Porsche Club of America
Golden Gate Region

September 2009. Volume 49, Issue 8

In This Issue

President's Message

Letter from the Editor

Competition Corner

Board of Directors

Membership Report

Sept. 5-6 DE/TT/CR

The Power Chef

Report from Monterey Historics

DE Co-Chairs on Alert

Rallye Updated on Web Site

Panameras Fly Coach

The BrushNut Story

New 911 GT3 RS

New 911 Turbo

Sierra Nevada Concours

SVR Autocross

Yosemite 50th

DentPro Day

Quick Links

Event Calendar

Classified Ads

Join PCA Now
Nugget Archive
More About Us
Zone 7 web site
PCA web site
Great Links

Dear Porsche Enthusiast,

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.

Click the button below to subscribe or to enter a new email address. Click here to join the Porsche Club of America.

Pawlina Paraskova CG
Executive Editor of The Nugget

President's Message

--by Bill Dally, GGR President

Call for volunteers

The terms of the current PCA-GGR president, treasurer, and secretary are up at the end of the calendar year.   If you have any interest at all in club governance, I encourage you to contact me, Bob Murillo, or Bill Benz (the nominating committee) to discuss what these positions entail.    Being on the PCA-GGR board is very rewarding.  You get to hang out with other Porsche enthusiasts at monthly board meetings (which involve eating good food) and you get great satisfaction in being part of a club that gives us opportunities to enjoy our cars more through competition and social events.  The club really needs some new blood, so please get involved.  In addition to these board positions, there are also opportunities to get involved by organizing or helping with an event.  

Time is getting short to fill these positions and if they don't get filled we are not going to have a club next year, so please step up to the plate and volunteer for the board.

Tools to Improve Your Driving

Each time I drive in an autocross or time trial, I strive to be a better driver - to be smoother, to get a better time.  The only way to improve, however, is to find out where your driving is less than perfect and then to concentrate on improving those weak areas.  Practice by itself won't do this.    The old saying "practice makes perfect" doesn't hold. Particularly if you have a bad driving habit practice makes permanent, not perfect.  To get better requires a critique of your driving.

The best way to improve your driving is to have a good instructor ride with you and then point out places you could improve your time.  Sometimes the points are obvious - you missed the apex by four feet, or you entered the turn to fast and hence exited too slowly.   These you can probably pick out by yourself.  Sometimes, however, the points are more subtle - you are overbraking, or your transition from the brake to the accelerator is too abrupt, or you should sacrifice more on the first of a series of linked turns to set yourself up for the later turns.  These usually require a skilled instructor to point out.  You should also ride with your instructor while they drive - so you can see how its done.  This often helps making what they say to you "click" in your head - when you see the abstract demonstrated for real.

While you get instruction and ride with an instructor whenever you can, there are some tools you can use to help you critique your driving yourself.  They can also help your instructor diagnose the imperfections in your driving.

One of the most effective tools to improve your driving is a video camera.  This is also a great way to share your driving experience with friends who aren't at the event.  (A quick warning, your SO may be bored stiff by this.   I have found that some people don't find watching a lap of Thunderhill or a run at a recent autocross nearly as interesting as I do.)

The best camera for this sort of thing is a simple digital point-and-shoot camera.  Most modern digital cameras take decent video and with a large flash card they can hold hours laps.  The camera can be attached with a bolt, a clamp to the roll bar, or a suction cup.  For my setup, I use an Olympus Stylus 1030SW camera that I attach to the Targa bar on my 914 using a _-20 bolt and a block of wood as a spacer (see photo below). This setup actually takes upside down videos - but that's OK, its easy enough to flip them over digitally.  This mount is simple, stable, and cost less than $1.

 

To take a video, you just put the camera in video mode, turn it on, and press the shutter button just before your run (I have to do this before I tighten my shoulder belts because I can't reach the button once these belts are tight.)  Being an absent-minded professor, I have to try real hard to remember to turn the video off when the run is done.  Once I parked the car for lunch with the video still recording.  This resulted in a very boring one hour video - and a dead camera battery.

For an example of a video taken with this setup, point your browser at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6CS41sIikE
 
This is a video of my best run at the August autocross at Alameda.   More interesting in some ways is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sw49yI4Fqc

This is my worst run which features a 360-degree spin about 16 seconds into the video.

So what do you do once you've taken a video?  First, you can just enjoy it.  Get a bowl of popcorn and a beer, and sit in front of the TV and watch the video over and over again.  Most of the newer "web-enabled" TVs and Blu-Ray players can access YouTube, so you can watch this in the comfort of your living room.  I can watch these over and over again.  I get to re-live the fun of the autocross, and I see some new subtle aspect of the run on each viewing.  Of course it does seem odd that the room seems to empty when I do this.

More importantly, you (and others) can critique your video.  Watching the run you will see things you missed in the heat of the action.  Some things are easy to see.  Missing an apex or leaving lots of room at the exit of a turn are painfully apparent.  Other opportunities for improvement are harder to spot - a small adjustment to the line between linked turns, or making a slower entry to a turn to allow a faster launch into the next straight.  

With just video, there are some errors that you can't see.  What caused my spin in the second YouTube video listed above?  It was caused by not braking enough for the last slalom turn to the right and then lifting to try to compensate.  Neither of these shows in the video because they involve changes to the car's acceleration - which you can't see directly through the windshield.

To take your post-mortem critiques of a run to the next level requires logging acceleration data - both acceleration/braking and  left/right.  In next month's column I'll discuss how you can do this with an iPhone.

Bill

Letter from the Editor

--by John Celona, Nugget Editor

Thanks for the contributions

Thanks to GGR's past competition director David Leong for writing up his experiences at the Monterey Historics. It was a big weekend for Porsches and we appreciate Dave sharing his thoughts and photos. Check out the link in his article for more photos.

Also thanks to GGR member "Buz" Olian for writing up the story of how he decided his future lay in "Brush Nuts." I'd let you ready the story for what that's about!

Email Address Updates

In response to my writing last month about using the new "Subscribe or Enter New Email Address" button right at the top of The Nugget, a number of folks instead sent me an email with their new email address. Thanks--I think!

Actually, the problem with this method is, with the volume of emails I receive, it's all too easy for me to lose an email and not update a member's email address. The best way to be sure we have your new email address is to use this button and enter your email directly (it takes just a few seconds), or to update your email address on the PCA web site. We'll then get it in the monthly membership file PCA emails to us. Don't worry about the old email address; I periodically go through and delete the email addresses which bounced for a non-existent email address.

