April 2021 - Volume 59, Issue 4
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Think About Spring ---- Photo Porsche
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From The Editor
Mike Willis
We continue to look for a Webmaster. In addition as will be covered below we are now looking for 2021 Board Members to fill the vacant positions. Please send an email to President@svr-pca.org
When sending me a video it needs to be on a webpage (link) or a file not to exceed 5MB.
In addition The Drifter is available to our advertisers to also submit articles to our members. Please contact me about timing for any of these articles.
This issue contains the following as you scroll through.
Also remember that all advertisers are linked to their web page.
Editor Comments
President's Column
Vice President Calendar Information
SVR Membership
Should We Rallye?
SVR Autocross Schedule
SVR July 4th Parade(Not SVR event)
2021 GGR Track Dates
In The Zone
2021 PCA West Coast Series
SVR October Fest
SVR Classifieds
SVR Store
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Vacant, Flyers
Rik Larson, Proof Reader/Tickler
Vacant, Advertising
Ed Parra, Reporter
Skip Quain, Contributor
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Rik Larson, SVR President
PDK (Pretty Darn Kwik)
April 2021
Toilet paper is back on the shelves?
· Are things getting better? Certainly looks that way. People are getting their COVID shots; the state of California and the counties are relaxing the restrictions on how restaurants, theaters, fitness centers, etc. are opening their doors wider. And the schools are conducting classes on-site. We are getting there.
· We continue to seek volunteers to fill various positions. Our interim webmaster, Bill Fargo, continues to react quickly to our updates regarding events (like the April 1st breakfast and the April 24th Caffeine and Porsches event). And he is serving on an interim basis. We appreciate all of his support. Interested in serving as our webmaster? You can contact me anytime if you are interested in discussing any of the vacant positions.
· Vice President Sally Boeck (see her article elsewhere) is looking for
people to present events in 2021. The April board meeting will address having a "Planning Meeting" and the format that it will take.
· Jerry Alter has been busy with the planning of two events in April. The first is on Thursday, April 1st with breakfast at Brookfields. This is limited to 24 people. It will be indoors. The second event is on Saturday, April 24th. This will be held outdoors and also has a limit on the number of cars (parking lot). There is an optional tour afterwards (starting after 10 am). Both the breakfast and "Caffeine and Porsches" events are by pre-registration only. You can contact Jerry at breakfast@svr-pca.org. Participants will be required to sign the PCA COVID waiver form and if you going on the tour then you will be required to sign the standard PCA release as well.
· Other regions are beginning to schedule events as well. The "outdoor" events like autocross and track are already calendared for 2021.
· I received an email the other day from Jim Robison of Redwood Region announcing that they will be presenting two TSD rallies and a TSD Rally School this year……..all free.
· And yes, we will continue to see the use of the PCA COVID forms for in-person events for awhile.
· There at 9 AX's scheduled for the 2021 Zone 7 series. Our region will be presenting the first one on Saturday, April 17th at Thunderhill. The next day Redwood Region will present the second event in the series. You can see the schedule at zone7.pca.org
· So far there are 3 concours scheduled for the 2021 Zone 7 series. The first is July 18th being presented by Monterey Bay Region. I expect that there will be 6 events this year ------ all within a span of 4 months.
· Sierra Nevada Region is hosting the popular Mammoth Lakes Tour in June (over Fathers Day weekend).
National PCA events
· The 65th annual Porsche Parade registration (Phase I) is temporarily closed. Info available at www.porscheparade.org
· The PCA Werks Reunion on August 13th in Monterey is happening (according to chair Tom Provasi). Expect to see registration open in May or June. Their website is werksreunion.com
Spring PCA Raffle Coming -- Cayman GT4 and a Cayman GTS
· For $50 you can enter to win one of two cars. This time they are giving away a Cayman GT4 and a Cayman GTS. Both are also supplemented with a $25,000 cash award. Raffle ticket sales open on April 2nd at the PCA website……..pca.org
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Sally Boeck
Vice President
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Calling all fellow SVR members who are ready to be getting out and about again, now and later this year. The weather is getting better, people are getting vaccinated, and there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. And, our calendar is pretty open for ideas and input from you.
