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Porsche
Club of America
Golden Gate Region
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June 2009.
Volume 49, Issue 6
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Dear Porsche Enthusiast,
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Welcome to The Nugget, the email newsletter of the Golden Gate
Region, Porsche Club of America.
If you have any trouble viewing this email, you can click here to go to the online versions of
this newsletter. For comments or feedback, click here
to email the editor.
Thanks for reading.
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Click
the button to subscribe (The Nugget is free!), and click here to join the Porsche Club of
America.
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Pawlina
Paraskova CG
Executive Editor of The Nugget
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President's Message
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 --by Bill Dally, GGR President
Suspension Tuning - Part 1
Second only to tires, the tuning of a car's suspension: its springs (or
torsion bars), sway bars, and shock absorbers- along with its alignment
and corner balance - determine how well it handles.
The importance of performance tuning was driven home to me when I brought
Shadowfax, my 914/6 autocross car to the last event of the 2007 GGR
autocross season for its debut autocross. I had spent a lot of time
tuning the engine, but had left the suspension the way it was when I
acquired the car. After all, it had been a track car and already
had beefy 180-lb/in rear springs and a Weltmeister anti-sway bar in
front.
The inadequacy of this moderately aggressive suspension setup was
immediately apparent on my first run. When I hit the gas the nose
rose way up - practially pulling a wheelie and when I applied threshold
braking, the nose pitched way down. Also on braking, the right
front tire was locking up well before I reached threshold resulting in a
flat-spotted tire. On corners, the car was rolling side to side and
lifting the inside front tire nearly a foot in the air. The
car was also understeering like a pig - plowing through slow corners.
Larry Sharp was the announcer for my first run group and he was making
jokes about my having a "soft rear". At first I thought
he was referring to my physique and was somewhat offended, but then I
realized that he was talking about the car - soft rear springs were in
fact part of my problem - but only one part. (Larry was also making
some pretty funny jokes based on the fact that my fuel-injection system
is based on a "Mega-Squirt" unit.)
Much of the 2008 autocross season was spent dialing in the suspension on
Shadowfax. Its now just about where I want it to be. Of
course good Porsche performance shops (like some of our sponsors) could
have gotten the suspension pretty close in a single visit. They
have formulas for what works on each model car. For me, however,
developing a car is a journey, not a destination, and half the fun is the
learning and the process of trial and error.
The suspension tuning procedure I recommend is as follows.
- Decide what your
objectives are.
- Adjust the spring rates
of the springs and/or torsion bars to set the appropriate stiffness
and to get an approximate front-rear balance.
- Adjust the shock
absorbers to provide appropriate dampening for the spring rate
chosen.
- Set the ride height to
get the center of gravity (CG) as low as possible without causing
damage and without causing excessive bump-steer.
- Set the anti-sway bar(s)
to fine-tune the front-rear balance.
- Corner balance the car.
- Set the alignment to the
optimal camber and toe.
This is not the procedure I used but rather the procedure
I wish I had used. I would have saved a lot of time had I done
things in this order. I would have also saved time had I gotten
some of the lower-numbered items right the first time (in particular the
ride height) because all of the downstream elements need to be revisited
if you change a lower-numbered item. I got a lot of practice
aligning my car with a laser level and a camber gauge as I iterated on
the setup.
Before adjusting your suspension you should realize that Porsche did an excellent
job setting it up in the first place - given their constraints and
objectives. Unless you change the objectives you are unlikely to
get a better setup. When building a competition car the main change
in objective is that you are willing to compromise ride comfort for
better handling - i.e., you are willing to install stiff springs - giving
you a ride that will loosen you fillings - to get better handling.
Some recent Porsches - like my 2002 Boxster S - have considerable
understeer in their stock configurations. I suspect that Porsche
was trying to make the cars more forgiving to novice drivers - so they
wouldn't spin them into trees when they lift while cornering at the
limit. For these cars you may be adjusting the suspension to achieve
better front-rear balance. In effect trading the forgiving
understeer for a snappier turn-in - but just remember not to lift when
you find that decreasing radius corner on King's Mountain Road a little
tighter than you expected.
Understeer in the stock configuration is not a problem with older
Porsches - like my 73 914 or 69 911. Their suspensions are just too
soft. It's also not a problem with the most recent Porsches - like
a 2006 Cayman I drove recently. Since Porsche made PSM standard,
they seem to have decided that PSM makes their cars forgiving enough, so
they no longer need to make them understeer like pigs.
The first step in suspension tuning to to set your objectives. To
start the process you should think clearly about what you want the car to
do and write it down. This will drive most of the decisions you
will make later. What are you developing your car for?
Is it primarily for the track? for autocross? or for spirited
drives in the Santa Cruz Mountains? Do you plan on using it as a
daily driver? If so, don't make it too stiff or you will be making
lots of visits to the dentist to have those fillings replaced after the
harsh ride separates them from your teeth.
