the treasures. A row of silver and chalk and red 356s of all sorts. Speedsters in abundance. A couple of Continentals. Racing cars – a 917, 910-014 which came third overall in the 1967 Targa Florio with Vic Elford and Jochen Neerpasch at the helm, , 908, 993’s and 964s. Sprinkled among them was a red 959, Singer re-imagined 911, g-Programm 911s, brightly colored 70’s Carreras, and a lawn of 993 Turbo S’s, flachblau’s, and simply lovely air cooled machines. Two purple ones. Different shades of purple even.
With the spectacular house behind them, the funny, oval pool inhabited by faux fowl, and the variegated car colors, it was a picture of marketing triumph.
How to travel in style
As the day wound on, we made our way to the “Porsche parking” right in front of the house to see the Metro NY Martini-livery motorhome surrounded by 997 GT2 RS’s, 997 GT3 RS’s, and plenty of 991’s, GT4’s, some 944’s, and Caymans, Boxsters, and even some 718s. This area filled quickly. Parked right outside the entry to the house was a 991 GT3, a 918 Spyder, and a Maclaren. That area soon swapped the Maclaren for another 918 that then again traded spots for a different Maclaren. Lamborghini Huracan’s had to go park in the cheap seats as there was no room for their types.
There was a nice display of pictures of the Max Hoffman showroom in Manhattan and of Mr. Hoffman himself. He was very successful but had no children to pass his legacy on. He left his estate to his wife. When she passed, the money went to his secretary. She decided to buy and restore the estate that is now known as the Max Hoffman Estate, even though he really had nothing to do with the property in his lifetime.
As we planned our route home and made final preparations for the drive, we ran across Magnus Walker who had just arrived at the show. I showed him the way to “the good ones” and he wisely replied, “they are all good ones.” True, that. I let him know that if he saw a humble, little 914 that it was ours and said our goodbyes. After use of the facilities we made it back toward our car and Magnus hadn’t made it too far, so we asked him for a photo and again thanked him. We packed our items and Magnus again was near. He came by to check out our car and we had a good chat. My son showed Magnus his picture with Jay Leno and Magnus was shocked that Jay wasn’t in his usual denim uniform enough to ask where the photo was taken. It was fun to tell him about the Audrain Museum in Newport and their unique preservation mission. You might think celebrities to be moving all too quickly through life, but Magnus even noticed my Racemark steering wheel and commented on my Porsche Design watch as we parted. His eye is very astute, indeed. My brief encounter with him was a strong indication to me that he’s good people.
My son gets “Turbo Fever” with Magnus Walker
We checked the ferry schedule and realized it was a no-go based on timing, so we again trundled down the LIE and over the Throg’s Neck, basking in a perfect fall New England day. The traffic on 95 all the way up the CT shore and into RI was pleasantly merciful most of the way. Traveling in an open (or targa-topped car, in our case) is a special way to travel. You get to use a sense that usually lies dormant – smell. Olfactory awareness is a highly underrated enjoyment in life. As we passed through New Haven, first we smelled the salt of the ocean as it crept up close to the highway. Then we got a good dose of the cooking meats and frying dough from the food trucks lining the waterfront park. It ended with a chemical and sharp smell of propane before we could even visually spot the large, white cylindrical storage tanks at the east end of the city. Many towns offered interesting scents for us to analyze, comment on, and laugh about. My son napped for a bit of the ride with the lulling sound of a flat-four, wind, and road noise ensuring a constantly soothing thrum in his ears. I looked over hoping to remember that image for the rest of my life.
We made it home just before dinner after three and a half hours of driving and two hundred miles. All that from a car that sat, waiting patiently for a full year just to feel the fall sunlight upon her bonnet. She isn’t fast. She isn’t easy to drive. But she is the only thing worth driving on days like that. Hat’s off to you, Max, for a job well done.
