Upcoming Events

Chip Witt

President

It seems that time is already flying by, and the year is off to a very good start despite some bumps along the way.

Autobahn Automotive had to cancel their late January Tech Session due to everyone in the shop getting sick the week before the scheduled event. Despite getting the word out to most folks via MotorsportReg, I showed up on January 26 as scheduled with a box of donuts in-hand to catch those that did not know the event had been canceled. About ten folks showed up; some just to stop by and say ‘hi’ because they were in the neighborhood anyway and knew I would be there but others had not heard the news of cancelation. Zach Oberlander, Owner of Autobahn Automotive, managed to make an appearance even though he was still a bit ill. Being careful not to shake hands with anyone, he graciously spent about an hour with us talking about our cars, the shop and the club. It turned out to be a very nice non-event event. Attempts to reschedule the Tech Session in February or March have not worked out but we hope to fit something in a bit later in the year at the Autobahn Automotive shop.

The Board had guests at our last meeting on January 29. Jackie Crook, Board President of Sonoma County Children’s Village; Hector Matias, Director Foster Youth & Adoption at TLC Child & Family Services, and Chris Helgren, Board President of the Redwood Empire Foster Parent Association all came to thank the club for our participation in the “Wish Upon a Wreath” program for Alternative Family Services in December. We invited them to join us in person to allow them to present more information about their respective programs. This information will feed into the evolution of our charitable community involvement programs under the leadership of Redwood Regions most recent Past President, Craig Steele.

On February 2 we made another attempt at our Annual Sharks Tour. Interest has just not caught on with this event: the distance, cost and the fact not everyone likes hockey has made this a challenging event. We will not be putting it on the calendar for 2020. This year, Craig Steele, Mike Hinton, Nicole Weld, Makenzie Weld and a few other friends sat the Porsches aside, jumped in the SUV and went down to enjoy watching the Sharks defeat the Coyotes in an exciting game that ended in overtime. It was a lot of fun!

Our sold out Run for the Crab was a fantastic event...again. See our VP Ben Davoren's article below for more details and pics from our great photographer Paige Gaines .

UPCOMING EVENTS FOR REMAINDER OF THE QUARTER:

March 2 - Hoppy Porsche Brewery Tour

March 16 - Whale to Whale Tail Rallye

Thank you and drive safe out there!

Collin Fat

Zone 7 Representative

Several regions in Zone 7 will be celebrating significant anniversaries this year. Yosemite Region will be celebrating a historic 60 ^th ; Redwood Region will be celebrating their golden 50 ^th Anniversary and the new kid on the block, Diablo Region, will be celebrating their 35 ^th anniversary. Heartfelt congratulations to the members and leadership of these regions.

The 2019 Zone 7 Concours Series calendar has been completed and will start off with a concours school on April 14 at Porsche of Livermore. Registration will be at Motorsportreg.com and is now open. The concours school is designed for members who are new to concours and will cover all the basics about preparing your car for competition as well as how cars are judged. Zone 7 Concours chair, John D’Angelo and his team will provide a comprehensive learning experience for all attendees whether you have a 356 or newer Panamera. Owners of all models of Porsche are encouraged to participate. The concours series will consist of 7 events with Sacramento, Diablo, Golden Gate, Redwood, Loma Prieta, Monterey Bay and Sierra Nevada Region each hosting an event.

 

The 2019 Zone 7 Autocross Series currently has 6 events scheduled for the season and will likely add an additional two day event if Redwood Region finalizes its negotiations for a new site. Golden Gate and Loma Prieta Regions will be doing two weekend events on April 13 and 14 at Marina and again on September 28 and 29. Sacramento Valley Region will be hosting zone events on June 29 at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds in Stockton and again on October 5 at Thunderhill Raceway.

The 2019 PCA Club Race West Coast Series schedule has been posted and will feature a total of 9 events. A detailed schedule of all events can be found by visiting www.pcaclubracing.org .

I recently returned from the Winter Board/National Staff Meeting in Seattle and learned a great deal about the club’s goals for 2019. In addition, I attended PCA University for new Zone Reps and had an opportunity to meet the other 13 Zone Reps in PCA. Except for the historic snowfall over the weekend, it was a wonderful learning experience and a great opportunity to share thoughts with other Porsche enthusiasts who have volunteered their time to serving as a national staff member and volunteer.

