Archive for month: December, 2025

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2026 Autocross Season is Here

The AUTOCROSS Schedule for 2026 is set – mark your calendars! If you are new to the Club or your Porsche, Autocross is a great way to get introduced to Motorsport activities and meet new friends. Come to Moore Airfield in Ayer to check out our AX Events this year … as a reminder, you don’t have to be a PCA member or drive a Porsche to participate in our events. Eight car clubs run autocross events at the site so sign up and become a part of the Devens Autocross Community today. NER members who are first-timers get a free registration – contact Alan Davis, Autocross Registrar, at [email protected].

Our new sound requirements Moore Airfield have been in place for a couple of years now. For most cars, this has not been an issue, but please do not bring a loud car to our events–you will likely fail the sound measurement and be asked to leave.

Our first event is an Autocross School (April 11th) which is highly recommended for anyone wanting to learn about the sport in a friendly, instructional setting. Participants also receive one free autocross registration. For event dates and other information, click here: https://porschenet.com/activities/autocross/

If you have questions, contact Chris Ryan, Autocross Chair, at [email protected] or Alan Davis at [email protected]

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2026 Autocross School

Saturday, April 11th
at Moore Airfield in Ayer (Devens)

(THE Place for AUTOCROSS!)

Sponsored by  CONWAY MOTOR WORKS

The NER Autocross Team will be holding its popular Autocross School at Devens this year on Saturday, April 11th. The format will be similar to prior years with driving exercises held in the morning, followed by lunch (Pizza supplied by NER), with actual timed runs on a full autocross course in the afternoon. We welcome all cars, and you do not need to be a PCA member to participate.

We will be pre-assigning students and instructors again this year, with one instructor assigned to a pair of students for all morning exercises to provide increased instruction and feedback on the students’ driving. 

While attendance at the school is not requisite for attending events during the season, it is highly recommended. Regardless of whether you intend to autocross or not, this is a fabulous introduction to the art of driving at a fraction of the price of most schools of its kind.

You must be a novice to attend this school.  Please don’t sign up expecting a Test n’ Tune.

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 in Ayer (Devens)). The wide runways and ample open space allow participants to get close to or exceed the performance limits of their cars without risking damage to cars or participants – so you can see what your Porsche feels like when pushed like it was meant to be. The driving skills you’ll learn here are not just useful for autocross events, but also for DE events on the track as well as driving on the street. Plus it’s also a social event – you’ll have the opportunity to meet a friendly group of men and women who enjoy socializing with each other while

having fun with their cars, and working on driving skills together. We hope you’ll come out and give it a try! In the meantime, check out our excellent instructional videos produced by Autocross Team member Richard Viard. They will give you some good ideas on what to expect, how to prepare, etc. On the NER website at porschenet.com, go to “Activities” in the menu banner, then select “Autocross” to get to the Autocross Page. Click on “Autocross School” in the yellow banner and scroll down for the videos.  

Registration: You must register for this event in advance. Registration is currently open online at www.pcaner.motorsportreg.com. We have limited spaces, so register now to insure a spot. You do not have to be a PCA member to register.

Price: $60 (includes a free registration to one NER Autocross Event in 2024)

Eligibility: This event is for novice autocrossers only! To register, you must have participated in less than 5 autocross events in the past two years.  As always, special circumstances may apply, so contact Chris Ryan at [email protected] with questions.

Instructors: You must register for the event on motorsportreg.com as an instructor (you will not be charged) Please be on site at 7:00 AM.

Students: should plan to arrive after 8:00 AM but no later than 8:30.

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

Directions:  The event will be at Moore Airfield on Route 2A which is separate from the main Army base. The Google maps address is 90 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 “Moore Field”. 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, and greet you with instructions.

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2025 Autocross School Recap

 

 

NER held its Autocross School again this year on May 4th. The event was sponsored once again by Conway Autoworks in Hanover, MA. (Thank you, Kenny!)

