 |  |
President's Message
|  --by Bill Dally, GGR President
Its that time of the year when many of us reflect on all we have to be thankful for. Even in the current difficult economic environment with our business endeavors not going as well as planned and our retirement savings slimmed down considerably, there is still much to be thankful for. At the top of my list are my health, my family, and my home. While my older Porsches have all had many of their parts replaced, I am still running strong on all original parts. My family gives me lots of emotional support in good times and bad. I am also very fortunate to live in the bay area. I can't think of another place on earth I'd rather reside.
Not too much further down my list is the club. We are all really fortunate
to belong to the GGR region of PCA. Thanks to some very dedicated volunteers it puts on an outstanding range of activities including club races, time trials, and driver's education events on the big track, autocrosses, and numerous social events. Thanks to the efforts of our club's volunteers you and I are able to enjoy our Porsches at a level not possible on the public roads. We are also able to enjoy sharing the experience with each other and the camaraderie that comes with such events.
Let me take this opportunity to thank some of the many volunteers who make this all possible.
Our club race, time trial, and driver's education chairs Mike Cullinan and Warren Walker have done an outstanding job with our track events this past year. Most significantly, they have hosted three club races in our region for the first time in many years. Thanks to the hard work they have put in, our members are able to enjoy
a full spectrum of track experiences - from a driver's education event (where you can drive your new Cayman to the track and run it as is) to full wheel-to-wheel club racing. Of course, making these events run smoothly takes a lot more than two people. A whole host of volunteers, too numerous to list here, work tirelessly to put on one of these events.
On the autocross front, the Switzer Brothers - Carl and Matt - have done an outstanding job for the past two years putting on our autocross events. I know how hard this is having held this job not too long ago. They have had to deal with difficulty in finding venues, difficulty dealing with venues (like making three trips in person to Alameda City Hall for one autocross), multiple thefts of equipment from the timing trailer and other adverse events. In the face of this, they have managed to put on outstanding events and to modernize our autocross timing system using
bar-codes and computer recording to streamline timing and scoring.
The Switzers are stepping down this year and we all should be grateful that two very energetic folks, Joe Lee and Chris Hamilton, have stepped forward to take their places. The club needs new volunteers to take on the big jobs (we can't just recycle the same old folks over and over again) and we are very pleased to see Joe and Chris enter the fold.
GGR has had a wonderful social program the past two years under the direction of our Social Chair, Mark Powell. He has started an annual Vasona Park club picnic, and has staged many popular events including the recent Military Vehicle Foundation tour and the Wine and Wrenches (say that fast five times) event at The Racing Group.
I am also stepping down this year after two years as region president and I am very greatful that John Celona has been elected to replace me. For the past two years, John has been
both club secretary and Nugget editor. During the Leglise administration, he pioneered the transition from a paper Nugget to our current electronic Nugget and is responsible for the high quality electronic publication we now have every month.
Many more people work tirelessly behind the scenes to make the club run smoothly than I have room to thank here, so if your name was left off, don't think that means I (and the other club members) don't appreciate what you are doing for the club. We do, even if we don't mention it explicitly.
As GGR members we should all be grateful that we belong to a region with such a dedicated core of volunteers. At the same time, we should realize that maintaining this core requires renewal, and we should all expect to take our turn starting with a small position - like putting on one social event - and ultimately moving up to a board position or chair of a competition series. We need new
faces in leadership positions - that means you.
A Thanksgiving column would be incomplete if I didn't also mention that I am very grateful to the folks in Stuttgart for making such a great car. Whether its driving my 914/6 at an autocross, commuting to work in my 356, or just driving down the PCH in my Boxster with the top down, getting behind the week of one of these cars never fails to put a smile on my face - and working on them is pretty fun too.
Bill
|   | Letter from the Editor
| 
--by John Celona, Nugget Editor
Closing Out Another Year
This issue closes out another year of The Nugget and the end of volume 49. Next year begins with volume 50 as we launch into the year when we'll be celebrating GGR's 50 anniversary. Look for news and announcement about the 50th over the coming year as we put plans together. Since, for most of us, the 50th will be a once-in-a-lifetime event, we plan to make it one!
Also, thanks very much to all the folks who've contributed articles and photos throughout the year. We're always glad to receive and run them. Done something fun? Cobble together a few
paragraphs and photos and you've got a feature article that will appear in pixel in a matter of weeks and which you can share with your children and grandchildren for generations to come (or something like that!).
