Archive for year: 2021

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On the Road Again

With the recent coverage about modern cars, it’s time to renew our attachment to those loveable Tubs, which is the basis for these monthly columns. The very best way to do that is to get back on the road. So let’s take a drive to the Catskill Mountains in New York.

 As many know, the 356 Registry has groups all over the world, and many of them have annual events like the TYP356NE, the local New England region. One of the active groups is FOG, or the Florida Owners Group. Every other year they organize what is called the Helen, GA Drive. Helen is a town set up back in the ’60s with a German theme to attract tourists after the lumber industry died. Touches of Bavaria are everywhere, and a local road is Rt 356.

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 A group of us have made the run down to the north Georgia mountains four times now. There are BBQs, swap meets, and lots of drives on mountain roads (like Tail of the Dragon), all in a low-key, run what you have brung atmosphere.  Collecting more Tubs while passing through NJ, PA, and Maryland made for a great caravan. Over the years, we have talked about having the same sort of event up north on alternate years.

Since 2020 was an open year, a few of us started planning back in 2019 and found a great location near Catskill, NY, a German resort from the ’50s that was still operating. It is called Riedlbauers Resort, has over 50 rooms, a banquet hall, and is surrounded by Porsche roads that run all over the Catskills. Brother Bill set about designing drives for the group, and a couple of guys drove over from New Jersey to take an onsite look.  

 It looked like a go, and the wheels started turning, but we all know what happened to the summer of 2020. Everything was put on hold.

This year is the Helen Drive again, but we’re gearing up for 2022, which will be called the Catskill Treffen.  Given the time available, it was decided that we should all gather at the Resort in Round Top, NY, to do a recon weekend. The end of July looked good for everyone and a couple of guests, so the Tubs were gassed up and pointed to the woods. By now, one of our group was voted in as a Registry Trustee, so we even had a VIP in our midst.

I decided that – rain or shine – the Speedster was going. The convertible top is still in the garage loft, but as many know, I’ve been wet before. I’ve had that car for 45 years, and my brother has had his for 55 years. In all those years, they have only been together a few times. My restoration was finished in 1999 and his in 2010. When he had his car at the last few Helen drives, I had the Puddle Jumper. When he drove his Speedster to the NJ holiday, I took a ’65 SC I had at the time. It was time that they got together again. 

The weather forecast looked iffy the first travel day, but the following three days looked perfect, so Jeff Leeds and I took off on the Mass Pike after rush hour. There were only a few sprinkles until we got past the Lee exit, and then the sky opened. Thank goodness for overpasses. The first one available was filled with two large black Suburbans, but just a couple miles further, there was space.

The rain only lasted about 30 minutes and then it was only another hour to the resort. Bill and Bev had come in the day before, so the two Speedsters posed for a photo opportunity in front of the main building.

The resort includes breakfast, but unlike the big chains like Super 8 or Hampton Inn, they serve only sit down, and it starts at 8:30 am. Only. Did I mention it was a family-owned German resort? There are eggs any way you want them, bacon, sausage, and two kinds of cereal. A pitcher of orange juice, coffee, and milk was on each table. They also alternate French toast and pancakes, but they don’t serve both on the same day, so if you want pancakes, it better be the right day. Everyone working there seems to really like what they’re doing, and the place has a really nice family feel to it. The family owners can be seen clearing tables and serving food when needed.  Dinner is similar, and the menu is posted, so you know what to pick. It’s all served family-style with plenty of bread and butter on every table. 

The bar has a great vibe with lots of German beer on tap, and Johnny and Jack are there too, our kind of place. There’s even a Juke Box that plays 45 rpm records, period-correct, of course.

We drove two of the tours that Bill had laid out, with the one on Sat ending at a small airfield with an airshow in the afternoon. The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome has  8-9 operating biplanes that put on a great show. One of the oldest that was flying was a 1911 Curtiss Pusher Model D. 

