Ben Davoren
President
April 2021 President’s Message
Well, we did it – you did it! We had our first event of 2021, the Goat Rock Run at the end of March, with tremendous interest, attendance, and feedback. See this month’s dR article for additional details about its success. I’m particularly happy that 12 new members signed up, although I was saddened by the fact that we had to turn away several last minute would-be drivers due to our COVID pre-registration requirements. I look forward to the day very soon where that won’t happen again, and when I can get to meet more of you without a six foot radius in the way.
A May tour is in the works. Please look for it on our May Calendar.
In the meantime, our first Autocross at Thunderhill is coming up very quickly on Sunday April 18 (part of a two-day adventure that starts with the SVR PCA region hosting on Saturday the 17th). There are still a few spots left! I hope to see you there. It really is the safest, and most fun way to discover your comfort level with your Porsche’s amazing abilities.
As June will be here faster than you think, consider entering the upcoming rally school and/or events that our Rally Master Jim Robison is putting together. His article this month will tell you much more. Rallies should be a great equalizer, since every driver needs a navigator, and there is no advantage to having a 2-door sports car over a 4-door Cayenne. More to the point, almost all of us will be newbies to the whole experience so if you are competitive at all, you have a great shot at winning a prize! If you prefer your Porsches standing still, fingers are crossed that we can have our Porsches on the Plaza event on June 19, right on Sonoma Square.
We will have our most popular events – tours to wineries – in July and August, and Concours in September, so keep one eye on the calendar!
As always, Board meetings are open to all interested members on the last Tuesday of every month at 7 pm. The April meeting will still be held over Zoom but we hope to return to in-person dinner meetings soon. Please see our calendar link at redwoodpca.org.
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Another gorgeous day driving over the rolling hills of West Marin. |
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Goat Rock Run March 27 2021
Eighty-three members and guests dusted off the cobwebs, got out of the house early on Saturday March 27th, and fit themselves into 54 shiny Porsches of all vintages and models. It was a sight to behold on an absolutely gorgeous morning in the Vintage Oaks parking lot as we got the opportunity to drive together for the first time in over a year!
The drivers’ meeting was broadcast over FM radio (thank you Safety Director Brian Cooley) to ensure proper social distancing due to COVID-19 restrictions, and the three run groups left just a few minutes apart to head out on the 55 mile journey to Goat Rock Beach on the Sonoma Coast. Special thanks to the leads (Vern Rogers, Essy Fariab and yours truly) and sweeps (Tom Strobel, Kurt Fischer, and Rick Duste) who did a great job of keeping everyone together, especially since we had 12 new members join our ranks.
The weather, cyclists, and other cars seemed to cooperate extremely well on our back roads drive across Marin and Sonoma counties. The flow of Hicks Valley, Wilson Hill, and Chileno Valley Roads always brings a smile to my face, and this time was no different. I was amazed by the wildflowers blooming against the very green hills.
Miraculously, we were all able to park (be it somewhat creatively) in the main parking lot at Goat Rock Beach! It was fun to have a promenade of Porsches-of-many-colors parked in such a way that we could enjoy them all safely. Everyone did a great job of having a visit or lunch on well-spaced picnic tables to keep us compliant with current regulations.
The general response I got from everyone when I asked “How was your drive?” was “When is the next one?” The answer is as soon as we can get it planned! I hope you will come and join us for the next event. Please check our calendar on the main website for updates.
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The cars are here but where are the drivers?
Listening to the driver's meeting on FM Radio!
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Approaching the beach at Goat Rock...
photos submitted by Guy Foster
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Springtime on Eastside Road
submitted by
Bruce Dicoskey & Allyn Kaufman
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Yin Zheng
New Redwood Member
This month, I had the pleasure of having a fun conversation with an interesting new member of our club, Yin Zheng. The proud owner of a 1993 968 Coupe in Grand Prix White, Yin spent a lot of time tracking down his perfect Porsche.
As a teenager, a poster of his dream car, a 959, decorated his bedroom wall.
He started searching for a 968 which he refers to as “the lost Porsche” because people kind of forget about it. The 968 has a front end reminiscent of a 959, but is more affordable. It has pop-up headlights which makes it look a little 993-ish when they are up.
Most importantly to Yin who likes to tinker with engines, the engine is right up front; you don’t have to drop it to work on it. 968s were only produced for about 4 years, and only a few thousand were sold in the US. It was the last trans axle ever made.
Yin searched.
In the meantime, he had to convince his wife that a Porsche could be a “family sportscar,” which mostly hinged on it having a functional backseat, especially one that could handle a car seat for school pick ups. He found forums online dedicated to car seats, and met that challenge.
Yin kept searching.
He has been a Porsche lover for a very long time so he persisted. He finally found the perfect car down in the L.A. area, and no surprise: the owner was a former PCA Region President. The car had been taken care of well. All the records were present. It had 200K miles on it. The engine had been re-built. It’s galvanized which helped preserve its integrity and retard salt damage.