No August Nugget

You may be wondering, "What happened to the August Nugget?" Then again, you may not. If you've been sleepless with worry that you may have missed it, rest at ease. The Nugget took an August vacation--as used to be the tradition. If you missed it greatly, there are always back issues on the web site!

Thanks for reading.

www.highperformancehouse.com

Competition Corner

--by Wayne Van Norsdall, Competition Director

The days are getting shorter, our children are back to school, and soon the leaves will turn and fall. Not to worry! We still have one DE-TT/Club Race weekend, one DE-TT weekend, and 3 GGR Autocrosses left.

You may recall me asking everyone to get out and help our club due to low attendance. I would like give a BIG thanks to everyone. Our attendance has still been on the light side but I am happy to say, enough to keep the lights on! We still want to get you away from the computer you are reading this report on and into your garage to prep your car for the next event.

With this in mind, we have a DE/TT Saturday or Sunday only option you may consider (check out GGR's web site for details). This would give you that taste of the track you lay awake at night dreaming about, without the cost and time commitment of a full weekend.

Remember that we have a large number of driving instructors available to get you up to speed in safety! Think of the stories you'll be able to tell over Thanksgiving dinner. Explaining your new found ability to defy the laws of physics and much more exciting than that old fishing story! I don't want to hear any excuses like, "I had already vacuum packed, foam wrapped, and barricaded my Porsche in my climate controlled garage for the winter" This just won't work with me.

-  Lets get out and drive!

Wayne

Board of Directors

--by John Celona, GGR Secretary

GGR Board of Directors
Meeting Minutes for July 15, 2009

Call to Order. The meeting was held at the residence of the president, Bill Dally. Present were: Bill Dally, John Celona, Mark Powell, Matt Switzer, Paul Larson, Sharon Neidel, Larry Adams, Claude Leglise, and Rob Murillo.

The meeting was called to order at 6:50 p.m.

Call for agenda changes: none

Call for calendar changes: none

Approval of June minutes: already approved via email

Postmortem of events

� 6/20 Auto X 4 Alameda: a late registration surge led to a total of 97 attendees.

• 6/27 Canepa Design Tour: went really well. An original 30 slots was expanded to 50 to accommodate more folks who wanted to attend.
• 6/28 Palo Alto Concours: GGR was well represented.
• 7/11 Ground School: 8 students attended, of whom 4 were signed up for Thunderhill. Attendance is holding steady, but low relative to past attendance levels (around 25).

Directors' Reports

President: nothing to report.

Vice-President

Upcoming event status report:

• 7/18 Auto X 5 Alameda
• 7/25 GGR Vasona Picnic
• 8/1-2 DE/TT # 3
• 8/1 Porsche (Boxster) Brunch
• 8/2 Carlsen Concours

Certificates are ordered for the following events:

• 8/1-2 DE/TT # 3

Certificates are in place for the following events:

• 7/18 Auto X 5 Alameda

Treasurer: not present.

Secretary: nothing to report

Social

Calendar of Past Events:

• Canepa Design Tour: Saturday, 6/27/09. Fifty GGR members participated in the Canepa Design Tour on Saturday, June 27, 2009.  The group met at Starbuck's in Los Gatos and toured through the Santa Cruz Mountains to Canepa Design in Scott's Valley.  The group was treated to an in-depth tour of the facility by Canepa's Lew Kinst. 

Upcoming Event Status Report:

• Friday Night Social at Harry's Hofbrau: Friday 7/17/09. The Friday Night Social is no longer an "official" GGR event, but many members continue meet at Harry's in Redwood City the 3rd Friday of each month to enjoy the food and share each other's company.  At Shirley Neidel's request, an announcement was made via ggrannounce  to contact her at gsneidel@yahoo.com for additional information.  Information was also posted on the GGR website.
• GGR Family Picnic / People's Choice Concours: Saturday, 7/25/09. Vasona's Gateway Pavilion and parking lot are reserved for "Special Event".  The order with Armadillo Willy's has been confirmed. A $1,500 advance was received from GGR to cover expenses. An announcement was made on ggranounce on 6/23/09. Registrations are trickling in!! A reminder announcement was made on 7/13/09. Need canopy, cones, volunteers...      
• Military Vehicle Foundation Tour: Saturday, 9/26/09. Nothing new to report.  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.
• TRG "Wine and Wrenches" Tech Session: Saturday, 10/17/09. The GGR Tech Session/Wine Tasting/Catered Lunch at TRG was rescheduled from 6/20/09 to 10/17/09 to give more people the opportunity to participate. Members already signed-up were given the choice of a refund or having their check applied to the new date. We will be sharing the date with the Diablo Region.  The cost will be $20 per adult, with children under 12 will free.
• Year-End Banquet at Blackhawk Museum in Danville: Sunday 1/10/10. Nothing new to report. Per the Boards recommendation the date for our Year-End Banquet was changed to Sunday 1/10/10. The deposit check for $3000 and signed contract was mailed to Scott's Catering. (Scott's is now handling both catering and Blackhawk rental.) Cost will be $45 per person.  

Future Events for Discussion: 

• GGR Family Picnic / People's Choice Concours: July 2010. Pending a successful 2009 picnic, request that the Board approve $341 to reserve Vasona's Gateway Pavilion and parking lot for our 2010 picnic. Motion to make a reservation for 2010 was passed unanimously.

Membership

Motion to approve the new members will be held for next month when the current membership report is in.

Competition

Autocross

As of today, 67 people have already paid and registered for the next autocross. Looks like we'll have about 75, and inviting the friends looks to be very popular. Total looks good for breaking even for the event.

This is the first event for which people are paying and registering online. Fees will be $5 higher for the next event to cover the additional costs of online registration. It also may be possible to move one or two of the autocrosses now scheduled for Marina (September and October) to Alameda.

Time Trial / Drivers' Ed / Club Racing

A task force of six people has been organized to figure out what to do about lower attendance. The task force consists of Wayne van Norsdall, Dan Thomspon, Bill Pickering, Claude Leglise, Tim Fleming, and John Seidel. People having any thoughts on the matter should feel free to contact one of the task force members.

Signups for Thunderhill are below the break-even point. Accordingly, the competition and time trial chairs will be asked about when a decision should possibly by made on canceling the next track weekend at Thunderhill.

Webmaster:  up to 1045 visits a day from around 400 a year ago.

