From the President July 2013

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2013 President

2013 President

Greetings to All and Welcome to July – arguably our biggest Porsche month of the year!  The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix or PVGP is upon us.  On July 19-21 we’ll have the opportunity to gather and enjoy each other, our cars, and our friends, both new and old.  We have the chance to see vintage racing like nowhere else in the world…  BTW, that is not an overstatement.  The PVGP racing in Schenley Park is the biggest vintage race in the world run on active city streets.  So we have our own little Monaco and that means it’s time to sign up!  There is an entire week of events that you can see at www.pvgp.org so please check out the schedule!  VP Scott Ishler and I will be teamed up for the Kick-Off Rallye on July 14 – come join us!!!  There are also historic races that weekend [13-14] at PittRace for cars too powerful to race in Schenley Park.  Lots of fun to watch and Porsche people are always there.  Bring the family out!

If you’d like to participate in Pittsburgh’s finest showing of Porsches, plan now to attend our ARPCA event at the PVGP [i.e. go to www.motorsportsreg.com and register now!] as Ken and Louise Jeremiah have a fantastic weekend planned for all attendees.  Lots of fun events, giveaways, new swag at the Goodie Store AND an awesome catered lunch each day from Tambellini.  It’s the best set up at the event, and YOU need to be there…  MUSTANG is the Marque of the Year, so there will be plenty of American Muscle cars to see, many of them very rare.  Cars, vendors, food, racing, and an occasional cocktail await you…

Just to let you know, there are contingents of Porsche folk coming from Canada and from Chicago…  New friends to be made.  To welcome them to our city, there will be an casual gathering on Friday, July 19 from 2p until ??? at the South Side location of The Double Wide Bar & Grill.  The biggest challenge of the South Side is, of course, parking…  We have that covered.  There will be FREE Porsche-Only parking sectioned off at a lot one block away from the Double Wide.  Just look for the signs!  The food is great.  The décor is perfect for those with a car-affliction.  And the drinks are always cold…  Come out on the eve of the weekend event with your car and meet those who came in from cities afar.

Our July business meeting [7p / Thursday 7.11] will happen at the Patterson home [check our web site for directions].  Please come and be a part of the inner-workings of the club.  ALL are welcome.  At the end of July, there is a wonderful event in Granville, OH on the 26-28.  If you want a beautiful ride to see some beautiful cars, this is a terrific event.  Go to our web site arpca.com and get registered for the Porsches -2-Ohio weekend!

June was a great month for the club.  Our first Road Rally of the season happened on June 1 and ALL participants had a great time [good one Iron Jack!].  A week later on Saturday June 8, the Car Store hosted a Picnic and Porsche event.  This event raised $2000 for Animal Friends – Thanks to ALL for your attendance and generosity.  Special thanks to KC and the Car Store band for their omnipresent generosity in hosting this event.  We had a SPECIAL business meeting at Earl & Judi Seiler’s home on the 12th of June which included lasagna prepared by our in-house racer Randy Evans [thank you, it was incredible].  We presented the Rabeneck family with a token of the club’s appreciation for their exemplary participation and spirit.  They will be missed as they move on to Atlanta, but surely never forgotten!  The prediction of a tsunami on the eve of the business meeting was highly overstated…  June also hosted a Driver’s Education event in conjunction with the NOR [Northern Ohio Region] at Nelson Ledges on June 14 – 16.  From what I heard, all had a spectacular time.  On the 23rd, we had our second AUTOX, at PittRace in conjunction with the Steel City SCCA.  All I can tell you is that this event was SERIOUS.  I showed up thinking that a track guy could surely and easily hang with the AutoX crowd.  I was both amazed and humbled by the driving skill I witnessed – none of which was my own.  My times were not impressive…  I was able to navigate the course without killing innocent pylons, but was easily 10 seconds off the pace of the fast people [that is a month and a half in dog years…].  I will be back.  I will improve.  That is why we have these cars, right???  Then we closed the month with the Porsche Parade in Travers City, MI – attended by several club members, in particular our VP – Scott Ishler.

AGAIN, please don’t forget about our BIGGEST Summer event, the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix on July 20-21.  Those dates are for the Schenley races.

August will host our next Drivers Education event at PittRace.  SIGN UP NOW!!!  You can sign up for the event.  You can sign up for dinner [both on MotorSportReg.com].  COME ON OUT and see Porsches on a race track.  BETTER YET, you can sign up and drive in the DE.  A super event as it’s in our back yard and Melinda Clark has an amazing picnic dinner planned.  This to be followed by the annual desert competition.  Bring your own concoction to see whose is the BEST!  This all takes place on the Saturday evening of the event.  If you ever were curious to know what a DE is all about, come out and watch!

Thanks for all who make our club great & GUTE FAHRT!!!

NEW GERMAN WORD

“Vacation” translates as “der Urlaub”