Short rides are offered in an open cockpit biplane which Bill and I jumped into. It flew at a speed that our Tubs would’ve seen in third gear and went over the Hudson River, doing a couple of sharp turns to get back to the grassy runway.

The show lasted almost 2 hours, and they do it every weekend in the summer, both Sat and Sun. Big crowd, lots of kids, and great fun. They even had a separate parking spot for us near the runway so we could be part of the show.

Another driving tour took us over some great Porsche roads and to the first round barn I’ve ever seen. We took a group shot to be used next year to promote the event, but when word gets out what a great area the Catskills are, I don’t think we’ll have a problem filling all the rooms.

Blackie ran great all weekend, made a lot of noise, and posed for photos when returning home on the Mass Pike. Somewhere around Exit 2 (now Exit 27? What?), one cylinder became part-time and only came to life under full throttle. I, of course, completely overthought the problem and had everything from a clogged main jet to an out-of-time distributor as the cause. I didn’t want to stop because it was running well enough to keep up with traffic, and stopping on the Pike has its own set of problems. It is classified as a restricted road and is not covered by AAA. If you must be towed, the State Police will send a tow truck that will tow you to the nearest exit, where you can then call AAA. The State Police contract says the nearest exit is $256 away. No wonder they show up so fast. Don’t ask me how I know that.

That ride gave me two hours to worry about what the problem could be. When I got home, it was lunchtime, so I let Blackie cool off, had a bite, and then jumped into the engine bay. I pulled the carb main jets first, they were clean, then checked the timing with a static light, and it was fine. I was going to pull the spark plugs to see if one was faulty, and the first one I reached for was number 3. The plug connector was just lying in the hole near the plug but not connected. I certainly don’t know how it came loose because nobody had been in the engine compartment except me, and it ran great all weekend. It also ran strong under full throttle, which doesn’t make sense if one plug wire was off.

I can only assume that Blackie was having such a great time in the Catskill Mountains playing with his friends that he didn’t want to go home.  These old cars are like that, trust me. The more you drive them, the better they run. Until it’s time to go home? – KTF

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NER Special Autocross Event Report

NER Autocross Special Event   August 15th, 2021

NER held a special event geared to give novices a chance to come and try out autocross, meet some of the “regulars,” and see what it’s all about. The event was held instead of our normal “Autocross School,” which we usually do at the beginning of the season. As they have done with the school for years, Conway Motorsports sponsored the event.

We had 50 people sign up, and 27 of them were novices. We had a bunch of parent/child dual drivers, and one family brought four people (father, mother, son, and family friend), all sharing Dad’s Boxster. Now that they are all into autocross, they definitely need to get another Porsche! So, we achieved our goal of attracting the newbies … the trick was to give them a chance to try out autocross and come away with a good taste in their mouths for the sport.

We set up two separate courses and divided them into three run groups so that folks would end up spending most instead of half their time driving and less time out working the course. One course was timed and the other untimed. The untimed course was used as an exercise course allowing drivers to get a good feel for some of the basic autocross elements like slaloms, gates, clamshells through repetitive runs through the course. The timed course allowed everyone to gauge their own improvement throughout the day or against their favorite autocross buddy – regardless of class. The experienced drivers spent most of their time jumping in to instruct the novices, but they managed to get a few runs of their own in as well as give the novices some thrilling rides to give them an idea of what can be done with these cars.

Because we set up two courses in separate areas of the airfield, the courses were up and back arrangements like would be done if autocrossing in a parking lot. The timed course also featured two switchback elements which, in hindsight, may have proved to be a bit too complex for the novices – in fact, it proved to be tough for many of the experienced drivers as well! But it did teach people the importance of learning a complex course – a skill which will undoubtedly come in handy in the future.

The Club sprang for a Pizza lunch as we normally do at our Autocross School, and people had a chance to socialize while taking a break in the middle of the day. After lunch, it was back to the track(s) where people kept driving until after 4:30. Between the two courses, folks got a lot of seat time in, and even though it was all fun, many were ready to call it a day by then.

