Archive for year: 2023

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DE Crier(s): Thompson Report – Jose Starts Down the Slippery Slope

In this special write up we see two DE perspectives, one from NER’s OG Bill Seymour and also from Jose Alberto Betances, a newer NER member – read on to get the full scoop!

Another One Starts Down the Slippery Slope!

Author: Jose Alberto Betances

The Porsche brand has fans of all kinds, from those who enjoy the casual comfortable drives, to spirited drives, to true performance drives.  I have been in the first two categories, looking from the outside at that third category, for a long time.  I decided that this year, a year after getting a 2006 Cayman S, would be the year I added that third category to my repertoire. 

I have to believe there are many others out there like me, and after this experience, I highly recommend they take this step as well!  The “Ground School” at Palmer was a fine introduction.  Through this experience, I was encouraged to try out the first Driver Education event at Thompson.  I had never been on a track before, aside from the parade laps on Palmer, and so I prepared to do so.  After getting my first helmet, and tech inspection, I was ready to go.  But, admittedly nervous.  So much so, I almost backed out (as I have before), prepped some excuses just in case.  But I went anyway with a “now or never” mentality.

The Tech Crew

The folks who volunteer their time for this are really quality people – I can’t say enough about how welcoming and friendly folks were to me. While there was plenty about which to be intimidated, (just the line of vehicles there for this was incredible) it ended up not being so.  The focus for my “Green” group was learning some fundamentals.  Basic terms, flag meanings, and safety were essential and the day would be mostly about “the Line.”   Then it was out to the track for the first run of the day.

I was fortunate enough to be paired with Bill Seymour and he guided me through an exhilarating experience.  Just being on the track was good enough for me, but I was also there to learn how to become a better driver.  I remembered a quote from the Desiderata: “there will always be greater and lesser people than you” at anything.  Learn from those who are better and help those who may not be is my motto everywhere else.  It just so happened here that there were lots of people from whom to learn.  Yes, there were much better drivers (and cars!) out there, but Bill helped me focus on what I needed to do and learn, at a pace and manner that worked for me, personally.  And yes, passing signs were given – AND accepted.

As an added bonus, Bill found another member, Chip Wood, who was kind enough to give up some of his track time and car (a track-prepped orange Boxster) for me to ride-along.  With Bill in the driver’s seat, I saw what can REALLY be done on that track (and how far I have to go – but as they say, “the journey of a thousand miles…”).  I laughed so hard.  It was amazing.  I really should have done this sooner.

At the end of the day, I could not believe how much time I had on the track at Thompson.  Four rounds (five if you count the ride along), about 27 minutes each – so much more than I could have imagined for a first-timer like myself.  I learned a great deal about my limits (and beyond) and those of my Cayman.  I could feel the gradual improvement, and the opportunities to improve even further.  I know at least one way I can do so: more track time.  But first, let me prepare a strong case for my wife about the concept of “consumables….”

(Comment from Bill Seymour…”What Jose doesn’t explain – but you all should know – is that he would have had the same experience with any of the great NER DE instructors. The only difference is that they might not have talked him into writing up his experience for our website!”)

Thompson Rocks!

By: Bill Seymour

NER’s first Driver Education event of the season took place over Memorial Day weekend at Thompson Motorsports Park.  Apparently all of us Track Rats had been very well behaved because we were rewarded with absolutely perfect weather – dry, sunny, not too hot – perfect!

The weekend featured three special events.  First: on Friday, which was “advanced only,” the National Instructor Training took place.  Matthew Wallis organized the day which involved classroom sessions followed by on track role play (candidates in the right seat with mentors driving and pretending to be naughty students). Dan Dazzo, PCA National Safety Chair, flew in to do the classrooms and share lots of interesting stories. As a result there are now 17 new National Instructors in our region.