 

The PCA Executive Council recently held its annual strategic planning meeting, also known as Vision 2020.2, and have set some goals to:

Looking ahead to many of the events of interest in the Zone as well as PCA are the following:

Zone 7 Presidents Meeting, March 2, 2019

PCA Treffen Santa Barbara , Hilton Beachfront Resort, April 3-6, 2019 (event full)

Zone 7 Tour with Shasta Region, June 6-10, 2019 (event Full)

Porsche Parade, Boca Raton, Florida, Waldorf Astoria, July 21-27, 2019 ( registration open now )

Werks Reunion, Monterey, August 16, 2019

Porsche Parade, Greater Palm Springs, California, June 21-27, 2020

Zone Autocross:

April 13 -- Marina

April 14 -- Marina

June 29 -- Stockton

August 3 -- Ukiah (tentative)

August 4 -- Ukiah (tentative)

September 28 -- Marina

September 29 -- Marina

October 5 -- Thunderhill

Concours:

April 14 - Judging School and Clinic, Livermore, limited to 60 people ( register here)

April 28 -- Livermore ( register here)

May 19 -- Sacramento

June 23 -- Fremont

July 14 -- Reno

August 4 -- Redwood City

September 22 -- Petaluma

September 29 -- Carmel Valley

For more information on anything zone, please visit our website.

Greg Matsumoto 

Autocross Chair

Good News, along with constant continual changes is what's up.

Starting out with good news, our own Grady Carter has been selected as Zone 7 Autocross Chair! Congratulations Grady! Grady had been Redwoods previous Autocross Director for four years. In addition to his great leadership, Grady introduced many great operational and technical changes that other clubs are now adopting. And, Grady’s times have always been tough to beat.

More good news is that we just secured two autocross events at Sonoma Raceway by subcontracting with Trackmasters Racing.  These events will be in May (5/5) and September (9/15). Since it is closer to the Bay Area than Ukiah, the event should be a draw for all Zone 7 autocrossers. 

We are fortunate to have secured a long-term relationship with Trackmasters since their director is a “brother“ (an owner of numerous Porsches). Several other high-performance driver education clubs had been approached with unsuccessful results.

There will be an instructor change at Sonoma Raceway due to their exclusive driver instructing contract with Simraceway Performance Driving Center. This means that our driving instructors are not allowed to instruct or coach drivers. This is monitored by allowing only the driver in the car at all times. The only person allowed in the passenger seat is a Simraceway instructor. Our instructors are working on ideas to prepare new drivers for these events.

Speaking of new drivers, here are some opportunities to jump into this invigorating and captivating sport. If you have been considering autocrossing and you haven’t given it a try, here are some possible solutions:

The Sacramento Valley Region is having a two-day autocross school. The first day is a ground school (3/30) and the second day (4/6) is actual autocross driving. Check out their website for details and fees. Some Redwood members will be helping SVR by providing driving instructors. This would be another way to prepare for our May Sonoma Raceway event.

In addition, the Golden Gate Region also has their annual autocross school on June 22. See their website for details and fees.

Golden Gate and Loma Prieta Regions are hosting a two-day autocross in Marina April 13 and14. Registraton opens in March. See the flyer below or click here for more information.

And now for the constant continual changes:

The saga with Mendocino County Planning and Building Department continues. Last month we submitted our proposal, application and fees for a use permit at the Ukiah autocross site. 

Unfortunately, this week we were asked to submit additional fees and they discussed greater restrictions. I have been in constant communication with them to clarify these changes to determine if their additional restrictions can be adapted or if exceptions can be made. I have submitted counter proposals and am waiting for their response. Once we hear their offer(s) we will be able to determine if we should proceed with our request or not. 

We had been hoping to have our administrative hearing on 4/11 followed by first event on 4/20. But, after their recent restrictions, that date may have gone up in smoke (pun intended).

Our best-case scenario for 2019 is six events in Ukiah and two at Sonoma Raceway. The opposing scenario is two events at Sonoma Raceway. We are open to some type of “in-between” creative alternative, if feasible.  We are working hard to have a successful 2019 autocross season and will keep you informed. Keep you fingers crossed for a positive outcome.