Now is the perfect time to be thinking of more active participation in our club. You will not feel more involved that when you are contributing to planning and putting on an event, whether it be a social event such as a dinner meeting or tour, or a competitive event such as an autocross or a concours.
As VP, I’m charged with our event calendar. In the past, we’ve typically had a planning meeting in January to kick off a new year of fun. Like last year, this year we are still restrained due to COVID-19 restrictions. But things are looking a lot more positive for us this year. If you’ll look at our event calendar on our website or in The Drifter, you’ll see the autocrossers are off and running with nine events already scheduled! And, we have one breakfast and one get together (Caffeine and Porsches), with a tour following, scheduled for this month.
At the April board meeting, the Board will be discussing hosting a planning meeting. When a date and location have been determined, we’ll get the word out thru a BLAST SVR News & Updates, as well as in The Drifter.
Let’s be thinking about more fun things to do to fill our event calendar for 2021. I’m available via email at sallybsvr@currently.com, or via my cell phone at 916-769-6529 to hear about your ideas if you just can’t wait until the planning meeting.
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Ken Shahoian, Membership Director
Everyone loves an anniversary. We note milestone PCA anniversaries each month in The Drifter, after the first year, then every five years beginning with year five. A further action I have taken this year is to commemorate SVR members annually after 25 years. When The Drifter was being printed there were always space issues. No more! So I thought it would be nice to annually mention our long term members.
Nationally, PCA has made it a policy to recognize Active Members with anniversary material commemorating that long term membership, starting at five years. You will receive a letter from our PCA National President, as well as an anniversary certificate. Anniversary decals are also part of the package as an Active Member completes 5, 10, 15, or 20 years of membership. At 25 years Active Members receive a special silver ringed decal. At 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, or 65 years the decal is gold, and indicates length of membership. Anniversary recognition for the Family Member/Affiliate is also available upon request. (Also, replacement decals are available upon request to qualifying members for a fee.) Other mementos are issued at the following dates—gold pins at 25, 50, 55, 60, and 65 years, and a membership name badge at 40, 50, 55, 60, and 65 years.
Now, to determine that anniversary date. It’s pretty easy to figure out, but there are a couple of twists. When you joined, you were issued a membership number. The first digits are the year you joined, then the numeric month. I’ll use my personal information as an example--“8012” to signify a December anniversary (November join) in 1980. But, you ask, MY membership number starts with, say, 199704 (April 1997) or 201311 (November 2013). Yes, Y2K happened, and we had to add the leading digits--8012 became 198012. (Personally, I had to manually update nearly 2000 records for Golden Gate Region 21 years ago.)
So you’ve worked through that, and wonder why maybe you didn’t receive anything from National commemorating your 10th anniversary in May 2019 (200905XXXX member number). Did you let your membership lapse? Oh, has that caused problems. Again, I can go back to my personal situation. Somewhere around 2010 I neglected to renew for six months. My new anniversary date is May, but my membership number remains. To further complicate things, prior to the early 2000s, if your membership lapsed, you lost your membership number! If in doubt, contact me and I can easily search the database for the answer.
Finally, I understand that if you lapse and rejoin, your years of membership will accrue. A four year member from, say 2009-2013 who then rejoined in 2015 will be considered a 10 year member in 2021.
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Membership reports for March 2021
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Since we use e-mail for most of our communications, it is necessary to keep our e-mail address current with SVR and PCA. To update your information, go to www.pca.org and login. You can then make any updates (address, car, e-mail etc.). Also, even though we receive the information from PCA monthly, you can send the same updates to: membership@svr-pca.org. New Member badges will now come with a removable colored sticker to encourage introductions at club events. They can be removed at any time. Welcome to the Sacramento Valley Region of the Porsche Club of America.
SVR - PCA Member Services
Not a Porsche owner but interested in the PCA? Try the PCA Test Drive program. For information, go to: www.pca.org/pca-test-drive Need to update your PCA information? Update your PCA record at www.pca.org
Do you have 2 e-mail addresses? Want Club info sent to a second email, work, home, spouse, friend...? It’s as easy as e-mailing your second e-mail address to the Membership Director, Ken Shahoian at: membership@svr-pca.org
How can I contact the SVR-PCA by mail?
