Porsche Club of America
Golden Gate Region

July 2008. Volume 48, Issue 7

In This Issue

President's Message

Letter from the Editor

Competition Corner

Board of Directors

Membership Report

2008 DE Schedule

The Power Chef

Porsche Roads

GGR Family Picnic

The Carolina Trophy

Zone 7 Gimmick Rally

Concours in Paradise

Zone 7 AX #4 & #5

PCA Raffle

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 to subscribe (The Nugget is free!), and 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

What do you want from your club?

As a club, PCA/GGR strives to serve its members. However, it's hard for us to do that unless we know what you want from your club and unless you get involved.

It is clear that different people want different things from the club. Some want the excitement of competition with autocross or time-trial. Other members want opportunities to socialize with others who share their interest in Porsches, perhaps through tours, Friday-night socials, club picnics, or tech sessions. Yet others are interested in concurs or rallys.

There tends to be at least a little positive feedback in how the club operates. If we meet the needs of one segment of members, they tend to become more engaged with the club leading to more events of a particular type. For example, after an autocross, I can see that we are meeting the needs of the participants when I see the smiles on their faces or hear the excitement in their voices while they review the day with some bench racing. These people then become regular participants and eventually volunteer to help put on the events, leading to a strong competition program.

What about the members that don't come to an autocross or a time trial? or the Porsche owners who are not members? Are we serving these people? or has our focus on one aspect of the club caused us to be less effective at other aspects?

The GGR board would like to serve all members and to create a club that is attractive enough to convince Porsche owners who are not yet members to join. However, two things are required to make this happen: volunteers and participation. In recent years almost every proposal for an event that has been put before the GGR board has been approved. However, there is no tour this year because no one has stepped forward to propose and organize one.

If our region appears to be competition-heavy compared to others it is because we have a strong corps of volunteers who have been willing to step up and organize these events. We can have just as strong a series of other events if people are willing to come forward and put them on - and if people attend.

At this point some of you are probably thinking, "gee, I'd really like to see a Porsche trivia contest [substitute your favorite event here], but there is no way I have time to step forward and organize it." There are two bugs with this way of thinking. First, if everyone thought this way we wouldn't have a club. To make things work, people have to make the time to step forward and many do. We need even more people to volunteer - not just the same ones over and over again. The second bug with this way of thinking is that it ignores how much fun it is to put on an event. You get to work with a lot of really super people and then enjoy the praise when participants tell you how much they enjoyed your event. So what are you waiting for, step forward and create a new event.

Participation is key to the success of an event. After a great deal of hard work on the part of several volunteers, we recently cancelled our beginning driver school because only a handful of people had signed up (including my 18-year-old daughter). This school was a great idea - give newly licensed drivers some car control skills so they can get themselves out of difficult driving situations - yet it drew only a few participants.

Sometimes when an event is poorly attended, the cause is clear - it was cold and pouring rain, and so only a few crazy people (like me) showed up for the autocross. For a new event, however, the cause is less clear. Was there adequate publicity? Was the target group large enough to sustain the event? Was it scheduled at an inconvenient time? For new events (and especially new types of events) we need to be willing to (budget allowing) ride through a few lean events as we make adjustments to find a winning formula. People attend events that they are familiar with and new events often take time to build a following.

The club is putting on its first ever family picnic on July 27th. This is certain to be a fun event with barbecue, games, and a low-key concours. I am cautiously optimistic that this will be the first in a long series of club picnics - with attendance increasing each year.

As odd as it sounds, there are people who own a Porsche who are not PCA members. Why is this? Clearly these people don't realize that much of the fun of owning a Porsche is interacting with others of similar interests at club events. One possibility is that they don't know about the club - or perhaps they have the wrong idea about the club. (Perhaps someone told them that PCA is about street racing and side shows.) All of us can work to address this issue by being club ambassadors. If we see someone driving a Porsche - perhaps at work or at the mall - we can introduce ourselves, ask them if they are a member, and tell them what a great thing the club is.

Another possibility is that these people do know about the club and have an accurate idea of what we do, but they are looking for something else. For these people, we should find out what they are looking for. It may be something the club should be looking in to - if we can find volunteers and participants. While we all tend to find comfort in the club putting on familiar events, the world is changing and the club needs to evolve to meet a changing environment and a changing membership. Putting on new types of events and modifying our existing events is required to adapt to the changing environment.

So, what do you want from your club? We have received a number of e-mails with suggestions ranging from a once a year printed Nugget, to tech sessions, to numerous social events. Keep the ideas coming, but also realize that you need to volunteer to follow through to turn your idea into an event.