The first choice to make in tuning your suspension is to select the
spring rates for the front and rear springs (or torsion
bars). Making your spring rates stiffer than stock improves
performance for two reasons. First, it makes the car more
stable. Under acceleration and braking it will pitch less, and while
turning it will roll less. This keeps the wheels in contact with
the ground better and gives you better dynamic camber. Since the
car rolls less, the angle between the vertical axis of the wheel and a
normal to the ground remains negative (or goes less positive).
Second, a higher spring rate reduces the time constant of the suspension,
making the car respond faster to steering inputs. When you turn the
wheel you have to first load the suspension, then the car starts
turning. W ith a stiffer
suspension this happens faster.
The right spring rate depends on a number of factors: the weight of the
car, the power of the engine, how bumpy the venues are you plan to drive,
and how much comfort you are willing to give up for performance.
For my 914/6 I went with 21mm torsion bars in front and 275 lb/in springs
in the rear. The stock configuration is 18mm torsion bars and 100
pound springs, so this is 1.85x the spring rate in front (spring rate is
proportional to d4 for torsion bars) and 2.75x the spring rate in the
rear. (For torsion bar 911s, a popular combination is 21mm front
torsion bars and 27mm rear torsion bars).
Here is a picture of the 21mm torsion bars I installed on
Shadowfax. Installing torsion bars is easy. You just remove
the torsion bar covers, pull the old ones out, smear some grease on the
new ones, slide them in, and put the covers back on. The left and
right bars are different, so check the markings and make sure to put them
in on the correct sides. After you change a set of torsion bars you
will need to reset your ride height. If the ride height doesn't
change, the alignment should be unaffected.
Here is a picture of the rear spring already installed on the shock
(left) and the entire assembly bolted into the car (right).
Installing these is also very simple. Remove the shock by unbolting
at the top and bottom. Using a spring compressor (be careful)
compress the old spring and remove the top perch. (My performance
springs are short enough that they can be inserted and removed without a
spring compressor, but you will need one to remove the stock springs - or
even 180 lb springs.) Then remove the old spring and install the
new spring. This photo actually shows a 10-inch spring (PN
1000.250.275). To get my ride height low enough I had to switch to
an 8-inch spring (PN 800.250.275). I bought my springs and the
threaded perch kit from Ground Control and they were great about swapping
springs until I got the pair that met my needs.
I
In addition to stiffening the suspension, the selection of spring rates
should roughly balance the car - so that when cornering at the limit with
neutral throttle the front and rear of the car slip by equal
amounts. Stiffening one end will cause that end to slip more.
Stiffer front springs lead to understeer and stiffer rear springs lead to
oversteer.
Some people set up their cars with very unbalanced springs - e.g., 300
lb/in rear springs and stock 18mm front torsion bars - and then restore
balance with a very stiff anti-sway bar. I don't recommend this approach
for two reasons. First, while adding an anti-sway bar can
balance the roll spring rates and give neutral steering, it doesn't help
the pitch spring rate. A car with a soft front springs and a stiff
sway bar will dive more on heavy braking than a car that balanced its
steering with springs and uses the anti-sway bar for fine tuning.
Second, using a very stiff anti-sway bar makes it difficult to make fine
adjustments to balance. With a thick, stiff bar moving the drop
links just a little bit makes a big change in balance. If you get
the balance pretty close with springs and then use a thin anti-sway bar
to fine tune balance, its much easier to get it right.
Setting the ride height makes a huge difference in handling. It
took me a long time to get my ride height right (read low enough).
I started out high and lowered it in small increments. My ride
height is now four inches front and back - measured from the garage floor
to the jack-point "doughnuts". Lower would make it
handle better, but I would break my front valance and scrape the center
of the floor pan getting the car on and off the trailer.
Lowering the ride height lowers the CG which reduces pitch and roll
moments. When my ride height was 5.5 inches (which is still well
below stock ride height), my car would lift the inside front wheel way
off the ground. In fact at one autocross I picked up both inside
wheels (see the photo below). Since lowering the car to four
inches, it handles much better and doesn't lift wheels.
Ride height is adjusted in front by turning the adjustment screws on the
torsion bar covers (left photo below). This makes it easy to make
fine adjustments. Ride height for rear coil springs is
adjusted by moving the spring perch. This is easiest if the spring
perch is threaded (right photo below). Alternatively some shocks
allow the bottom perch to be set to one of a few positions by sliding a
C-ring into one of several slots. The rear torsion bars on pre-89
911s are adjusted by rotating the inner and outer splines. The 911
rear torsion bar has 44 outer splines and 40 inner splines, so moving the
bar one position to the right and then the spring plate one position to
the left effectively rotates the bar by 1/40 - 1/44 = 1/440 of a
rotation. Adjustable spring plates make the process of adjusting
rear ride height (and corner balancing) much easier. Ride height
and corner balancing use the same adjustments. We get these
adjustments close when setting ride height and then fine tune them when
we corner balance.
When lowering ride height, one needs to worry about "bump
steer". The A-arms are now higher relative to the body (and the
steering rack) so they are past their neutral point. When the car
hits a bump the A-arms swing up further causing the tie rods to
angle up further resulting in an undesired steering input or undesired
change in toe. 