Sacramento Valley Region-PCA,
Post Office Box 254651,
Sacramento, CA 95865-4651
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Should We Rallye?
By Jim Robison, Redwood Region
That’s a good question, but before we can answer it, we need to ask ourselves another question. What kind of rally are we talking about?
Unlike a tour, a car rally is a competitive driving event. But unlike a race or autocross, rallies require a team of a driver and a navigator (sometimes called a co-driver). Also, rallies are conducted on public roads rather than specifically designed race tracks.
In general, there are three types of rallies: gimmick, time-speed-distance (TSD), and stage.
Gimmick rallies have no assigned speeds and contestants are allowed more than adequate time to complete the route. The Social Distancing Rally that Redwood Region held in July and August last year was a gimmick rally. You could take as long as you wanted to find the markers. But unlike most gimmick rallies, there were no “traps” on the Social Distancing Rally.
A typical trap on a gimmick rally might be a route instruction saying “Right second opportunity” but if the general instructions say not to use freeways, then a freeway onramp does not count as a legitimate opportunity. Keep driving; keep counting.
The Porsche Club of America (PCA) calls gimmick rallies fun rallies. “Part of the challenge with a fun rally is to discover the intended route, which may require other skills such as solving a puzzle or looking for obscure reference points.” (https://www.pca.org/activities)
Time-speed-distance, TSD, rallies are broken into legs, with a start time, route instructions, assigned average speeds, and a finish checkpoint for each leg. The object is to arrive at each checkpoint at exactly the prescribed time, with penalty points for early or late arrival, either in seconds or hundredths of a minute. There is a bit of math involved in running a TSD rally (time = distance / speed) and that’s the duty of the navigator. The navigator is not a passenger, the navigator is the captain of the team; they tell the driver where to go and what to do. In my opinion, developing great driver/navigator teamwork is the most rewarding aspect of running a TSD rally.
The TSD route may be clearly defined, including the milage to each route instruction, or it may include intentional traps that could cause the participants to take the wrong route and arrive at the checkpoint at the wrong time.
Some PCA regions offer TSD and gimmick rallies, thou COVID put the damper on most 2020 events. Unfortunately, none of these rally Regions are in our neighborhood. (https://www.pca.org/event-type/rally)
Stage rallies are somewhat like off-road races. They usually consist of alternating transits and stages. The transits are on public roads and contestants must adhere to traffic laws. Stages are closed sections, often on dirt, with the objective of getting from the start to the finish of each stage in the shortest amount of time. More like an autocross than a road race, cars compete against the clock, with usually a minute or two between each cars’ start time. Stage rally cars are heavily modified for speed, safety, and endurance, but they must still be licensed and street legal. A full roll cage, fireproof suits, and helmets with HANS devices are all required.
SCCA no longer sanctions Pro Rallies
So, should Zone 7 PCA region conduct rallies?
First, let’s rule-out stage rallies. Most of us don’t want to subject our Porsches to that kind of punishment. We could organize a stage rally, but I can tell you from experience with the Mendocino Rally, it takes a lot of time and work.
That leaves TSD and gimmick rallies, which are both suitable for Porsches, new or old, two doors or four. No special car preparation is required for a TSD rally, and your “equipment” can be as simple as a smartphone or pocket calculator and a clipboard, assuming your stock odometer and clock are in working order.
As an organizer, and as a contestant, I prefer a TSD with a well-defined route and no traps, but many people enjoy gimmick rallies. If gimmick rallies are your thing, I would encourage you to organize one.
The Redwood Region is planning to offer a TSD rally school (including a practice 1-leg rally) and two TSD rallies once COVID social distancing requirements are lifted. To get people interested, all three events will be free. They will be open to all PCA members and/or Porsche drivers, from any Region. If sufficient entries come from different Regions, the “Best Regional Team” award will be recognized. If the 2021 events are successful, we will offer more TSD rallies in the future.