The timing results from the main course are posted below and will remain up on our live timing site at https://porschenet.com/autocross/results_live.htm until our next event on September 4th. Photos from the event taken by Anker Berg-Sonne have also been posted to the website and our Facebook page. Thanks to all the new people who came out to try AX and to the veterans who spent most, if not all their day instructing and helping the novices have fun.

 

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2021 NER Summer Party Recap

On August 1st, 200+ of your fellow club members, friends, and family came out to Wachusett Mountain for our 4th annual NER PCA summer party. We could not have asked for better weather; it was the perfect summer afternoon to enjoy a ride on the ski lift up to the summit, chill by the band, have a tasty BBQ lunch, check out the robotics demo, and mosey through the car show.

PCANER 2021 Summer Party

 

21 NER Summer Party Robots

 

The lawn was filled with Porsches of all shapes, sizes, and colors, and our sponsor Porsche Norwell came through, as they always do, with a wide-ranging display of models from a gorgeous 1976 930 Turbo, a Taycan, and a paint-to-sample Arrow Blue Cayman GT4. Attendees voted on their favorite cars (or SUVs), and we’re proud to report the following winners in each class:

Class

First Place

Second Place

Third Place

911/912 74-89

Charlie Padula

Pat Mansfield

Ed Grogan

964/993

Tim Coonihan

Steven Howitt

 

996/997

Laurie Holman

Constantine Tsivelekidis

Robert Weisenbloom

991/992

Clement Napolitano

Mazzola, Colin

Tie: Bob Siegel / Varun Sara

Boxter/Cayman

Derek Mulligan

Chris Landry

Ed Moschella

924/944/968/928

Maddox Kay

 

 

Macan/Cayenne/Panamera

Virginia Young

Peter LaPine

 

 

PCA NER Summer Party Winners

Turning our attention to Cornhole Corner, we received a special report from our local correspondent, Bill Seymour:

There was plenty of sports excitement in the ever-unpopular Cornhole Contest. A thin field of only seven two-person teams entered for the Qualifying round. The pre-race favorite team “1920-1983” (ask Luis how he came up with that name as I have no idea) faltered badly, and “1983 Targa” (Brian Leonard and Tony O’Toole) also failed to get out of Quali. Two teams tied with 15 points and were set to have a “play-in” – “LOL – PDK” (Mike Cioffi and Andrew Quinn – both of Porsche Norwell) and High Fructose (Owen and Mitchell Coonahan) when it was determined that two of the qualifiers were not in attendance. 90% of success is showing up. (OK, maybe the event organizers didn’t do a good job of communicating exactly when the finals would take place.) >>>So that’s how he weaseled his way into the finals. I went on a ski lift ride with my girlfriend and came back to a smirking Bill Seymour who ended up “winning the tournament” Am I salty? Yes, a little bit. Will I come back next year with a vengeance? – you better believe it, but next year it’s me against you, Bill – the rivalry remains  (Luis).

In any event, that bid adieu to Tequila Takillya (I hope I’m spelling that right, but the players were Rob Stanley and Nikki Sanders) and “Need A Partner” (Tim Coonahan and Jay Landry – the latter being the Parts Manager at Porsche Norwell). The top qualifier, “Electrons” (Michael Cardinale and Cyril Bernard) did make the start line. Lacking a fourth team to fill out the grid, a new team consisting of Brian Leonard (another Porsche Norwell) and Bill Seymour was formed as “The Replacements.”

In the semi’s “Electrons” squared off against “LOL – PDK” and played a heroic match that took forever because they invoked the rule that you had to hit 21 points exactly (going over puts you back at 11, according to this format). (Let the record show that the NER PCA Cornhole rulebook follows the more standard format as published here. “Electrons” lost and could have filed an appeal but did not do so in time.) In the other semi “High Fructose” jumped to a 16-1 lead, but then the beer kicked in, and “The Replacements” roared back to win. “The Replacements” stayed hot in the Finals and won. A good time was had by some, and the organizers are questioning whether next year this event should be replaced by Beer Pong.

