Welcome to the Northeast Region Porsche Club

This is the online home of the Northeast Region of the Porsche Club of America. NER is celebrating our 60th year in 2019. And it’s another great one. We organize “DE” (driver’s education) events where our members drive on the best tracks in the Northeast – Watkins Glen, Calabogie, Tremblant, Thompson, Palmer, Lime Rock, and NHMS. We also run Autocross events at Fort Devens in Devens, MA. We host or frequent a huge number of Cars and Coffee events. And tours – we operate the largest and most unique “Ramble” in the country – an event that drew 320 people and over 200 cars for a weekend at a beautiful hotel in Maine with some awesome drives.

And there’s more – we host technical information sessions with local businesses, social events like a Summer Party and an annual winter Gala, and much more.

Come see what NER is all about by becoming a member. As we say, “It’s not just about the cars – it’s the people!”

April 8, 2019/by Sterling Vernon

Porsche Wins Bathurst 12h

Update: The Earl Bamber Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R #912 takes the win at Bathurst! A fitting way to retire this generation of car!

Original: Yes, Sunday will be a huge event! We’ll be able to watch the finish of the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour race streamed live from Mount Panorama in Australia! In addition to another large event happening in Australia that will be contested later that day. But this is probably the most exciting endurance race of the year and it comes very early in the season up here, whetting our appetites for an amazing year to come on track.

What makes it awesome? If you’ve not yet seen the elevation at Mount Panorama, where have you been? Watching the cars come down one of the longest downhill straights in the world – Con Rod Straight – doing 200mph often side-by-side, well, it’s about as good as it gets. Being an endurance race, you’ve got driver changes, fuel calculation, tires to manage, brakes overheating, lots of incidents – the top of the hill has some nasty concrete barriers very close to the edges of the track where some tight racing occurs, and some highly variable weather. It almost always rains a few times during the race – just enough to keep it very interesting. Many of the top GTLM drivers compete and you often see some unique cars like the Marc 1 – a V8 Ford Focus. This is the land that gave us Holden (RIP) of course.

Porsche will field two GT3 R cars via Earl Bamber Racing, numbered 911 and 912, naturally. Two additional GT3 R’s will race for Black Swan Racing and Competition Motorsports/McElrea Racing. Good luck, Porsche!!

The race starts at 1:45pm EST and ends at 1:45am EST on Sunday. Plenty of time to nap before seeing the Pats win another Superbowl!

February 1, 2019/by Sterling Vernon

For Enthusiasts, News Update, Porsche Events, Social, Tours

Ramble 2019 Registration Opens January 23

The 35th annual NER Ramble visits the Chatham Bars Inn Resort and Spa on Cape Cod for 2019. Registration sells out quickly so be sure to jump over to the event page now and get ready for sign up on January 23rd.

January 19, 2019/by Sterling Vernon

For Enthusiasts, News Update, Porsche Events

70 Up The Hill at Goodwood Festival of Speed

Porsche may have been a little slow getting out of the blocks to celebrate their 70th birthday, but they are more than making up for it with a huge presence at some very high-profile events. Take the Goodwood Festival of Speed (FOS) for instance. The festival is always an amazing show with just about one of nearly everything racing (in an interestingly “gentlemanly” manner) up what is in essence a British royal’s driveway! There are hundreds of thousands of onlookers and fans over the course of a whole weekend to watch people drive up a driveway at speed! And this year, it was a real treat to watch an array of Porsches – literally starting at Porsche #1 – all the way up to the 919 Evo and latest 991.2 Speedster. What was in between? Well, nearly everything. The icons – Moby Dick, an 804 (yes!) 917s, 904’s, 908’s, 935s – you name it…they sent it. Here’s an array of photos from a friend of ours, Tariq Horani, and a video for you to enjoy. Feel free to add more in the comments and let us know which cars were your favorites to see going up the hill!

There were a few oddities at Goodwood this year too – how about a driverless car doing the racing?? Not sure I’m too excited about that. But here’s an interesting race – GT3RS versus drone – and with the drone pilot sitting in the passenger seat of the GT3RS during the race!! Something about it is pretty cool.

July 18, 2018/by Sterling Vernon

For Enthusiasts, News Update

Porsche Double Victory at Le Mans

Victory in both GTE-PRO and GTE-AM Classes

In the pro-category, Porsche 911 RSR #92 drove 344 laps to victory. Drivers Kévin Estre (France), Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) and Michael Christensen (Denmark) led the race nearly from wire to wire – quite a feat. This win marked 106 class victories for Porsche.

Car #91, driven by Richard Lietz (Austria), Frédéric Makowiecki (France) and Gianmaria Bruni (Italy), fought hard to retain second place in the GTE-Pro class. Frédéric Makowiecki had a great fight with another car for an hour and a half!

Porsche has extended its lead in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ classifications of the FIA WEC world championship.