One can partly compensate for this by installing rack spacers - which
move the steering rack up by a small amount. However, to really fix
the problem requires raised spindles or one of the bump steer kits that
changes the attach point of the tie rod ends to the spindle.
That's all I have space for this month. In next month's column I'll
continue this exploration of suspension tuning by discussing
anti-sway bars, shocks, corner balancing, and alignment.
Until then, I hope you have a great month of June. Get out and
drive your car at one of our competitive events.
Bill
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Letter from the Editor
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--by John Celona, Nugget Editor
Apologies to Moms!
Last month, I experienced a memory pointer error when plugging a picture
into The Nugget's header: I pulled a father's day pic rather than one for
mother's day. Sorry!
Mom's: hope you were duly remembered and appreciated.
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Competition Corner
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--by Wayne Van Norsdall, Competition Director
Help! Calling all members! We had two more great events in the weeks gone
by. The Alameda AX and the TT/ Club Race at Buttonwillow. Our only issue
was low attendance at both events. We are hoping that the low numbers
were due to weather or the holiday weekend. Not being completely sure, we
are asking you to get up, strap in, and drive you Porsche the way it was
meant to be driven! This of course, would not be your next trip to
Nordstrom's or Safeway, but at one of our safe, incident free, high
performance driving events.
We need your support or the club may be forced to cancel future events.
So, please take a look at GGR's calendar of events, plan ahead, and join
us. This helps support the club you all know and enjoy and the best part
of course, is driving the cars we are so passionate about.
Wayne
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Board of Directors
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--by John Celona, GGR Secretary
GGR
Board of Directors
Meeting Minutes for May 6, 2009
Call to Order. The meeting was held at the residence of the president,
Bill Dally. Present were: Bill Dally, Claude Leglise, Larry Adams, Sharon
Neidel, John Celona, Bill Benz, Mark Powell, Paul Larson, and Rob
Murillo. The meeting was called to order at 7 p.m.
Call for agenda changes: none
Call for calendar changes: none
Approval of April minutes: already approved via email
Postmortem of events
- 4/25/09 Alameda Auto X:
there were 73 drivers.
- 5/2/09 Ground School: there
were 6 attendees. At least one has signed up for the next track
weekend.
Directors' Reports
President: nothing to report.
Vice-President
Upcoming event status report:
- 5/15-17 Grand Am tour
- 5/16 Beginners Auto X
school
- 5/23-24 DE TT CR # 2 Buttonwillow
- 5/30-31 Stockton Auto X
- 6/6 Porsche (Boxster)
Brunch
Certificates are ordered for the following events:
- 5/23-24 DE TT CR #2
Buttonwillow
Certificates are in place for the following events:
- 5/16 Beginners Auto X
school: this event is now sold out.
- 5/31 Stockton Auto X
Treasurer
The club finances look good and this year's tax returns for the club have
been filed.
Secretary
A visit has been made to the storage and the effort to clean it out and
get to a smaller permanent storage solution is under way.
Social
Upcoming Event Status Report:.
- Team Tours at Laguna Seca
Grand Am Races, May 15 - 17, 2009. Details finalized for Brumos
Racing and TRG tours at Laguna Seca Grand Am races. TRG tour
Saturday 5/16/09 at 1:00 PM. Brumos tour Saturday 5/16/09 at
2:30 PM will be headed by Hurley Haywood. We will be able to
have up to 25 guests per tour. The announcement was made on
5/05/09.
- TRG "Wine and
Wrenches" Tech Session: Saturday, 6/20/09. GGR will be having a
Tech Session/Wine Tasting/Catered Lunch at TRG on June 20,
2009. The cost will be $20 per adult, with children under 12
will free. We will be able to have up to 100 guests!! Already
on calendar. Announcements to be made one month prior to
event.
- Canepa Design Tour:
Saturday, 6/27/09. GGR will be having a tour to Canepa Design in
Scott's Valley on Saturday, June 27, 2009. The event will be
free. We will be able to have up to 30 guests. Already on
calendar. Announcements to be made one month prior to event.
- GGR Family Picnic / People's
Choice Concours: Saturday, 7/25/09. Gateway Pavilion and parking lot
reserved for "Special Event". Already on calendar.
Announcements to be made one month prior to event.
- Military Vehicle Foundation
Tour: Saturday, 9/26/09. GGR member Kevin Laird has arranged for a
private tour of the Military Vehicle Foundation in Portola Valley.
The tour will take place at 10:00 AM on Saturday, September 26,
2009. The event is already on the GGR calendar. An
announcement to be made one month prior to event. To sign-up,
e-mail Kevin at kpl@kevinlaird.com. A donation of $20 is
requested..
Future Events for Discussion:
- Year-End Banquet at
Blackhawk Museum in Danville: Sunday 1/10/10. Per the Boards recommendation
the date for our Year-End Banquet was changed to Sunday 1/10/10.
Need Board approval for $3000 check to Scott's Catering to cover
deposit. (Scott's is now handling both catering and Blackhawk
rental.) Motion to approve this expenditure was passed
unanimously.