We wholeheartedly thank David Jacobson, owner of Collector Car Showcase and organizer of this whole event. Special thanks too to our neighbor region – Metro NY PCA – for staffing the event with a small army of friendly volunteers. I met Dan, the president of Metro NY, just after he had met Magnus and he was very friendly and helpful. And thanks to Chuck Bernstein, VP of Metro NY, for letting us know who helped pull it all together!
https://porschenet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/driven-to-america-2017_L1020593-jpg.webp6451200Sterling Vernonhttps://porschenet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NERegionVectorLogo-siteicon.pngSterling Vernon2017-10-02 18:18:372018-06-11 18:23:24Driven To America – A Roll of the Dice
The Northeast Region enjoyed spectacular weather for our end-of-season three-day event at Palmer Motorsports Park. We saw record attendance at this event with 170 cars (!!!) and over 180 drivers! That is absolutely incredible by any standard of measurement. And lest you think all those cars might cause congestion out on track – the organizers were right on top of it, making us all practice our “exercises” (point by to the left…point by over the roof to the right…repeat…) before hitting the track on Saturday morning.
Speaking of teaching and practicing, we were lucky to once again have Lee Carpentier, pro driver and coach, to instruct many of the run groups during the course of the weekend. Lee’s sessions, with content tailored for each run group he addresses, helps us all improve in his very cheerful and humorous style. Lee also spent a lot of right-seat time with our instructors, helping to make sure we are all at our best.
As yet another special educational experience, Dr. Andy Kaufman, a PCA member from Syracuse (but a Boston guy to us since he went to MIT), a forensic psychiatrist, and coach to many performance athletes and business leaders, gave memorable and fascinating sessions about how to prime one’s brain for high performance driving by focusing on the mental side of performance using cognitive science. He focused on the two main stumbling blocks many of us face while high-performance-driving: focus and confidence. His qualifications and teaching experience (SUNY Syracuse) allow for a much deeper dive into the workings of the mind than might be typically covered by most coaches. Dr. Kaufman is mentored by Dr. Jacques Dallaire, author of some fascinating books about mental performance and coach to folks like Helio Castroneves and Patrick Dempsey from his office at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Dr. Kaufman led a session for the White run group on Friday and one for our advanced drivers and instructors on Saturday. He taught them “the three R’s” for maintaining focus and reducing possible anxiety. What are those three R’s? Luckily we’ll all be able to learn more about them next season as our head of DE, John Dunkle, has asked Dr. Kaufman to team up with Lee Carpentier next year to begin to develop some NER-specific programming. We’re blazing a trail in this area and yext year is going to be even better. Our DE team is really putting the “E” (education) back in “DE”. And the kicker – Andy lost third gear in his GT4 during the first session on Friday but stayed with us and did a great job. We hope his car is back out there soon.
If all that weren’t enough already, we had a live auction on Saturday after the track went cold and raised over $1,000 for Homes for our Troops by auctioning Porsche swag donated by Norbert Martel. The one item John Dunkle, auctioneer, wanted for himself – a 1/18 scale 2.7 RS – went for some serious money. We had a lot of laughs that evening.
Many thanks to all the people who came out for the event and huge thanks to the team that pulled it together and to South Shore Autoworks, the event sponsor. It really was a grand finale!
For anyone who wants to check out the track and see some great cars, don’t miss the big Porsche-only show, swap-meet, exhibition at Palmer on October 8th. You’ll even have a chance to drive the track (at parade speeds) to get a feel for how amazing it is. Come join us for what looks to be another great event!
John D. runs the auction in first-class style. But is a bit upset when the item he wanted was bid up a bit high. Great for our charity, Homes for our Troops – not so good for John!
Bill S. has formed his own run group.
Huge thanks to our event sponsor, Justin Becker and his South Shore Autoworks!
