December Brunch — our last event for 2018!

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Photos and information from Chuck Pierce and Brian Sturkie.

Our final event for Yosemite Region was a festive affair with a sense of community spirit. The region made this event a “Toys-for-Tots” event.

While the dinner, conversation and visits with old friends were the order of the day, the highlight was the gifting of toys and a $1000 cash donation to Marine Corps Toys-for-Tots program!

The event was well attended and included some special guests.   Kris Kirkbride attended (in memory of our departed friend, Larry) and our outgoing Zone 7 representative, Sandy Provasi (and husband and national WERKS chair, Tom) also came to celebrate an outstanding year for the Yosemite Region.  Here is our “family” photo:

Everyone enjoyed the service and ambiance at Redwood Cafe… and the time to visit with other region friends.    A great capstone to a great year!

 

 

 

A “Drive” in Yosemite foothills — and Lunch at CAMPS.

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Our November Yosemite Drive — and Lunch.

It seems that our drive up into the “Yosemite” region is a mainstay of our annual activities — sort of an must do for the “Yosemite Region” !    For a lot of reasons; worried about traffic in the park, burned out areas, etc; we had a slow start getting this year’s drive organized.    But almost as soon as we announced the drive, IT SOLD OUT !!.   We had 16 cars in the conga-line which is about the limit PCA recommends for tour groups — just too difficult to keep everyone together (and it sort of slows down the whole group when we do stay together!)   Memo to file — next year we’ll try multiple, smaller groups each with its own “group leader”.  

The drive featured a run from Oakdale to Coulterville (not much more than a wide spot on Hwy 49 — but it did have facilities for a rest stop), then a great run towards part of the Don Pedro Resevoir on Hwy 49, then behind Jamestown and up towards Twain Harte, then over to Columbia on Bill Hill Rd.   Then a favorite run on Parrotts Ferry Rd across Melones Reservoir to Hwy 4.   I had planned a cruise through Murphys and another favorite run down Murphys Grade Road — but we were running a bit late and would have had to deal with crazy traffic because of the Dia de Muertos celebration there.  So we just headed down to Angels Camp’s Greenhorn Creek Resort and lunch at CAMPS restaurant.

Well, that was how it was supposed to go!   Trouble was that the drive’s tour leader (yea, me in my bright yellow Cayman) took a wrong turn and we had a bit of a fire drill.   Really, it wasn’t all that bad and my navigator did a good job plotting a recovery route — thank God for radios!!

The road(s) to Coulterville were nice and the countryside pleasant.   We stopped in Coulterville for a rest stop.

Actually, the run between Coulterville and turn off on Jacksonville Rd to crossover the reservoir was the best of the day — recently re-paved (e.g. very smooth!) and great curves.   There are so many other roads up in the foothills, but they are often a bit sketchy.   I was contemplating one that would get us “up” to the top of Priestly Grade but it was just too rough!   We had our dose of patchy roads on Big Hill Road.  It would be a B-road, nice curves, great views, but too many stretches of patchy pavement that we had to slow down.

Dia de Muertos did put a cramp into part of the route.   There is one road, French Gulch, that leaves Murphys, is rarely traveled and is a 14% grade uphill (part of my bicycle route/workout!)   I’m thinking, it would be fun to do a “blast” up the grade.  Its a bit of a hurt to power up the grade on the bike, but in our (powerful) Porsches, we would have hit well over 60 mph right at the crest of the hill… not a good idea with possibility of “catching air” or blindingly running into a goat or dog crossing the road.  (…  ask me how I know; — lets just say that “pre-runs” of drive routes are helpful!!)

Well, with most of the “driving” part of the day done, we settled into another activity that we seem to do well with..  having a pleasant lunch.   This time it was at CAMPS, part of Greenhorn Creek Resort (and golf course).  The staff blocked off the parking lot to accommodate our cars:

And then we had our pre-ordered lunches on the patio overlooking the 18th green…

Another enjoyable event for our Yosemite Region.

If you missed this drive, there will be others to choose from in 2019.   If you have ideas on a good route, suggest them to the board!