This year’s event attracted 28 students all eager to see what Autocross is all about and to learn more about what they can do with their cars. 18 of our veteran autocrossers came out to instruct and help out with the event. 

We held an abbreviated chalk talk at the beginning of the event, highlighting some of the basics on car dynamics and safety. Students had been advised (prior to the event) to watch the 3-part NER Autocross Video produced by Richard Viard to get some background for the day. Most of the students complied so they had some prep under their belts to start. 

We pre-assigned students and instructors again this year. The morning exercises included a slalom exercise, and offset clamshell exercise, both with a couple of added elements, with one instructor assigned to a pair of students for both exercises to provide increased instruction and feedback on the students’ driving.

The students were assigned to two different run groups with one group driving while the other worked shagging cones along the exercises. By the time we completed the exercises and broke for lunch, everyone was ready to try out their new skills on an actual timed course.

Following a Pizza lunch provided by the Club, we held a brief driver’s meeting before running an actual autocross event for the afternoon.

Students were driven around the course in their own cars by their instructor at a moderate pace to get familiarized with the course and a driving approach. Then, each student was given a chance to do 4 timed runs with their instructor riding along. After the fourth timed student run, we opened things up allowing instructors to drive students’ cars on the course or taking them for rides in their own cars. This opened the students’ eyes as to what they and their cars could be expected to do.

A look at the posted times for the day shows most of the students managing to improve their times considerably over the course of their four runs showing that they learned something during the day’s activities. Full results can be seen by going to NER’s Live Timing site at https://porschenet.com/ax, scrolling down to the date of the Autocross School (May 4, 2024), then selecting  “Results”.

PCA NER Autocross 2022

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2025 AX #4

2025 NER AUTOCROSS SERIES EVENT #4

NER held its fourth Autocross event of 2025 on Sunday August 10th. The event was sponsored by Herb Chambers Porsche of Burlington, and we thank them once again for their continued support.

We had 40 participating drivers at the event, including 10 novices out to try their hand at one of our events. By the end of the day, Jung Kim had taken first place in the Porsche Novice Class posting a 72.67 run driving his 2020 GT4. In the non-Porsche Novice Class, Jon Scott was the winner with a 77.15 driving a 2024 Subaru BRZ. Jung and Jon will be registering in their respective non-novice classes at future events.

In Class 1, Chris Darminio (1976 914) took first place, edging out Adam Small (1984 911) by .542 seconds. Lev Tabenkin was the winner in Class 3 with a 67.269 driving a 1996 993. Mark Skala took the prize in Class 4 posting a 64.143 in his 2014 Cayman S, which was also Porsche FTD for the event. Charles Comeau was the winner in Class 5 with a 66.168 driving a 2025 Cayman GTS. Class 6 saw Krishna Harpanahalli in his 2021 GT4 win with a 65.841.

For the non-Porsche classes, winner Ryan Casillo had a 66.453 (raw)/54.425 (paxed) in Class 8 – non-Porsche Street and Michael Reiser posted a 63.381(raw)/53.747 (paxed) to take the win. His time was also FTD overall for the day.

Full results can be seen on our Live Timing/Archive site by going to https://porschenet.com/ax, scrolling down to the date of Autocross #4 (August 10, 2025), then selecting the “Summary”, “Results”, or “Raw Times” reports.

We’d like to thank Herb Chambers Porsche of Burlington for sponsoring this event, and we look forward to seeing everyone at a future AX event.

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2025 AX #3

NER AUTOCROSS SERIES EVENT #3

PCA NER ran its third autocross event of 2025 on July 26th. Autobahn Performance sponsored the event and we thank them for their continued support.

We enjoyed perfect weather and Ernie Grasso set up a full course for the event. It had a few extra sharp twists and turns that slowed some drivers down a bit, but folks got the hang of it after a few runs and all was well.