Surely they are discussing the finer points of the line around Palmer’s track.
https://porschenet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/palmer-ner-finale-pca-2017_P9230176-jpg.webp7141200Sterling Vernonhttps://porschenet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NERegionVectorLogo-siteicon.pngSterling Vernon2017-09-27 13:58:112017-09-27 13:58:11Fall Finale At Palmer
[ story and photos by Anker Berg-Sonne ] What better way to spend a weekend than threading your Porsche around cones at the Moore airfield in Ayer? Add to that the perfect weather of the 2017 PCA Zone 1 autocross, run by NCR and chaired by Joe Kraetsch. A total of 78 participating drivers from Green Mountain (1 driver), Niagara (1 driver), Northern New Jersey (1 driver), Connecticut Valley (3 drivers), Hudson Champlain (15 drivers), Metropolitan New York (16 drivers), North Country (17 drivers), and Northeast (23 drivers) competed for the region team trophy. Hudson Champlain was the best dressed team with matching T shirts.
Saturday the course was laid out to run counter clockwise as a fairly technical course with some tricky sections. The ones causing the most trouble for drivers were an offset slalom with 5 cones, all with double pointers, and a V box with two clam shells bracketing it. Each of the two run groups got 5 runs morning and afternoon. At the end of the day North Country was in the lead with 80 points. After the Saturday session there was a barbecue at the Springhill Suites.
Sunday started out with heavy fog that made the new course – this time going counter clockwise – difficult to see for the early course walkers. The tricky sections were retained, but this time in the opposite direction, and a new one was added on the main runway with a sharp left around a cone shortly before getting to the offset slalom. The final section was initially laid out to be an almost straight run to the timing gate, but was modified to slow it down after the safety inspection. In order to get visitors on the road at a decent hour the decision was made to run just one group in the morning and switch over lunch to the other group.
You would have thought all drivers would have figured out the tricky sections carried over from Saturday, but they still vexed several drivers. Jeff Johnson managed to hit cones in the offset slalom in four out of his 6 Sunday runs. Partway through the afternoon session Neil Halbert’s cooling fan decided to chew through a cooling hose, which put his 944 out of the action for at least one run. Fortunately he was able to get a spare from another driver so he could drive it home.
At the award ceremony at the end of the day North Country took the trophy with Northeast in second place. Trophies taken by Northeast members were in IO1 1st for Mark Skala in IO1 in his blue 1970 914-6, and 2nd for Bill Aubion in his 1984 black 944; in P1 1st for John Goudreau in his silver 1973 914; in P3 1st Adam Small in his bronze 1984 911, and 2nd Robert Canter in his black 1984 911; in P4 1st, Nick Durham in his black 1991 911 C4, and 3rd Georges Rouhart in his black 1993 968; in P6 Robert Galejs in his black 2014 Cayman S; in P7 2nd Chris Lindquist in his white 2009 Carrera S; in S1 1st Adam Blauer in his gray 1994 968, and 3rd Jim Fox in his white 1994 964; in S2 4th Anker Berg-Sonne in his silver 2004 Boxster S; in S3 2nd Jeff Johnson in his gray 2009 Cayman S, and 4th Chris Doty in his gray 2014 Cayman; and in S4 4th Alan Davis in his blue 2015 911 GT3. Looks like NER will have to do better in S2, S3 and S5 classes to beat NCR next time.
Personally I had a great weekend. I have new rubber on the rears after finally, and gladly, wearing the old HTR IIs down to the wear strips. The new rubbers are HTR IIIs, not ideal AX rubber, but a fair compromise as long as I only have one set of rims. In spite of the tires and the nut behind the wheel, I ended up with a fourth place in S2. Even beyond the compromised tires, I know there are several more seconds to gain with more practice. I am having a lot of trouble with tight turns and need some instructor help with those. I feel good about my slalom performance and getting the wheels where I want them, maybe even getting a bit too close. On both of my fastest runs I hit a cone and had those times ruined. I do hope to find a set of 17” Boxster rims before next season that I can put 200 wear tires on for AX and DE.