 

 

 

YOS events planning for 2019

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Yes, we are thinking of adventures for 2019.

We met at Michael’s Pizza Bar and Grill, 500 North Carpenter Rd, Modesto, CA 95351 for Pizza and planning
The group came up with a number of ideas… with a couple of “Tours” including a multi day tour of “Yosemite” to celebrate our region’s 60th birthday!  (Yes, the club was chartered in 1959, so 2019 is 60 years!) And planning on a single day drive and lunch at a special venue for our 60th birthday.

Armed with all the interest and suggestions, the board is working to finalize a calendar for 2019 by the Annual Meeting (in Feb).
So, please stay tuned.

ASLO
There seems to be more interest in Autocrossing — so, we will highlight the Zone 7 Autocross schedule, but with the idea of getting a “handful” of Yosemite Region folks to give this a try!

Of course, there are “track days” or “driver education” events, generally sponsored by the big regions like Golden Gate or Diablo. Thunderhill is a great track to start on, but Laguna Seca is just famous and fun!

Here is a teaser on an unusual event being planned.

 

2019 Elections for YOS Officers

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Time is quickly approaching for us to elect new officers for 2019!   Voting will be by “email”– as facilitated in our last “by-laws revision”.   Watch your in box for this year’s voting instructions.    Now for the details:

This year the Secretary and Treasurer are up to be selected by the membership this year since our Secretary, Jennifer, is being termed out this year and Fred, Treasurer,  has expressed interest in working with the region in another position (so if someone would like to be  Treasurer that would free him up to volunteer in other position).

As everyone in the region now knows, we, sadly, lost our VP, Larry Kirkbride.   So, in addition to Secretary and Treasurer positions, we must now recruit for a VP.

The club needs YOUR help to keep up an active region!

If you are interested in serving on the board please Chuck Pierce via the contact connectivity of the website.

The duties of each position are listed in the by-laws posted on the Yosemite  website.

 

Rennsport VI: An EPIC event !!

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Story and photos: Don Chaisson

Rennsport Reunion VI is over.  If you missed it, you missed a truly epic event.

Just look at the numbers:  over 81,000 attendance, 266 historic race cars on track, a dozen Porsche tractors in a race both Saturday and Sunday, 55 Heritage Display Cars (sponsored by Chopard), 1:06 min lap time for the 919 EVO (“not a record” — continue reading!), rows and rows of product displays/shops (including our YOS member, Braken Helms – Circuit6four), enormous (and sold out) Porsche Corrals, 4 days of racing (practice/qualifying and competition), member cars on a lawn display — one of “each” car Porsche produced over the 70 years!, on-and-on.    The covered paddock was taken over by special Porsche race cars and specialty cars (Mission E prototype, 919 EVO, IMSA 911 RSR (the one with the motor “ahead of the rear axle”) and including my absolute favorite Porsche, the 911 GT1 ( oh yea, its motor is “ahead of the rear axle”… just say’in).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The days were total and deep Porsche immersion — to the point that our president, Chuck Pierce lamented Sunday afternoon, before the last two races, “… I’m Porsche’ed out.. lets go home!”  Yea, that much immersion!

There were all sorts of story lines over the weekend.   Here are two,

The 919 EVO was at the event for “demonstration” laps — though  the hot rumor was it was there to set yet another lap record, here at Laguna.  Just to get the car on the course took a large contingent of engineers (there are 7 just in the photo here).   You don’t just jump in, turn the key and fire it up.  The tolerances on the bearings, piston rings, etc are so tight that the motor unit, KERS system and battery system has to be pre-heated before it can be started.   Fan access to the paddock was remarkable, we were able to get right next to the car while they prepared it for its session.   A couple things jump out when you get close to the 919 without all its cladding:  it is complicated and tightly packed!