I invite all PCA members to participate in our 2021 rally events. Watch this space for dates and details.
I would also like to coordinate with other Zone 7 Regions to offer a series of TSD rallies in 2022. Perhaps a different Region hosting a rally each month, creating a Zone 7 Rally Series, complete with an annual championship and an awards banquet.
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SVR Autocross Schedule
The full 2021 SVR autocross calendar is:
- 4/17 - AX1 (2-day Co-hosted with Redwood Region event on 4/18)
- 5/23 - AX school classroom session, location TBD
- 5/29 - school
- 5/30 - AX2
- 6/19 - AX3
- 7/17 - AX4
- 8/21 - AX5
- 9/18 - AX6
- 10/16 - AX7 (2-day Co-hosted with Redwood Region event on 10/17)
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YOUR LOCAL EXPERT IN ALL YOUR REAL ESTATE NEEDS
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Pre-Registration is REQUIRED
Registration closes April 19th
Signing of the PCA COVID waiver form is required
(either online at MSR or individual hard copy)
Preregister in one of two ways
(also known as MSR -- You may have to setup a MSR account if not already a member (no charge)
· Contact Jerry Alter at 530.344.0475
Short tour option to Placerville available after 10 am.
Tour leaders are Richard Walker and Dan Rowland
Signing the standard PCA Waiver form is required for the tour
COVID Information Sacramento County
El Dorado County
NO DRONES ALLOWED!!!
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The following event is not an SVR Event, but is an event of interest to our members. There is no PCA insurance or release forms.
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SVR 4th of July Parade
Robert Hrabak
Hi SVR members and veteran parade goers,
There are a few “glitches” that I have pinged them about for clarification, forms reference 2020. It is looking promising for this year, much more so than last year. The event has been on the SVR calendar for a while and might just actually happen.
This is just a quick shout out to past participants to see how your throwing arm is doing and something to think about. As life slowly moves back to some degree of normalcy, the 4th might have heightened meaning this year. Start it with a parade???
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2021 TRACK SCHEDULE GGR- PCA
Our 2021 track season is shaping up along these lines:
• April 2-3-4: Thunderhill Raceway DE and Club Race (3 mile)
• May 22-23: Buttonwillow Raceway DE and Club Race
(CCCR will host its DE on Friday, May 21)
• July 3-4: Sonoma Raceway DE and Club Race (1ST GGR hosted weekend at Sonoma since 2008)
• August 28-29: Sonoma Raceway Club Race only (with NASA)
• September 25-26: Thunderhill DE and Club Race (3 mile)
(Diablo Region will host its DE on Friday, September 24)
• October 9-10: Sonoma Raceway Club Race only (with NASA)
Yes, there is no Laguna weekend for GGR as of this writing. However, to get your “PCA Laguna” fix, our friends at Diablo Region will be hosting a one-day DE at Laguna on Friday, March 19, and our friends at Central Coast Region will be at Laguna on Monday, October 18.
New helmet requirements, the Snell 2010 helmets will expire on December 31. (2015 helmets are good for another 5 years.) Snell 2020 helmets are now available at your favorite racer supply stores.
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In The Zone
April 2021
By: Collin Fat, Zone 7 Representative
Sacramento Valley Region
Photo Collin Fat
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PCA National Event Updates:
Adult vaccine rates for those over 65 has exceeded 60% of all those who are qualified. Case rates as well as the positivity rates are decreasing and many counties in Zone 7 are coming out of the most restrictive purple tier. This is excellent news for future club activities not only in Zone 7 but for PCA national events across the country. At the most recent national staff meeting, PCA club president Tom Gorsuch gave an upbeat assessment of upcoming events. He reported that Club Racing has more than 20 events for 2021 scheduled versus last year’s schedule of just a little over a dozen. Treffen Scottsdale sold out in a record of 13 minutes and Parade at French Lick, Indiana has nearly 3,000 attendees signed up and could exceed the stellar turnout we had at Parade Monterey in 2014. Werks Reunion at Amelia Island is still working on some safety issues surrounding the pandemic and updates from local health authorities. Tom Provasi, Werks Reunion Chair, is confident the event will proceed and is hoping to open registration as early as late May or early June. Tom was very encouraged with news regarding the coronavirus and hopeful that the pandemic will allow large group gatherings for all our big national events. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and do our best to maintain public safety and the safety of our members.