Winner in the GTE-Am class: the #77 Porsche fielded by Dempsey-Proton Racing

The #77 Porsche from Dempsey-Proton Racing got an emotional win in the GTE-Am class. With young Porsche talent, Porsche Young Professional Matt Campbell (Australia), Christian Ried (Germany) and Porsche Junior Julien Andlauer (France) grabbed the 107th class win for Porsche. Julien Andlauer at age 18 has become the youngest class winner at Le Mans.

Porsche 911 RSR, Dempsey Proton Racing (77), Julien Andlauer (F), Matt Campbell (AUS), Christian Ried (D), Le Mans 2018

Read the full news

June 18, 2018/by Sterling Vernon

Concours, For Enthusiasts

Training to Judge a Concours

[ by Gary Cooper ]

Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten that donut in the car today?

As a board member and enthusiast volunteer, I have been briefly involved for the 2018 NER Concours d’Elegance. Most of the real work is being done by Rick Archambault and the rest of the Concourse committee, and they are planning a spectacular event this year at Prowse Farm in Milton.

My introduction to the world of Concours began last year when NER hosted the Zone 1 Concours, and I had volunteered to work the registration table. So I got a brief taste of it, and was blown away by the presentation of many fine cars from around the Zone. This year, the call went out for volunteers to judge cars. Now, I didn’t see how that could be for me, since I’ve never entered a Concours, let alone judged someone else’s car. However, Rick explained that anyone can judge, once they know what to look for. See, the thing about the NER event – even though it has a fancy sounding name reminiscent of the world famous Pebble Beach or Amelia Island events – is that the only things that are judged are cleanliness and presentation. You won’t lose points for not having the correct valve stem cover for your 1965 356C – but you may, if it is found to be dirty!

However, new judges can’t just show up on Concours day and don their blue blazers, straw hats, white gloves and clipboards. Just kidding, I don’t think anyone does! So, we were asked to attend a judges training seminar at the home of long-time Concours attendees, winners and judges – George and Cindy Markell. When I arrived, George asked me – much to my horror – to pull my decidedly non-Concours, 140,000 mile 2003 Boxster into his garage. He wanted the judges to be trained by evaluating my car!

They explained the Boxster, because of its mid-engine design and the access difficulties that entail, would not have the engine bay judged. However, if you have a pre-997 Carerra, you better detail that engine fan. For the Box, they would just focus on the exterior (top only) and interior. George walked us through things to look for and what we could and couldn’t do as judges. For example, when judging the interior we had to have our feet on the ground and could not sit in the car.

George, explaining the four issues he already spotted on my car!

Needless to say, it was a fairly humbling experience to have these guys going over my old car – I hadn’t even washed it recently! But George, perhaps feeling bad for me, explained my car was actually in pretty good overall condition and – with some preparation would certainly be a car he would encourage me to enter in the August NER Concours d’Elegance event. And if I didn’t want to be judged, I could simply enter the Display Only group. So, what the heck, I have a garage full of cleaning products – I think I’ll give it a shot. You should too!

Learn more about the NER Concours d’Elegance

Now, here’s a clean engine bay (George and Cindy’s immaculate 968 Coupe).

June 15, 2018/by Sterling Vernon

For Enthusiasts

Porsche Takes Pole in GT Pro at Le Mans

With Porsche leaving the LMP1 program behind (with the 919 EVO as a glorious reminder of that stellar campaign), you might be forgiven for trying to ignore the 86th running of the classic 24-hour motor race through some local roads in France. But you shouldn’t. Porsche has 10 GT cars entered and has taken pole position in qualifying for the race this weekend! The GT classes (GT Pro and GT Amateur) present some of the most interesting and exciting racing on display right now. The fact that production cars are the raw basis for entries like the Ford GT, Ferrari 488, Corvette C7.R, Aston Martin Vantage, and, yes, the Porsche 911…that is what makes this harken back to the days of “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” that built the enthusiast auto industry.

We certainly hope Porsche can “win on Sunday”! They have 19 overall victories at Le Mans – the most of any manufacturer currently – and a huge number of class wins. The cars sound tremendous and some are wearing throw-back liveries (think Rothman’s and the “truffle hunter” pink pig!) that help underscore why we’re loving our Vintage Days DE events so much this year!

It’s going to be very exciting to see the works cars from both the WEC and IMSA Weathertech series out there battling each other. This is one of the few events that really unites the racing world globally. Drivers from all over come to compete – even the Formula 1 drivers.

