Enjoy the content of this month's newsletter, enjoy the roads out there in your Porsche and remember miles of smiles!
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Chip Witt
President
July 2020 President's Message
Welcome to the second half of 2020! I know we didn’t have the first half we may have envisioned in January, but we can all be thankful for making it this far through the challenges that have been set before us. We can also carry-on reveling in the knowledge that “this too shall pass.” If that’s of little comfort this far down the road, I’ve got something else I am excited to share: a Redwood Region Member has created an entirely new event we’re trying for the first time this month.
Many of us may have met
Jim Robison
for the first time at the Redwood Region Annual Members’ Meeting in Occidental last October. Through his conversation with
Ben Davoren
, Vice President, that day, Jim was able to inspire interest in some sort of a rally event for 2020. Rallies are a different kind of driving event than our typical driving tours, and many of our members have experience driving or navigating them, but no one remembered our region putting one on...at least not in the last 10 years. Jim came to our Events Planning Meeting last November with a plan for us to learn about rally events and to consider putting one on this Summer or Fall. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it too far in this plan’s execution.
Not one to allow social distancing to diminish his fun, Jim, a well-experienced Rallymaster, took the current circumstances as an opportunity to author a unique event for our unique times...a Social Distancing Rally...all on his own. You may have read his editorial on the event and his reasons for organizing it in
last month's der Riesenbaum
. Jim shared his detailed plan with several of us on the Board, and after a quick review by
Brian Cooley
, Safety Director, some minor adjustments, and a check with National regarding event policies, we concluded that this is a pretty cool event.
The rally can be driven anytime from July 18 through August 9. The start and finish are in northern Santa Rosa, and the route follows a well-defined 140-mile course on the backroads of Northern California on which you’ll be looking for markers to record on your score sheet. Rallies are a team sport, and as such, to be safe and have maximum fun, each vehicle needs both a driver and a navigator. See what I did there? I purposely used the word “vehicle,” because this type of event begs for our club’s Cayenne and Macan owners to jump in and join the fun!
Some (unattributed) quotes from board members that were part of the event review process you may find informative:
“It is absolutely critical that drivers have navigators/marker observers, and those navigators should be comfortable for several hours of winding roads in a Porsche. Jim has already emphasized this but it’s worth emphasizing again. I am super fortunate to have married the world’s greatest passenger.”
“The markers were very well-placed. You have to pay attention (see above: must have a navigator) but that is sort of the point. Kudos on those, Jim. That must have taken a lot of calculated effort.”
“The dirt-road section of this rally comes very early on”
(2.2-mile dirt road on route at mile 21.8)...
”(it) was a little more than I imagined -- but I've never done a rally and was mostly concerned my sparkling clean car was getting filthy”…”all the tires survived just fine”…”I didn't hate that part of the drive oddly enough.”
We hope you are as excited as we are to go out and enjoy our Porsches while doing something a bit different...even, perhaps, outside of our comfort zone. It should be a blast...and should be the source of some good pictures and stories, so please do remember to
share yours;
the best ones will certainly find their way into a future
der Riesenbaum
. Further details on the event, including the rally’s detailed instructions, route, and scoring sheet, can be found on our
website
.
Thank you, be well, and drive safe out there!
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Collin Fat
Zone 7 Representative
When are We Going to Get Back to Normal?
With the state of California on the brink of entering phase 3 of the Covid-19 recovery, I have just seen a significant increase in events requiring a certificate of insurance from PCA national. On the books for June 2020 are 6 events with a tour planned for June 13
th
by Loma Prieta Region, Sequoia Region has a tour on June 20
th
and an autocross on June 13
th
. Golden Gate Region is hosting their first autocross of their season at the Cow Palace in Daly City. Sierra Nevada Region is hosting a tour on June 20
th
and Sacramento Valley Region is hosting the Zone 7 AX series event on June 27
th
at Thunderhill Raceway Park.
However, as many counties in the state have started to open, there have been several counties that are still unable to get to their phase 3 recovery and these include Monterey and Mono Counties. Accordingly, Werks Reunion and the Rolex Monterey Historics have just been cancelled as well as Sierra Nevada Regions annual Mammoth Lakes tour, July 24-26
th
, and the regions August 2
nd
Zone 7 concours. I think the issue all these events had was related to the size of the event.