Charlie at the Drivers Meeting

On Saturday morning there was a special parking lot session for Green and Yellow drivers.  Chris Ryan, Autocross Chair, and his colleagues Ed Moschella, Bill Aubin and Bob Cantor, set up braking and skidpad exercises.  Think a braking exercise sounds silly?  You’d be surprised how many new track drivers never had their Porsche fully into ABS. And of course the watered skidpad was hugely helpful.  (By the way – a plug for Autocross – go to Ft. Devens and find the limits of your Porsche in a safe and entertaining way.)

On Saturday night there was the usual beer/wine social in the garage but this was followed by a buffet dinner at the Thompson golf course restaurant. (Sally and Mel got out all fancied up!)  Thanks to NER DE Social organizers Pam Mascetta and Judy Mansing! And welcome to the social crew a new volunteer:  Jen Hall. (Author note:  I quite enjoyed the Hall family.  I had a nice ride with Steve and daughter Emma was very complimentary of my car selection and driving.)

The Social Team

The rest of the weekend involved lots of great weather and lots of track time. We had a somber moment each morning of the Memorial Day weekend when we recognized our fallen heroes with a moment of silence (and Stan Corbett once again brought poppies and flags). Track Chair Charlie Kenney managed to make the driver meetings short and amusing while not compromising any safety issues. Chief Instructor Dave Berman did his usual masterful job of herding students, instructors and arranging check out rides – there were a lot of promotions…

Placements (drivers who haven’t ridden with us before but had experience elsewhere): 

Nicholas Boghos – White

Amos Winter – White

James Dolabany – Blue

John Genereux – Blue

Advancements:

Green to Yellow

Gabriel Cueva

Roumen Stoyanov 

William Miniscalco

Yellow to Blue

Grayson Connors

Stephen Wanstall

Brianna Croteau

Blue to White

Arun Ramamurthy

White to Black

Christopher Necchi

Jeff Croteau

Black to Red (Instructor)

Robert Jacobsen

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Four Speeds and Drum Brakes: Back to Live Action

 A very mild winter had us all looking forward to driving events in New England before St Patricks Day. Too warm a winter kept the cars off the ice up north unless  northern VT looked like a nice ride. Cars and Coffee didn’t seem necessary because cars were out of the garage driving before April Fools Day. On April 2nd the draw was still there when 60 P cars arrived  at a C&C set up by the Slocum’s in RI.

  The All Porsche Swap Meet in Carlisle PA the end of April was threatened, as always, with rain but that didn’t stop the hard core and sales were brisk.  Maybe the fact that I’ve gotten more realistic about the value of old car parts helped move the merchandise. Looking around the garage I have come to the conclusion that my treasures are going to wind up at the dump unless I get them back into the market where someone, anyone, can use them. If you make things cheap enough people will buy parts they don’t even need. That’s how so much stuff followed me home.  

The first Track Day for your author was the beginning of April at Watkins Glen. That was where the loyal reader will remember I rolled a BMW into a ball last year. This year was much better. The 210 car (BMW E46 – 330) was the ride for the weekend and the AZ Tates flew in to play. It was Marie’s birthday and Rob had promised to take her someplace nice for her birthday so I guess WGI qualified. That certainly wouldn’t fly at my house.

Matt Connelly Motorsports provided a great car that we drove for 8 hours on Saturday and 8 hours on Sunday at the American Endurance Racing event. I did have a tire go down due to a cracked alloy rim on the left rear during my stint. As it was losing air it caused a vibration that felt like the tire had just picked up some rubber on the track. At lower speeds the shudder went away so I stayed out. When I got back to the uphill esses  the tire had lost a lot of air and the rear of the car decided that it wanted to go first. I caught it before it got ugly but the time it took to get the car in, check it and replace the tire dropped us back into the middle of the class. Still great fun but no plastic trophy for us this time.

The weather was the best I have ever experienced at The Glen in spring time, cool at night and warm and sunny during the day. At the very end of the race on Sunday some clouds appeared and a bit of rain fell but nothing that would ruin a great weekend.  Well, it might have been a little more than a bit as we couldn’t see across the front straight but that is the kind of weather The Glen is known for. Besides, Rob was driving and he had it under control.