“Both of the Porsche GT Teams from the FIA WEC and the North American IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will tackle the 86th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours. Twelve works drivers will race for victory in the GTE-Pro class. Sharing driving duties in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR are Richard Lietz (Austria), Gianmaria Bruni (Italy) and Frenchman Frédéric Makowiecki. Kévin Estre (France), Michael Christensen from Denmark and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) contest the long-distance classic in the #92 car. Manning the third 911 RSR (#93) for the Porsche GT Team are Patrick Pilet (France), Nick Tandy (Great Britain) and New Zealander Earl Bamber. Timo Bernhard from Germany, Romain Dumas (France) and Sven Müller (Germany) helm the #94 race car. With Bamber, Bernhard, Dumas and Tandy, four outright Le Mans winners contest the 24-hour race for Porsche.”

porsche-rsr-911-historic-livery-pink-pig-rothmans

Throw-back liveries are all the rage

The Velocity channel will be broadcasting the full race (yes!!!) and will be the place to tune into all of the action. If you’ve not thought to watch hours of endurance racing before, I find it’s great to have playing on the TV in the kitchen when I’m cooking or as background when I’m doing other things. After a while you come to recognize the intonation of the announcer’s voices to recognize particularly intense on-track moments so you can turn your attention to them. Sometimes I get sucked in fully and spend a good chunk of time watching how the cars go. And listening to those glorious engines at speed.

I had the chance to go to see the race live in 2016 – and it did not disappoint. It truly is a carnival atmosphere for an entire nearly two week period. There are driver parades in town, camping areas filled with fans who drive to the track from all over Europe, and fans – tons and tons of motorsports fans. And the scale of the course – it is difficult to understand how big the course is. It spans four towns!! The first time you go is “a sighting lap” for your next visits – figuring out where to view from and what you want to see. But it’s still homey. I ran into Mike Shank’s family hoping on the train back to Paris and had a nice chat with them about their Tequila Patron racing program on the platform!

We hope you’ll tune in and enjoy the race this weekend, around all the other great events going on, of course! And we hope you’ll be cheering on Porsche even when you’re not watching the race!

RACE SCHEDULE (courtesy of RACER.com)

Friday, June 15 (no on-track activity)

Drivers parade

Saturday, June 16

9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. local: Warm-up (3 a.m. – 3:45 a.m. ET / Midnight – 12:45 a.m. PT)
3 p.m. local: Race Start (9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT)

Sunday, June 17

3 p.m. local: Race Finish (9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT)

June 15, 2018/by Sterling Vernon

Drivers Education, For Enthusiasts, News Update

First Ever Vintage Days DE

NER held the first ever Vintage Days DE event on Memorial Day, May 28, 2018. We saw a great turnout of cars from as far back as 1955 up through the early 2000’s – an almost 50-year spread! Participants got a chance to experience a track day that reminded track chair, John Dunkle, of what DE’s used to be like 20 years ago. Our three run groups – “not very fast”, “a little faster”, and “vintage race” – all saw boatloads of track time. In the afternoon instructed and non-instructed run groups were combined for maximum flexibility.

vintage-day-one-ner-thompson-porsche-yellow-912

Sights like this have become more rare in the DE paddock. Now they are back.

We saw a really great turnout from our friends in the autocross side of NER. Many Boxsters and early 911’s that usually navigate a cone course were banking through the turns of Thompson Speedway and zooming through the historic oval.

vintage-day-one-ner-thompson-jim-from-north-carolina

Jim brought his beautiful 911 all the way up from North Carolina for this event. So glad you could make it, Jim!

One participant, Jim, drove all the way up from North Carolina with his 911 just to participate in this event! Jim raced in the late 60’s and early 70’s before settling down to a married life. And now he’s got the chance to pick back up right where he left off. And he seemed to like having that option quite a bit.

vintage-day-one-ner-thompson-red-porsche-968

Morning tech line looked a bit different that we’re used to!

vintage-day-one-ner-thompson-red-porsche-turtle-944

The Turtle Racing Team could be our “not as fast” mascot!

Our Vintage Days Chief Instructor, Penn Young, led some interesting educational sessions comparing Porsche cars old to new to explain the differences that have been added over time – and what it means to the driving experience on the road and on the track. When you see the empirical differences between the ratio of tire size front-to-rear between an SC and a 991 – you start to better understand how each car wants to behave at speed – and how there are strong similarities, but also some huge differences. With so much rich history behind Porsche (the 70th birthday is nearly here!), this was a great chance to reflect on that history in a very tangible way.

The smiles on everyone’s face seemed to sum up the day. Many thanks to all who attended – hope to see you at our second Vintage Days DE at Palmer Motorsports Park on June 16! Interested in attending a Vintage Days DE event for free this year? Just get two friends to sign up and pay for a Vintage Days DE event, email John Dunkle, and you’ll get an event of your choice on the house!

May 29, 2018/by Sterling Vernon

Update: The Earl Bamber Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R #912 takes the win at Bathurst! A fitting way to retire this generation of car!

Victory in both GTE-PRO and GTE-AM Classes

Winner in the GTE-Am class: the #77 Porsche fielded by Dempsey-Proton Racing

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