 

NER Summer Party Cornhole Winners

 

Thanks to the tireless efforts of our membership chair and sim racing enthusiast Anker Berg-Sonne, as well as fellow members of the NER PCA facebook community who jumped in to help, guests had the chance to experience a full complement of sim racing technology. Two Sim Rigs were available to try for participants of every age. Both simulators were run at Lime Rock Park and solo practice with the Skip Barber Formula 2000. One was the loaner Sim Racing rig that is available to PCA members in the local region, and the other was generously provided by Erick Aubin and Cyril Bernard. For the adventurous and motion-sick resistant, we also had a VR headset to try out. Testers ranged in age from four to the ’80s. The youngest, a young lady aged four, impressed everyone by staying on track lap after lap. She did need help with accelerator and brake pedals; they were far out of reach for her. Since the Summer Party, the loaner rig has been upgraded and is now a full rig with a racing seat and a solid frame. It is easily disassembled and can be transported in a family car. Interested members can contact our Membership Chair, Anker Berg-Sonne, through email at [email protected] to arrange a loan. You will need to use your own PC that must be able to support iRacing. To test your PC for compatibility, go to http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/Client/iRacing/?apikey=dec37c7f-8819-45d4-94f2-f33cf0956712

 

NER Summer Part SIM Tests

 

At the end of the day, when things were winding down and cars were being packed up with the various supplies used throughout the event, I sat down to have a drink with the amazing volunteers that really made this event possible with their incredibly hard work. I can’t give enough thanks to this crew – you know who you are and you are very much appreciated!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will leave you with the photos and memories captured throughout the day by party-goers. Their thousand words tell a much better story than I possibly could. 

Enjoy!

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The Story of Two Porsche Neighbors

The Story of Two Porsche Neighbors

 

I grew up in Australia and lived with my parents in an apartment for the first 18 years of my life. My neighbor Albert who lives across the street from me, grew up in Hong Kong, also in an apartment. I tell this part of the story because, being two city boys, we were not accustomed to meeting and socializing with our neighbors. And so it was that it took ten years of living across the road from one another to finally discover that we both loved Porsches.

Our friendship began shortly after I returned one day in March of this year from a Cars and Coffee at South Shore Autoworks, where I had earlier acquired my new to me 2003 996 Turbo in late 2020.

My neighbor came running over to me as I stopped the car and introduced himself – Albert. He began to tell me a tale that was hard to believe. I should mention that before we had met, I had occasionally seen a car in his garage under a car cover that looked suspiciously like a Porsche in the color of guards red but just never thought about asking about it.

After introductions, Albert was excitedly questioning me about my Porsche knowledge and started to tell me the story. He had a 1987 944S that was purchased new and had been lightly driven for 14 years with just 17,000 miles on the clock and then had been sitting in his garage for over 20 years! Albert used to clean his car and do oil changes for the first couple of years of its slumber.

His first question was, did I know anyone who could bring his pride and joy back to life? While I have worked with several indie shops, the one that was foremost in my mind for this car was South Shore Autoworks because of my years of experience with Justin and his support of the club.

Another huge coincidence/benefit of living in our street is that we have a neighborhood towing service at our disposal right in our street. So, Albert arranged to flatbed his 944 to SSA.

Alberts 944 PCA NER

SSA did a full refresh, including battery, engine mounts, filters, cooling system, tires, A/C, and various hoses.

After a visit to be detailed at Driven Perfection, we drove to pick the car up, where I saw an old inspection sticker from 1999! I drove Albert’s car home for him since he had not driven a stick shift for nearly 20 years. Soon after, it was time to give Albert a few lessons in the parking lot, and then he was good to go! Do you know what they say? It’s like riding a bike – only 100 times better.