Topics for discussion

Zone Rep Report: Sharon just returned from the Porsche parade in Keystone. The setting was stunningly beautiful. This was the last of Parades run by a region. In the future, they will be run by National. The 2010 parade is at the Peasant Run Resort (just outside of Chicago), and 2011 will be in Killington, Vermont. The next escape weekend will be in Whistler, British Columbia.

A new PCA National web site, created by professionals, will soon be online. It will have a lot of facilities for regions to post information and communicate with their members.

PCA now has an insurance program which covers physical damage to cars during DE events, with a substantial discount for PCA members. There is also now a PCA affinity credit card.

Expanded passing at DE has been approved for regional events. There is detailed information and rules on how this should be done. Basically, it can only be done in run groups with experienced drivers who all agree to expanded passing. If implemented, passing can be done anywhere (even in a turn), but all passing must be by a point-by.

The Panamera will be officially introduced at the Monterey Historics. There may be an opportunity for PCA members to drive it. Signups will be through Sharon Neidel.

Succession: we still need candidates for secretary and treasurer.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

        

May Membership Report

--by Jeff Kost, Membership Director

The primary membership level increased ever so slightly in May, with a very slight erosion of affiliate members. New members more than doubled month over month to 29, up from 13 the month before. However, an unusually high number of non-renewals took the overall number down slightly. 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!

Total Members:     2342
Primary:                1380
Affiliate:                   981
HQ Life:                       1
GGR Life:                    3

New Members:     29
Transfers In:           0
Transfers Out:        3

Congratulations and welcome to our NEW MEMBERS!!!

Anniversaries

 45 Years (Congratulations!!!)

40 Years

 30 Years

 20 Years

 15 Years

 10 Years

 5 Years

September 5-6 DE/TT/Club Race

 
Reminder: the event on September 5-6 at Thunderhill will be the last club race event on the west coast in 2009. Be there!

Mike and Warren

The Power Chef

Exercising the Concourcross Car

--by John Celona, The Power Chef®

As if further proof were needed that I'm a glutton for punishment (after all, I'm the Nugget editor!), following our successful outing at the Palo Alto Concours we decided to enter the Carlsen Concours about a month later. After all, when would the car ever be this clean again?

Of course, not wanting to making things too easy on ourselves, I decided to do the autocross at Alameda before the concours. I had already skipped one while preparing the car for Palo Alto and was anxious to wear that left front tire down just a little more so I could really justify a new set of tires. (Of course, with my driving, they'll probably last the whole season and then I can get new ones for the winter rains!).

When I mentioned attending the autocross to autocross co-chair Matt Switzer, he commented I would have the cleanest car there. I earnestly hoped there would be an award attached to this.

No such luck. Maybe I should propose it as a rules change for next year to give the rules committee something to consider other than how many base points it adds to file down the edges of your suspension bushings (to save weight, of course!).

Here's a photo of my squeaky clean concourcross car. Note the tasteful color coordinated number, which is also squeaky clean.



I was expecting a normal, fairly uneventful autocross. Normally this is assured by putting my car in the highly competitive AX12 category where many very fast drivers reside. You see, I'm not really sure where my car should be classed. It's a 1997 Boxster with a 996 engine installed at the factory along with some kind of fancy lowered suspension. To avoid litigation, I just put it in a class where I'm slow enough no one complains.

Personally, I blame my slow times entirely on running street tires.

This time, though, a surprise adventure loomed. Chief autocross instructor Neil Librock asked if I could spend some time with a student. I said "sure," figuring that meant hanging out at a cone station jointly pondering everyone's driving lines through the course. Then, as the student was about to sit in my car, it dawned on me: Neil meant doing the whole instructor thing. I was to ride in his car while he drove and vice versa. I was supposed to be his instructor for the day. I casually confirmed this with Neil and believe I was successful in hiding my surprise.

You see, I hadn't ever instructed before, plus riding with other folks tended to make me car sick. This was going to be quite a day.

The rides with my student went better than I expected on the motion sickness front. Got a little queasy, but kept sipping on water to settle my stomach. It helped a lot that I had a lap to drive in between each ride, and that, with autocross, you get a little down time in between laps.

Even better, my student was highly enthusiastic and appreciative, listened to everything I suggested, and--to my extreme surprise and delight--his lap times dropped from 62 to 53 seconds by the end of the morning session. He was doing so well I had him drive the last lap on his own, on which he did a 56. He attributed this to my not being in the car. I presume he meant doing without my suggestions since doing without my weight should have made him faster.

In fact, he was turning faster lap times in the morning than me! Perhaps it was all the suspension work and monster wheels and tires on his car.

Or it could have been those street tires on my car doing me in again.

So I guess now I'm an autocross instructor. Go figure.

Then it was time to refocus from driving the car to getting it more clean than a self-respecting Porsche ought to be. Having been through the drill already (and all the supplies were still sitting on the bench in my garage!), I kind of knew where to dig in.

First was the front and rear trunks. Got the hinges a little cleaner. I also discovered that, if you remove the water cap, oil cap, and dipstick in a Boxster you can then remove the little plastic platform around the tubes and get it really clean. Got all the rest of the funny white stuff off the black plastic in the front trunk. Touched up chips a little bit farther down on the front bumper cap while still trying not to look at how scraped the underside was. Darned lowered suspension. Why wasn't ride height adjustable like on Humvees?

I also resolved this time to put plastic dressing on all the black plastic and leather goop on all the leather. I discovered along the way that the passenger seat is upholstered in leather front and back, while the driver seat was leather on the front and vinyl on the back. Huh? Then again, the option codes for the car said it had heated seats which it most decidedly did not (not that you really need it with sitting right in front of a hot engine!), so who knows where the seats came from. Probably a conference room in Stuttgart.

 Then it was time to get at giving the engine a once-over. One the one hand, not much dirt makes its way up there in a short time. On the other, how you're supposed to really detail a Boxster engine without removing it remains a mystery to me. Possibly I could have held a 5-year-old upside down over the engine compartment while he worked his little arms in there.

Finally, I sprayed the instant shiny stuff all over the outside and sort-of cleaned inside the wheels and wheel wells. The adhesives from the prior balancing weights are still there. I'm beginning to suspect the weights were welded on.

Thankfully, the day of the concours was much more congenial than at Palo Alto: 70ºF weather instead of 95ºF. I'd already made up my info display on the car (note the background is color-matched to the car courtesy of Home Depot), so I got to use it one more time before putting it in the attic leaning against our collection of lamps which we are no longer using but cannot get rid of for reasons I dare not question too closely.