FUNTOY, the 2004 Boxster S that my wife and I bought exactly a year ago, has been a wonderful car, great on the track and around cones, but also a joy to drive around with the top down. We even took a trip up to the Nova Scotia and PEI that added another 5K miles to the 104K that the car had on it when we bought it. It is amazing that a 100K-mile-plus, 12-year-old car can be in such great shape. This is my first year autocrossing with NER and it has been a blast. I am getting to know and finally learning the names of the regulars at our events. The AX school at the start of the season was terrific and the instructors have been extremely helpful.
I took a large number of photos that you can peruse at http://tinyurl.com/y9oaq8w2 and http://tinyurl.com/yddzogl6
The Northeast Region Board has voted to make major changes to the way that our club communicates with the membership. The key elements of the new approach include renaming the position of “Newsletter Editor” to “Communications Chair,” streamlining communications by integrating website/outbound emails/social media, and eliminating the monthly printed Nor’Easter after the December 2017 issue.
Why did we do this?
New features. We have been receiving a lot of positive comments on the updated website (thanks Sterling!). We are going to make it better by utilizing more advanced features available only online that can connect us and keep the information more up-to-date. We look forward to your feedback and thoughts on how to make it work best for you.
More accurate information. Due to the inherent lag in print communication there have been occasions when the Nor’Easter had outdated information causing confusion. Some articles have been on the website, not the Nor’Easter, and vice versa.
Use of new technology. Like an article that is now online? Forward it or share it. Like a picture? Download it!
Better use of our resources. The Nor’Easter costs $36,000 a year to print and mail. We can use this money to offer new events (a summer picnic is planned for 2018), reduce fees, and increase our charitable donations. Additionally, designing the layout of the magazine and working to get it printed uses a significant amount of volunteer effort – effort that our current editor has graciously performed for the past seven years and roughly 80 editions (thanks Adrianne!) !
What will the new communications look like?
Monthly emails will continue as in the past. If you are not receiving these, please make sure that PCA National has your current email – our emails go to you through them to protect your privacy. Email Sterling ([email protected]) if you need any help updating your information with national.
Improved website. Take a minute and look at the website now. You will see 6 tabs right now. Here’s what you’ll find under each of these tabs…
Home – this contains the latest news from our club and other articles of interest to our membership. Scroll down and read what interests you. And there is a sidebar for upcoming events.
Events – this displays the full calendar of all future events with links to complete information for each event.
Activities – this contains the information you need about each of the club’s activities. Want to be a concours judge? Need a DE tech form? Need to look up your autocross class? Find it here.
The Nor’Easter – we are looking to evolve this into more of a “month-at-a-time” report of the club’s activities, imitating, in some ways, the current, printed version and presented in magazine format. It will include write-ups/pictures of the previous month’s club events, the columns written by board members and articles of interest to the members. For the comfort of those used to the printed version, it will have links to the calendar and general information. Each month a new “issue” will appear and the old one will be archived, as has been done since 2007.
The Mart – online classifieds. Sell cars. Sell parts. Share info about shops and services. Help us keep it constantly up-to-date.
Information – as before, board members, committee chairs, by-laws, contact info, how to help by volunteering.
And an improvement we are working on: member to member communications. It is not yet worked out completely but this aims to allow two way communications between the club and its membership and between members themselves. Need advice on autocross? Post it here. Looking for a part or a repair shop? Same. Want to meet up with others to go to an event? Let everyone know.
What happens to my subscription?
We are very thankful to all those who have current subscriptions to the Nor’easter. We would like to donate the subscription money received after June 30, 2017 to Homes For Our Troops, our club charity. If you subscribed during this period and would prefer a direct refund, please let us know and we’ll be happy to help you. All recurring subscriptions will be discontinued.
And please note that this is your club! We encourage your participation and engagement by submitting articles and providing feedback. We are all volunteers, like you, working to give you a better communications platform so please use it. Let us know what content you like about the current Nor’easter and how you use it so that we can make sure we build upon that success and history.
Halloween boo -boo?
Josh Perrault and Greg Newbert
Steve Ramponi’s F77