Next up was the first autocross for the Northeast Region at Ft Devens. The 1972 Martini 911 came out to play with 68 other drivers, a great turnout. I’m not as fast as I once was (hear a song here?) but it is still great fun to throw the car around and make a lot of noise. Many attending have never seen a Porsche this old doing what it was made to do.  I had novice drivers join me for nearly every run.

We had a dozen novices that included some seldom seen rides. Think Tesla and a mid eighties Olds 442. The latter was really well set up using a 760 hp V8 and tires wider than a new 911 Turbo S. These heavy American cars seldom do well but this Olds was an exception. Reasonably well set up and very well driven it was faster than most Porsches. The Tesla was silent but deadly and also ran with the big dogs as far as their elapsed time went. They were both fun to watch and taught everyone not to make snap judgements.

Next up is a 356 Drive in Lancaster PA set up by the gang that did the Catskill Tour last year. No car show, no autocross, just a bunch of old guys with old cars driving around Amish country trying to avoid the horse and buggy traffic. At least we’ll be faster than someone on the roads. The Puddle Jumper gets the nod on this ride as the Speedster engine isn’t back together yet. It stopped running last Fall on the way to NY for another 356 gathering with a suspected broken crankshaft.  The case has been opened and the two separate parts of the crankshaft have been removed showing no other damage so it may be alive soon.

I had another crank but turnaround time for a rebalanced crank was 5 months so that has delayed progress. Plus I had other toys to play with so Blackie got pushed to the back of the garage. An oil change and clutch adjustment was all the preparation that the sunroof coupe needed so it will be on the road again this week. Action report to follow…

Author: Tom Tate

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May 21: SOBO Porsches and Coffee Report

After a lengthy rain on Saturday, I was a bit surprised that Sweet Berry’s grassy field was not soggy. Rosemary and I got there about 9 AM to make sure the grassy field was OK for parking the cars and inform some of the regulars that the lawn was open for parking. The sun broke thru around 10 AM and made for a very pleasant morning. 

Shamous and Esly Ellinwood were early arrivals in their gleaming White 2014 Boxster S. With a Black interior;  the white gauges really stood out.  Options include Eibach lowering springs and 19” Wheel Dynamic rims. The couple are also owners of a 97 Cab and a 2014 Macan; they previously owned a couple of other Porsches.  Shamous does some light work himself and defers the more complex stuff to German Motors. What’s to like about Porsches , “it’s the German engineering”.

A true eye catcher was Jamie Barnes’s Aubergine (a purple hue) 1974 Targa.  Restored interior, exterior, and engine,  Jamie is the third owner of this car from Indiana.  This is her first Porsche purchased from a good friend.  The car is maintained by Jerry Pellegrino.  Jamie is most fortunate in choosing this fine restored Targa classic.  She relishes driving  the Targa with the top off ,with the heater during the cool weather.   

 Bengt Perrssol arrived in his literally untouched Slate Grey 1962 356 Notch Back.  A California car; he purchased it in 2017.  He has the car’s tax receipts until 1974. He purchased the Porsche from Paul Russel in Essex, MA.  It has about 65k miles and the body is straight  and the doors don’t sag.  I think he has it serviced by, Andrew Fung in, Warren RI.  Bengt is a long time Porsche guy previously owning about 15 Porsches.  I did suggest  that he replace all the external rubber so the car does not deteriorate further.

Matt Goldsmith parked his very clean Ivory 1958 356 A (with a 356 C) engine and , I commented that I liked the magnesium racing rims.. A California car that came to Rhode Island in 2021.  Matt has owned numerous Porsche and this one, with the red interior,  (to me) is a keeper.  Although we didn’t discuss specifics, Matt said that it has Outlaw attributes.