This car is so perfectly preserved. It still has the original Blaupunkt radio, and now I’m proud to say Albert is a member of PCA NER and has attended several events already.

Detailed 944S

The story will continue after I drove him in my Macan I think he is going to trade his BMW X5 on one; we’ll see. Porsche brought together two people from very different geographies and backgrounds. It’s the cars and the people.

Author: Mark Shane – Cars and Coffee Activity Chair

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The Dogs Of Tamworth

My longtime reader may recall a couple of columns that told the fictitious story of our dog Turbo and cat Gordo (RIP) participating in Autocross events. In point of fact, Turbo would probably be the least likely canine to have done so as he is a terrible car passenger. Rosemary believes this stemmed from an incident in his youth when I took him for a ride in a rental SUV.  Our minivan had been in an accident (not my fault!), and we were provided with a GMC Yukon.  I had no experience with a four-wheel-drive vehicle, so when it snowed one night, I took it out for a trail run and invited Turbo.  In two-wheel-drive, it fishtailed up a hill, but when switched to four-wheel drive, it powered up the hill as if it was dry.  Unfortunately, we then had to go down the other side of the hill, and four-wheel drive doesn’t help braking, and we slid (gently) through a T-intersection into a tree.  Turbo, unbelted in the passenger seat, met the windshield. Mind you that Turbo had often hit a tree with more force while chasing a squirrel, but it apparently got stuck in his dog brain permanently.  So now, when he is in a car, he is very agitated, pants rapidly, and refuses to lie down.  We have tried all kinds of drugs, including Benedryl, valium, and CBD oil which do cause him to lie down but don’t stop the panting and make him goofy when we get where we are going.  So Turbo is not a candidate to go to DE events.  But there were two very nice dogs at the recent NCR Tamworth event, and they appeared to enjoy themselves.  Dogs are allowed at DE –  of course, they must be leashed – and it is nice when whole families participate (Chris DeGrace had his kids there, for example).  Silver (my student’s dog) and Bruce were very well behaved and added to the fun.

                                                         

 

 

 

 

 

NCR put on another nice event, and I managed to get in 3 runs each day between the raindrops (open cockpit and no rain tires and no interest in tempting the fates).  I was slower than previous Tamworth efforts, which I attributed partially to a less sticky track but more to just inconsistent driving.  I struggle more at Tamworth than other tracks. I’m trying to get better with using brake markers, but my speed through turn one at Tamworth can vary by as much as ten mph.  Also, there are two different approaches (or at least I think there are) to the Turn 2A – 3 sequence, and I rarely get that to my satisfaction. Finally, the braver part of me says I should be flat from Turn 7 through 10, but my right foot doesn’t seem to buy into that.  (When I look at data, I’m at 1.5g and over 90mph, so my right foot may have a valid point.)  In any event, the 15-year-old SCCA wunderkind is 4-5 seconds faster than me in a similar car, so clearly, I’m leaving something on the table.

While I love the track at Tamworth, the infrastructure is lacking there and you are required to leave your trailer in an upper gravel parking lot to leave room for all the track cars in the paved lower lot. This makes for a hassle, particularly when it rains on and off. The good news is that the upper lot may be paved in time for the second NCR event later this year.  The other drawback to Tamworth is that the hotel accommodations are pricy and weak. Thanks to Kristin we were booked into a really cool Airbnb – a bit off the beaten path but very spacious – and it made for a nice social weekend.