The only hitch at the concours was I had to change class at the last minute. I had intended to enter competition and special interest (the same category I entered at Palo Alto), but discovered upon arriving that Larry Adams had entered his GT3 in that class.

Larry Adams: the man who won Pebble Beach with an 1930-something Lincoln and suffered 3rd degree burns on his hand putting out a fire under the hood without an extinguisher so as not to ruin the finishes. Didn't matter that his car had been at the autocross, too. I probably could have eaten sushi off of his shock absorbers and been safe.

So I picked "street" because I thought it had a ring to it. "Dude, I'm in street." Possibly some teenager somewhere would be impressed.

As it turned out, we got first in street and were very appreciative of that. For concours results, click here. For more photos by Richard Tsai, click here for cars and here for awards photos.

In honor of the winning yellow car, for this month I'm including one of my yellow recipes, this one for a 4-minute egg. With a creamy textured yolk in between hard and soft in consistency, it's really a treat and very easy to make.

And making it does not require any car detailing supplies.

Bon Appetit,
The Power Chef

This utterly exceptional egg is so easy to make you'll wonder why you hadn't already tried it!

The 4-Minute Egg

This was the result of an experiment: what if one cooked an egg longer than a runny, soft-boiled egg, but short of hard cooked? The result is an egg with a delicious, thick-custard consistency yolk--wonderful even just by itself. Try this with some wheat toast for a different, very easy breakfast.

The Gist
Boil an egg for 4 minutes. Enjoy!

Ingredients
Eggs
Water

Method
Place the eggs in a sauce pan with enough cold water to cover. Set over high heat. Once it starts to boil, turn the heat down to medium high and boil for about 4 minutes. Shut the heat off and dump out the boiling water. The eggs can sit a few minutes if you're not quite ready to eat, or give them a brief rinse with cold water if you'd like to eat them right away.

Delicious with just a little salt and pepper, or spread them on a piece of wheat toast.

Notes
If you serve the eggs right when you take them off, the entire yolk with have a beautiful, thick and creamy consistency. After about 20 minutes, the yolk will set slightly, but still be creamy in the center. These eggs can even be refrigerated for lunches later in the week.

Variations
You can toast your wheat toast (or whole wheat english muffins) in the toaster oven, then put a slice of ham on top and leave them in the toaster oven to warm while you watch the eggs. Place a cooked egg on top of the ham and voilá! An easy breakfast sandwich.

A slice of cheese on top of the ham would be really good too, but then I'd want some fruit with breakfast to balance out the extra fat!

Monterey Historic Races

36th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races
featuring Porsche

--text and photos by David Leong, GGR past competition director




There is so much action, I decided to tweet in my article. Hang on to your helmets, as we embark upon 3 days of vintage racing, sensory overload, and some of the most iconic race cars ever assembled.

tweeterdave: Wow! You can tell this is going to be a special weekend. Sharing the freeway with a pair of Lamborghini Diablos

No traffic entering the side gates. SCRAMP has their special big event entrance procedures in place

Arrived at the track while the 356's, Abarths, and other 4 bangers are on track

The first thing I see when entering the paddock is the Rolex Moments in Time exhibit. Love seeing the 917 paired with the Ferrari 512. These 2 cars were Le Mans nemesis back in their prime.

They're rolling out the 917 to fire it up, and prepare it for its' track session. What a sound!


 
The 917 has left for its' pit stall, and I found a bunch of GGR folks. Soon, there are several of us.

OK, the sensory overload is starting. As I look around, my head is spinning. The first 917 to win LeMans is here, and next to it is a 956, then I see Dan Gurney's 1962 Porsche F1, GT1 LeMans winner, and the 917-30 I saw Milt Minter drive 11 years ago. It's a Porsche nirvana.


 
I followed the 917 outside, and missed the entire Moments in Time exhibit, then got sidetracked by the Porsche Museum cars. There is so much to see. Good thing I have 3 days to take it all in.

After an  hour, I finally get back inside to see the exhibit. There is the Le Mans winning Ford GT40, paired with the 2nd place Porsche 908. There is a 1972 McLaren M20 that I saw Denny Hulme drive through the corkscrew back in the day.

Yet another Le Mans winner is the 1977 Joest 936. How many Le Mans winners have I just seen  in the span of an hour, without moving more than 100 yards for the spot I entered the track?

Walking through the paddock and just saw Walt Maas drive by in a 911.

 Off to the side, as if it were someone's pit transportation  is a 959 rally car

Finally heading out to the track. We're sitting in the T4 bleachers.

Friday is practice day. Only half the cars run on Sat and the other half, run on Sun. Today, we get to see all of the cars, as they each get one session.

Group 7a is on track. These are 1964 to 1971 FIA mfg. championship cars. Almost every car is a Porsche. Brian Redman is in a 908/3 and Derek Bell is in a 917K.


 
The non-Porsches consists of a Ferrari 512, Ford GT40, and a few Chevrons
Love the sound of 12 cylinder cars!

Next up are the GTP IMSA cars. These are mostly 956 and 962s. Their old nemesis Jaguars and Nissans are supposed to be out too, but I don't see them.

The turbos are making their classic chirping as the enter T4 and accelerate up to T5

Time for another stroll through the paddock as The Quail Caravan returns. Some of the race cars travel over to Quail Lodge and back under CHP escort.

The Can Am cars are using the garages. There are at least 3 of Mark Donahue's Lolas here.

As we get to the museum area, Hurley Haywood and Klaus Bischoff  have just returned after doing demo laps in the F1 and F2 cars. They're grinning from ear to ear. I think they liked it. Klaus is in charge of the Factory rolling museum.


 
What a day! Traffic leaving the track is not bad. It will be worse tomorrow.

Our headquarters for the weekend is a house on Pebble Beach.

As we drive to Carmel, there is no shortage of exotica around every bend. The car show of people just cruising around town is almost as good as the track.

Having dinner on Ocean Ave. in Carmel.  Looking for a place to park, and every third space is taken up by a Ferrari. Some blocks have only one or two spaces not used by some Italian eye candy.

We drive past Pebble Lodge and there are auctions going on, people in tuxedos, and cocktail dresses, and welcome dinners all week long.

What a busy day, and we get to do it for two more days!

Waking up, this is my view. (Much thanks to my hosts for the weekend!) How can people golf when there is so much automobile activity to see and do?