Porsches are a great deal of fun, and sharing the experience with other enthusiasts is even more fun. That is what the club is about. But its your club - to make it work we need both your ideas and your involvement.

If you are willing to help turn your ideas into events, please let us know by sending us e-mail. You can email me or email the board.

Bill

Letter from the Editor

--by John Celona, Nugget Editor

Membership Confusion Alleviated (Perhaps!)

If you're reading this, you've either subscribed to The Nugget or purchased a pirated copy on a recent trip to China. Subscribing to The Nugget is easy: just click the "Join our mailing list" button right at the top. And, thanks to The Miracle of the Internet, it's free! If every Porsche owner on the Earth and near planets decided to subscribe we might have a problem, but we're not near that (yet!).

However, there's apparently been some confusion in that people who subscribe to The Nugget also think they've joined the Porsche Club of America. In truth, the confirming message that went out to new subscribers was confusing. After a brief adventure with the technical support people with our mail service, that message has been corrected.

Allow me to make this clear: there is a separate step to join the Porsche Club of America. Click here to join. Make sure you indicate "Golden Gate Region" as your preferred region. Otherwise, you'll be assigned to a region based on your mailing address.

The benefits to being a member are huge. You get to participate in GGR events. You get a $10 discount at autocrosses. And you receive the award-winning PCA magazine Panorama in snail mail each month. Plus it comes in a discrete white envelope(!).

Check the stack of magazines in your bathroom. If there isn't a Panorama there, you probably haven't joined. And the cost is a grand total of $42/year--less than the cost of filling up your tank these days.

Join now and join the fun.

Cheerios,
John

Competition Corner

--by Dan Thompson, Competition Director

It is now time for all of our competitive folks to peruse the current rules and submit rules proposals to me so that the DEC (Driver's Event Committee) have a chance to review your suggestions and then act on them appropriately.  Please make sure that your proposals not only make a suggestion for a change, but make sure that you indicate what particular portion of our rules it would effect and also give your reasoning for the proposed change. Later in the year, probably October, there will be an open meeting to discuss all of the proposals in a direct face to face format.
If you make a proposal, please plan on attending the meeting to give your proposal it's due.

If you have not made it out to one of our DE/TTs or AXs, you are really missing out on some great opportunities to drive your Porsche in a safe controlled environment, to is fullest potential, OK, maybe to what you think is it's full potential.

But the point is that there is no other club in northern California that gives you more opportunities to drive your car the way it was designed to be driven.  So what is keeping you  from joining in on the fun?

Also of note, this is my last year as Competition Director and GGR will be in need of a dedicated person that is interested in the competitive events and aspects of our club.  Please, if you enjoy our competitive events and have been looking for a way to step up and "give back" to the club, now is the time.  You can email me at any time to get more detailed information about the posititon.

See you at the track.

Dan

Board of Directors

--by John Celona, GGR Secretary

GGR Board of Directors Meeting

After a whole lot of calendar contortions, the May and June board meetings were combined on May 21 (which was reported in the June Nugget), and the next meeting will be held July 23 at the residence of the president, Bill Dally.

People wishing to add items to the agenda should email him.

Membership Report

--by Jeff Kost, Membership Director

Total Members:  2521
Primary: 1471
Affiliate: 1049
Life: 1

New Members:  23
Transfers In:  3
Transfers Out: 8

New Members

Anniversaries

 45 Years

 40 Years

35 Years

 25 Years

 20 Years

 15 Years

 10 Years

 5 Years

2008 Drivers' Ed & Time Trial Schedule

  Rich Bontempi's HIGH PERFORMANCE HOUSE

The Power Chef

Canton, California

--by John Celona, The Power Chef


One of the great things about living in the United States is the diversity of people and cultures, a diversity thankfully built by continued immigration.

Of course, no people in the United States are originally from here. The American Indians preceded us by somewhere between 12,000 and 29,000 years (the debate on the number continues), with most of the rest of us arriving quite a bit after that. My great grandparents on my dad's side came over from Italy, while I have to go two generations farther back on my mom's side to plot the arrivals from France, who spent a few generations in Quebec and Prince Edward Island before a few descendants found their way to the town in Massachussetts where my mom and dad found each other.

Everybody coming over to build a better life for themselves and their families. I guess that's a big part of what makes America so special as we close in on celebrating the 4th of July, that most American of holidays.