As always, thanks for reading.
| | Competition Corner | 
--by Wayne Van Norsdall, Competition Director
Updating GGR's Competition Rules
There has been a lot of confusion with regards to the rules and how
to apply them over the last year. As a result, the rule book will be re-written and made simpler and easier to follow. As we should have done last year with the adoption of the national DE rules, we will be dropping all of the additional and some times confusing GGR rules. Here is a link to the national DE rules.
We have made these changes in order to make it easier to enter and run your Porsche with GGR. All of us at GGR, both past and present have a great desire to see the club flourish but remain safe. Safety is our primary concern. With the adoption of the national DE rules, you are no longer required to add safety equipment to your car and you are not
required to wear safety clothing.
However, we strongly recommend that you consider adding / upgrading safety equipment. With the speeds of newer stock Porsche's reaching levels achieved only by race cars just a few years ago, safety should remain a primary concern for everyone. With the newer cars having ABS, ASR, ABD, PSM, and other active safety devices they can get further 'out of shape' on track without issue and without the experience once needed to get them back in control. This sometimes leads people into a false sense of security. These cars can reach speeds near 150 miles an hour at the end on the straight at Thunderhill. No matter now many airbags or crumple zones Porsche builds into the cars, if an accident were to occur at high speed, you can be seriously injured or killed. Please consider additional safety equipment especially if you make modifications to your car.
So, with that said, as promised, we are publishing the
proposed rule / class changes for the 2010 season. Please take the time to read and give us feedback. The rules proposals are posted in the rules forum of the GGR bulletin board.
Here is a link to look at the proposed rules changes.
We will be having our open DEC meeting on Jan 16th at 11 AM. The location will be determined as we get closer to the date. Everyone is encouraged to attend! If possible, please let me know that you will be coming by emailing me at weirw@msn.com or call 510 773 2081.
We have some DE and AX representative volunteers but if anyone else
would like to be considered please let me know by the 15th of December. At that point, we will send out a GGR announce email and ask for a vote. The winner will attend the January DEC meeting and should be fully prepared to discuss all rule change proposals.
Happy holidays to everyone!
Wayne
|  | Board of Directors
|
--by John Celona, GGR Secretary
GGR Board of Directors
Meeting Minutes for October 14, 2009
Call to Order. The meeting was held at the residence of the president, Bill Dally. Present were: Bill Dally, Jeff Kost, Larry Adams, John Celona, Wayne van Norsdall, Sharon Neidel, Mark Powell, Bill Benz, Andrew Forrest, Mike Cullinan, Warren Walker, Paul Larson, and Rob Murillo.
The
meeting was called to order at 7 p.m.
Call for agenda changes: add report from the Zone 7 rep
Call for calendar changes: none
Approval of October minutes: already approved via email
Postmortem of events
- 10/16 Friday Night Social
- 10/17 Wine and Wrenches Tour TRG
- 10/24 Auto X 8 Marina
Directors' Reports
President: nothing to report.
Vice-President
Upcoming event status report:
- 11/14 Dent Pro Day
- 11/21 Auto X 9 Marina
- 12/5 Porsche (Boxster) Brunch
- 12/18 Friday Night Social
- Joint Board Dinner TBD
Certificates are ordered for the following events:
Certificates are in place for the following events:
Treasurer: bank balances are stable, though track deposit payments will be coming due. We are
actually slightly ahead of where we were last year at this point, which is surprising considering the funds spend on the new autocross timing system and the loss on the last event at Infineon.
Motion to accept the treasurer's report was passed unanimously
Secretary: Ballots are continuing to arrive. LPR does their board election with electronic voting with a Google spreadsheet and asserts it is highly successful. We should perhaps consider this for next year.
Social
Calendar of Past Events:
- Friday Night Social at Harry's Hofbrau: Friday 10/16/09 : 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. The last event was held on Friday, 10/16/09.
- TRG "Wine and Wrenches" Tech Session: Saturday, 10/17/09: A Tech Session/Wine Tasting/Catered Lunch was held at TRG in Petaluma on 10/17/09. Twenty-four GGR members and about over thirty DR members enjoyed wine tasting, a catered lunch and tours of both TRG and the Adobe Road facilities.