Membership
In view of declining club membership, the suggestion was made to run a
promotion in which new members who join receive a GGR car badge. Motion
to proceed with this initiative passed unanimously.
Competition: signups for Buttonwillow is going slowly, but it is
hoped that many more will sign up just prior to the price increase on May
15.
Webmaster: 856 hits per day last night.
Topics for discussion
Succession: president, treasurer and secretary are up for
election. A nominating committee was appointed of Bill Dally, Rob
Murillo, and Bill Benz. The will work on nominees for the open positions
for the next meeting.
Diablo Region Fundraising Event: the fundraising chair for Diablo
Region made a proposal for a joint fundraising event between Diablo,
Golden Gate, and Loma Prieta regions. The proposal was taken under
submission. The consensus was that, given the scope of the event, this
should be done through Zone 7 and all the regions, rather than individual
regions. Sharon Neidel will coordinate that.
Zone Corral Subsidy: Because the Zone cannot ask for PCA subsidy
money directly, motion was made to allow an application by GGR for a
corral subsidy to support the Zone corral at Laguna Seca. Motion was
passed unanimously.
Redwood Goody Store: request was made for Redwood Region to bring
its "Goody Store" to Buttonwillow. Allowed.
Insurance on the Trailer: following the break-in on the trailer, a
quote was obtained for insuring the contents of the trailer. The quote
was $700/year. Considering the cost, it seemed better to self-insure.
GGR 50th Anniversary Party: the first organizing meeting for the
GGR 50th anniversary party was held. Ideas for the event were exchanged
and efforts are ongoing to determine feasibility of the idea. Anyone
wishing to help out with organizing the event is encouraged to email
Sharon Neidel.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m.
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March Membership Report
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 --by Jeff Kost, Membership Director
The primary membership level
declined slightly month over month and we saw a continued erosion of
affiliate members. As always, I encourage each of you to do what you can
to recruit new members and engage and retain our ever more important
existing members!
One more item to note, it
was pointed out that I missed a rather important 40th
anniversary earlier this year. The process of pulling the names is a
manual one and mistakes do happen, so I apologize...
Congratulations to Douglas
Wong who celebrated his 40th anniversary in February of this
year!!!
Total Members: 2360
Primary: 1373
Affiliate: 986
HQ Life: 1
GGR Life: 3
New Members: 13
Transfers In: 4
Transfers Out: 5
Congratulations and welcome to
our NEW MEMBERS!!!
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Jim & Barbara Abernathy
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San Mateo
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2007 911 S
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Anne Alvarez
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San Francisco
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Craig Backer
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Mill Valley
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1974 911
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Sebastian Blum
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San Francisco
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1995 911
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John Brook
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San Mateo
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2003 Boxster
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Charles & Lynn Bruce
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Millbrae
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1998 Boxster
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Brian Conn
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Chicago
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2006 911 C4S
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Jon Cooper
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San Francisco
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2001 996
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Mike Hickey
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Pacifica
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2006 C4S
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Daniel Hom
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San Bruno
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2006 Carrera 4S
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Catherine Houdek
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San Jose
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Sharon Lackey
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San Mateo
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Vanessa Mills
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San Francisco
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Joseph Seidler
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San Francisco
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2007 C4S
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Anniversaries
45 Years (Congratulations!!!)
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Margrit Nieslony
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San Carlos
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40 Years
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Paul Lang
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San Jose
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1957 356
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Charles Reid
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Fremont
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1969 912
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25 Years
20 Years
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Terry Robertson
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Livermore
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Richard Walton
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San Jose
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72 911
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15 Years
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Neal Crispin
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St Thomas
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1993 911RS
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Charles Fintel
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Oakland
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1972 914
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Jill Matuszak
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Fremont
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Margarita Slevin
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Los Altos Hills
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Gary Jones
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South Lake Tahoe
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73 911T
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10 Years
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Mercedes Bobias
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Santa Clara
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Fernando Campos
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Fremont
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1981 911
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Manuela Chan
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San Jose
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Marjorie Fooshee
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San Jose
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Andrew Forrest
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Mountain View
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1988 911
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Michael Steinberg
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Saratoga
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1967 912
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Howard Yao
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Millbrae
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1974 914
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James Virgin
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San Martin
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1999 Boxster
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5 Years
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Rick Berberich
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San Jose
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1968 911
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Nancy Fick
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Hillsborough
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Dean Floyd
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Campbell
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1988 911
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Bubba Gong
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San Carlos
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Lexus 430SC
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Jim Lane
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Los Gatos
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1989 944 S2
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Brian McNeal
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San Carlos
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1988 911
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Charles Meier
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Burlingame
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2004 911
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Christopher Nushawg
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Atherton
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1969 912/911
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Stanley & Yuka Okawachi
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Saratoga
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1997 Carrera
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PJ Tradelius
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San Francisco
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2001 996 T
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Roger Walther
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San Francisco
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1958 356
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Rolling Thunder II
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May 23-24 at Buttonwillow Raceway
--by Warren Walker & Mike Cullinan, Drivers' Ed / Time Trial / Club
Race Co-Chairs
Race grid is always a tense time for all concerned and the start is
a time for maximum concentration.