Thankfully, everybody remembered to open up restaurants and grocery stores so we all can benefit from a planet's worth of cuisine without having to get on a plane. My old neighborhood in San Francisco still has a traditional Swedish restaurant as well as chinese, japanese, thai, cambodian, italian, french, and even "California cuisine"--that most amorphous of food types.

But you don't have to live near San Francisco to enjoy these varied offerings. My present local town has excellent Afghan, Indian (Asian Indian) and Creole (french via Louisiania) restaurants, along with a truly excellent sushi restaurant run by a chinese woman and her japanese husband.

And, if you're adventurous in the kichen like I am, the grocery stores offer all the fixings for creating your world cuisine at home. Need lemon grass for some thai food? No problem: even Safeway carries it now (right next to the fava beans, actually).

Still, a trip to the local ethnic grocery store is worth it to explore the ingredients Safeway still doesn't carry. My local favorite is Marina Market in San Mateo, which offers an amazing abundance of exotic ingredients only a five minute drive from my house (along with, on the last trip, fantastic Babcock peaches for only 99¢ a pound).

On my last trip to the local chinese/japanese/thai/filipino/korean market
(No, I am not making that up.)

You'll notice from the some of the reviews if you follow the link that Marina Market got a lot nicer after Ranch 99 Market (who comes up with these names?) opened in nearby Foster City. Competition to be better: another great part of the American way.

I was recently at Marina Market on an expedition to find fresh wood ear mushrooms, a key ingredient for hot and sour soup and so much better fresh than dried. Naturally, while there, I got the dried lily buds (the other unusual ingredient), plus the usual stuff that goes in: bamboo shoots, tofu, green onions, and some pork (a lean and boneless pork leg roast did the trick for that). Of course, I also look for the extra crunchy vegetable ingredient to turn the soup into an entire meal. On this trip, baby bok choy did the trick.

No, my wandering was not done then. I scouted out some rice wine (sherry will do in a pinch), plus the usual staples one needs to have around for another day: black bean chili sauce, brown sushi rice, chinese red rice vinegar, and so on.

I'll fess up: I left with a roast duck also. They're great crisped up in a 450ºF degree oven on a rack for about an hour (flip it halfway through) to make the skin really crisp and remove a lot of the fat. And, yes, I was long enough at the market that dinner that night was an oven-crisped duck with steamed chinese broccoli and whole wheat chinese buns.

The next night I put together the hot and sour soup. Hope you'll give it a try.

Hot and Sour Soup

The Gist

Marinated pork is simmered in chicken broth and wood ear mushrooms, then finished with tofu, bamboo shoots, baby bok choy, eggs, green onions, and shrimp. Rice wine, rice vinegar, ground white pepper, and sesame oil provide the key seasonings. Noodles make the soup a complete meal.

Ingredients

20 or so dried lily buds
1.5 lbs lean pork cut into long strips
2 Tb corn starch
2 Tb soy sauce
1 Tb vegetable oil
1 lb. raw, shelled and deveined shrimp
1 tsp. salt
2 Tb rice wine (or sherry)
1 lb. firm tofu, cut into long strips
6 cups water
6 Tb. chicken stock base
4 Tb rice wine (or sherry)
4-6 oz. fresh wood ear mushrooms, cut into strips (or half that amount dried mushrooms) soaked in water)
1 lb. whole wheat linguine
2 cans sliced bamboo shoots
2 lbs. baby bok choy, separated into leaves
2 Tb. corn starch
2 Tb. flour
6 eggs, beaten
4 Tb. rice vinegar (or cider vinegar)
2 Tb. sesame oil
2 tsp. ground white pepper
1 bunch green onions, chopped

Method

Soak the lily buds in a bowl of warm water. While they're soaking, mix the pork, 2 Tb corn starch, 2 Tb soy sauce, and 1 Tb oil together and let them marinate. Mix the shrimp with 1 tsp. salt and 2 Tb. rice wine and let them marinate.

Bring the water to a boil and mix in the chicken stock base. Add the 4 Tb. rice wine, pork, wood ear mushrooms, and lily buds. While this is simmering, bring another pot of water to boil to cook the linguine.

Simmer the soup for about 10 minutes, then add the tofu, bamboo shoots (along the way, feel free to start the linguine).  When it comes to a boil, add the baby bok choy and bring back to a boil. Mix the 2 Tb. of corn starch with the 2 Tb. of flour, then add enough water to make a smooth paste, then whisk it in with a fork to thicken the soup. Turn the heat down.

Cook the linguine al dente, then drain.