Upcoming Event Status Report:
- DentPro Day: Saturday 11/14/09: Joe Ramos has organized the annual DentPro Day. This year's event will be on Saturday, November 14, beginning at 9 AM at the
DentPro facility at 2205 Winchester Blvd, Campbell, CA 95008. Please RSVP to Joe Ramos at jmramos@gmail.com
- Friday Night Social at Harry's Hofbrau: Friday 11/20/09 : The next Friday Night Social will be at Harry's in Redwood City on 11/20/09. Contact Shirley Neidel's at gsneidel@yahoo.com for additional information.
- Boxster Brunch: Saturday, 12/05/09: The next Boxster Brunch will be held Saturday December 5, 2009 at 10:00AM at Alice's Restaurant, Hwy 35 & 84, Woodside. Contact George Grialou at 650-464-1478.
- GGR Family Picnic / People's Choice Concours: Saturday, July 24, 2010 Nothing new to report. Vasona's Gateway Pavilion and parking lot has been reserved for our 2010 picnic.
- Military Vehicle Foundation Tour: TDBKevin Laird is planning another private tour of the Military Vehicle Foundation in Portola Valley. For late 2010. He is also looking into a tour of either The Mallya Collection or
the automobile collection at the Academy of Art University. Details to follow.
Future Events for Discussion:
- Year-End Banquet at Blackhawk Museum in Danville: Sunday 1/10/10, 11:00 AM to 3:00PM GGR's Year-End Banquet will take at the Blackhawk Museum on Sunday 1/10/10. Cost will be $45 per person. The deposit check for $3000 and signed contract was mailed to Scott's Catering. Need Board approval for the final payment of approximately $3,673. Flying Lizards has been requested to ask one of their drivers to be the guest speaker. Nominations are required for Club awards. Banquet needs to be
added to GGR website and calendar and announced via ggrannounce.
Motions to make the final payment and to appropriate $500 for door prizes were passed unanimously.
Membership: The primary membership level increased slightly in October but remains fairly flat over the last six months. New memberships remained strong and transfers in was a large positive number. Though a broken record (remember those?) as always, I encourage each of you to do what you can to recruit new members and engage and retain our very important existing members!
Motion to accept the new members was passed unanimously.
Competition
Items covered in discussion section.
Webmaster: up to 1250 unique hits per day.
Topics for discussion
Plans for next year's DE/TT - Mike and Warren
Looks like the overall loss for Infineon was $15,000 (rather than $18,000), but the overall loss for the year was only $12,000. This is really good considering overall attendance was done 30-35% from last year, and is a lot better than how things looked three weeks before Infineon.
Lot of ideas came out the DE meeting this past Saturday. Here's the list of changes for this coming year:
- Need an expert wordsmith for publicity. Plans are to have an article for each event and put articles in Excellence, Panorama, The
Nugget, etc.
- "Time trial" is changing to "timed runs"
- Need concise idea of what the club identity is for driving events
- Need to redo the web site
- Instead of ground school, there will be orientation at the track on Friday night and a club barbecue
- Adding a movie following the Saturday night dinner at the track
- During timing runs, maybe will have classes run together
- John Tavernetti has a group working on tweaking the class system to have more homogeneous times in each class
- Will be instituting a more liberal payment policy: if people cancel at the last minute, they will get a credit towards a future event.
- Schedule:
- April date at Thunderhill with a club race
- Buttonwillow weekend before Memorial Day (May
22-23), and will include a club race
- 3rd weekend in July for Thunderhill
- September two-day at Thunderhill with a club race
- October similar date at Infineon
Marketing plans and new web design - Andrew Forrest to implement the many changes to the web site requested to support the DE marketing campaign. The webmaster position will be transitioning from Paul Larson to Andrew Forrest. The thought was that, after all the work Paul put in to build the new web site from scratch last year, it would be unfair to ask him to launch into a major redevelopment effort. As a
token of the club's appreciation to Paul for all his efforts, motion was made and passed to gift the recently purchased netbook to Paul.
Review procedure for changes to competition rules - Mark Powell. Minor technical modifications to the rules can be made via a technical bulletin issued by the competition director. Anything beyond that scope has to go through the formal rules process as specified in the rules.
Motion was made to push back the dates for rules proposals by two weeks. Proposals are due this weekend, they will published in the December Nugget, there will be a DEC meeting in January, and they will be voted on at following board meeting (early February) or via email vote and published thereafter. These revised dates will be released via a ggrannounce distribution. Motion was passed unanimously.
