I really enjoy being an officer and a member of this PCA Region!
I spent last weekend with many of you at Gateway Motorsports Park for the Porsche St. Louis Spring High Performance Driver’s Education and Instructor TrainingSchool. Even with the (very) changeable weather, I had a blast.
Once again, my vintage 911’s performance on the track reminded me why I bought the car in the first place: For the pure joy of driving an “analog” sports car. Driving a Porsche with manual steering and a manual transmission, light weight, great brakes, precise handling and reasonable power cannot be beat. There is nothing like the feeling you get driving on a track near the limit, on the fastest line, performing perfect gear changes (including heel-toe pedal application and rev matching), getting the turn 3, 4, 5 and 6 complex just right and catching that car with twice your horsepower, reeling it on turns 8 and 9, before it runs away on the straight, only to catch it again in turns 1 and 2 (and maybe even pass it between 2 and 3)!
I appreciate the newer cars, love Porsche’s current design language, admire the technology, power and capabilities of these newer cars, but I wonder if I’d have the same thrill as I get from my Targa. Someday, I will have a newer Porsche, but I expect to keep the 911 for the rest of my life. Hopefully someone in the family will want it after I am gone.
In addition to the great track time, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting many new people and renewing friendships with other I hadn’t seen since last year. I had the honor of helping mentor twelve candidates, working one-on-one with two, to become our newest HPDE instructors and then spend the rest of the weekend helping a new member improve his performance driving abilities and get more out of his Boxster. In a typical (small world) St. Louis way, it turns out that my student is the older brother of one of my daughter’s friends from high school.
I want to thank our Driver’s Ed committee for all the hard work they do to put these track events together. Geoff Baltz, Dan Sokol and Paul Lerman put in an unbelievable amount of time and effort to make these track events run smoothly and efficiently, both physically and financially. Bob Mondshein has found his niche as a classroom instructor for the novice drivers, and Sid Raile and Dan Sokol put together a great Instructor Training School. My sincere thanks to Geoff, Dan, Paul, Sid and Bob for all you do. In addition, thanks to all the volunteer instructors who help make the HPDE program a success.
Of course, the St. Louis Region is not all about track days…We have tours, tech sessions and social events, too.
I really enjoyed Josh Landau’s audio and electronics tech session at his business, JML Audio. We learned about radar detectors, cameras, topnotch audio equipment, proper sound deadening, high tech window tint and the craftsmanship it takes to properly integrate these into the complicated machine that is the modern Porsche.
Nancy Goodman’s garage tour was another enjoyable Porsche day. Although the tour route was short on thrilling roads, the impressive garages, the snacks at each stop and the Porsche people made it a lot of fun. Thanks to Nancy and the members who shared their garage palaces with us.
I always enjoy our Tischzeit Thursdays. These casual evening have introduced us to many bars and restaurants we might never have tried otherwise. It’s always fun to have dinner and a few adult beverages with forty of your closest friends. Thanks to our Social Chairs, Pam Wingbermuehle, Mary Ecsedy, Patty Paster and my wife, Gail Warren, who make the arrangements of these monthly get-togethers (along with our Holiday Party) at restaurants all around the area. Tischzeit Thursdays are the gateway event for many new club members as it is often the first club event they try. If you have some time on the first Thursday night of the month, come out and enjoy.
Although our club is called the Porsche Club of America, only two of these events technically involve our Porsches. I believe, however, that the real common denominator for everything we do is the people! The club members! You! I thank you all for your contributions to the region and to the club.
I think I need to rephrase my introductory comment: I really enjoy being involved with you, the members of this PCA region.
