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PCA NER Meets the Treffen at Sea

I want to start with an apology! Between planning and attending events, this post is long overdue. Now that I have that out of the way, I wanted to recap an amazing event.

PCA Treffen at Sea was an event that brought together over 900 PCA members on a cruise ship from all over the country. The cruise ship docked in Boston on the Monday of the long weekend September 1st.

Preparations began long before that. I attempted to contact the port authority, and simply received the run around. Phone calls were made, emails were sent but no one responded. I went to the Raymond L. Flynn Black Falcon Cruise Terminal, to investigate where we could setup our PCA tent and perhaps show some cars. When there are no cruise ships docked the place is a graveyard. Following that attempt we decided that all we could do was show up on the day and pray that we didn’t upset any authorities and give a good showing.

Come the morning of the meet and greet and events were still conspiring against us. With help from Vu Nguyen and Manny Alban we found a spot that seemed appropriate. With help from Peter Palermo, we setup our tent and began parking some cars.

No sooner than we had setup, we were approached by officials who began to tell us that we were not allowed to setup here. But Vu saved the day and all was copasetic.

Over the course of five hours we met and greeted what felt like all 900 people off the cruise. We handed out refreshments and gifts courtesy of Hagerty as well as information about NER.

 

The rest of the day went without a hitch. As always, I would like to thank everyone that volunteered to help by manning the booth or bringing their wonderful automobiles. Thanks to Glenn Champagne our President, Betty-Mae Mosley our Secretary, Peter Palermo and Kevin Moran our VPs of Communication, Rich Archambault, Gary Cooper and Ashley Romeo. Apologies if I missed anyone.

Many accolades were received on the day and we received a personal thanks from PCA national for putting on such a great reception. Including this from Vu PCA Executive Director.

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Fall Finale At Palmer

The Northeast Region enjoyed spectacular weather for our end-of-season three-day event at Palmer Motorsports Park. We saw record attendance at this event with 170 cars (!!!) and over 180 drivers! That is absolutely incredible by any standard of measurement. And lest you think all those cars might cause congestion out on track – the organizers were right on top of it, making us all practice our “exercises” (point by to the left…point by over the roof to the right…repeat…) before hitting the track on Saturday morning. 

Speaking of teaching and practicing, we were lucky to once again have Lee Carpentier, pro driver and coach, to instruct many of the run groups during the course of the weekend. Lee’s sessions, with content tailored for each run group he addresses, helps us all improve in his very cheerful and humorous style. Lee also spent a lot of right-seat time with our instructors, helping to make sure we are all at our best.

As yet another special educational experience, Dr. Andy Kaufman, a PCA member from Syracuse (but a Boston guy to us since he went to MIT), a forensic psychiatrist, and coach to many performance athletes and business leaders, gave memorable and fascinating sessions about how to prime one’s brain for high performance driving by focusing on the mental side of performance using cognitive science. He focused on the two main stumbling blocks many of us face while high-performance-driving: focus and confidence. His qualifications and teaching experience (SUNY Syracuse) allow for a much deeper dive into the workings of the mind than might be typically covered by most coaches. Dr. Kaufman is mentored by Dr. Jacques Dallaire, author of some fascinating books about mental performance and coach to folks like Helio Castroneves and Patrick Dempsey from his office at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Dr. Kaufman led a session for the White run group on Friday and one for our advanced drivers and instructors on Saturday. He taught them “the three R’s” for maintaining focus and reducing possible anxiety. What are those three R’s? Luckily we’ll all be able to learn more about them next season as our head of DE, John Dunkle, has asked Dr. Kaufman to team up with Lee Carpentier next year to begin to develop some NER-specific programming. We’re blazing a trail in this area and yext year is going to be even better. Our DE team is really putting the “E” (education) back in “DE”. And the kicker – Andy lost third gear in his GT4 during the first session on Friday but stayed with us and did a great job. We hope his car is back out there soon.

If all that weren’t enough already, we had a live auction on Saturday after the track went cold and raised over $1,000 for Homes for our Troops by auctioning Porsche swag donated by Norbert Martel. The one item John Dunkle, auctioneer, wanted for himself – a 1/18 scale 2.7 RS – went for some serious money. We had a lot of laughs that evening.

Many thanks to all the people who came out for the event and huge thanks to the team that pulled it together and to South Shore Autoworks, the event sponsor. It really was a grand finale!

For anyone who wants to check out the track and see some great cars, don’t miss the big Porsche-only show, swap-meet, exhibition at Palmer on October 8th. You’ll even have a chance to drive the track (at parade speeds) to get a feel for how amazing it is. Come join us for what looks to be another great event!

 

John D. runs the auction in first-class style. But is a bit upset when the item he wanted was bid up a bit high. Great for our charity, Homes for our Troops – not so good for John!

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palmer motorsports park september 2017 de ner pca

Bill S. has formed his own run group.

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palmer motorsports park september 2017 de ner pca

Huge thanks to our event sponsor, Justin Becker and his South Shore Autoworks!

palmer motorsports park september 2017 de ner pca

Surely they are discussing the finer points of the line around Palmer’s track.

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palmer motorsports park september 2017 de ner pca

914-6! And it’s fast!

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Virginia is for Outlaws

  • by Gary Cooper                        

Greetings NER members! We are in the middle of a great summer and the heart of the driving season. I recently returned from a short trip to Virginia and thought you might enjoy this account of the weekend’s activities.