Use the fork to mix the soup as you dizzle in the eggs, then turn the heat off. Add the drained linguine. Mix in the raw shrimp (there will be just enough heat in the broth to cook the shrimp perfectly). Add the 4 Tb. rice vinegar, 2 Tb. sesame oil, 2 tsp. white pepper, and the green onions.

Give it a final stir, then taste. Add more vinegar and white pepper if you  like it more hot and sour. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

Noodles aren't traditional in hot and sour soup, but I like to add them to make it a complete meal like a japanese udon dish. Feel free to use brown rice noodles or another other type of whole grain pasta that suits your fancy.

Bon appetit,
The Power Chef

Porsche Roads

--by Claude Leglise, GGR Past President


Highway 58, Paso Robles to McKittrick


UC San Diego held its graduation ceremony a couple of weeks ago, so it was time to travel to Southern California to see our eldest son get his diploma. He is still on the parental payroll for the summer, but there is hope this will come to an end. The trip was an opportunity to revisit what is probably my all-time favorite Porsche Road in California. Highway 58 offers a combination of smooth curves, long straights, dramatic mountain passes and infrequent traffic that make driving a pleasure, pretty much irrespective of the price of gas.

If you are on your way south from the Bay Area, take 101 instead of Highway 5, and exit in Paso Robles. As usual when exploring Porsche Roads, have lunch and gas up in town before heading out to the good bits. Take Niblick Road east over 101 and the Salinas River, and then at the top of the hill, make a right onto Creston Road. As soon as you leave Paso behind, the housing developments are replaced by wineries and farms. In Creston, the Windfall Farms and their extensive horse installations seem right out of Kentucky.

At the intersection with Highway 41, go straight on to La Panza Road. This road is wide and fast. Watch out for farm vehicles and bicyclists. After 10 miles, La Panza meets Calf Canyon, and you are now on Highway 58.

(For those readers with some knowledge of the German language, "La Panza" is not a female armored vehicle, but rather the small mountain range east of Santa Margarita. The Salinas River starts there and flows northward all the way to Moss Landing, where it ends up in the Pacific Ocean.)

 

Highway 58 first goes over the La Panza range, with its typical coastal landscape of oak trees, tall grasses and yellow rocks. The pavement is in great shape, the visibility is good and the sweepers are smooth. This section is a real treat, but it is only the beginning of a great road. About 50 miles from Paso Robles, the road enters the Carrizo Plain, originally the El Chicote Spanish land grant, the largest single native grassland remaining in the State. In the old days, its remoteness made it a perfect hiding area for bandits, and to this day there are no gas stations, no store, no restrooms, no lodging -- nothing, except for a few cattle ranches and a public school. As the highway enters the plain, the straight-aways run flat across the grasses, until you get to two sharp turn signs with 15 mile per hour limits. If your normal expectation is that you can corner at twice the posted number, you are in for a major surprise. These are 90 degree corners, off camber and full of gravel.

Past the "town" of Simmler -- population too small to count - is the roller coaster section of the trip. Rather than grade the road bed, Caltrans just went over the natural undulations. One particular Boxster has been known to fly in this area, but before you are tempted to see if you can get air, keep in mind that the dips are really deep and can hide very large vehicles. When I took the picture nearby, there was a Suburban between the hills. Can you see it?



After the roller coaster, on the western side of the plain, you arrive at the San Andreas Fault, this section of which is much studied by scientists. Highway 58 goes over the aptly named Tremblor Range and rises up to 3750 feet before descending into the Central Valley. The driving is pure mountain fun. Once again, the pavement is in superb shape, and the curves are nice and smooth. A few are very sharp, as the road follows the natural contour of the terrain. If the weather is clear, you can pull over and enjoy a great view of the Central Valley and maybe see the Santa Barbara Mountains, the Tehachapis and the Sierras in the distance.

After going around the McKittrick Summit, you head downhill all the way to Highway 33. There are a couple of stretches with outstanding visibility where, unbeknownst to you, your car might be tempted to stretch its legs.

Scale: 1∆ to 5∆
                                          Twistiness      Pavement Quality       Scenery    
Creston / La Panza Road           ∆∆∆                 ∆∆∆∆∆                  ∆∆∆∆
Highway 50                              ∆∆∆∆∆              ∆∆∆∆∆                  ∆∆∆∆



If you are on your way to Los Angeles, you will want to turn right on Highway 33. Time permitting, the West Kern Oil Museum, in Taft, tells the story of this oil rich area which was once covered with 7000 wooden derricks. Then in Maricopa, Highway 166 will take you through miles and miles of orchards back to the incomparable boredom of Highway 5.