Chatting with a systems and the V4-engineer, more interesting numbers.  The LeMans car was required to comply with various controls, e.g. fuel flow, aero packages, etc.  But the rules for the 919 “tribute” car were opened to “whatever”.   The result, the 2 liter V4 went from 550HP to over 700HP, similar jumps in the electromotive — total now over 1100 HP.  The “tribute” aero package generates about 50% MORE downforce than the LeMans trim and a F1 style adjustable rear wing installed, — apparently the list goes on and on.   I was between turns 4 and 5 for Sat practice and it went by like a bullet!
Then the subject of the lap record came up.   The engineer, sadly announced ”  It will not be allowed.”  What, not even a try at the record??   He went on, “…  We received a message from the ‘Board’ that we were not allowed to try and break the record.  The car is too valuable and must be delivered to the Museum intact.   Today will be the last day the car will be ever run at speed.    So, no record for the car today.”   Then, with a wink, “... but, we vill be ‘close’ ...”

The Official lap record at LS is 1:07.7 by a Penske Camp Car.    The “unofficial” record is 1:05.88 in a Ferrari F2003F1 but since it was an exhibition, not in a race, it cannot be official.  Rumors were that the 919 was in the 1:06 range, so not “a record”, but…CLOSE !    Some speed trap numbers give an idea of how it was running:   170+ mph entering Turn 5 and @195 mph under the start bridge on the front straight.

So, we got to see the 919 lap in anger for its last time … pretty special.

<<< Rumor Report:   reports are surfacing that the engineers & drivers hung around to play some more with the 919 on Monday after Rennsport.    Was there a “record run” after all??? >>>

Speaking of special; Migliore Motorwerken.   Recall that (now) YOS member Nico and Victoria Castellacio invited our members to their pre-rennsptort BBQ?   Well, Migliore was at the track with their trailer and stable of cars, including the 935 Fabcar and a bunch of 911/GTR3 RSR’s.   To say that they had a successful weekend would be an understatement.   Patrick Long piloted the 935 to a decisive win in the Gp4 race after starting outside the top 10 (problems with qualifying including a misbehaving timing sensor!).   Remember the photos of the 935 just a week prior — front end still in re-assembly, motor being worked on, problems in practice with front hub or something, then.. straight to the front at the start  (Long went from 13th to 3rd in three corners!!)

Another update:   Here is a “helmet cam” of Patrick Long driving the 935..  what a beast !  — the 935 that is!  Starts off with some final coordination with Nico..

Jorg Bermeister and Estre finished Sunday’s final race, Gp 7, in the same order as their qualifying race, 1-2.   That’s 2 of 7 races contested at Rennsport that Migliore (OK, with their factory drivers!!) won.  I don’t remember if they only entered those two races… which would make their weekend even more special: 2 for 2.     Congratulations to Nico and their hard working team.

There were other stories.  Like YOS member Greg Pyatt being asked to show his 930 flatnose 911.  The YOS members at the event came to gather for a group photo:

1989 911 Turbo Coupe – Flachbau 930. The car is one of 60 “Slantnose” Coupes built.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Porsche also took the occasion to debut a new car:  a tribute to the 935 race car.   This new 935, based on a GT2RS platform, has a 700 hp motor, track capable in every way but with creature comforts, eg. air conditioning will be offered at $817,000 to only 77 buyers.  But don’t call Porsche, I think all 77 have already been spoken for!

Again, if you missed Rennsport VI, you missed something special.   And worse, you’ll have to wait at least 3 years for another Rennsport (VII) to come around.   We hope it will be at Laguna Seca again.  See you there ??

 

Pre-Rennsport BBQ at Migliore Motorwerks.

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What a generous gesture for Nico at Migliore Motorwerks, a BBQ for friends and family just one week before Rennsport VI!    And how wonderful it was that they specifically invited Yosemite Region to the party.

Consistent with the informality of the event, we “Yosemite Region-er’s” showed up give or take between 3 and 5 PM.  Some of us helped with the BBQ, dicing tomatoes, grilling sausages, toasting buns, whatever, but we mostly just hung around and chatted with the staff and enjoyed looking at the cars — in their varying preparation conditions.