Zone Rep Report: transition issues were
covered, including filling out forms for PCA National on composition of the new board. The new email info letter from National has been going out. Parade is expanding back to 7 days. 2010 will be July 3-9, 2010. An iPhone app for PCA is coming which will allow you to sign up for PCA, and it will list events by region. Plus approved service centers in particular areas.
Event scheduling: Larry Adams asked about a mechanism for putting out event dates to help avoiding scheduling conflicting events.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 p.m.
|  | October Membership Report
|
 --by Jeff Kost, Membership Director
The primary membership level increased slightly in October but remains fairly flat over the
last six months. New memberships remained strong and transfers in was a large positive number. Though a broken record (remember those?) as always, I encourage each of you to do what you can to recruit new members and engage and retain our very important existing members!
Total Members: 2356
Primary: 1369
Affiliate: 986
HQ Life: 1
GGR Life: 3
New Members: 18
Transfers In: 6
Transfers Out: 1
New Members Karen Blount | Portola Valley |
| Chris Bolte | Palo Alto | 2006 911 | Jeff Budzinski | San Jose | 2003 Carrera | Bob Callan | San Francisco | 2009 Carrera | Janette Canare | San Jose |
| Edward & Patti Chan | Cupertino | 2007 997 | Michael & Jeffrey Cianci | San Jose | 2002 carrera 4 | Greg Diener | Campbell | 1999 Boxster | Bob Gordon | San Francisco | 2004 911 4S | Tammie Helm | Campbell |
| Brad & Susanna
Hoffert | San Jose | 2008 Cayman S | James Homan | Pacifica | 1986 turbo 944 | Manus & Sau Ling J-Cheng | Los Altos | 1973 911S Targa | Evan Lee | Belvedere | 1987 911 | Christine Marchesotti | San Francisco |
| Stan Mok | Los Altos Hills | 2008 997 | Jill Morehead | Portola Valley | 2009 carrera | Rob Morrow | San Jose | 1983 944 | Dogu Narin | Sunnyvale | 2006 Carrera 4S | Emmett Quigley | Milpitas |
| Florence Read | Sunnyvale |
| Jeff Smith | Los ALtos | 2009 911 | Justine Vo | Fremont |
| Ryan Walker | Milpitas | 2001 Boxster s | Anniversaries 35 Years Rich Bontempi | Redwood City | 1974 914 | 30 Years John Teasley | Corte Madera | 1974
911 | 25 Years Lynne Bell | Woodside |
| Jill Engelbrecht | Corte Madera |
| 20 Years 15 Years Helen Chen | Foster City |
| Kim Mathis | Fremont |
| Anson Pang | Sunnyvale | 1992 911 | 10 Years Bianca Hertlein | Nuernberg 90491 |
| Katja Iburg | San Jose |
| Michael Mulholand | Oakland | 1989 911 | Robin Pape | Los Gatos |
| Lee Richardson | San Francisco | 1999 BOXSTER | Denise Vaughan | Dallas |
| Susan Kennedy | San Jose |
| Michael McDonald | San Carlos | 1985 911 | 5 Years Luz Chambers | Portola Valley |
| Susie Chin | San Jose |
| Patricia Franklin | San Francisco |
| Jim Guido | San Jose | 1969 911 E | John & Diana James | Alamo | 2004 996 | Jeff Saccullo | Livermore | 1983 911 SC | Katherine Zinsser | San Francisco |
| John Owens | San Carlos | 1996 911 |
|  | Board Election Results
|
Following a hotly contest election during which the candidates repeatedly debated amongst themselves on the local access cable channel in La Honda, GGR election results are in. Ballots needed to be postmarked by November 15 and
results were tabulated by Arthur Andersen.
47 ballots were received by mail with U.S. postmarks. We also received 2 million ballots from Iran, 629,000 from Afghanistan, and 18 million from Zimbabwe. However, after investigation by independent U.N. election monitors led by former president Jimmy Carter, these ballots were disqualified.
The final tally is:
Votes for President:
75 votes for John Celona
1 vote for Larry Adams
Votes for Treasurer:
76 votes for Linda Adams
Votes for Secretary:
76 votes for Bill Benz
Congratulations to all the candidates for a successful campaign. Following the lead of other regions in Zone 7, we will likely explore electronic voting next year so folks don't have to print the page out and find an envelope and stamp.
Applications by the candidates for matching federal elections funds may be made to:
T.A.R.P.
c/o The Federal Government
Washington, D.C.