Zone 7 Region Event Planning Updates:
As we get good news weekly on the pandemic, many regions are making commitments to schedule multi-day tours. Sierra Nevada Region has scheduled its very popular Mammoth Mountain tour for June with details and registration opening soon. In the northern most part of Zone 7, Shasta Region is still in the planning stages for its popular Zone 7 tour, but it will be broken into 3 separate tours covering most of the route had the event been held over 3 days. More information on this event will be coming shortly.
The 2021 Zone 7 autocross series has a total of 9 events on the calendar with Golden Gate, Sacramento, Redwood and Loma Prieta regions hosting several events each.
The Zone concours series is still trying to figure out its competition schedule with only Sierra Nevada, August 29th, Sacramento Valley’s event scheduled for September 12th, and Monterey Bay scheduled for July 18th. According to Zone Concours chair, Roy Schauben, 3 other regions are planning on holding events and are trying to work with various dealers on sites as well as what county guidelines are regarding outdoor group gatherings. Stay tuned for more news.
Zone 7 Presidents Meeting;
The Zone 7 Presidents meeting was held on March 13th and attended by nearly all region presidents in the Zone. Several regional vice presidents were also in attendance. The meeting was held via Zoom with PCA National Treasurer Craig Kugler addressing the group on risk management as well as providing an update on PCA’s national strategic plan for 2021. Greg Halverson, national tour chair, provided an update on minimum guidelines, post event reports, what to do in the event of an accident and answered several questions. Tom Provasi, Werks Reunion chair provided an update on Werks Amelia Island as well as some of the process and obstacles he and his committee are dealing with for Werks Monterey which is scheduled during the Monterey Car Week festivities. In attendance at the meeting were several first-time region presidents and the comments I received following the meeting were quite positive on the information provided.
What is Zone 7:
I think many of the members of Zone 7 are not quite sure what Zone 7 is and how it fits in the organizational structure of PCA? To put it in simple terms, it is like a state that is based on geographic boundaries. Like how states in the United States are defined, PCA is divided in 14 Zones throughout the contiguous United States and includes Puerto Rico and parts of Canada. Hawaii and Alaska also have active regions. Within the 14 Zones are contained 146 regions with the 146th being formed just recently. The map below shows the geographic locations of the 14 Zones of PCA.
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Taking it down to Zone 7, our regions are divided geographically into 10 regions mostly in Northern California and Northern Nevada. The Zone goes all the way to the Oregon border and as far south as Fresno. With well over 10,000 members, primary and affiliate, in Zone 7, we are one of the larger Zones in PCA. Unlike a governor of a state or your region president, as your Zone Rep I have no responsibility for the governing of your individual regions. I act mostly as support, information source, and as a liaison with PCA National. Below is a map of Zone 7 and its regions.
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All members of Zone 7 are also welcomed to participate as PCA members in any events throughout Zone 7. If you have an interest perhaps in a tour being held in Shasta or Loma Prieta regions you are surely welcomed and allowed to attend the event.
PCA National Events Upcoming:
Your leadership team at PCA national has been very busy. Last year, national has had to deal with the consequences of Covid 19 on our club’s national events such as club racing where at least 16 events had to be cancelled in addition to Spring Treffen and Parade in Palm Springs. National hopes that their planning for Treffens, Werks Reunion, Parade and a host of other events scheduled for this year can continue as planned. Your national leadership team has been diligent in being flexible and in developing policies and procedures to enable large national events such as Parade to continue, but with a twist. Phase 1 registration for Parade 2021 opened on February 10th and Treffen Scottsdale opened on February 24th and was full 26 minutes later. Treffens have in the past sold out in about an hour so if you have any interest in attending, mark the opening of registration on your calendar.