 
Saturday is the most crowded of the 3 day event, and entering the track, we are backed up quite a ways. This is why I drove an automatic today.

Exploring the vendor booths. They're reprinting one of the best books on racing ever produced, Piero Taruffi's "The Technique of Motor Racing". Out of print for many years, you can buy your copy here.

Walking through the Porsche Corral. There are some beautiful and unique cars here. They came from all over the US


 
The infield has been dubbed Porsche Island. GGR is well represented in attendees, and volunteers working the event.

We're at T5 just as the GTP cars are coming out to practice. The Mazda-powered Lola T-616s are running around nose to tail. They make a nice twin.

 Heading up to the corkscrew for the demonstration  laps

Leading the demo laps are Hurley Haywood in the 917-10 he drove in 1973 and the Brumos 935 being driven today by David Donahue. Both sporting Brumos red white and blue with #59


 
They're followed closely by the F1 and F2 museum cars. There are about 30 representative Porsches on track.

The first race of the weekend  is about to begin. It's all been practice up to now. Group 1A is about to head out.

Group 1A is pre-war and we have cars with riding mechanics, external hand brakes, cable brakes, friction shocks, and everything from Bentleys to Model-Ts.

Sterling Moss is in the next group, driving his personal Lola. He's the only one allowed to wear an old style helmet.


 
 Pete Lovely is also supposed to be in this race, but I don't see him. He is the first driver to win a race at this track , back in 1957.

Watching the 6A group (1955-1961 Sports Racing Cars) reminded  me that this was the most dangerous time in motorsports. Ferrari, Testa Rosas, Birdcage Maseratis, and Jaguars. These are very fast cars with almost no safety features whatsoever.

Well just as I say that, David Love goes flying into the corkscrew gravel trap, ending up in the tire wall in his Testa Rosa. David was at the first Historics in 1974, and has been with this car for over 44 years. He'll be back.

7a was a great race with Brian Redman in the 908/3. Making contact, and leaving damaged fiberglass on the #3 917K, the #132 911S, and Redman's own #1 908/3.

Those who say historic racing is glorified Driver's Ed, has not seen someone like Redman.  He only knows one way to drive, and that is to win.

 I counted 20 962/956 variants in this next race. Most of the non-Porsches are DNS, but Patrick Dempsy is out there in a high pitched screaming Mazda.

These ground-effects cars are still fast even by today's standards.


 
This was the last race of the day. More tomorrow.

On our way out, we see Brian Redman being interviewed in the Bruce Canepa Paddock.

Sunday is traditionally concours day, and less crowded at the track, however our usual route past Pebble Beach  is closed, and we have to take the long way around.

Never did see Jay Leno or Jerry Seinfield yesterday. They are probably at Pebble today, and won't be here at the track.

 Today is much more laid back, but anyone who is only here for today, missed half the field, as yesterday's cars are done for the weekend, and won't be on track today.

The stars for today will be the IMSA cars, including a plethora of  935s and RSRs, and the Can Am cars, with their 8 liter V-8s.

The T5 parking is filling up with local club cars who are planning to take over the track on Monday
After morning practice, it's time for the PCA members to parade their cars around the track.

They're being held in check by sheriffs on motorcycles, and being split into 2 waves. They've been lining up since early this morning. I hear over 300 cars are signed up.


 
This is followed by a repeat of yesterday's demo laps, but with a different mix of cars. Sadly, this is the only chance to see the 917 turbo on track, as none are entered into the CamAm race later this afternoon. How can you have a CanAm race without any turbo 917s?

As the first race begins, there is a Hudson Hornet. What a cool car.

Sharon Neidel has invited us to the Zone 7 tour of the PCNA garages.

Here they are rebuilding a Daytona Prototype flat six, for all the fans to see. Also on tap is a 917 in the middle of a ground-up construction.

Our tour guide is Paul Ritchie, President and CEO of Porsche Motorsport North America. He is in charge of all of the Porsche factory efforts in ALMS, GrandAm, Speedvision World Challenge, and also club racers.


 
Fascinating talk. They still have enough spares to rebuild a 962, but most of the 917 parts have to be re-manufactured from original drawings, and use some of the original suppliers. Sounds expensive.

We head over to T2 to join Johannes Van Overbeek and other GGR friends.

Good view of start/finish as the thundering CanAm cars come under the bridge.


 
Only one Porsche in this race, a non-turbo ex-Siffert 917, driven by Brian Redman.

My favorite car, after the 917 turbos, is left on static display. I would like to see that M20 McLaren run again.

The final race of the day and weekend is 8B, the early IMSA cars. The makeup of this field reflects the dominance of Porsche during this period. With only a few Corvettes, Monzas, and a BMW mixed in with the RSRs and 935s.

They're making things interesting with Hurley Haywood and Bruce Canepa starting from the back of the pack in their 935s

Rusty French created a mobile garage out of a shipping container, loaded it up in Australia and came all this way to win for the 2nd year in a row.

Good show by the Monzas battling for the lead, and Canepa coming all the way from the rear to 2nd place.
 


I was last here in 1998 for Porsche's 50th celebration, and we have been waiting for this moment since then. I hope it is not another decade before we can do this again.

Still time for some Monterey seafood, and reminisce with friends before heading home. For some PCA members there is more action, as Monday is a DE track day. Have fun, you guys. You're following some historic tire tracks.

More pictures can be found here.

DE Co-Chairs on Alert

--by the Editor

Surprising as it may seem to regular time trial and Drivers' Ed participants who laud GGR for its excellent safety record, there are risks at these events so secret and dangerous that time trial co-chairs Warren Walker and Mike Cullinan watch for them personally without the knowledge of involvement of the safety stewards. The Nugget is only now breaking the story to get the facts
straight in advance of a muck-raking exposé in The National Enquirer.

Apparently, Thunderhill Raceway Park sits on the western U.S. headquarters of the Gopher Gang, notorious for running drugs through a maze of tunnels under the U.S.-Mexican border. The Gang apparently chose this site because the pavement and noise mask most their activities, and for the high-speed driving experience in case they're running from the Feds. Military drones have now caught the little critters darting in and out of their tunnels at the end of lunch sessions as drivers discard food-laden trash.

Knowledgeable sources advise The Nugget that the DEA has decided against a ground attack for fear they've not located all the tunnel entrances and would only prompt a mass escape. Accordingly, the DEA is apparently trying to convince the Air Force to launch a massive arial assault.