On the PCA club racing scene, West Dillard, PCA Club Race Chair, he recently reported that so far for this year, they have cancelled 12 events so far. The series hopes to start up again with an abbreviated race schedule of 13 more races on the calendar. The first club race will be held at Brainard Raceway on July 5
th
.
As restaurants have been allowed to reopen on a limited basis in many counties and cities throughout Zone 7, I expect to see a lot of new activity at the region level with these events. These events do not require insurance and I am not always aware of any new activities as we get out of our quarantines and the State of California gives businesses the green light to re-open. It is now possible to go to a barber or beauty salon and many of the casinos in the area have opened, albeit with restrictions.
Though these are small steps for getting back to normal, please keep in mind that just because the state has given permission for malls and most of our retail sector permission to open doesn’t mean that each business will be able to respond immediately. It takes time for a small or large business to interpret the new guidelines, get staff and place and undertake any structural modifications to their business to comply and to protect the health and safety of their work force as well as customers. This is most apparent with club dinner events where many restaurants currently have limited groups to no more than 10 persons. Hopefully, this will change, and will allow more dinner events.
Although cases in the state of California have recently been on the rise, hospitalizations and deaths are trending lower. Hopefully, when our public school and university systems finally open and publish their guidelines, all will improve in short order.
PCA to Require All Event Attendees to Sign New Communicable Disease Waiver:
In my column from June, I mentioned a new Covid-19 release waiver form that needed to be signed by all participants of any PCA sponsored event. It has been revised and the new waiver should be available on your local region’s website. There were just a few minor changes. In cooperation with Motorsportreg, PCA has introduced Speed Waiver, which allows event participants to sign the general liability and Covid-19 release online. It will also provide storage as well as ease of verification that a member has signed the releases. The service is not free and not available for any other platforms.
Sequoia Region Hosts Autocross:
Sequoia Region organized their first autocross event of the season on June 13
th
at the Madera County Airport. Attended by 20 drivers and with great weather, autocross chair,
Larry Kirlin
and team put on a fun event. Larry reported that this will be there last event of the early season as the months of July and August are much too hot in the middle of summer and that the club will resume events in the fall. Sequoia region has also started to schedule their weekly cars and coffee events and have been very well attended, even with the new Covid-19 guidelines issued by their county. Some restaurants in the Fresno area just opened for in restaurant dining, but with restrictions preventing large group gatherings for club dinners.
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Larry Kirlin directing competitors
Photos courtesy of Russ Weber
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Golden Gate Region Secures New Autocross Site:
Golden Gate Region has found a new site to host their events after losing their beloved Alameda site at the end of last season. Golden Gate Region’s
Ed Hunter
and
Himanshu Patel
worked diligently through the early part of this year and searched for a replacement site and finally signed contracts for several dates at the Cow Palace in Daly City. Their first event of the season on June 28
th
, with restricted attendance for only 50 drivers, was over-subscribed in less than two minutes. The wait list has more than 50 drivers all hoping to get a chance to participate. Not likely that they are going to?
Also landing a few dates at the Cow Palace is Loma Prieta Region which will be hosting two dual events at the Cow Palace with Golden Gate Region on August 29-30 and October 24-25.
Zone Autocross and Concours Series Schedule:
The schedule for autocross and the concours series has been one of constant cancellations and changes due to the coronavirus. The schedule was recently update with both Loma Prieta and Golden Gate Regions having signed contracts for dates at the Cow Palace which brings the zone autocross series to a total of 7 events. On the concours series, Monterey Bay Region has rescheduled their Zone Concours series event to October 25
th
in the hopes that the wonderful community park they have had their event the past few years will loosen their large group gatherings to allow for this wonderful event to happen. The first concours event of the year for the series is likely to be on August 23
rd
at Carlsen Porsche in Redwood City and hosted by Golden Gate Region. Zone 7 Autocross chairs,
Roy Schauben
and
Simone Kopitzki
are hopeful it will happen. Hopefully, all the regions will be able to deliver events on the dates as of this column. I am hoping that counties and cities will continue to open for business and allow many of our club events that are on the calendar.