The winter national staff meeting originally scheduled for February 6th in Jacksonville Florida was cancelled due to concerns with Covid and was instead held conducted virtually. This meeting gathers all the national committee chairs, Zone Reps, Executive Council members and national headquarter staff to share plans for the year as well as to provide updates on their committee. Updates are generally provided by the chairs of Parade, Treffen, Werks Reunion, Club Racing, Policy, Audit, insurance and social media to name just a few.
Events of Interest:
1) PCA Spring Treffen at the Marriott Scottsdale, Arizona; May 5-9; treffen.pca.org; Registration
Closed
2) Loma Prieta Region 50th (plus 1) Anniversary Gala, June 19
3) Monterey Bay Region 60th Anniversary, TBD
4) Sierra Nevada Region Mammoth Lakes Tour, June 18-20th; email missmillie44@icloud.com
5) Porsche Parade at French Lick, Indiana, July 11-17; porscheparade.org, Registration Temporarily Closed
7) Monterey Historic, Porsche Platz Corral August 14-15th.Tickets at weathertechraceway.com
8) PCA Fall Treffen at the American Club, Kohler, Wisconsin, October 13-17; treffen.pca.org
9) PCA Spring Treffen at the BROADMOOR, Colorado Springs, Colorado, April 27-May 1, 2022
10) Sacramento Valley Region 60th Anniversary Celebration, May 7, 2022
Note that past Treffens have sold out in as little as one hour due to their popularity. Registration for the Treffens typically opens 3-4 months prior to the event.
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2021 PCA West Coast Race Series Schedule
With Federal and State directives pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Club Racing schedule is very fluid and subject to change on a day-to-day basis. The racing schedule shown below will be frequently updated with the latest official status of each of our races.
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2021 PCA West Coast Race Series Schedule
With Federal and State directives pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Club Racing schedule is very fluid and subject to change on a day-to-day basis. The racing schedule shown below will be frequently updated with the latest official status of each of our races.
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Charity Auction 2021
Charity Auction Committee
Dick MacFarlane ...Chair
We are 7 months away for our Charity Auction, but if your have any cool auctions items you would like to donate, I can get them now and store them until the event.
You may be moving, organizing, downsizing or just have an auction items you want to find a new home for.
- Books
- Posters
- Models
- Time share
- Car parts
- Apparel
- Wine
- Memorabilia
- Artwork
- You get the idea
Also, if you would like to join Lois and me on this not many meetings fun committee let me know.
Thank you,
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TrackMasters Racing is a leader in the High-Performance Driver Education events in Northern California and invites SVR-PCA drivers to participate in these events. For the complete schedule click the link below.
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PCA Members may place non-commercial classified ads for no charge. Photos will be published on this web page at no charge. Non-PCA members may place ads on our webpage, on a space available basis, as follows: Ads without photos $20.00; Ads with photos $35.00. All ads run for two months unless canceled. There will be no refunds for paid ads.
Ads must be submitted electronically with attachment to classified@svr-pca.org. PCA members must include your PCA membership number on all submissions as proof of membership.
Paid ads will not be published until payment has been received. Checks must be made payable to PCA-SVR, and mailed to: Porsche Club of America; Sacramento Valley Region; PO Box 254651; Sacramento, CA 95865-4651
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Sacramento Valley Region Web Store
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Sacramento Valley - Red House® - Mini-Check Non-Iron Button-Down Shirt
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Sacramento Valley - Eddie Bauer® Ladies Hooded Soft Shell Parka
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Sacramento Valley - Element 095
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Submitting Material to the Drifter
The Drifter is Produced online monthly for its members. Written contributions are welcome and should be e-mailed to the editor. The deadline for submissions is the 15th of the month prior to the month of publication. Submissions in WORD or TEXT are preferred.
Photos are always welcome. Photos should be sent separately from the text. (You may also use a downloadable link to the photos.)
To change your email address or street address, please email our membership director to insure uninterrupted delivery.
Ken Shahoian at
All material in this newsletter is protected by copyright.
However, newsletter editors of other Porsche Club of America regions may reprint any article provided that credit is given to the author and Sacramento Valley Region and that The Drifter is cited as the source.
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Follow SVR on Social Media
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