Next year, four positions will be up for election: vice-president, membership, social, and competition. Start planning your candidacy now!
|
| The Power Chef
| 
Dealing (constructively?) with STRESS
--by John Celona, The Power Chef®
These days, no one needs to be told about how stressful their lives are. People are juggling careers, families, traffic, charity commitments, etc., all at a pace sociologists will tell us has accelerated, gone global, and turned into 24/7 with ever-on technology. People weren't designed to be resetting their body clocks like watches or to be productive and alert at all hours of the day and night, yet here we are.
Since there's no indication these trends will reverse any time soon, one needs either to find constructive ways to deal with stress or move to France (where everybody still takes the month of August off!).
If you're reading this column, hopefully Porsches and belonging to GGR are part of your stress relief. Driving, especially competitive driving, does that for some of us because of the concentration it requires to the exclusion of all those daily stresses. If you very (extremely) (amazingly) technically
inclined like our president Bill Dally, perhaps working on your car supplies part of your stress release. We all need something.
Then there are the real stresses that make the daily stresses seem unimportant and mundane by comparison. Health and relationship crises fall into this category. There have been times in my life when the stresses were so severe they created physical symptoms which baffled a series of doctors. I've seen this in others, too. Hard in hindsight to believe the very real symptoms were caused by stress, but so it was.
This last month has been especially stressful for me and my spouse with learning our dearest kitty Pawlina had leukemia, then hoping against hope she could come through the treatment and go into remission. As I mentioned above, the disease got the better of her and we put her at peace a week ago. The profound emptiness hasn't abated.
Hence the need for daily means of coping with stress when a day
at the beach or an autocross isn't possible. One can try to deal with stress either constructively or destructively. Here's a hope for the former.
Destructive means include excessive alcohol or drugs. I've nothing against an evening cocktail or too, but drinking oneself into temporary oblivion will at some point turn into permanent oblivion. Likewise for cigarettes.
Many people find comfort in food, and it can be just fine in moderation. There even seem to be health benefits to moderate consumption of dark chocolate. This is very different than watching compulsive eaters consume their way to morbid obesity. The degradation in quality of life (and probably quantity, too!) itself becomes a new source of stress.
Everyone needs to find their own ways of dealing constructively with stress and I don't pretend to have a universal prescription. For me, daily exercise is the cornerstone of daily stress reduction. Almost every day I'll
take the time to get some exercise and feel good about myself, even if it means getting up at 5 a.m. to get in an hour run before the day gets going.
Some days need more than just a workout. Cooking is stress-relief for me. I get to create something delicious and healthy and then enjoy eating it. Gardening is also good. There's nothing like turning disheveled bushes into a beautiful hedge. With a little luck, you can enjoy looking at it for months before it gets raggedy again.
And, I'll confess, in really bad times I'll clean house. Somehow a neat and clean house makes me feel like some part of my life is in control even when major issues are out of my control.
The theory is that doing something constructive when you're stressed or upset may make you feel better than just escaping. What do you think?
In the spirit of constructive comfort, following is my recipe for guilt-free fried chicken. It has a drastically reduced fat
content by eliminating the batter and still tastes great. Something for you and the comfort food folks in your house, perhaps.
Bon Appetit,
The Power Chef
Guiltless Fried Chicken
The Gist
Cut the chicken into pieces and marinate it with the spice mix. Fry a few pieces at a time in smoking hot peanut oil, keeping the finished pieces warm in a warm oven.
Ingredients
2 whole chickens, washed and cut up
2 tbs. salt
1 Tb. fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground white pepper
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 Tb. garlic granulated garlic
1 Tb. dried granulated onion
2 tsp. dried thyme
peanut oil
Method
Thoroughly rinse the whole chickens in cool water, pulling out any feather remnants. Drain and pat them dry with paper towels, then cut them up. I like to cut the pieces like this: wings, then legs (thigh and drumstick together), then cut lengthwise to separate the back from the breast side, then breasts in half lengthwise along the breast bone, than cross-wise into breast quarters. This keeps the pieces around the same size so they cook in about the same time. I save the back and giblets for stock or soup.
Alternatively, you could buy chicken already cut up in the store. Do still give it a good rinsing.
Mix the dry spice ingredients together, then sprinkle them over the chicken pieces and toss together thoroughly. If you're cooking the chicken that day, leave it on the counter to marinate. Otherwise, put it in the fridge to marinate for up to two or three days. Give it a mixing once a day or so
to distribute the spices evenly.