Paul and Joanne Whooten entered the field driving his recent purchase, a White 2011 Turbo S with just 43k miles showing on the odometer.  Paul is the third owner of this car and this Porsche  has three years left on the CPO. An after-market Tech Art exhaust seems to be the only change.  South Shore Autoworks does all the heavy lifting.  This Porsche couple also own a 2011 Cayenne and an award winner 1986 911 Turbo.  

 The next SoBo is scheduled for 4 June (10-Noon) at Sweet Berry Farm, 915 Mitchell’s Ln, Middletown, RI. The event as always is FREE, and no pre-registration is necessary. 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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Shop Talk Vol. 1: “It’s not a 911 Turbo. It’s a 911 with a Turbo.”

In late 2019 Keith Harley, owner of KMH Automotive Corp in the Merrimack Valley (which specializes in Audi and VW), decided it was time to “get a real sports car.” After years of owning “a lot of fast Audis”, his choice, was a Porsche.

Keith really wanted a 911 Turbo but there was a larger consideration– the high prices that even high mile 996TT’s are seeing these days, and we all know about some of the issues on the M96 engines (I am not knocking it, I have one and love it). All that said, Keith had an idea and he ended up finding a base 996 C2 in, Maine.  That’s where this Porsche article ends…

After giving the seller the cash, he spilled the beans… ”I’m going to put an Audi engine in this.” 

After extensive research it seemed the envisioned 2.7t engine swap had never been done but for one example Keith found online, in Austria with little to no detail about the “how.” Then, shortly after the purchase the first covid wave kept us at home, so Keith got down to business. With no instruction manual and not assembling IKEA furniture the big questions started. How would the engine fit, what kind of mounting setup did it need, what would he have to do to the B5 S4 engine before installation and how was the wiring for all of this going to work?

With more online research about the wiring, Keith met, Carlton Brule, owner of 27Swap located in the Boston area. As an avid VW and Audi enthusiast himself, Carlton and 27Swap have supported ~200-300 Audi projects over the last 3 years.

“ I knew Carlton was the guy for this. “ It’s just fate that he lives 30 min away from me.” When these two masterminds met and decided to put their heads together, the result is the birth of Renn27 Engineering, based out of, MA.  The business specializes in engineering 2.7t swaps and provides you the mounting parts and electronics currently, with phase 2 in the works, delivering their custom made turbo kits at scale.

So what happened with the car you ask? I caught Keith on his way to a Cars and Coffee when we spoke and you may see it in person at PCA events since, Keith is also a member of NER.

Do you still want a 911 Turbo? The guys at Renn27 Engineering think “this is a good way to bring life back to 996s and get Turbo power for half the money.”

Get the full project details here:

    6-12 months after the stateside completion, Keith met a fellow online who was taking on the same task in France. Keith doesn’t speak French and apparently Google Translate doesn’t either so communication about this technical project was a little tricky. Call it synchronicity or tapping into Carl Jung’s collective unconscious but these guys are onto something…

    Author: Luis Rivera

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    DE Crier Report: DE Hooks a New Fish and Father Time Goes Electric!

    NER Driver Education Ground School at Palmer Motorsports Park on April 23rd

     

    Well, the weather sucked and that scared a few people away – HAH! – they lost out
    on a really good event! NER’s Driver Education team held the annual “Ground
    School” event – again at Palmer Motorsports Park – on Sunday April 23 rd . The
    thinking behind this is simple: we know there are folks out there who haven’t been
    to a DE event but might be lured in. So we chum the waters with some free food,
    put up a presentation with some racy pictures and then turn them loose (well, not
    really – there is an instructor in the car and they are parade laps) on the track. And
    voila! They are hooked and start to sign up for events.