                                                               

And bad news for the Jamaican Bakin’ Endurance race team.  We are still in the process of fitting the new motor as we wait for the oil cooler to come back from the cleaner (a fancy aircraft supplier outfit that gets all the little bits of metal out so we can reuse it) and wrestle with some electrical connector mismatches between the new wiring harness and old ECU. But the bad news is that the American Endurance Racing series in which we run changed the rules for next year and has outlawed cars with a power to weight ratio (Dave correctly points out that it should be called weight to power ratio) below 9.  Our old motor had 400hp which would have been OK with our 3,600lb car (with driver and fuel) but the new motor is capable of 500hp. That was $20,000 well spent!  [Editor’s note:  I redacted that – Rosemary might read your column, Bill.]  Our hope is that we can find an ECU tune that limits the horsepower, spreads it over a wide band, and produces lots of torque.  Broken Connecting RodWe also did more of an autopsy on the dead motor – the oil pump is fine, so it appears that either it dropped a valve or the connecting rod just failed.  Enjoy the pictures of the debris!

Finally, by the time you read this, we will have had the Summer Party.  I’m sure it was a blast, and I hope I did well in the Cornhole Contest.  Let the record show that I was the Cornhole winner at our own regular summer party, defeating one PCA board member while another PCA board member who talks a lot of trash was a no-show.

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July 18 – SoBo Coffee & Cars Report

With the threat of rain, it would be unlikely that we would have the numbers of P-cars we had last month. By 11 AM we had 27 Porsches parked on Sweet Berry’s lawn.

An early arrival was Kevin King, a member of the Space Coast PCA, which is located along the east coast of Florida, in Volusia, Brevard, and Indian River counties.  Kevin parked his first SUV (wanted all wheel drive), a 2015 Macan S, explaining his modifications: high performance air intake (from Flat 6 Motor Sports), COBB ECU tune, MBRP muffler removed (has a bark), Niche wheels, and painted red calipers. A driver, he purchased it with 33k miles, now at 65k.  Kevin also has a 2017 911.2 Carrera, and he and his girlfriend purchased a 2002 996 Carrera in 2015.

 

 My eyes focused next on a very original looking silver 928 S with a maroon interior.  Paul Mackin’s 86 ½ 928 S is a five-liter (four valves per cylinder) cruising machine currently logging 96k miles.  A Datsun enthusiast, one of his friends had it and recently offered to sell it. Paul’s first Porsche was a 924 that was sold to him on the cheap because of a rod knock.  With motor honey sloshing in the sump, he drove that 924 Porsche always close to home.  Paul says that “the 928 S ergo metrically fits me like a glove”.  Paul plans to buy another 928 from his friend as a parts car and plans on taking it apart so he knows how it’s all put together

 John and Diane Buckley parked their recent purchase (two weeks), a stunning Raspberry red metallic 97 Carrera S with a popping tan interior. NER PCA members, they also have a 78 SC (owned since 84), a Petrol Blue metallic 79 928 with cork leather interior, and a 2000 Boxster S purchased new as a track car.

 Nick Pasyanos and his friend Patty Cronin arrived in his white 2012 Boxster Spider that has a red interior; with the top down, it definitely is an eye stopper.  Purchased on Christmas Eve in 2020 in Florida (by way of Narragansett), it was a private sale with odometer reading just 32K.  A 45-year Corvette owner, his new Vette is mid-engine, so he thought a Porsche, also being mid-engine, would have the same kind of feel. He loves the way the Spider drives, feels engaged. For all the years he owned Vettes, he never had them garaged, so he is excited that in two weeks a garage will be built on his property.

A side note:  Rosemary recently celebrated her 80th birthday and Paul and Jackie Soares gifted her a Porsche logo cutting board. 

The next SoBo is scheduled for 15 August (10-Noon) at Sweet Berry Farm, 915 Mitchell’s Ln, Middletown, RI. Free, the only requirement to park on the grass is your Porsche. A Porsche logo sign should be in place directing you to the parking area.  Sweet Berry Farm is child friendly, encouraging small children to enjoy a working farm, so when entering and exiting, drive carefully. And, as always, for any SoBo related questions, please email me at:  [email protected]

Author:Roger Slocum

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Four Speeds and Drum Brakes – Follow Me Home

I remember being told that I was never going to find anything unless I kept looking. Like many of us in the car hobby, I am always looking.  I’m looking at parts, projects and cars but not to buy anything specific but to keep up to date on the value of things. Every now and then I’ll see something that peaks my interest enough to actually go look but it doesn’t happen often.