 

If LA is not on your program for this trip, stay on Highway 58 to get to Buttonwillow, famous destination for many Time-Trialers, and further east to Barstow. But that's another story.

Claude

GGR Family Picnic & Concours

Announcing

 GGR's First Annual Family Picnic / Peoples Choice Wash and Shine Concours

Join your fellow Porsche enthusiasts Sunday July 27th at Vasona County Park for this year's premier social event!!  

                  

The event will feature a delicious BBQ lunch catered by Armadillo Willy's, a People's Choice Wash and Shine Concours, Games, and more!!  Best of all the price is only $20 per adult with children free!! 

Armadillo Willy's Lunch will include Real Texas BBQ Ribs, Smoked BBQ Chicken, Smoked Texas Beef Brisket, BBQ Beans, Potato Salad, Green Salad, Soft Drinks and Desert!!

Time is running out! Register early so you don't miss this important event!

When:   Sunday,  July 27th, 2008
            10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Where:  Vasona County Park, Circle Group Area
             333 Blossom Hill Road
             Los Gatos, CA 95032

Price:    Adults $20.00
             Children Free!!

Note: There is also a Vasona Park Fee of $6.00 per vehicle payable at the gate.

To attend, mail 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:______________________________________________

e-mail address __________________________________________

Year and Model Car _____________________________________

Number of Adults________________________________________

Number of Children______________________________________

We need a final headcount one week in advance, so registration must be postmarked no later than July 17th.  We also need volunteers to help organize and run the event.  If you would like to help or if you would like more information on the event, please email Mark Powell.

Enter for the Carolina Trophy

September Means More Porsches In The Carolina Mountains!

--by Paul Misencik, Metrolina Area PCA, Huntersville, NC

For the past four years now, I've been organizing and running an event every September called "The Carolina Trophy," which is a five-day, European-style vintage motorcar road rally in the spirit of the Mille Miglia and Rallye des Alpes.  The event is based out of Lake Lure, North Carolina and covers 1000km over five days on some of the most sinewy and serpentine roads anywhere.  As a loyal Porsche owner and enthusiast, it warms my heart that the best-represented marque every year is Porsche, and 2008 appears to be no exception!



Although registration is still in its early stages, we already have a four-cam 356 Carrera GS entered, a stunning 911SC RS rally replica (in Rothman's livery), two 1955 Speedsters, three 356 coupes, and two early 911's.  In addition, we have vintage Ferraris, Jaguars, Aston Martins, Austin-Healeys, and Alpine-Renaults coming from all over the United States, Canada, and even abroad!  By the time the field is set, I feel certain we'll have everything from thundering Corvettes to snarling MG's taking the starting line.

Although the Carolina Trophy is technically a "competitive" event, every stage takes place on open public roadways at legal speeds.  Each car is piloted by a driver and a navigator, and the rally is timed and scored using a combination of TSD stages and regularity legs, with ample transition stages mixed in to make ensure teams have plenty of time to relax and enjoy the roads and scenery.  Some of our entrants take the competitive side of the rally very seriously indeed, while others don't compete and merely enjoy the routes at whatever pace they choose.  Regardless, the event is set up to make sure the spirit of adventure, camaraderie, and gentlemanly competition is accessible to every entrant.

Virtually all-inclusive, the Carolina Trophy is set in gracious accommodations and includes meals, beverages and many cocktails, with social events from start to finish that make up a significant portion of the event's appeal.  By day, entrants are charging through the mountains and competing against the clock, but lunches and evenings are invariably chances for teams to connect with on another, relive the adventure of the day, and tell fish stories about cars and other topics with a group of passionate, like-minded enthusiasts.

If you love cars, I urge you to come out and experience the 2008 running of The Premier Financial Services Carolina Trophy, which takes place September 14-19, 2008.  All vehicles built in 1980 or earlier are eligible to compete, with a "special interest" class available to cars of particular interest built later than that date.  We also love to have spectators, we always need volunteers, and unique and affordable sponsorship opportunities exist for forward-thinking companies, so come on out and enjoy the action!

Complete details can be found at www.carolinatrophy.com, or call (704) 351 2087 and ask for Paul!  See you in September!

Zone 7 Gimmick Rally

Concours in Paradise

Zone Autocrosses #4 and #5

PCA Raffle

Whew. We've made it through July. Happy 4th of July! Have a hotdog for me (with a whole wheat bun, please!).

As always, thanks for reading.

John Celona
Porsche Club of America-Golden Gate Region