The guard against this risk, our ever-vigilant co-chairs need to keep a constant watch on the skies for attacking aircraft. Here we see them oriented towards the probable attack direction (dictated by the hills) and trying to look casual as they do so. Only the military-grade super-polarized spotting glasses give them away.



The Nugget sincerely hopes that, by breaking the story now with a true set of the facts, the DEA will instead reconsider and send in Bruce Willis instead. Please email Bruce in support of this plan if you have his email, and help us keep our track weekends safe.

--photo by Nugget correspondent John Teasley

Rallye Section of Web Site Updated

--by Paul Larson, GGR Webmaster

I would like everyone to know that I updated the Rally section of the website.  The links at the bottom of the Rally page all work.  Most of these links go to stories from the San Diego Region.  There are several members of this region that are die-hard ralliest.

Both Golden Gate Region and San Diego Region are considered super regions.  Our region focuses on Autocross and Driver Education events.  Their region focuses on Autocross and Social Events.



The point is that Rallyes must be more closer to a Social events than a competitive events.

A member sent me an e-mail about the rally page and that is when I updated it.  Yes, I know that our Zone 7 has a few rallies in the Sacramento Area.  It would be nice if we had a couple of rallies on our calendar for 2010.  If you have even a little interest in running a rally, then please volunteer.  Just email Larry Adams. 

Paul

Panameras Fly Coach

--by the Editor

As if further evidence were needed of global economic downturn effecting everyone--even Porsche AG!--spy photos captured by the Nugget Network of surveillance satellites reveal that the new Panameras traveling to Monterey for the North American debut of the car were required to fly coach. That these luxury automobiles costing the equivalent of 347 years of wages for the average overseas call center operator suffered the indignity of flying "cattle class" defies imagination.

And, yet, as revealed in the photo below, Porsche purchased tickets for them on a bargain charter operator which we believe does not even offer frequent flyer miles.



As shown in the second photo below, the seating accommodations were utterly atrocious. The almost-on-top-of-each-other seat pitch shows these seats were clearly not purchased in Economy Plus. It's doubtful that the car behind could even see the movie, much less operate a laptop. Nor is it apparent that the car sitting next to the wall (windows eliminated to saving cleaning costs!) could make it to the restroom through the exceptionally narrow aisle. All this on a 12+hour flight from Germany.



Were the cars forced to pee in their own dry sumps? Were they forced to fly with all four seat belts buckled in these hell-hole accommodations? Did some of them not even survive the trip, with dead cars resuscitated on arrival by a jump start?

Tune in for a follow up report in The Nugget as we send in ground operatives to investigate.

The BrushNut Story

Washing a Porsche inspired an idea that people are going "nuts" over.
How perspiration can lead to inspiration

--by Addison "Buz" Olian, GGR member

But first, rewind the tape to 2006. I had wanted to own a Porsche for well into the last century, as I reluctantly drove my Jeep Cherokee - a requirement for being a suburban dad - giving up my Jag for the conveniences of an gas-guzzling, 8-cylinder SUV (that never drove off road). The dog, the kid and the family won out, and rightfully so.

But alas, in 2006I posed a simple question to my wife: "Honey," I said, "I was wondering if you would agree that it's about time for me to get that sports car I've been dreaming of?"

She quizzed me about safety, driving our young son around, where the dog would sit, can we afford it, and more importantly, where I would stash the groceries, as that was still on the "honey-do" list, no matter what car I drove.

I answered all with the aplomb of a United Nations diplomat, combined with the patience of a prisoner on death row awaiting another appeal hearing. Sooner or later the day of reckoning would be here, I was certain.

The Inventor and His BrushNuts

The weeks and months passed, and then in the spring of 2007, after my then 10-year old son again trekked along with me to Porsche dealers, that I decided to take us on what the Blues Brothers called, "A Mission from God." (Pronounced Gad in Chicago-speak).

We were greeted by a jovial rotund salesman newly anointed in his job who posed a beguiling question that I'd been waiting to hear, but was never quite asked before: "So, Buz, if you could get exactly the Porsche you wanted, at the price you wanted, what would that be?"

I was a deer frozen in his headlights. My son was busy elsewhere, sitting in the driver's seat of a new orange Cayman, pretending to drive fast through the showroom on this cool, windy day.

So, I told this Porsche Genie what I wished for and he said he would see what he could conjure up, as it was a tall order. Frankly, I never expected to hear from him, for I had been window-shopping for years and not once had a car salesman taken me as a serious prospect. Some of the used Carreras from private parties I had inspected just did not pass muster, so I decided I would ante up for a new car someday or maybe, just maybe, cast my fate to the wind.

The wind was blowing in my direction that day.

Fast-forward three weeks later and yep, I got a call from the Porsche Genie. "I found your car, Buz, and if you come in tomorrow you'll be the first to see it, for it's a two-year lease return, low mileage, Cabriolet, one owner, gorgeous, extras, etc., etc."

I agreed to take a look on Saturday with son once again in tow, who was not impressed at first glance. She was dirty, just sitting in the darkened service garage, not bathed in the bright showroom lights.

However, after playing with the electric top, the stereo system, and hearing the throaty exhaust, he said, "It's cool, Dad." (Now that he's a teenager with a conscious he regularly admonishes me for driving a 18 MPG egomania machine, instead of a more P.C. and practical Tesla. Hmmm, I guess he doesn't want to impress a girl someday by driving up in a Porsche, huh?).

Anyway, the haggling with the dealer was completed in record time and then came time to report to the "Gate Keeper" aka The Little Wifie.

"Honey," I said sweetly, "Which would you prefer that I have: A Porsche or a mistress?" She stared at me, but wisely did not reply immediately. I had seen better bluffs in a Poker game, but this was my wife, not a cigar-smoking buddy, holding a lousy hand.

Being the smartest woman I know and able to psych me out in the blink of any eye, asked, "Why do you ask?" Ha, she was going to make me squirm.

"Seems like it's entirely possible that men my age gravitate towards one or the other, wouldn't you agree?", I said. Touché!

"Well I wouldn't know," she answered, "but it sounds like you do, so why don't you tell me which one you prefer?" She had me cornered, but not surrendering, yet I was feeling my head throb.

I said, "I wasn't thinking of getting a mistress, hon, as a few of my middle-age crisis buddies have resorted to." I called her bluff.

Child Labor in Support of Entrepreneurship

She threw in her hand, and said, "Well, honey, why not get both!!?"

So that's what I did.