    There were 45-50 interested students and 30 or so instructors/regulars to guide
    them through the day. And despite the weather all of the “students” I talked to
    reported a fine time and an interest in actually signing up for a DE. I rode in the
    passenger seat of a 2006 Cayman S (I felt right at home, of course) piloted by
    JoseAlberto Betances. Very nice fellow, originally from the Bronx (we didn’t
    discuss baseball) who said he was new to driving a manual but acquitted himself
    very well and did a good job of learning the racing line in the 5 or 6 laps we did.
    We had time to talk about tires and the minor mods he might make to his car
    before he went to a DE (brake fluid and pads). I encouraged him to sign up early
    for Thompson since it might sell out for novices but not to miss Watkins Glen. I
    think we landed that one!


    While the primary bait on the hook is the driving, let’s also note the strong social
    attraction of the DE events. There is a lot of time at a DE event for making new
    friends – people with similar hobbies and similar cars are pretty easy to get to
    know! – plus there are the beer/wine/dinner socials when the track goes cold. It
    was great to see my many friends after a winter of no driving events.


    Thanks are due to many for putting on a well organized event and let’s start with
    Track Chair Charlie Kenney who put the whole thing together. Chief Instructor
    Dave Berman did yeoman duty in herding cats and matching up students and
    instructors. Stan Corbett did his usual registration chores (and reports that he
    already has 4 new fish in the net). Ed Mansing was responsible for the nicely done
    powerpoint. Dennis Mascetta was there to represent North Country Region and we had 5 NER Board members in attendance.

    There were a lot of presenters who did a great job and they won’t mind that I don’t list them all. But let’s thank the food providers. David Peterman (who is now competing against my teammate
    Nick Shanny in SRO GT4 America racing – sorry David but I have to root for
    Nick) donated a ton of delicious Panera pastries and HMS Motorsports provided
    pizza (and Cody also presented and brought some merch for display and sale).
    And finally thanks to Al Sandy and Palmer Motorsports Park for hosting.
    And speaking of reacquainting with friends, I had noticed that Aaron Walker, a
    long time autocross buddy who lives near me, was signed up to go. (Let’s put in a
    plug for autocross – a great way to learn your car’s limits before you head to the
    race track.) I invited myself to ride with him in his Rivian pickup. I got to drive it
    home. Wow. I understand that its 115mph speed limiter hurts its quarter mile time.
    Think about that! Aaron points out that if he uses it to tow his GT3 to the track it
    might actually be able to beat it. Very impressive and lots of fancy tech as well
    (but let’s not talk about the range issues – there would be a lot of downtime towing
    to Watkins Glen). I’ll stick with what I’ve got.

    – Courtesy: Father Time AKA Bill Seymour

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    Parking Lots Revisited

    It has been such a mild winter in New England that the Cars and Coffee program has been off to a slow start. Last year it seemed that there were gatherings any weekend that the weather would permit. This year winter seemed to be absent except for a couple of cold weekends, the roads stayed clear and that let people get their P cars out more than most years. The need, the need for speed, was satisfied almost every weekend. It wasn’t necessary to call a Cars and Coffee to get our toys out of the garage.

    We finally had the first PCA C & C in Rhode Island last Sunday, put together by Roger and Rosemary Slocum at the Longplex Sports Complex in Tiverton. We had over 50 cars show up on a cold and windy day. That tells me that people like to drive their cars around but they also like to meet with other members.

    Where else can you show off a new ride (Larry) to folks that would understand? There was talk of new tires and computer chips, paint treatment and rear spoilers. All in all a good time to be a car club member. We met in a large paved parking lot because the grass area at Sweet Berry Farm is still too soft to walk on, let alone drive 50 cars onto but that’s coming soon.

    Cars and Coffee gatherings are quick and easy to do compared to all day events like an autocross. Let’s hope that they grow and continue for years to come. That reminded me of all the places that we have gathered over the years that are no longer available for a variety of reasons.

    When I first arrived in New England back in the ‘70’s autocrosses were set up and run in shopping center parking lots. The Blue Laws were in effect and stores were always closed on Sunday. Shoppers World on Rt 9 in Natick was very popular with the SCCA crowd and PCA ran there too. Opened in 1951 as the 7th Wonder of New England it was the largest outdoor Mall anywhere.  Closed in 1994 it was transformed into an indoor Mall.