The race started smoothly as drivers revved up on impulse power and
awaited the flag to go to warp drive. Sensors indicated no Klingon
vessels in the quadrant.
Mike Cullinan # 59 followed by Ken Park #96 then Jim Lane #00 , Bill
Pickering #628, Jerry Whitridge #552 (the white 944 with the red stripe)
and bringing the tail of this race within a race is Nicolas Perdikaris
#842 from El Segundo, CA.
Close racing occurred both Saturday and Sunday as the racers adapted
their driving skills to the demanding Buttonwillow Raceway track.
Race and DE grid was skillfully handled by Jay Dugan and daughter Julie,
who is now teaching high school in Ventura, Ca, along with George Neidel
who continues to volunteer even though he is not driving, much to the
relief of all the 914 racers. Historically, George was a force in his
Levi colored # 3 914.
Thirty one racers and forty three DE participants enjoyed picture
perfect weather for the Buttonwillow raceway with the highs in the low
90's and the lows just below 60 early in the morning.
A small group of us enjoyed Friday night BBQ in front of one of the
two buildings of garages located in the Buttonwillow paddock area.
Getting ready to drive on Saturday exhausted Gary Dorighi, CDI for the
last three years, the person in the picture who suddenly closed his eyes
right before the shutter snapped open, yeah right.
Time trails were held Sunday afternoon following the Sunday Sprint
Race. Twenty-three drivers entered into their own race against the
clock and the technically difficult Buttonwillow race track. All
were victorious to one degree or another. Six of our drivers
excelled to the point of setting new TT records for the technically
difficult Butttonwillow race track in their respective classes.
They have now assumed the mantle of leader in class with the large red
target on their backs. Our congratulations.
Listed below are the six new class leading drivers:
Brian Hyun TT11
Laura Manz TT12L
Clemson Chan TT13
Carl Switzer Our TTOD male driver
Doris Pickering Our TTOD female driver and
new class leader in TT7L
Craig Lisowski TT8
Orlando Garcias TT9
Congratulations to all of our drivers for displaying good judgment, a
high level of driving skills and continued improvement.
Mike and Warren
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The Power Chef
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Concours for People?
--by
John Celona, The Power Chef®
After writing the Porsche article for the Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance program
(June 28th--see you there?) and knowing next to nothing about concours, I
was curious enough to look at the categories and judging.
I had imagined that winning was simply a matter of which car was the most
pristine and perfect and that winning cars pretty much had to be
disassembled, reassembled and refinished to a level far above brand-new
and precluding any real use. Not so!
As it turns out, (depending on the rules) there are a number of
categories. The ones I gleaned from the Zone 7 concours rules are:
- Full Concours
- Street
- Preservation/Unrestored
- Competition/Special
Interest
- Wash & Shine
The way judging works is one starts with a perfect score
(how nice!) and then the judges deduct for
- Missing or unattached
items
- Less than perfect
condition
- Inoperative or broken
assemblies
Depending on the class, there may
also be deductions for non-original items. It's still not clear to me
after reading the rules whether, for example, a car in the
preservation/unrestored category is dinged for a paint chip, and whether
it only merits a semi-ding if you've done your best to dab it with touch
up paint before waxing.
That got me to thinking: why no similar categories for people concours?
For the fairer sex, there are only beauty contests (which are a world
unto themselves). For menfolk, there are body building contests, which no
one can actually win without heavy weight training, steroids, dieting,
and severe dehydration immediately prior to the contest. Noe these are
good for your health. For both types of contests, hang it up if the first
digit of your age isn't less than or equal to 2.
After consulting my resident expert on beauty pageants (my spouse, who
has been executive director of many), I also learned that, furthermore,
there are no deductions in beauty pageants for non-original items. Breast
implants, Botox, plastic surgery--it's all allowed. Apparently, one Miss
California even had her implants paid for by the Miss California
organization before she ran for Miss USA.
Something seemed to me seriously out of kilter: why are we more concerned
with originality in cars than people? Shouldn't there be a
preservation/unrestored category in beauty pageants for women created
without surgical assistance? And how about a competition category for men
who are actual athletes with the wear-and-tear competition brings, rather
than an ephemeral confluence iron and hormones?
Maybe this is akin to asking why the cultural obsession with youth and a
mostly unattainable ideal of physical perfection, or why Barbie and Ken
dolls are so popular (notwithstanding absurd proportions).
I was recently reading an article in The Economist exploring how
scientists have linked beauty and success, and that there are apparently
good reasons for the general preference for more beautiful people. The
research in question began with scorpion flies of all things, and the
observation that those with the most symmetrical (beautiful?) wings were
most successful in mating.
How depressing. Those who are most blessed shall be further so. Great if
you're Brad or Angelina, and less so if you're the average we.
Rather than railing against the injustice of the universe (why is gravity
getting so HEAVY?), I refocused on concours preparation for people. Time
will take its ravages, but limiting its advances can perhaps put more
years in your life and life in your years.