I bought that 996 and got a mistress, too -- in the same package. She's a beaut and my marriage survived, as did the kid in the backseat, the dog in the passenger seat, and bags of groceries in the front trunk.

That's the story behind the story that isn't as wild as the next act.

I had my shiny, clean sports car parked in the garage, receiving its daily dusting before putting the top down, and then came our first weekend alone. Bath time was imminent, the dog was ready to watch and the boy was ready to dry. I spent two hours, giving every exterior and interior nook and cranny the triple action attention to detail.

She was fastidiously squeaky clean, but one little area was not: around the wheel's lug nuts. I tried to get into that elusive area with high-pressure water, Q-tips, wheel cleaner, rags and elbow grease, but could not go where no man has gone before. It was an impossible place where "the sun don't shine".

I sought advice online, in catalogs, spoke to detailers and even ordered some high-priced gizmos that failed to get in and around those recessed lug nuts.

At a house party I was telling my saga to a neighbor, Paul, when I blurted out over the din that I thought I should invent a tool that would do the job right. He said to give him a call to talk about it sometime, as he had several patents to his name, mostly in medical devices used in orthopedic surgery and he dabbled in creating products in his garage, just a few houses down from mine in San Carlos, Calif.

Like an Opera, Act 2 begins with a beautiful Aria, slowly increasing in tempo with the beat of percussions and strings, leading to a fortissimo of horns and more strings until the melody blends into a full chorus of voices, satisfying until a thunderous finale.

Paul came over to look at my wheels, as I explained the problem in person (I'm the Tenor). He immediately grasped the issue and saw that the various solutions were indeed unsatisfactory leading way to (his Baritone) that we could solve this CSI case.

As he walked down the street, drifting away into the dark, our duet of hope penetrated through the mist and the light of a single streetlamp. Then, I suddenly was shocked back into the present through the crash of cymbals, pounding Timpani, and bass trombones, for what, I thought, if he takes my glorious idea and steals my thunder (so to speak)?

Over a couple of weeks, the two of us worked well together, with Paul eventually disappearing like the Phantom of the Opera to his cavernous workshop to forge prototypes from plastic, polymer and glue into what oddly looked like a screwdriver handle with bristles stuck into the other end of a chunk of ABS.



"Look" he said, I think this will work, let's give it a try!" Well, as they say, a star isn't born overnight and indeed it took a little luck for the idea to become a product. (It was not supposed to be this easy, but then again, why is it supposed to be hard?).

Advance to a couple of months later with my mistress, err, Porsche, and it was time for me to give her silky silver skin a waxing, for I had mastered the art of keeping all of her spanking clean now that I had my lug nut brush.

But I knew "Nutin' 'bout birthin' babies!" borrowing a line from Gone With The Wind. So "Who ya gonna call?" another tired but famous lyric from (yes, you guessed it, Ghostbusters). "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!" is what you are probably thinking now. Instead I surfed the Net and then called one dot com that had a catchy name, "Proper Auto Care."

Whom should I get on the phone, but an elderly sounding woman who turned out to be pretty savvy about waxing a Porsche. She sold me a bunch of goop and a machine and then I dropped that I had a little gadget that works really nice on cleaning around lug nuts. She said her husband, the owner of the company, would be interested in seeing it if I would ship him a sample in Arizona?

And that's how Geek and Dork Enterprises was born.

We called ourselves this dumb name for a while because we were a couple of guys from Silicon Valley who yakked at a party, came up with a product that actually worked, and one of us was a Geek and the other a Dork for thinking we were going to sell our brushes to a company just like that.

That's exactly what we did and that's how the lug nut brush was launched. Not with a high profile marketing campaign (I had done hundreds of those in my career as an adman), but instead an off-the-cuff comment while waxing about wax.

Act Three begins now, with the Geek and the Dork scrounging for plastic screwdriver handles to make the handheld lug nut brush, tufted bristles (our first versions were manufactured using Italian tufted polymer extracted from other brushes) and hand-machined honed ABS plastic housings to hold the glued bristles securely in place.

It was a tedious process, for which Paul spent many a late night behind safety glasses cutting and grinding to make that initial order of 100 and sniffing way too much glue. Alas, we bagged the puppies, inserted an instruction manual and shipped them off before the holidays. Then we waited.

Your Choice of Hand or Drill

Orders began coming in and the company informed us that they needed more. Yikes! What Frankenstein monster had we created in our desire to save the world from dirty lug nuts?

So Paul and Buz went into the design mode again, this time creating a product that was both ergonomic and functional, not to mention one that could be produced easier, faster and cheaper. But as far as better, we decided to make it Green as much as possible, and to manufacture it here in the good 'ol USA.

After testing several brushes that met our critical specifications that would not scratch any wheel's surface and be long lasting, we tested user experiences to dial in our designs and allay any fears on the part of the consumer.

There would be more demand if we increased awareness, production and distribution, we knew. So our strategy was to increase our base via distribution within the automotive aftermarket, and in particular the exotic sport's car enthusiast and detailer target audiences.

We might venture into larger direct to consumer distribution channels, yet for now, to meet our goals, only online and catalog companies are authorized to sell our products: Performance Products, Griot's Garage and Proper Auto Care.

The brand is now officially named BrushNut™ (www.brushnut.com) and the design is US Patent Pending. Look for BrushNut™ in catalogs and via online promotions.

Well, what began as just a way to clean in and around lug nuts on my Porsche has spawned a transitional, sweat equity start-up. As business partners, we split the proceeds 50/50 and while we aren't getting rich yet, our intention is to create practical products, using green or recycled materials, and eventually generate cash flow to cover our developmental costs and then some.

That said, we have several other useful products in the R&D pipeline, in several sectors, including the automotive aftermarket, recreation and high tech. The ideas keep percolating between us and we have been approached by folks about advancing their ideas, which we will consider.

It's impossible not be nuts about what has happened thus far.

To find out more about BrushNut™, where to buy just go to www.BrushNut.com or email: info@BrushNut.com.

New 911 GT3 RS

The Most Sporting Road-Going 911

Stuttgart. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is sending the new 911 GT3 RS to the starting line: Delivering even more engine power, offering lower weight, and featuring shorter transmission ratios as well as body and suspension elements upgraded to an even higher standard, the new 911 GT3 RS sets the foundation for homologating the racing version of the 911 GT3 and therefore offers everything it takes for ongoing success on the race track, continuing the series of absolutely uncompromising, sporting 911s homologated for the road.