Last weekend I spotted a 914  for sale that wasn’t far away and the Facebook ad didn’t have much information but there were a couple of photos that didn’t look bad. There was no year given but because it had the large rubber bumpers on it I knew that it was a ’75 or ‘6. The hook for me was the statement that it was a running driving car and it was priced less than a 991 10k mile service.

I contacted the seller by text and got an address a couple of towns away so I set a time to go take a look. I drove to the address given to discover there was no house with the number I was given. I pulled over to text the seller who quickly responded with a house number of 141 not 41. Who doesn’t know their home address? Mistakes happen, right? Not a good sign. I was told later that it was the sellers uncle house so he didn’t know the number. OK, I’ll buy that.

The car was black in the photos but close inspection (actually I didn’t have to be that close, maybe 50 feet?) revealed that the black was covering a car that started life in  yellow.  And the black was losing its grip in a lot of places.  Strike one.  A quick look at the rear panel not shown in the ad  told me that the car was a 1.8 l not the coveted 2.0 l  engine. Strike two.

After looking at the interior, that was rather tattered, I reached down to pull the engine cover release. It was seized and wouldn’t move. I’ve seen them hard to pull or broken and flapping but never frozen.  The seller, a nice clean cut young fellow, saw my problem and quickly stepped over to help. He just reached over the roll bar and grabbed the edge of the engine cover and lifted  the whole thing up and out of the way. It was just laying there, not bolted to anything.

 

The first thing that jumped out at me was the big four barrel carburetor sitting in the middle of the engine. Strike three. I said something about  the missing fuel injection system and the seller asked me when Porsche went to fuel injection on the 914. This seller was not alive when this car was built and this rat was probably the only one he had ever seen. All 914’s ever built used fuel injection and that was over 50 years ago. Think about that. Very advanced back in the day.  He did start it up and it actually  sounded decent  but this game was already over for me and I wished him well with the sale.   This car was not going to follow me home.

The fact is that the days of finding projects and putting them back together are long since gone for me. I never learned to weld, even after a 10 week welding class, but I had found a real craftsman who could fix anything. If he couldn’t fix it he could make another one. But he got married, closed his shop and traded his hobby in for a real job with benefits and coverage for his family. The wise thing to do.

My painting skills consisted of popping the top off a rattle can from Walmart and giving a hanging part a steady, even coat of paint.  But I found a fellow that was a real car guy and could have painted the Mona Lisa with a spray gun. He was the only guy I ever knew that loved painting a black car and really was a master at it. Everyone else complained from the start to prepare you for a poor result. But he retired after way too many years of breathing filler dust and paint fumes. I did recently check on two shops that I used years ago but one only does insurance work and the other is under new management. If I had a car that needed paint I’d have to sell it in primer, not the best way to raise the value of a project.

As my last few columns have indicated, I am attempting to move into the next century, with the help of son, Rob, and many younger club members. Rob located a 2015 991 Turbo S  in Las Vegas that checked all the right boxes. It was white with an expresso interior and had the glass sunroof that I preferred and center lock delete. It was very similar to the C4S in my garage except it is faster. So now he has my car in AZ and I have his car in MA.

I told him that  would meet him In St Louis to swap cars but so far no date. The kids threw a birthday party for me and a few friends at Lake Tahoe this month and that was the perfect time to test drive the Turbo. A sales job wasn’t needed to get one of the Grandsons to make the 8 hr drive up to the lake to deliver it and I got to do 4 days of test drives. The car is a rocket and really to my taste with a few stickers that Rob and the boys applied. The car is right at home following a line of traffic up a slow two lane road but show it a space and it can leap past campers and 18 wheelers with ease. The AC laughs at 110 degree temps and the satellite radio never skips a beat. The PDK gearbox is faster that any driver and my left foot stays planted on the floor. An amazing device for high speed travel that I never imagined the I would ride in, let alone own. Strange how things work out. It will be tough to leave it in AZ until transport can be set up.