     Another large parking lot was at the Burlington Mall. We even ran a autocross there on a Sat night under the lights in a lot next to Rt3A that we could block off with pylons to keep shoppers out. A couple did get in anyway and that was exciting.

    There was better security at the Auburn Mall and we ran there with SCCA for a number of years but relaxing the Blue Laws in 1983 put an end to that lot too.  

     Another very large lot was the Bayside Expo Center in South Boston. The only problem there was drainage. If it rained hard, what looked like lakes formed in the middle. I once took FTD in my 914 in a rainstorm that saw 4” of water in the middle of the course. A win is a win.  The same drainage problem plagued the Seabrook Greyhound Racetrack in NH but we’d just take a break for a few minutes and the water would drain off. But then they started racing the dogs on Sunday (Live free ?) and that lot was off limits.

    There were two sites that were a distance away but always great fun with the SCCA crowd. Both were public parking lots, one in Provincetown, the other was at Nauset Beach, MA. Both were run early in the year before the tourist arrived but it was always cold and windy. The problem with the wind near the beach was sand. Tire traction is always better on clean pavement and sand doesn’t help traction. One year I had a business meeting in Washington DC the evening before the event so I drove all night to Provincetown to run the next day. Ed Sanborn drove my 356 out the day before so it was ready when I got there. I arrived with no sleep, a sandy course, spun three times and finished last.  Very embarrassing. I don’t know if the towns or SCCA took it off the list but we certainly didn’t miss the sandy pavement .

    The Mitre Corp parking lot in Bedford MA saw lots of Porsches making noise over the years, as did Nike sites (as in Nike missiles, not sneakers)  in Needham (there are houses there now) and Dighton (taken over by the town playing fields).

    A small parking lot at Hanscom Field in Concord was used for a number of years as was the Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere. Bose Corp in Framingham let us run in their lot for a while but I guess the noise was too much for them on a Sunday morning. Noise didn’t bother Smith and Wesson in Springfield, MA and they opened their parking lot gates for PCA in the ‘80’s.

    The locations began to dwindle over the years due to development, general attitudes about cars and our own mistakes. Autocrosses were run at SNHU until a Sprite driver spun at the finish line and injured a spectator. That was the end of that lot.

     A Zone 1 autocross at Six Flags in Springfield was stopped when they discovered that driver education in one of their parking lots included timing race cars. The Police were called and after a lot of discussion we were asked to leave. Not our best day. 

    As soon as the Blue Laws were repealed the Malls and retail shopping center parking lots were off limit. The first airport that the Northeast Region used was at Orange, MA.

    A little used public airport, we shared the runways with small planes and a Skydiving school. The planes were directed to the other runway on Autocross days but the skydiving students  just tried to jump between runs it seemed. We did have a few land on the course but they were easy to spot and pylon pickers had red flags to stop a run when necessary. There was one student that landed between runways on a large pile of dirt and broke a few bones and so we had to wait while they were taken by ambulance to a local hospital. We wouldn’t do anything that dangerous, we were just racing cars. The 1 ½ hour drive from the Boston metro area was a bit of a hike so when a closer venue became available we signed up. That was Ft Devens

    The pavement at Ft Devens has been our home for the last 37 years and many other clubs also run there. It is the last site anywhere to be found. Here’s hoping that, until electric cars take over the roads or they pull our drivers license, we can continue to test the limits of old ICE cars  in Ayer, MA. The season is about to start so come join us before the only Porsche test course left is an on ramp on the Mass pike. Your place on the pavement is waiting.