The invitation to go to Virginia came via my friendship with Bruce Russell, the Membership Chair for the Shenandoah Region of Zone 2 PCA. I last saw Bruce when we were returning from the Blue Ridge Boxster Summit, (read about that adventure here if you missed it). Bruce had just purchased a beautiful 997.2 Carrera S and we made plans for a weekend of driving fun.

But, before I could leave, I needed to get the bumper of my Boxster fixed. Yours truly was behind the wheel for a very low impact (while inching forward in heavy traffic) tap into another vehicle, causing some minor damage to the front bumper. Some call it operator error – I call it stupidity. In any event, based on the many good things I’d heard about them in the Nor’easter, I made an appointment with Mike’s Auto Body of Malden. While the insurance appraiser said the damage could be repaired, I suspected – and Mike agreed – a new bumper cover would be needed. I asked if they could complete the job before I was scheduled to leave for Virginia. Well, they worked with the insurer and were able to expedite the job just in time. When I picked the car up I was impressed with the quality of the perfect paint match, but even more so by the attention to such details as reinstalling my homemade front grill meshes (helps to keep road debris out of the rads), and by making sure the emergency frunk cable release was just where I had relocated it on the original bumper. I cannot recommend Mike’s highly enough! And I was ready to head to Virginia.

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Bruce lives in the Richmond suburbs, so I left very early on Friday morning. Before I left, I purchased a few small items as I way of thanking Bruce and his wife for yet again putting me up in their beautiful home – as they did when I returned from the Werks Reunion in Florida earlier this year. Some assorted German foodstuffs from Karl’s in Peabody and a few little accessories for the new Carrera seemed appropriate. I think he was pleased.

Karl's Sausage Kitchen and European Market Peabody

Bruce let me know what he had planned for the weekend. On Saturday morning we’d meet up with some fellow Shenandoah members and go on a 55-mile PCA driving tour – ending up at the site of Region’s 22nd Anniversary picnic at Keswick Vineyards outside of Charlottesville. We had a small, but enthusiastic group of 11 cars.

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Note: Speaking of driving tours, be sure to check out the NER Events site for the First Annual Charlie and Martha Dow Fall Tour on September 10th. This is sure to be a fun tour of beautiful Cape Ann and the Essex coastal plain.

The picnic was a great time for me to meet many of Bruce’s friends in the region. Shenandoah is a small region of less than 300 primary members, so it was very impressive that about 85 people came out for a purely social event.

Shenandoah Region PCA event 22nd anniversary picnic Keswick Vineyards Charlottesville

Shenandoah Region PCA event 22nd anniversary picnic Keswick Vineyards Charlottesville Hank Weil

Shenandoah Region PCA event 22nd anniversary picnic Keswick Vineyards Charlottesville

Thanks to the region and it’s president, Hank Weil (pictured above speaking to the group) for warmly welcoming me!

After the picnic, Bruce had planned a fun route for him and I to visit his family’s rustic cabin in the mountains. We traveled up and over the Blue Ridge, across the Shenandoah Valley, and up again into the Alleghenies. If you’ve never been to this region, you should plan a visit – it is gorgeous. I attempted to keep up with Bruce in his good-as-new Carrera S and it’s 425 ponies.

PCA NER porsche rustic cabin in Virginia

It was dark by the time we got home that night, and we went to bed with our bellies full of some delicious Virginia comfort food had along the way. We turned in early as the next day would have a “zero dark thirty” start.

Bruce and about 10 other regional members have an informal “outlaw” fun-run group. Think more spirited, but safe, driving without the PCA forms, waivers and reports. Their main rule is there are no rules, and you can bring whatever vehicle you like. They planned an early Sunday morning (fewer cars on the road) around the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge northwest of Charlottesville. This day, Bruce opted for the more nimble ride – his Guards Red 1984 3.2 Carrera Targa. We met around 7:00am and drove a while before breakfast at a Tastee Freeze. You read that right, but don’t snicker – it was delicious Virginia baked ham, eggs and biscuits [ed: there was no mention of Jack or Diane, sadly]. Then it was off on some incredible, fun backroads in Madison County. The scenery was just as good as the roads. I love being around people who share my passion for driving.

pca ner shenandoah virginia outlaw group porsche

pca ner shenandoah virginia outlaw group porsche

The Outlaw group from left: Gary Graff, his Dad – Dan, Gary Hunter, Bates McLain, Bruce, and Bates’ son Colin.

Then it was back to Bruce’s house where our rides received a nice bath, and we relaxed, ate and talked the rest of the day.

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I had a long, rainy ride home on Monday, but that couldn’t dampen my memories of a great weekend spent with great people and great cars. Again, thanks to Bruce, the Shenandoah Region and lastly – my wife Ellen, who is very understanding and supportive of my fun, but sometimes distant, trips.

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Generation Gap

In an seemingly unlikely shootout, professional racing driver David Donohue, son of the legendary Mark Donohue (a Brown engineering graduate and author of required reading, “The Unfair Advantage”), pits a 1987 944 Turbo up against a 2017 Macan GTS at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). Why exactly would you pair these two mismatched vehicles? The front-engine heritage and lineage seems to be on display. Watch to see how they felt and how they did!

And a question for you:
[poll id=”3″]

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