Of course, a healthy diet and exercise are key ingredients for this and a
frequent topic in this column. But, there's MORE.
Turns out a regular facial can help mimimize the ravages evident on that
most exposed aspect of everyone: your face. You don't need to go to a
salon. And you can do it at home without a pressure washer or random
orbital polisher. It does involve clay, as does detailing your car.
However, I would not recommend using the same clay on your face and your
car
The only expensive must-have item is a product from Lancôme, such a their
"Intensive Anti-Wrinkle Eye Treatment." These products have
been vouched for by that oracle of beauty advice, The Wall Street
Journal. The article is too old for me to find it, but, in a comparison,
the Journal concluded that only the Lancôme product made any discernable
difference in wrinkles. There you have it.
To be clear, all we're talking about here is slightly lessening the
appearance of wrinkles. We'll take what we can get.
So, after once again consulting my spouse who is expert in all things I
am not, I present The Hollywood Facial, which I try to do once a week or
so. Great while you're working late at home sitting in front of the computer
anyway. Put me next to my one-year-older brother who also eats healthy
and exercises and you may conclude something is making a difference.
I'll chalk it up to the facial.
Bon Appetit,
The Power Chef
The
Hollywood Facial
The Gist
Apply a sequence of products to your face once a week or so.
Ingredients
facial mud
facial peel
facial scrub (anti-acne or not, depending on what you need)
a Lancôme anti-wrinkle product
Method
Wash your face thoroughly in hot water. Men should shave if they haven't
already shaved that day. Gently squeeze on any whiteheads or blackheads
(yucky, I know).
Apply the anti-wrinkle cream around your eyes. Be careful not to get it
in your eye because it may sting.
Apply a layer of mud on your face. Be extra generous on the oily T-bar
(forehead and nose). Let it sit until thoroughly dry and cracked and you
see it drawing the oil out of your skin. This will take at least 30
minutes and you can leave it for an hour or more. If you like, while it's
drying go out to check the mail so you'll amuse your neighbors.
Rinse the mud off with warm water and gently scrub your face with a wet
face towel. If necessary, apply a little more wrinkle cream around the
eyes.
Dry your face and apply the facial peel. Be careful to stay away from
hair and eyebrows because they'll pull out. Let it dry (10-20 minutes),
but not so long that it comes off by itself. You can expedite the process
with a hair dryer set on LOW. Gently pull off the peel. This will take
dead skin cells off with it.
Rinse any residual peel off with more warm water and dry your face. Apply
a layer of facial scrub. If you're using anti-acne scrub, let it set for
a bit. Gently scrub your face with the warm, wet face towel, then rinse
thoroughly. Finish with a cold water rinse.
Apply a final light layer of anti-wrinkle cream and admire how fresh your
face looks.
Notes
For the other facial products, I buy inexpensive products at the
drugstore, such as products by Queen Helena. Save your money for the
Lancôme.
Variations
If you're in a hurry, you can just do the mud and skip the rest.
Notes
I had thought of including a photo of myself in a clay mask, but decided
I could probably charge money for that. Sorry!
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Sergio Says Hello
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Longtime GGR member, time trialer, time trial instructor, and autocross
instructor Sergio Meza proudly displays his 911 with the license plate:
"PCA 7 GGR". Kudos to Sergio for coming up with a meaningful
plate not already taken! In addition to the distinctive lettering, the
whale tale design of the plate increases front down force. Sergio was
photographed at Alameda Point where he was one of the instructors for the
recent beginners' autocross school.
Click on Sergio's photo to email him an offer for the plate. All bids
should end with four zeros.
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The Dummkopf Award
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 --by Terry Zaccone, GGR Past President
It's been a while since we have seen one of the most prestigious GGR
awards, The Dummkopf. We have it now and it is ready to be passed on.
For those of you who are new, or have forgotten, I'll give you a short
history (from memory).
The award is given to the person (or persons) who does something that
members agree qualifies. It can be passed on any time. I have seen it
passed on twice at the same event.
As I understand it, the first GGR President and the Vice President were
on a rally in San Francisco. The President was driving. While they were
concentrating on the rally instructions, he T-boned a cop at an
intersection. The Vice President thought to himself: "You know?
There ought to be some kind of an award for something like this."
Another member was backing his 911 out of the garage when his wife,
returning home, triggered the garage door opener from a block away, as
some of us do. The resulting crease in the top of the 911 was deemed
sufficient reason to give the award.
Ready
for a shelf near you!
Remember Larry Spear? Great guy and good GGR member. Larry's job was to
store the GGR loaner helmets and bring them to the Autocrosses. There
were a dozen of them in a big cardboard box with dividers, like a big box
of christmas ornaments. The helmets were in head first. Larry kept the
box in a corner of his garage. Larry had a beautiful Great Dane whose
name was Tiny. Tiny was about the size of a small horse. Tiny did not
know, of course, that this was not some new, fancy pissoir meant for his
use, so he filled all the helmets. This was not noticed until after they
had dried and Larry brought them to the next Autocross and someone tried
one on. That was probably the most unanimous award of the Dummkopf ever
seen.