Events of Interest:
1)
PCA Fall Treffen
registration opens
July 15. See item below…. event is September 16-19
2)
Zone 7 Concours, July 19, Carmel Valley Community Park, by Monterey Bay Region has been
rescheduled
to October 25th
3)
Mammoth Tour by Sierra Nevada Region; July 24-26;
CANCELLED
4)
Zone 7 Concours, August 2, Reno, by Sierra Nevada Region;
CANCELLED
5)
Werks Reunion in Monterey; August 14,
CANCELLED
6)
Porscheplatz at Monterey Historic Races, August 15-16, Laguna Seca;
CANCELLED
7)
West Coast Series Races, August 22-23, Sonoma Raceway, by Golden Gate Region
8)
Zone 7 Concours, August 23, Porsche Redwood City, by Golden Gate Region
9)
Loma Prieta Region 50th Anniversary Gala; August 29;
rescheduled
to March 2021
10)
Zone 7 AX, August 29, Cow Palace, Daly City, by Golden Gate Region
11)
Zone 7 AX, August 30, Cow Palace, Daly city, by Loma Prieta Region
12)
Zone 7 Concours, September 13, Sacramento, by Sacramento Valley Region
13)
PCA Fall Treffen at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia; September 16-19;
treffen.pca.org.
Registration will open July 15 at noon (Pacific Time)
14)
Zone 7 Concours, September 20, Ledson Winery - Kenwood,
CANCELLED
15)
West Coast Series Races, September 19-20, High Plains Raceway, by Rocky Mountain Region
16)
West Coast Series Races, September 26-27, Thunderhill, by Golden Gate Region
17)
West Coast Series Races, October 10-11, Sonoma Raceway, by Golden Gate Region
18)
Zone 7 AX, October 10-11, Thunderhill, by Sacramento Valley and Redwood Regions
19)
Zone 7 Concours, October 11, Porsche of Fremont, by Loma Prieta Region
20)
Zone 7 AX, October 24, Cow Palace, Daly City, by Golden Gate Region
21)
Zone 7 AX, October 25, Cow Palace, Daly City, by Loma Prieta Region
22)
Zone 7 Concours, October 25; Carmel Valley, by Monterey Bay Region
23)
PCA Spring Treffen at the Marriott Scottsdale, Arizona; May 5-9, 2021;
treffen.pca.org
24)
Porsche Parade at French Lick, Indiana, July 11-17, 2021
25)
PCA Fall Treffen at the American Club, Kohler, Wisconsin, October 13-17, 2021
26)
PCA Spring Treffen at the BROADMOOR, Colorado Springs, Colorado, April 27-May 1, 2022
Note that past Treffens have sold out in as little as one hour due to their growing popularity.
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So, what does the Region Vice President do?
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Ben Davoren
Redwood Region Vice President
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As everyone already knows, this is the strangest year of all for our Porsche club. We have an amazingly diverse group of Porsche drivers (whether measured by vehicle type, profession, or personality) connected by a common bond, but we haven’t had a chance to really get together since our great run to Brewster’s Brewing in Petaluma in March! We are holding out for good times ahead at our fall Autocross. In the meantime I hope you have a chance to check out our first foray into “no-touch” rallying, with the
creative route put together by Jim Robison
, a new Redwood Region member with a long history of creating sports car rallyes. Yes, there really is a dirt road section and your vehicle will end up well-dusted; my 911’s haunches proved I drove it. I particularly encourage those of you with Macans and Cayennes to check it out.
One thing that doesn’t change even in a strange year is that our club runs on volunteers, and the Executive Council welcomes your ideas, feedback, and involvement. In that vein, elections for Redwood Region officers will come up in a few months and if you are interested in getting involved, you might ask yourself ‘what exactly does the Vice President do?’
Well according to the Bylaws, other than being ready to take over for the President in case he injures himself iRacing, the Vice President ‘shall be responsible for the development, coordination, publication and the updating of the Region’s calendar’. This has been a fun endeavor for me because it’s allowed me to learn some new skills working on the MotorsportReg.com website and to work with great people both inside the club and out at the various venues. It’s a nice break from my real job and of course, it means I always get to register first if I want to be sure I don’t miss anything! (I appreciate the irony for events in 2020). It also has given me a window into other community events; one of my now invisible priorities for this year was to minimize the chance of having a tour on the same day and route as the many bicycle races in Marin and Sonoma. I’m bummed we haven’t been able to take advantage of that planning.
Great events will return in the future. If you’d like to be involved in making them happen, consider a role for yourself as an officer in our Porsche Club. I’d be happy to answer any inquiries at
ben.davoren.md@gmail.com
. I hope you are safe, well and are getting the opportunity to enjoy at least a few mental health breaks in your Porsche.