Join Redwoodies on Saturday, March 2 for our annual Hoppy Porsche Brewery Tour. Located in the historic district of downtown Petaluma, Brewsters offers an array of over 30 revolving local craft beers on draft, Sonoma and Napa Valley wines and a full bar.

The food is influenced by Southern Carolina BBQ, is locally sourced and sustainably raised. We’ll be treated to outdoor seating with heat lamps, fire pit, bocce court and music stage.

Brewsters is laid back, dog friendly and a perfect tour destination for us to have some fun. 

9:00 am: Meet up at Chevy’s @ Vintage Oaks - 128 Vintage Way, Novato

9:30: Drivers meetings and depart for the run through West Marin and Sonoma

11:00 am: Park at Golden Eagle shopping center parking lot and and cross the street to Brewsters

Please bring cash for lunch. We are limited to one tab per 20-person table split no more than three ways.

Register today to reserve your place!:

Ben Davoren

Vice President

One hundred and twelve Porsche enthusiasts from Redwood, Diablo, Sacramento Valley and Golden Gate Regions made the pilgrimage to the Marin Yacht Club on Saturday February 23 for Redwood’s biggest annual event, the Run for the Crab. Dungeness fever was accompanied by widespread enthusiasm for the pre-feast backroads drive in Marin, since this was the first Saturday in over a month without any rain!

Sixty polished and colorful Porsches split into two groups, led by Past President Craig Steele and his secret navigation weapon Kurt Fischer and for the first time yours truly, and headed out along Lucas Valley Road west to the simply gorgeous Marshall-Petaluma Road to Highway 1.

Sweep duty by President Chip Witt and long time member Joe Burroughs kept everyone together through the slightly tricky turn into Point Reyes station for a regroup and bio-break. Everybody, that is, except for our unofficial RR photographer Paige Gaines who set up his camera at two different locations to capture us all in glorious detail with big smiles on the drive!

Everyone had a great tour but were also happy to get back to the Dungeness, salad, fruit, bread and appetizers, graciously hosted once again by former Commodore Paul Simmons and his wife Kay, and deftly organized by our own PCA crabfeed expert Sharon Castle, who has somehow makes this shindig even better each year. Sharon’s team was boosted by a large number of volunteers who set everything up beautifully while the rest of us were out on the drive, and stayed late to clean up too. Very cool event T-shirts for the volunteers were kindly donated by Porsche Marin, thanks to GM Bill Lamphere who also attended our event to see what the fuss is all about!

In addition to our continued tradition of making new friends around shared tables, we had a special occasion, marked by our Zone 7 PCA representative Collin Fat from SVR: Redwood Region’s 50 ^th Anniversary! With two plaques and a proclamation from PCA National, President Witt launched us into the next half-century while celebrating the leaders who helped grow our club during the last one.

This growth of this event, involving drivers, navigators and volunteers really shows how much fun our Redwood Region is. I look forward to seeing you at the next one!

Photo credit: Paige Gaines. See more pics from the day here.

Alan Geddes

Redwood Region Secretary

Our next board meeting is scheduled for 7:00 pm on March 26, 2019 at Mary's Pizza Shack, located at  121 San Marin Dr., Novato . All members are welcome to attend. (The February meeting has been cancelled.)

You can read previous board meeting minutes  here . 

Tom Short

Membership Director

In January 2019, 35 PCA Redwood Region members marked five or more years in the club, including five members with 40 or more years in the club and one who marked over 30 years!  

Congratulations and thanks to those with anniversaries. I hope you are enjoying your membership and taking advantage of all the great benefits our club offers.

In January we also welcomed 12 new members - I hope you take advantage of the excellent activities our club offers throughout the year. You will be receiving a complimentary Redwood Region name badge shortly, along with a coupon good for a free autocross. Check out our  website  for upcoming events. Also, you can order a name badge for your associate member there as well.

I encourage everyone to participate in your club's events -- they're a great way to meet other PCA members and have some great fun with people and our amazing cars. 

   

If you spot any errors or have questions about membership, please  email   me. 

Classifieds

Dress in style and get your Redwood Region branded items in our Goodie Store.

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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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.

Cover photo credit: Paige Gaines

Thanks for supporting our Club!

Stacy O'Connell

der Riesenbaum Editor

Porsche Club of America, Redwood Region