    Author: Tom Tate

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    DE Crier Update: The Pitt Race

    Hey!  Remember me?  It’s been 14 months since I last wrote an article for the NOR’EASTER and I figured that my reader might want to know what the Jamaican Bakin’ Team has been up to lately. This is the tenth year that our group of 5 PCA DE instructors (Dave Berman, Dennis Mascetta, Nick Shanny, Chip Wood and me) has been doing endurance racing  – or in the case of the last few years, it’s been more “trying to do” endurance racing. We started in 24 Hours of Lemons racing with a $500 Miata, upgraded to ChampCar (originally ChumpCar) and American Endurance Racing with an E30 BMW, switched to a Boss 302S Mustang and have now settled on an E36 BMW M3.

    And oh boy, the Mustang!  What a disaster!  Our first race was at Mid-Ohio in 2021 where the clutch failed on the first race day.  Next year we went to Watkins Glen where the engine blew up on day two.  The replacement engine (don’t ask how much) then blew up on the dyno.  Then we learned that AER changed their rules so that the car was effectively outlawed.  We gave up and purchased the E36 and the Mustang finally left our hands via a sale on Bring A Trailer earlier this year. During the auction one of the commenters, who had seen the car at a race, questioned why it had Jamaican Bakin’ signage when it was owned by “a bunch of old white dudes.”  Ouch.

    We raced the E36 once last year in a ChampCar race at Thompson where it ran perfectly and we were first in Class (albeit in a weak field).  For 2023 we plan to do three or four races, the first of which was over the April 1st weekend at Pitt Race. Nick was racing elsewhere (see below) and since you really need at least 4 members to do pit stops efficiently, Bill was allowed to participate despite being just barely legal after a bout of covid.

    None of us had driven at Pitt Race before but we had heard good things and it lived up to expectations:  2.78 miles of rolling terrain with 17 corners, quite a bit of safe runoff (in all but one notable spot), some blind turns, grippy pavement and excellent facilities.  It was opened in 2002 and is located in Wampum PA (apparently the woke patrol has not made it there yet) not far from Pittsburgh – a 10 hour drive for us.  We stayed in a perfectly acceptable hotel for $100 a night in Beaver Falls PA (yes, the birthplace of Joe Namath!). We found three more-than-adequate places to eat and were astonished at the low prices:  dinner for 4 at the El Paso Mexican restaurant including top shelf margaritas was $79!  (Bill recommends the enchiladas verde.)

    OK, maybe you’d rather hear about the racing.  AER changed their format this year and the assignment to classes was done based on lap times during a two hour race on Friday, rather than open track driving. With three mandatory pit stops the plan was for each of us do a 30 minute session. But of course it poured rain. Our “rain tires” are actually just all-season Michelin Pilot Sports in a slightly narrower width.  We softened the rear sway bar and the car had remarkable grip with nice predictable understeer.  As we were all just learning the track we were not too fast and were surprised to be placed in Class 3 (with 5 being fastest, 1 being slowest).

    The 8 hour race on Saturday started in beautiful weather but a severe thunderstorm followed by rain was predicted so we left the rear sway bar soft and ran Falken Azenis tires (about the stickiest 200 treadwear tires available in our size).  Pitt Race was reputed to be tough on tires but with some rain we thought they would last. As it turned out the thunderstorm was a doozy – 60 mph gusts of wind that shut the track down for an hour, killed power for 24 hours (pop up tents flying everywhere!) – so the tires were fine to the end.  The car ran great and our lap times came down as we got familiar with the track but we were not competitive in Class 3 and also didn’t do a great job with pit stops. But no car problems or offs let us finish in the middle of our class.

    Sunday started out with ice on the windshield but gradually warmed to be a pleasant, sunny 50 degree day.  We ran Hankooks (longer lasting but slightly slower) and stiffened the rear bar (one of us discovered a little more oversteer than expected but the spin managed to stay on the track).  We all took a bit more off our lap times but the results were similar to Saturday – reliability leading to another mid-pack finish.

    So we are off to a decent start to the season with what seems to be a very reliable car – but one that needs a little fine tuning in the set-up.  Our next race is May at Watkins Glen so we will see.  And hopefully everyone will be over the covid that Bill seemed to have passed along by then.