The heart of the new 911 GT3 RS, the power unit, is based on the engine already featured in the 911 GT3. Like the latter, the RS power unit now displaces 3.8 instead of 3.6 litres, delivering even more power and revving up even faster and more dynamically.



The engine featured in the new 911 GT3 RS delivers 15 bhp more than its counterpart in the 911 GT3, that is maximum output of 450 horsepower from the fast-revving naturally-aspirated power unit. This means specific output of more than 118 bhp per litre from the six-cylinder, an extremely high figure for natural-aspiration technology even in the strictest worldwide comparison. And unlike many other high-performance engines, the power unit in the new 911 GT3 RS remains fully suitable for everyday use.

The new 911 GT3 RS comes exclusively with a six-speed manual gearbox optimised for short gearshift travel, low weight and high efficiency. To enhance the level of performance throughout the entire range of engine and road speed, the gears come with a shorter transmission ratio than on the 911 GT3, deliberately making concessions in terms of even higher top speed.



To further improve its sporting behaviour, the new 911 GT3 RS comes for the first time with a purpose-built and specially set up PASM suspension, with wider track not only at the rear, but also on the front axle. Accordingly, the body of the new 911 GT3 RS is wider not only at the rear, but also at the front through the use of additional wheel arch covers.

The front axle comes with nine-inch-wide wheels running on 245/35 ZR 19 sports tyres, the rear axle features twelve-inch-wide wheels incorporating 325/30 ZR 19 sports tyres.

The dynamic engine mounts featured as standard also serve to improve the car's driving dynamics to an even higher level. Depending on driving conditions, the mounts change in their stiffness and damping effect, improving the connection between the engine and the body when driving under very dynamic conditions.



As yet a further point the car's aerodynamics develop even more downforce than on the GT3, again benefiting the qualities of the car on the race track. Racing qualities are also why Porsche is introducing another new option in 2010, a lithium-ion battery delivered with the car and, replacing the conventional lead battery, reducing weight by more than 10 kg or 22 lb.

The new 911 GT3 RS shows its close connection to motorsport also through the dynamic looks of the car borne out in particular by its low ride height, the new, extra-large carbon-fibre rear wing with its specifically designed wing supports made of aluminium, the characteristic dual tailpipes on the extra-light titanium sports exhaust, as well as special front and rear parts exclusive to this model.

Sales of the new Porsche 911 GT3 RS are starting in Germany in January 2010. The Euro base-price is Euro 122,400.- without value-added tax and national specifications.

New 911 Turbo

Intelligent Power: Consumption Down Significantly, Performance Up Once Again

Stuttgart. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is proudly presenting a new top model at the pinnacle of its broad range of production sports cars: The new Porsche 911 Turbo combines far-reaching innovations in technology with fine tuning and supreme refinement in design. All key features of this high-performance sports car have been significantly improved, the new 911 Turbo combining a substantial improvement in fuel efficiency and lower weight with more power, even higher speed, and enhanced driving dynamics.

Particularly in terms of fuel economy and dynamic performance, the new top-of-the-range 911 from Zuffenhausen now stands out even more than before from its competitors in the market. Porsche's new top model will be presented to the public for the first time at the Frankfurt Motor Show from 17 - 27 September.

The heart and highlight of the seventh generation of the Turbo is the new power unit displacing 3.8 litres and delivering maximum output of 500 bhp (368 kW). The first entirely new engine in the 35-year-history of the Turbo comes with features such as Direct Fuel Injection and Porsche's exclusive turbocharger with variable turbine geometry on a gasoline power unit. And as an option, the new six-cylinder may be combined for the first time with Porsche's seven-speed PDK Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (Double-Clutch Gearbox).



Models equipped with PDK are also available with a new, optional three-spoke steering wheel with gearshift paddles as an alternative to the standard steering wheel with its proven shift buttons. Fitted firmly on the steering wheel, the right paddle is for shifting up, the left paddle for shifting down. In conjunction with the optional Sport Chrono Package Turbo both the gearshift paddle and the PDK steering wheel with its shift buttons come with integrated displays for Launch Control and the Sport/Sport Plus mode, which are however designed differently on the two steering wheels.

The combination of PDK, Direct Fuel Injection and turbocharging ensures an unprecedented standard of efficiency, agility, responsiveness and performance, the Porsche 911 Turbo reducing CO2 emissions versus its predecessor by almost 18 per cent and therefore ranking unique in its segment also in this respect. Depending on the configuration of the car, the new top model requires just 11.4 - 11.7 ltr/100 km (equal to 24.8 - 24.1 mpg imp) under the EU5 standard. And unlike most other cars in its segment, the new Turbo remains even further below the crucial level of fuel consumption for gas guzzler tax in the USA, the special tax imposed on cars with substantial fuel consumption. All this despite acceleration to 100 km/h in 3.4 seconds. Top speed, in turn, is 312 km/h or 194 mph.

The Turbo driver of the future will also enjoy a further improvement in driving dynamics, detailed enhancement of PTM fully controlled all-wheel drive and PSM Porsche Stability Management being further supported by new PTV Porsche Torque Vectoring available as an option. This makes the car even more agile and precise in its steering for an even higher level of driving pleasure.

Sales of the new Porsche 911 Turbo in both Coupé and Cabriolet guise are starting in Germany on 21 November 2009. The Euro base price without value-added tax and national specifications is Euro 122,400.- for the Coupé and Euro 131,800.- for the Cabriolet. The gross retail price in Germany, therefore, is Euro 145,871.- for the Coupé and Euro 157,057.- for the Cabriolet, in each case including 19% value-added tax and national specifications.

The retail price and market launch date vary by region or country. Please contact the Porsche PR Manager of your country in order to receive country-specific information.

Sierra Nevada Concours

SVR Autocross

Yosemite Region 50th

DentPro Day November 14

--by Joe Ramos, Mr. DentPro

If you've been bothered by that small (or large) door ding, or by the crease on the fender from the garage door coming down prematurely, or the dent put in the side by a shopping cart, and can put up with it until November, please put Saturday, November 14, down on your calendar as the day to take care of it.  That's the day we'll have our next annual DentPro Day.

I've been coordinating these annual clinics for some 15 years, and have always had great (not just good) results.  As usual, it will be held at the DentPro facility in Campbell from 9 AM until we run out of cars.  It's always a very good day.

Email Joe to reserve your spot.

That will do it for August! I think my "vacation" is officially over with putting this issue together...

As always, thanks for reading.

John Celona
Porsche Club of America-Golden Gate Region