Nico assured us that each and every car destined for Rennsport would be ready to go — by Tuesday night, in just three more days!!  They load up the transporter Tuesday night and head to Laguna to set up Wednesday and prepare for Thursday’s morning practice at 8:00 (see post on Rennsport and link to schedules).     Some of the cars look almost ready to go, and then some….   But to give an insight to the operation and dedication and respect the racing community has for Nico, one of the Cup cars needed extra help and not enough technicians to do the work, so Nico called a friend in Arizona and he flew out a tech, Adrian,  to finish up the car.   It had to be done by Monday for a shake down test at Thunderhill by the owner.   Adrian said that it was no problem, “… we just had to help Nico!”

Again, many thanks to Nico and Victoria for their hospitality.

WERKS 2018: confession of an “amateur” concours “driver”

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by D. Chaisson

Just back from attending the 2018 WERKS of Monterey with a report:  The assemblage
of Porsches was over the top!   There were interesting stories at every turn.

In the lunch photo, you may see Lisa Mazza holding a little kitty — this is the best “human interest” story of the day!    While driving to WERKS, of course stuck in traffic, people alerted Jim Mazza that there was a cat under his car!    They stopped and looked under the car and, yes, there was a very scared “new” kitten frozen under the car.   What’s a person to do?  Well, Lisa had Jim move the car forward until she could rescue the kitty.   Then, she brought it to WERKS, put it in the “swag-bag” given to all coral entrants and showed it off to everyone who would look.   Just look at that little bitty kitty, with beautiful markings (I have no idea what breed it is) and you tell me if that isn’t the happiest lady – and cat – around.   PS, Lisa promptly named the kitty “Lucky”.  Makes sense to me.

 

 

The number of “outlaws” wasn’t as many as I thought there would be, but the ones that were there were pretty impressive.   An “Outlaw” 356 is a 356 that has been quite radically modified, to a point that it is different car.   One of the highlighted “outlaws”, presented by West Coast Classics,  took that liberty to the extreme.   It is a 1959 356, or is it?  It has the profile of the 356, but it’s dimensions are a bit askew.   That’s because it is built on a Cayman chassis!

You can get a lot more information in this link to a Jay Leno’s Garage presentation.

There were very few “race” cars this year, maybe because all those cars are being prepared for Rennsport next month.

Now to the confessions of “amateur” concours “drivers”.

WERKS is not just a gathering of Porsches of all models, colors and variants, it is also a “Concours”, not a “real” concours but more of a popularity or favorite of a committee voting — based on overall look and story.  Two Yosemite Region members were brave enough to enter their cars into the “judged” exhibits:  Phil Harris showing his totally restored/modified 911 SC and Don Chaisson with his “double yellow” Cayman GTS.  Both of “us” put in a few/many hours getting our cars washed up, cleaned up and waxed up.   And if I do say so myself, they looked pretty damn good!

Since the 911 SC modifications were not to OEM parts, it was entered with other “modified” Porsches.  So, Phil found himself parked right in-between a 911 “Baja” car, complete with extra tires on the roof and fronk and about $300K worth of other modifications, and a “tribute” IROC car with a big “Follmer” label on the doors — built by/for Follmer’s nephew so it was “correct” in all manners.  So what was that car worth?   So, we’re sitting around, musing about the “competition” and joking “… what the heck, no problem because we’re ‘drivers’ not ‘waxers’ and all”.   Later on a guy comes up to Phil and he thinks its the “judge”, but its just a “poser” claiming to be a judge from New York and he starts running the 911 SC down, “… you know that this isn’t OEM, the lug nuts have scratches from being taken off with a ‘metal’ socket, …”   on and on.   So Phil says, “… Yea, but I’m a ‘driver’ !”.   The guy just freezes, mouth open — busted!   The sad thing was that the WERKS judges never even came by to “judge” Phil’s car.   Now Sandy and Tom Provasi were totally apologetic, but you have to think that someone thought that the white 911 SC was an amateur amongst … well.. you fill in the blank.

So, what about my Cayman.   As most everyone knows, I drive my car — its a 2015 model and has over 30,000 miles, and multiple track days on it.. but it looks pretty good — I think.