When you get the Dummkopf, your job is to get your name engraved on
the plaque and then find someone else to give it to. So, if you look at
the plaques, you can see the names of everyone who has received it. Some
have received it multiple times. Yours truly has received it more than
anyone, but I can't remember why. Well, maybe some of them.
As you can imagine, this could be a very long article because there are
so many good stories. In fact, I can envision a monthly column dedicated
to past Dummkopf stories that people send in as they remember them. (Click
on Larry's photo or here
to send him an email. --Ed.)
Let me just say that this is a very prestigious award that many regions
have copied. The Zone 7 Dummkopf has a miniature plastic German helmet on
it. Ours is a full-sized leather one. There are, of course, a whole
series of Zone 7 Dummkopf stories
Right now, John Seidel has it. No, he did not earn it, he's just
safekeeping it.
We need to move it on to the next recipient, so if anyone has any current
stories that might deserve the award, let anyone on the Board, or John,
or me, know.
Terry
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Great YouTube 917 Link
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GGR member Neil Librock sent in this link to a video of the 1970 1000km race
at Spa. Click here to see how the Porsche 917 did. --Ed.
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Monterey Historic Races Events
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The Porsche Club of America - Monterey Bay Region (MBR) is organizing the
Porsche Corral parking and other club activities surrounding the Monterey
Historic Automobile Races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, August 14-16,
2009. Porsche is the featured marque at the Historic races.
MBR is organizing the following events to occur during the week leading
up to the Historic Races:
- Monday, 8/10 - MBR "Heritage Avenue
Exhibit," at the Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue,
where Porsche & Ferrari will be featured
- Thursday, 8/13 - Driving tour showcasing Monterey
County and post-tour reception at the Poppy Hills Golf Course in
Pebble Beach
- Friday, 8/14 - Welcome Party at the historic
Carmel Mission
- Saturday & Sunday, 8/15 & 8/16
- Corral parking, hospitality area, catered lunches and a Parade
Lap at the Monterey Historic Automobile Races - Mazda Raceway Laguna
Seca
- Monday, 8/17 - Driver's Education Day at Mazda
Raceway Laguna Seca
MBR's event
registration will be through www.motorsportsreg.com and will
open in the near future. Registrants will need a free user
name/password on that site and elect to "join" the PCA -
Monterey Bay club. Future email announcements of MBR event details
will be sent through motorsportsreg.com and made available on the MBR website. Some events have
space limitations. Participation in the Heritage Avenue Exhibit and
acceptance in the Driver's Education Day will be by MBR organizing
committees. New this year, MBR's registration fees will be
discounted through May 31, 2009.
Registration for the Heritage Avenue Exhibit will occur separately.
Concours on the Avenue information is available from Motor Club Events,
LLC, through their website.
Monterey Historic Automobile Races tickets must be purchased separately
from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca through their ticket ordering website or by
calling 1-800-327-SECA.
Lodging information and assistance services can be found on the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca website.
# # #
Links:
http://mby.pca.org (MBR official
website)
http://www.motorsportreg.com (MBR
event registration)
http://www.motorclubevents.com
(Concours on the Avenue website)
http://www.mazdaraceway.com/pages/tix-historic09
(Historic races ticket order page)
http://www.mazdaraceway.com/pages/hotels_restaurants (Lodging
information & services)
Porsche Club of America - Monterey Bay Region Contacts:
Ginger
Mutoza, Historic Races Event
Coordinator
George
Von Gehr, President
831-596-4041
650-888-1848
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Porsche Win at NJ Grand-Am
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PORSCHE SWEEPS GT PODIUM, EXTENDS DP DRIVERS LEAD AT NJ GRAND-AM
PORSCHE SWEEPS ROLEX GRAND-AM GT PODIUM IN NEW JERSEY; PORSCHE VS PORSCHE
FOR FINAL PODIUM SPOT IN DAYTONA PROTOTYPE LEAVES EVERYBODY SMILING
MILLVILLE, NJ - May 3 -- Whether they were tears of joy or extra large
rain drops dripping down their cheeks, nearly every Porsche driver was
smiling after the Verizon Wireless 200 Rolex Grand-Am SportsCar series
presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 race on a dismal and dreary day in
New Jersey Sunday.
Porsches swept the podium in GT - indeed, Porsches 911 GT3 Cup cars
finished one through four - with victory going to the #87 Farnbacher Loles
Racing Porsche of Dirk Werner (Germany) and Leh Keen (Charleston, SC).
They led 38 of the GT race's 86 laps, including the final 22 with
Werner at the wheel. They finished eighth overall in the 31-car
field.
Rain fell throughout the race and Grand-Am officials even ran 12 laps
under caution because track conditions were so treacherous - unusual for
normally all-weather sports car racing.
"The conditions were really difficult," Werner said.
"When I was behind Spencer (Pumpelly), it took me 15 minutes
to see where I could pass him. Once I got around him, I could pull
away and get a pretty comfortable margin. In these conditions, it
is the driver's responsibility to keep the car on the track. Leh
did a great job and I look forward to racing with him again."