Before cooking the chicken, take it out of the fridge and bring it to room temperature.
Use a tall-sided pot for frying to contain at least some of the spatters. Put in enough peanut oil for a depth of 2 or 3 inches. Heat it over high heat until it starts you can see the fumes coming off the oil. (A burnt smell is too much.) Have ready tongs for adding and removing the chicken pieces. Put your hood fan on high. Heat your oven to warm (150 or 200ºF). Have a plate or tray ready with several layers of paper towels on it.
Once the oil is fuming, carefully put three or four pieces into the hot oil, stepping back so you don't get spattered. There will be clouds of hot steam, so be careful. Cook the chicken until brown and crispy. The time depends on how hot your burner is. If your burner is really hot (such as with a commercial stove), you may need to turn the heat down so the chicken doesn't burn.
When the first batch is done, remove the chicken, place on the paper-toweled tray, and put the tray in the oven to keep the chicken warm and crisp. Use a mesh implement to fish any odd pieces out of the oil. then reheat it to smoking and proceed with the next batch.
Notes
Feel free to experiment and create your own favorite spice mixture. You could play around with onion powder, chipotle chile powder, or different herbs.
If you have high blood pressure, reduce the salt and do all the marination in the fridge. The salt (plus rinsing) is what makes it safe to marinate the chicken at room temp for up to 24 hours.
Lastly, use a big tray to keep the chicken warm so you don't have to pile pieces on top of each other. This helps with draining excess oil, keeps the pieces crisper while waiting, and makes for a dramatic presentation when you're ready to eat!
| 
| Introducing the Boxster Spyder
|
2011
Porsche Boxster Spyder: Light, Powerful, Purist Roadster to be Introduced at Los Angeles Auto Show
Porsche's newest entry will be the lightest in its line-up
ATLANTA - November 5, 2009 - Weighing in at just 2,811 lbs., the new 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder will be the lightest Porsche available - from a company known for lightweight, proficient sports cars. This new mid-engined roadster represents the true, purist form of the sports car - agile, powerful, open and efficient. This third Boxster model will join the Boxster and Boxster S and will make its world debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show, December 2, 2009.
The newest member of the Boxster family stands out from the other versions of Porsche's mid-engined roadster. Its low-slung, lightweight soft top -
when closed - extends far to the rear to protect the driver and passenger from bright sunshine, wind and weather. This top, when combined with extra-low side windows and two striking bulges on the single-piece rear lid, provides the Boxster Spyder with a sleek silhouette reminiscent of the Carrera GT.
The Boxster Spyder features a 3.4-liter six-cylinder engine with Direct Fuel Injection upfront of the rear axle. Maximum output is 320 horsepower (hp), 10 hp more than the Boxster S. The combination of 10 more hp and 176 pounds less weight than the award-winning Boxster S, plus an all-new sport suspension that lowers the Boxster Spyder 20 mm, a lower center of gravity, a standard limited slip differential, and exclusive wheels provides the kind of driving dynamics that back up
the unique look. Aluminum door skins and lightweight interior door panels from the 911 GT3 RS contribute to the weight reduction.
When equipped with Porsche-Doppelkupplung (PDK) transmission and the Sports Chrono Package, the new Spyder, using Launch Control, accelerates from a standstill to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds. Top track speed is 166 mph - with the roof open.
Fundamentally, the entire Boxster family is the successor to the legendary 550 Spyder and RS 60 of the Fifties and Sixties, all sharing the same mid-engine roadster concept. Low weight and supreme agility combine to provide outstanding driving pleasure.
In 2004 and 2008 Porsche produced limited editions of the Boxster bearing the additional name Spyder, honoring the 550 and RS 60. In contrast, the new
Boxster Spyder is a regular, but specially developed and upgraded production model as compared with the Boxster and Boxster S.
The 2011 Boxster Spyder goes on sale February 2010. U.S. pricing is $61,200.
|  | Take Your Porsche to Tahoe
|
Porsche Approves Winter
Tires Specifically for Young and Old Classics
Extensive Tire Test Program for Older Model Series
Stuttgart - November 18, 2009 - Porsche has extended its demanding approval process for winter tires to include tires for young and old classics. Offering customers this unusual service, the German manufacturer of sports cars enables drivers of older models to use the best available products on their car. Porsche is therefore providing valuable help and orientation particularly in the process of choosing new winter tires with safe driving characteristics also on snow and ice. A further point is that this makes Porsche one of the few car makers to offer such an elaborate tire approval process.