My competition was a was spotless GT4 (he was the best Cayman in 2017, but the owner told me that he’s been busy and hasn’t driven the car much this year),a silver 718 S owned and prepared by a multi year, serious Concours competitor in Zone 7 events and another 718 with about 150 miles on it … right off the show room floor.

I know what you all are thinking, “… sounds a little ‘sour grapes’, right”.  Actually, each of my competitors were really great people, the silver 718’s owner is a judge in Monterey county and was very, very polite and  even complimented Double Yellow’s paint and said that it clearly showed great care.  Phil’s competitor, Follmer’s nephew, was great to talk to and a totally down to earth guy.

I just think there are levels of cars there, sort of the difference between GTLM-Pro and GTLM AM…  both cars/teams work hard and all, but the “Pro” guys just have that much more experience and capability.   Some are dedicated “concours” folks even to the point that some even trailer their cars to events, while others are just “daily” drivers.   So, while the slam that “we are ‘drivers’, not ‘waxers’.. ” may be a bit harsh, it does differentiate people’s passions.

Chuck confided that my car’s milage and usage was taken into account and lauded, but it was just not in the same league as the winner in the Cayman/Boxster judging.  The first place was this perfect black 981 Boxster with red leather interior.   The owners had a great story, bought the car used (quite used — found french fries under a seat!), they drive it often, even auto-X it, but it just “popped” in the sunshine.   Even though the owners are clearly hard-core concours folks, (they said that they install “event only” rims because they show better) their car deserved the accolades.  Not sure what car won in Phil’s category, but I think we both are thinking….  Looks like we brought a knife to a gun fight!  

 

 

 

 

Garage Tour #2 Rick’s Hot Rods

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On August 18 our Yosemite PCA group set off on a trip to Ripon for the second in our series of Garage Tours.
For the Porsche drive to start the day, Chuck managed to find a curvy and scenic route from sleepy Escalon down and around the bottom of Ripon and then up to Rick van Unen’s place at the north end of Ripon. Once there,  Rick showed off his impressive collection of highly modified (600+ hp, disc brakes, suspension, heated steering wheels, etc.!) and perfectly turned out 60s and 70s vintage station-wagons, pick-ups, Nova, etc.

And he gave us an interesting tour of the Petrobelia, artwork and automotive themed collectibles that adorn his shop.  We then headed over to Canal Street restaurant for a leisurely lunch and chat, making this another enjoyable event with the fun-lovin’ people in the Yosemite PCA!

Check out the photo gallery below!!

“New Member” BBQ 2018 Edition !!

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The “new member’s BBQ” event for 2018 drew 52 “members” (or 24% of members/associate members) and 24 cars!

Yes, that’s another record for Yosemite Region… and maybe for Zone 7??
(Diablo region had a very successful event drawing about 15% of their membership.. just sayin’).

Chuck and Jennifer out did themselves — again ! — opening up their home for the party.  Part of the beauty of the event is that members each brought something for the dinner, ranging from appetizers, Sangria and a margarita bar and wine, corn bread, baked beans, all sorts of salad and too many deserts to choose from!

Andrew Dalen helping on the stove!

 

“The Club” provided the main course —         BBQ ribs and chicken; both special Chuck recipes, and all sorts of soda, water and beer.

Folks started to arrive about 3 o’clock with the weather still cooperating… sort of.  The temperature was fine, but there was still some haze in the air — though not as bad as the air quality in other parts of the region — especially the foot hills.   In Angels Camp, for example, you couldn’t see across a valley with all the particulate matter from the regional fires!   UGH !!

Chuck arranged the cars for the “group” photo — this time on the lawn.  Which for sure provided a better photo and was needed to accommodate all the cars — 24 Porsches!   We had two versions of the group — one cars only and another with owners!

But the real party was with folks just hanging around, munching and talking about the last year’s events — and welcoming new members..

You know that things are going well when the part was seen from high above!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another record next year ???

Stay tuned..

Eighth Generation 911 — Premiere at PEC LA!