Now Yin admitted that he hadn’t driven a stick since High School, and he didn’t want to be embarrassed when picking up the car in SoCal, so he came up with an ingenious solution: he rented a Fiat 500 (it was the only manual available) on Tauro and practiced driving up and down the steepest San Francisco hills for a day. That car had no torque at all and he kept on stalling, but despite that, he didn’t ruin the 20 year old gear box. Confidence back, he went, picked up the car, and drove it all the way home triumphantly.
Yi joined our club because he is relatively new to California and noticed lots of Porsches on the road in Marin. He’s psyched about meeting other owners with a shared passion for our beautiful cars.
Speaking of beautiful, Yin just likes the looks of his 968-a lot! He has been known to walk away from his car, then turn back around just to give it one last admiring glance. I can’t blame him.
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My Porsche Story 1969 912 Golden Green |
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A Porsche that connects and heals....
Lucinda Eubanks moved here in 2012 from the Virgin Islands. Recently widowed due to a violent and tragic murder, she knew no one. She’d always loved fast cars. Cars and Biscotti drew her in. She met a lot of people there, admiring the cars, and one gentleman said, “You should meet my friend. He’s going through a divorce and you can support each other.” That man turned out to be Devin Wailes from Hi-Tec, and they did become friends. One day she stopped by Hi-Tec, and there in the front preened the most happy car she had ever seen. It just opened up her heart, and poured joy in. She couldn’t take her eyes off the pretty little Porsche. The color was just so incredible.
Devin said, “Do you want it?” Lucinda replied, “I don’t even know how much something like that would even cost.” Devin said, "I’ll make you a very good deal.”
It was hard to learn the dog-leg gear shift but, but everywhere she drove, Lucinda met people. It really helped her in grieving and moving forward.
The car sparks happiness. People give her a thumbs up as she drives by. People leave their business cards on the windshield all the time with “I love your car” scribbled on them.
Lucinda has owned Kermit for 10 years now and makes sure to drive him at least once a week. Hi-Tec takes care of her like family. Golden Green was the color that the fewest cars were painted that model year. Lucinda finds joy in being the steward of this unique car. She particularly enjoys the camaraderie of other Porsche drivers who always flash their headlights or smile and wave.
It’s more than just a beautiful car. It enhances her life and the life of others.
Sidenote: Although she hadn’t signed up in time for the judging, Lucinda did show Kermit at the 2017 Werks Concours. As she was driving it in, she asked where to park and the judges were beaming at her and said right up front! Several people told her that her car made them the happiest of all the cars there.
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Jim Robison
Rally Master
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 the 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.”
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.
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.
The Mendocino Rally, which I organized from 2011 to 2015, was a stage rally.
A couple Mendocino Rally videos show the view from inside a rally car
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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Collin Fat
Zone 7 Representative
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 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 scheduled for 2021 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.
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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 same 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 scheduled for August 29th, Sacramento Valley for September 12th, and Monterey Bay 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 with county guidelines regarding outdoor group gatherings. Stay tuned for more news.
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 into 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 recently.
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Zone 7 and its Regions
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.
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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. |
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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.
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Events of Interest:
1) PCA Spring Treffen Marriott Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona: May 5-9
Registration Closed
2) Loma Prieta Region 50th (plus 1) Anniversary Gala: June 19
3) Monterey Bay Region 60th Anniversary: TBD
Registration Temporarily Closed
8) PCA Fall Treffen American Club Kohler, Wisconsin, October 13-17; treffen.pca.org
9) PCA Spring Treffen Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, CO: April 27-May 1, 2022
10) Sacramento Valley Region 60th Anniversary Celebration: May 7, 2022
Treffens historically sell 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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Membership Report & Information |
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Tom Short
Membership Director
This March we welcomed 10 new members to Redwood Region PCA. You will be receiving a complimentary Redwood Region name badge shortly. Also if you’d like to order a name badge for your associate or family member, follow the instructions on how to do so on our website.
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4 PCA Redwood Region members marked five or more years in the club this March, including two members with over 30 and three with over 20 years! |
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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 the great benefits our club has to offer!
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Got something to sell? We'll post it for free. Send us details and a picture by the 5th of the month to be included.
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Hi Tec Automotive
Marin's Highest Rated Porsche & Audi Facility Since 1985
Specializing in:
-Audi & Mini Cooper
-Porsche, new & vintage
-Factory recommended maintenance & repair
-Entire building
-Performance tuning
-Restoration & reconditioning with emphasis on authenticity
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.
Want to reach an audience of Porsche enthusiasts with your marketing message? Consider advertising in 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!
Lisa Davoren
der Riesenbaum Editor
Porsche Club of America, Redwood Region
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