The Novice class fielded 7 drivers; 4 in the Porsche Class and 3 in the Non-Porsche Class. When it was over, Denis Shield took first in the Porsche Novice Class in his 2023 Boxster with a time of 86.03 and Oliver Schatzle took the non-Porsche Novice Class in his 2018 Mini-Cooper S with a time of 86.603. They are both officially out of the novice class going forward.

Porsche FTD was taken by Dan Quaroni in his 2024 Spyder RS posting a 77.407. That was also FTD overall as the non-Porsche FTD was 77.367 (raw time) posted by Dan Fillingim.

Full results can be seen on our Live Timing/Archive site by going to https://porschenet.com/ax, scrolling down to the date of Autocross #3 (July 26, 2025), then selecting the “Summary”, “Results”, or “Raw Times” reports.

Thanks again to everyone for coming out to our third event of 2025. Our next event of the season is Sunday August 10th and registration is open on motorsportreg.com. North Country Region will be hosting the 2025 Zone 1 Autocross event on August 23rd and 24th followed by a Renegade Miata event on Saturday August 30.

Hope to see you out there for one of these events!

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2025 AX #2

NER AUTOCROSS SERIES EVENT #2

NER’s 2025 Season continued on Saturday June 7th at Moore Airfield and was sponsored by our new Autocross sponsor SSA European Auto Repair. With the prospect of rain looming, we had a relatively low turnout. But we made a good day out of it with Ernie Grasso setting up a great up and back course with a fairly open design for rain. We opted to try a parade-style drive-through instead of our usual course walk (as employed by SVT and other Clubs). This served the purpose of giving us a relatively early start and with only 25 drivers, we were able to clock 6 runs by only 11:30. And the good news was the rain held off in the morning so that Ernie’s open course was especially fun for everyone. With rain approaching around lunchtime as projected, after lunch we did 3 more runs for a total of 9  and called it a day before the monsoons moved in mid-afternoon.

In the older air-cooled class, Adam Small in his ‘84 911 was able to get a win with a 54.42 over Chris Darminio’s 55.58 in his ‘76 914 beating him by only 1.1 seconds. Class 2 saw Bob Canter take the medal with a 59.71 after deciding not to challenge Adam and driving his 2017 Macan. In Class 3, Lev Tabenkin posted a 52.37 driving his 1996 993 – beating out two Boxsters driven by Alan Donkin (53.11) in his 2003 Boxster S and Chris Tuck who posted a 553.19. Mark Skala prevailed in Class 4 with a 49.47 driving his 2014 Cayman S, followed by Chris Ryan posting a 52.18 for 2nd and Brian Szeremata in his 2013 911 with a 54.68. Mark’s time was Porsche FTD. Ernie Grasso in a 2024 Cayman GTS posted a 51.68 to take Class 5 over Jeff Johnson (2018 Cayman GTS) with a 53.36 and Shawn Anderson in his 2016 Spyder who put up a 55.50. Alan Davis ran unopposed in Class 6 and posted a 52.82; In the two paxed non-Porsche Classes, Yu-Chi Chen (2003 BMW M240) took first in Class 8 with a pax time of 44.09 followed closely by Matt Nieman in his 2023 Corvette (44.547) and Jason Costello in a 2018 Porsche Panamera Hybrid (he elected to run with the non-Porsches) with a 47.74. Chris Lindquist ran unopposed in Class 9 posting 40.918 (pax). His raw time of 48.945 was non-Porsche FTD.

In the Novice Classes, Joshua Reed posted a 56.24 in Class 10 (Porsche Novice) driving his 2021 Carrera S to take first and get himself booted out of the Novice class. Denis Shield took 2nd driving a 2023 Boxster posting a 1:006. C=In Class 11 (non-Porsche Novice), Sims Simeonov posted a 58.002 in his 2024 Toyota GR Corolla.

Full results can be seen on our Live Timing/Archive site by going to https://porschenet.com/ax, scrolling down to the date of Autocross #2 (June 7, 2025), then selecting “Results”.

Thanks again to our sponsor, SSA European Auto Repair. Our next event will be on Saturday July 26th  and registration is open on motorsportreg.com.