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all photos from the Porsche “newsroom” website.

Story by D. Chaisson

OK, I was NOT at the premiere of the eighth generation of the 911, model designation 992. But I did queue up for the live streaming 30 minutes early .. and sat through the full live event in the comfort of my living room with my laptop. The event was hyped on the PCA website (and maybe a number of other outlets… who knows). But I thought, “… hey, I’ve got a hour or so to blow!”.

It was a bit difficult to figure out exactly where everything was, but it wasn’t inside the PEC building, rather it was some sort of outdoor venue.   I’m guessing that it was out on the “track” side of the PEC building based on how the cars cycled through the venue tunnel.

To say that the event was a multi-media extravaganza would be a bit of an understatement.  First: Lets just remind ourselves that the event was at the PEC LA (Porsche Experience Center in Los Angles). THAT LA !  The event was scheduled for 8:00 PM Pacific Time — that’s 11 PM in NYC, November, so it was at night.  There were all sorts of big screen for videos, all sort of lights, obligatory fog machines, blaring music…  yea, epic.

Porsche Management: Michael Mauer, Andreas Haffner, Lutz Meschke, Albrecht Reimold, Detlev von Platen, Oliver Blume, Michael Steiner, Uwe-Karsten Städter, August Achleitner, l-r, 911 (992)

The “theme” was TIME — as in “timeless”.   The show began by presenting an example of each of the previous generations of the 911 (all museum quality examples for sure — hint, it said so on the cars).    Then they rolled out the 992… Oh My God — in Racing Yellow!   (you do know that I’m a big partial to racing yellow!).   And stepping out of the car on “center stage” was Oliver Blume, CEO Porsche.   Can I just stipulate that he runs the company a whole lot better than he can emcee a Hollywood party!   Reading into a teleprompter, he welcomed all the guests there at PEC (nothing about all “us” tuning in from around the world — not bitter though) and started to talk about the car.  He didn’t do a good job linking the “theme” with his comments, IMO, but the new 992 surely does qualify as part of the 911’s “time line” or “DNA”!

Although he later introduced Mark Webber who brought out the head designer, Herr Blume got serious and talked about California’s importance to Porsche; and then citing Porsche’s global citizenship, announced that Porsche would donate $250,000 to the California Fire Relief/Red Cross.

Say what you want, but this was the biggest “reveal” of the night… and thank you to Porsche and the board for this $250K California fire relief gesture!

OK, back to the “show”.    Mark Webber came out with his down home, Aussie demeanor and got to talking about the car. Yea, its pretty much a 911, the silhouette gives that way!   It has the HP of the existing 991 GTS or about 450 HP, plenty performance, twin turbo.  In another video on YouTube, Mark reported on driving the new 911 — did his job of gushing all over its performance.

Front track is 45 mm wider than current giving the car somewhat coke-bottle shape.  21 in wheels at the rear/20 in wheels in the front.

But the highlights of the car seem to be in the “connectivity” and “digital” as much as speed.  The cockpit is dominated by digital/connectivity layered on top of tradition.   The main “gauges” are the traditional 5 gauge layout with the large tach in the center (its analog!) but each side of the tach are digital displays for the other 4 gauges.  

The center of the cockpit has another digital screen — a combination of touch screen with control “buttons”.   The shift lever clearly is PDK only (the 992 has a eight speed PDK — probably as seen in the Panamera?).   The steering wheel has the now required driving mode control dial.   The 992 has even more “nannies”… a “wet road” sensor with chassis feedback, a camera based warning and brake assistance system and available “night vision assist”.   Not mentioned is the now required back up camera (which I wish I had ordered in 2014 !).

The evening continued with a local Hollywood Porsche fan and with a lovely appearance by Maria Sharapova (a Porsche Brand Ambassador).  Mark and Maria — what a nice couple — with that Racing Yellow Porsche!

Quite the Hollywood premiere !!

Stay tuned for a lot more hype for the 992 generation of the 911.

For me, even though that yellow 992 has its motor in the rear, I would’t kick it out of my garage!

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