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Alan Geddes
Redwood Region Secretary
Our board meetings are on the last Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm. The next board meeting is July 28th and will be held virtually. Please visit the Redwood Website for login details. All members are welcome to attend.
You can read previous board meeting minutes
here
.
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Membership Report & Information
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Tom Short
Membership Director
In June 2020, 30 PCA Redwood Region members marked five or more years in the club, including two members with over 40 years in our club, four members with over 30 years in our club, and three more who have been members for over 20 years. Congratulations to all of you for such long-term loyalty and thank you to all of you who are marking anniversaries – I hope you are enjoying your membership. and taking advantage of all our club has to offer!
In June we welcomed three new members. You will be receiving a complimentary Redwood Region name badge shortly. In addition, members can order a name badge for their associate member.
Regarding our events, the health and safety of our members and fellow car enthusiasts is of utmost importance to the Redwood Region and the broader Porsche Club of America. As a result, we have greatly reduced our regular calendar of activities due to recommended health and safety social distancing measures currently in place. We still have some upcoming virtual events as well as some interesting new challenges that you can do on your own, so be sure to check out our website calendar and watch for our email and newsletter for more info.
I encourage everyone to check out our freshly redesigned website,
https://redwoodpca.org/
where you can get the latest news about what’s going on with Redwood Region members and sign up for upcoming events. Our events are a great way to meet other PCA members and have some fun with great people and our amazing cars. In the meantime, we wish you and your families and friends well during these extraordinary times. Stay healthy.
If you spot any errors or have any questions about membership, please
email me
.
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Porsche 991 911 Parts
Exhaust: 2014 991 30k miles, $600
Tail light set 2014 991 each $150/set $250
415-299-7563
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PCA Panorama Magazines
I have 40 years of Porsche Panorama magazines that I would like to give to a good home. Cleaning out my office and didn't want to throw these away. Hate to put them in the recycling bin.
If anyone is interested call Don Canardo 707-291-6321
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I have for sale a 1988 factory slant-nose code M505 Turbo 930S Porsche: 24,100 original miles from new; Cassis Red Metallic Exterior/Burgundy Leather Interior. Have all original tools, equipment, books and maintenance receipts; Always garaged and covered; I have owned for about 11 years. Near flawless original interior/exterior. Runs near perfect. Has exclusive options package. Asking $180,000.
Brian Barber
(707) 548-9972
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Hi Tec Automotive
Marin's Highest Rated Porsche & Audi Facility Since 1985
Specializing in:
-Audi & Porsche, new & vintage
-Factory recommended maintenance & repair
-Entire building
-Performance tuning
-Restoration & reconditioning with emphasis on authenticity
Come and visit our new showroom
San Rafael
415 258-9619
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Porsche Marin
When you want the best selection and prices on new, used and pre-owned Porsche vehicles, Porsche Marin offers exactly what you’re looking for. 911, Boxster, Cayman, Cayenne, Macan, Panamera and more.
Mill Valley
415 578-9101
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Autobahn Automotive
Sonoma County's premier automotive location for maintenance, servicing, auto repairs and performance upgrades for your Porsche and BMW since 2007
Santa Rosa
707 545-1958
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Dress in style and get your Redwood Region branded items in our Goodie Store.
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Der Riesenbaum is the official newsletter of the Porsche Club of America, Redwood Region, encompassing Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, and Sonoma Counties. This publication is intended to inform Club members about Club activities and other related matters of interest.
We encourage letters to the editor, feedback, questions and suggestions about our newsletter and the Redwood Region in general. Want to contribute to the newsletter?
Submit photos and articles
about Club events or related activities. Please submit your entry by the 5th day of the month for inclusion in that month's newsletter. Articles received after the deadline will be considered for the next month's newsletter. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit all materials submitted for publication.
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der Riesenbaum
. Contact the
editor
for more information and rates.
All written content and images in this publication are protected by copyright. Permission is granted to reprint any original content herein provided credit is given to the author, the
der Riesenbaum
and to the Porsche Club of America, Redwood Region. The opinions expressed in
der Riesenbaum
are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Porsche Club of America, Redwood Region, its officers, or its members.
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Thanks for supporting our Club!
Andy Cole
der Riesenbaum
Editor
Porsche Club of America, Redwood Region
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