    Oh, yeh!  Back to Nick!  As you know this is his second year competing in the SRO GT4 America series in the Am class with teammate Terry Borcheller.  The second event of the season (same time as our Pitt Race) was at Sonoma and Nick’s team came in second in class on Saturday and first in class (and FIRST OVERALL against the pro drivers!) on Sunday.  Way to go Nick!  Bakin’ rocks!

    Author: Bill Seymour

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    Four Speeds and Drum Brakes: Auctions in the Desert

    The Holidays were over and Arizona was calling my name. There is nothing like a crowd under a tent with an open bar to set record numbers for car values. Barrett Jackson is the Big Dog in that space in terms of sheer numbers of cars and they have been dipping into the Porsche ranks the last few years. Gooding & Co skipped Scottsdale this year to expand their offerings at their Amelia Island event in March and it seemed that many of the Pcars didn’t want to wait. There were over 100 Porsches offered with more than 40 911’s. Most were late model water pumpers but there were a few notable air cooled cars.  The biggest number went to a 2005 Carrera GT with only 3300 miles on it. The car was originally black but the seller wanted a red one so he had the car disassembled, painted red and then reassembled. 

    A color change didn’t seem to hurt the value as it brought $1.595 million. Right behind it was a low mileage ’97 911 Turbo S that brought over $600k and a ’18 GT2-RS that was close at $577k. The boys all voted for the 911R as the one that they wanted to drive home and a bidder with $445k in his pocket agreed. There was even a ’68 911 that got the Singer treatment (but not by Singer) that was a great package and pulled in $220k.

     

     

    I wasn’t that surprised by the prices, everything is more these days, even my Social Security check. I was surprised to find such a list of super cars at Barrett Jackson, the home of Hot Rods and Corvettes.

    Even more surprises were in store at the RM Auction. Top Porsche dog was a 959 that brought in $1.682 million with a ’93 Turbo S lightweight close behind at $962k and a ’94 Turbo S for $830k. Big numbers for old cars that can’t be driven to work every day. It does look like we’ll have more people chasing fewer car as the years roll by and that means higher prices every year. If you don’t have the Porsche of your dreams in the garage yet you really don’t  have a lot of time to get it. That’s what I told everyone at the PCA Annual Dinner in 1971 too.

    The auctions were a lot of fun but I wanted to see a bit of the old west too so I borrowed Robs diesel BMW X5 and headed toward New Mexico on the old Rt 66. Driving to Gallup, NM I spotted a landmark that I remembered seeing from the back seat of a Studebaker on the way to Columbia MO from LA for Christmas at the Grandparents.

    The Wigwam Motel is in Holdbrook, AZ and was constructed using concrete Native American Tee Pees for travelers rooms that could be seen for miles. It was still standing and while they didn’t leave the light on for me, they did park an examples of ‘50’s cars in front of each unit.

    My parents always drove straight through without stopping on those 3 day runs and another landmark that we couldn’t stop to see was the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. I always pictured it as a field of dead trees with different colored piles of sand piled up like a kid at the beach would do. Gas stations along the way did have clear glass bottles in their windows for sale (buy dirt?) with levels of different colored sand so we did have an idea what was over the hill.

     Of course it was a lot more than that and looked like a small Grand Canyon with trees that had been turned to stone. There are a number of scenic viewing spots and a Visitors Center where your tax dollars are a hard at work. A short history lesson showed the path of the trees started 215 million years ago (Maybe with Raquel Welsh? RIP) in what is now South America. I can understand while my Dad would never stop there, we would lose at least ½ day.

    Most of the road is now Rt 40 but there are some sections that used to be the old two lane Rt 66 and are marked off with plaques to show what the road to the  west looked like 70 years ago. Certainly worth the trip, especially if you have a diesel in the family that gets 34 mpg and rolls steady at 100 mph

    – Tom Tate

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