Well over 70 percent of all Porsche
sports cars ever built still exist today and are still driven actively in most cases - in both summer and winter. Indeed, even classic Porsche models more than 20 years old still offer the kind of performance today one would expect of a modern sports car. But the tires fitted when such old and new classics were still in production have no longer been available for years. Tire treads and rubber compounds have changed in an ongoing process of development, thus influencing the driving behaviour of such old Porsche models.
Conducting elaborate tests, Porsche's engineers determine which of the tires available today harmonize best with the features of a classic Porsche. The highlight in this testing and approving process is an extensive test program up north in the Polar Circle.
Numerous Porsche models built in former years, among them the 911, 928, 964, 993 and 996, and then all the way to the first Boxsters,
have been tested for this purpose on countless laps at the Arctic Driving Center in the Finnish town of Rovaniemi.
The criteria to be fulfilled by the tires tested in order to receive approval by Porsche are so strict that not all tires met the test requirements. The characteristics and features typical of an older air-cooled 911, for example, form an challenge not easy to overcome.
Further tests for dry and wet handling on test routes free of snow round off the test programme as such. Information on which tires are recommended for which Porsche model is presented on Porsche's website (www.porsche.com) and is also available at all Porsche dealerships.
|  | Porsche Ends Fumes Sniffing
|
Porsche Builds New Paint Shop with Latest Environmental Technology
Innovative Production Facilities Conserves Resources and Cuts Emissions to a Minimum
Atlanta, November 3, 2009 - Porsche AG has announced it is expanding its innovative automobile production at the main factory in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen to include one of the most modern and environmentally-friendly paint shops in the
world that will significantly reduce overall emissions of this notoriously problematic industrial process and still result in a more superior paint finish on the cars going through it.
The factory at Zuffenhausen is where Porsche builds all its 911 and Boxsters sports cars.
The outer skeleton structure of the new paint shop has already taken shape, with the steel supports set to be completed in early 2010, and the entire facility is scheduled to be operational by 2011.
The paint shop will be run on two-shift-operation with a daily capacity of up to 170 911 and Boxster models at the Zuffenhausen facility. The latest environmentally sensitive technologies are being used during the new construction process as well as for the painting operation. For example, the painting process will feature complete dust protection with 100 percent encapsulation. This method not only enhances the already high quality of the vehicle paint coat, but also
reduces the required amount of conditioned hall air required.
A unique electrostatic precipitator for paint dust will further cut the emission of solvents and particles to a minimum. The painting process is able to coat the cars without the mandatory 195- foot-high exhaust smokestack usually required to dissipate paint dust exhaust. This is attributed to the increased amount of circulated air and the exceptionally effective exhaust air purifier that only requires a small smokestack, which extends 33 feet above the roof.
Another environmentally-friendly innovation for the shop is a highly efficient energy management system.
"With the new paint shop, Porsche is ensuring that it will deliver surpassing quality in Zuffenhausen today and tomorrow - while also conserving resources in an exceptionally ecological and economical manner", explains Wolfgang Leimgruber, Member of the Executive Board for Production and Logistics, Porsche
AG.
Porsche is relying on regional specialists for these technical innovations.
The Stuttgart-based Maschinen- und Anlagenbaukonzern Dürr AG, as the general contractor, is equipping the painting lines with the latest application technology, driers for hardening the paint as well as control and conveyor technology.
"Porsche will have one of the most modern paint shops in the world that will initiate new potential for quality and productivity, thereby setting new standards," explains Ralf Dieter, Chairman of the Executive Board at Dürr AG.
The pretreatment system and cathodic paint dipping system with novel conveyor technology and the electrostatic separator for paint particles will be supplied by the Böblingen system provider, Eisenmann, a sub-supplier of Dürr AG.
With a comprehensive wastewater treatment facility, this environmentally-friendly technology enables effluent levels that are many times less than legal
limits.
"Porsche is the first automobile manufacturer in the world to use this technology", explains Dr. Matthias von Krauland, spokesperson for the Executive Board of Eisenmann AG.
| 
| 
|
Here's the first issue completed with my executive editor. It just won't be the same.
As always, thanks for reading.
| |