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2025 AX #1

NER 2025 AUTOCROSS SERIES EVENT #1

 

NER opened its 2025 Autocross Season on Sunday May 18th at Moore Airfield in Ayer – sponsored once again by our friends at Porsche Norwell. Jason Landry and a couple of his buddies were on hand to do some cone chasing – we always love to have them come and participate. Overall, we had 52 drivers for the event, allowing for a full course around the airfield enjoyed by all.

We had 17 novices registered including 9 who had just participated in the 2025 Autocross School two weeks earlier. By the end of the day, it was Brian Szeremata driving a 2013 911 taking first place in the Porsche Novice class and Anderson Nichols in his 2020 Subaru WRX taking first in the non-Porsche Novice class. Welcome to the big leagues, guys …   

In Class 1, featuring the air-cooled cars, we saw Adam Small put up a 76.460 in his 1984 Carrera to take the top spot in Class 1 over Bob Canter and Mike Eldredge. In Class 2, Jason Costello took the win over Luis Rivera in a 2018 Panamera posting a time of 84.348. In Class 3, Chris Tuck took first with a 74.468, edging out Alan Donkin, Glenn Champagne, and daughter Maddie. Mark Skala dominated Class 4 with a 70.349 handily beating Chris Ryan and Dan Gramm. Charles Comeau took Class 5 with a win over Jeff Johnson and Ernie Grasso. Dan Quaroni in his new Spyder RS was tops in Class 6 posting a 71.137 over Brendon Wong and Alan Davis. Dan Fillingim was the winner of Non-Porsche SCCA Street Class 8 with a 71.860 in his 2019 MX5, and Chris Lindquist topped SCCA Street Prepared Class 9 in his 2023 Toyota Supra with a 70.849.

Full results can be seen on our Live Timing/Archive site by going to https://porschenet.com/ax, scrolling down to the date of Autocross #1 (May 18, 2025), then selecting “Results”.

Thanks again to everyone for coming out to our kick off our 2025 Season to our sponsor, Porsche Norwell. Our next event will be on Saturday June 7th  and registration is open on motorsportreg.com.

 

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A Message From The 2026 President Elect

A Message From The 2026 President Elect

First, on behalf of myself and other elected Directors, thank you!  We are all excited to serve the members of NER in the upcoming year.  We are already discussing and planning for a sensational year with some new events and adding new elements to those that already exist.  Please look for additional communication in the coming weeks.

Given the approval of the new bylaws, which were effective immediately, I wanted to ensure all those elected had a position on the Board of Directors.  I gathered all 2025 and 2026 elected officers to discuss how best to transition from the old bylaws to the new with a goal of doing what is best for NER.  As members were voting based upon the 2017 bylaws, we decided to maintain the 1-year term for 2026.  And while the roles of 6 of the 7 elected positions had a great match with the new board structure, the VP Driving role did not.  After discussion and acceptance by all, the VP Driving will hold the Vice President role on the Executive Council.

Per the new bylaws, the 2026 Executive Council met to appoint the 2026 Standing Committee Chairs in early December.  Please join me in welcoming the Executive Council and Board of Directors for 2026.

Regards,

Kristin Larson

Board of Directors

Executive Council

Role 2026 Elected
President Kristin Larson
Vice President Dennis Friedman
Secretary Anker Berg-Sonne
Treasurer Joshua Reed
Past President Glenn Champagne

Standing Committee Chairs

Role 2026 Appointed
Membership Kevin Moran
Safety Adam Schwartz
Website Manager Ryan Kitlinski
Official Publication Darin Smith
Track Paul Skinner
Autocross Chris Ryan
Ramble Doreen Manning
Concours TBD
Tours and Rallies Bill Seymour
Social Chair Ashley Flynn
Sponsorship/Advertising TBD
Nomination TBD

NER is a group fueled by volunteers.  We are always looking for and welcoming additional volunteers.  If you have interest in volunteering, please reach out via clicking here

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