There was another mission that I had while out west. Between Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas in the California Sierra mountains is the place where my father used to take us trout fishing in the ‘50’s. It was called Mammoth Mt. and that was before there were any ski lifts to be found. I always wanted to return to see if it was as I remembered when I was 10 years old. We stayed in the miners bunkhouses at a closed gold mine and each day hiked up the mountain to one of three lakes to fish.

There are campsites on the one mile road off the highway now and the trailhead right is where the cabins still stand or at least pieces of them. The bunkhouses were a little smaller than I remembered and the hike was a lot harder that I recall but otherwise the smell of the pines and the view of the lake was exactly the same. It’s nice to know that even in the new century some things just never change.

KTF

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Special Autocross Event

PCA Northeast Region
Autocross Special Event
Sunday, August 15th

at Moore Airfield in Ayer (Devens)
(THE Place for AUTOCROSS!)

 

Sponsored By

 

The NER Autocross Team has historically held an Autocross School at the start of our season. Last year, We canceled it entirely due to COVID. This year, we have decided to hold a different kind of event that will still allow people new to autocross to learn some driving skills and meet and socialize with our Autocross Community and have some fun. Perennial AX School sponsor Conway Autoworks is sponsoring this event, and perhaps we’ll see Kenny or someone from their shop bring something interesting to try a few runs around the cones in.

We will not run the event as a regular autocross competition – we plan to set up two courses – one timed and one untimed. The untimed course will be used as an exercise allowing novices to get a good feel for some of the basic autocross elements like slaloms or turns or veterans to fine-tune their technique through repetitive runs. And the timed course will allow everyone to gauge their improvement throughout the day or against their favorite autocross buddy – regardless of class. Instructors will be available to work with the novices.

Autocross allows you to learn car control skills in a safe environment. We are fortunate to enjoy probably one of the best venues in the area (Moore Airfield at Fort Devens in Ayer, MA). If you’re new to the Club, or you’ve hesitated to try a motorsport event because you were intimidated by all the veterans driving faster than you or hurting your car – this is the event for you.

Registration

You must register for this event in advance.  Registration will open soon at motorsportreg.com. Space may be limited, so register soon to ensure a spot. Everyone must register and pay for this event – sorry, no instructor freebies this year. Also, if you have registered for the season, this event is NOT included as part of your season pass, so you’ll need to register also. The price will be the regular event fee of $55.

The event will be open to Porsches only (with a couple of special exceptions for folks who do all the work behind the scenes). The Club will provide lunch.

Watch our website and email blasts for more details on this special event – and mark your calendars!

For event and eligibility questions, contact NER Autocross Chair Chris Ryan at [email protected] . For registration/payment issues, contact  NER Autocross Registrar Jeff Johnson at [email protected] .

Directions to Fort Devens:  The event will be at Moore Airfield on Route 2A which is separate from the main Army base. The Google maps address is 91 Fitchburg Rd. Ayer MA.     From Rte128 or I-495: Take Route 2 West. Take Exit 38B (Route 111 North) for 2 miles. At the rotary, take Route 2A West toward Ayer. Stay on 2A as it turns right in downtown Ayer.  Follow Route 2A, bearing left at the fork by Tiny’s Restaurant. Continue past the Shop & Save market on your left – the entrance gate will be on your left just after the railroad tracks with a sign reading “State Police Driver Training”. Enter through the main gate, look for the “Autocross” sign, and bear left up the hill to get to the airfield. At the top of the hill, there will be someone to check you in, check that you’ve signed the e-waivers, or have you sign PCA waivers and greet you with instructions.

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