Leh Keen starts
in the #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
The #86 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Pumpelly (Mason Neck, VA) and Ted
Ballou (Corona del Mar, CA) finished second in GT, one lap down.
With their second place at Daytona and sixth last week in Virginia,
the TRG duo now lead the GT points after three events. Third in GT
went to the #86 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
of Eric Lux (Jacksonville, FL) and Bryan Sellers (Dayton, OH).
Fourth, and just missing the GT podium, was the #67 TRG Porsche GT3 of
Justin Marks (Chico, CA) and Andy Lally (Newport, NY).
"When it rains, it goes really well for the Farnbacher Loles Racing
team," Keen said. "From the first green lap, we knew we
had a good car and could win the race."
Overall victory in the two hour, 45-minute race went to the Krohn Racing
Ford Lola of Nic Jonsson (Sweden) and Ricardo Zonta (Brazil), who led 52
of the 87 laps.
A spirited battle for third place overall in the final minutes
grabbed all the attention from a good-sized, but very soaking wet, crowd.
Passing his Porsche counterpart just four minutes from the finish,
Timo Bernhard (Germany) gave Penske Racing its first Grand-Am DP podium
finish after a sixth at Daytona and seventh at Virginia International
Raceway.
Saturday, Romain Dumas have given Penske Racing its first Grand-Am pole
in the #12 Verizon Wireless Penske Porsche Riley he shares with
Dumas. Dumas pitted from second place in the #12 Penske Porsche
Riley on lap 33. The crew added 12 seconds of fuel and driver
change to Bernhard. They did not change their Pirelli full wet
tires.
"So now Timo goes for it as we are one pit stop ahead of
everybody," Dumas said. "My stop early was to meet the
rules and it gave us an edge. It is really wet out there, it was
difficult to pass the GT cars. They were battling each other and do not
see me coming. For sure it was a mixed feeling. The weather was
awful and the race was wonderful."
Romain Dumas
started the NJ race from the pole in the Penske Racing Porsche Riley
"After Romain gave me the car we were in the perfect position
- in first behind the safety car," Bernhard said.
"Then I got into the lead and was running as hard as I could
(he set consecutive fastest race laps on last 46 & 47 before having
to pit). We were losing pressure in the left rear tire, so we had
to pit and lost position and time.
"It was very hard to see. At time there was so much water on
the track I thought it best to stop the race. Then I spun out in turn 4
and gave back all the time I had gained. I had a good battle with
David Donohue that last few laps and I was able to overtake him four
minutes from the finish," said Bernhard.
But while Donohue (Malvern, PA) and Darren Law (Phoeniz, AZ) missed the
podium, they extended their DP Championship Driver's points lead because
their top competitors finished behind them.
"Considering where we started this week, this is a very satisfying
finish," Law said. "We were so lost on the setup that Saturday
night we had a yard sale and changed everything. To come out and
run this well is wonderful and a tribute to the Brumos crew.
"The best thing is that we finished ahead of the 01 and 99 cars, so
that helps us in the points." The #59 Brumos Porsche Riley was
pushed back into garage under yellow due to a clutch problem.
Additionally, since the beginning of the race the windshield washer
had not been working properly all the time.
"The conditions were terrible," said Joao Barbosa (Portugal).
"I could not see very well, and then theclutch went all the
way to the floor. The crew is working, but I don't know if we'll get back
out there." The car was retired with clutch problems.
Photos courtesy
of Porsche Cars North America, Inc.
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Wine and Wrenches
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"Wine and Wrenches" Tech Session at TRG,
Saturday, 6/20/09, 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Fellow Porsche Enthusiasts,
GGR will be conducting a Tech Session at The Racers Group in Petaluma on June
20, 2009. The event will include a tour of the TRG facility, an Adobe
Road wine tasting and a catered lunch. The cost will be $20 per
adult. Children will be admitted free with an adult. We will
be able to have up to 100 guests, so are expecting a big turnout!!
Pre-registration is required.
When:
Saturday, 6/20/09, 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Where:
The Racers Group
1995 S. McDowell Blvd.
Petaluma, CA 94954 USA
To Register: 
Send your check payable to PCA-GGR to
Mark Powell, PCA-GGR Social Director
P.O. Box 23038
San Jose, CA 95153-3038
Please include your name, region affiliation, the number of adults and
the number of children in your party. Registrations must be received no
later than Saturday, June 13, 2009. For more information contact Mark
Powell at ggrsocial@gmail.com
Thanks,
Mark
Mark Powell
PCA-GGR Social Director
Links:
www.theracersgroup.com
www.adoberoadwines.com
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LPR Rallye
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Porsche Swap & Concours
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SVR Concours
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Palo Alto Concours
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Yosemite Region 50th
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Get your clay! There's no a minute to lose...
As always, thanks for reading.
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John Celona
Porsche Club of America-Golden Gate Region
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Forward email
Porsche Club of America--Golden Gate
Region | Nugget Headquarters | 505 Vista Ave | San Carlos | CA | 94070
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