der Riesenbaum Redwood Region Newsletter Porsche Club of America Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma October 2009 Issue X, Volume III; electronic newsletter Bill Walters, editor Kurt Fischer, assistant editor See us on the web at: http://red.pca.org/ Redwood Region Ledson Concours winners, L-R, Brian Barber, Greg Maissen, Barry Schmidt, Paul Nadel, Duncan Thomson, Bill Young. Front, Don Durant & James Jordan, seated, John Jackson. That's James Heisey visible in the back and poor Jeanine Nadel is completely hidden by Don. See complete story inside. Kaye Jackson pic. R E D W O 0 D R E G I O N President's Message Kurt Fischer It is officially Fall now...but in typical Northern California weather, last weekend proved that Mother Nature will fool us big time with temps well over 100 degrees on both Saturday and Sunday! Saturday, we had a small Porsche corral at the CSRG Vintage races at Infineon with a nice turn out of the renegade Porsche R-Gruppe guys with their hot rod Porsches... several real RS's as well as some sweet clones. Their cars are fun to see and hear! Sunday was our 10th Annual Zone 7 Concours d' Elegance at Ledson Winery in Kenwood again under our Indian summer heat. Luckily, the shade of the old oak trees at Ledson gave us some relief! See Bill's article in this issue! Another stunning set of Porsches there and the Redwood Region members did well and got a number of trophies! Upcoming we have our final Redwood Region Autocross at the Santa Rosa Airport on October 17, 2009. We are making this Autocross a Porsche only event to include any of our members that drive other cars! We need a minimum of at least 30 drivers to work the course so please show up as our next Autocross will not be until March of next year! October 24, 2009 finds us at the new winery of Redwood Region member, Dann Boeschen with his family. Dann has a great collection of Porsches and his cars will be in residence for our visit. More details will follow in an upcoming blast email. We are also finalizing our annual trip to Mendocino set for October 31 - November 1 to meet up with the Sacramento Valley Region. Again, more details in the upcoming emails! Now on the news of the Porsche world, since the takeover by VW last month seems that Porsche is jumping into advertising in a big way in the NY Times! See this story! http://www.thebigmoney.com/blogs/shifting-gears/2009/09/29/porsche-takes-over-new- york-times The new President and CEO of Porsche, Michael Macht wants to sell 150,000 cars in the upcoming years and to achieve those lofty numbers, can we say a "green" Porsche? Recent spy photos at Nurburgring have turned up a 911 with a strange bulge and electric bolt graphic. The Porsche engineers are busy. In my way of thinking...why can't you design a car with a very small engine that keeps the batteries charged up to give us the range that we need, especially for California driving! Now, will the Electric Porsche suffice with the speed, handling and sportiness that we are accustomed to having? Read it here! http://www.businessweek.com/autos/autobeat/archives/2009/09/frankfurt_auto.html Finally, and this is a must watch video, our intrepid Membership Director, Monsieur Bret Boutet and his merry band of outlaws/drivers (including ex Redwood Region member, Ken E Short) are preparing a Porsche 924 for the 24 Hours of LeMons set for November 21-22, 2009 at Thunderhill Raceway! Not only are they ace mechanics... they are talented video creators... this video is hysterical and captures the essence of the craziness of the LeMons. Yours truly has volunteered as part of the Pit crew so I will do a complete article on their 924 and the subsequent misadventures at the race! Of the 218 entrants, only 100 made it to the final cut and this article says it all... the video put them over the top for entrance into the wackiness of the 24 Hours of LeMons! http://jalopnik.com/5363468/the-best-lemons-team-application-video-ever- porsche%20driving-team-rooster-juice Who said Porsche Club members were all Concours Q-tips boys, wine tourists and let us be faster autocrossers! Rooster Juice Racing team rocks! As always, keep the shiny side up on our wonderful Redwood Region roads! Want me... need me...here I am [email protected] Editor's Corner Bill Walters It's been really something. During our months of the decelerated and slugging economic state all around, the skies have been cloudless for what seems like months. Except for that thunderstorm period of a couple of days, skies have given us a gift of beauty I can't recall for several years. Our events may seem a little lackluster, but like the days we've been having, special members have come out and participated simply by showing up to say "Hi" and share with us. Take Roy Thylin. He came to Ledson, around noon in 100-degree heat just to take in the splendor. Bruni, his wife, had worked very hard in 103 temps the day before so she had a rest day. The Robisons, Larry and Joanne, also made an appearance to show support and interest in the Club. Claude Boulware did same. Tim Hensel and Julia Martin as well. Those were the ones I saw, there could have been many others that escaped my notepad. Mac Cranford gets my special kudos for his untiring work ultimately compiling all of the judges voting for the day. He didn't even enter his car for concours, which he could have easily won in class, he just came out and did an amazing job. My point here is that we have many, many special members who despite engagements, work, ailments or family issues make the effort to come out and become part of the soup that makes our Club. Case in point. I had an older couple call out my name from behind, introduced themselves as longstanding RR members only to leave and come back and went out of their way to tell me how much they appreciated the newsletter and the work I put into making it the best I can. They sought me out. It's really simple. I enjoy it. As they also did, once again, enjoying our Club. Those are just a few of the people with compliments I hear frequently which serve to inspire and make me feel like all the hard work takes hold with our members. There are other dear stories I heard which I could conjure but will to save for the New Year. Let's hope our skies and Redwood Region members continue to open to see this joy of the energy of sharing among our active members. It really is a spectacle. Be proud, for We, are the best of the best. Now let's get out there! Ed. Calendar of Events - Redwood Region Kurt Fischer This is an abbreviated calendar...for all the details on each event use our full calendar on the Redwood Region website! > http://red.pca.org/ < OCTOBER October 1-4 - Escape 2009 - Birthplace of Aviation- Dayton, OH October 4 - "Woads, Wings, Wheels and Wailroads" Tour October 17 - Last Redwood Region Autocross - Santa Rosa Airport October 24 - Tour to Boeschen Vineyards Walters/Boeschen October 31- November 1 - Redwood Region Tour to Mendocino. Halloween! Walters Eureka Overnight - September 11-13, 2009 Bill Walters What? No overnight trip? Yea that's right, very few members signed up, less that 14 and some were only going on Friday or Saturday. It didn't make sense so we discussed and Kurt called to cancel with enough time to get your hotel money back. Let's step it up next year, waddaya say?!! Overnight Tour to Mendocino - October 31 -November 1 David Bunch Please join us as we head north to the Mendocino coast to join up with Sacramento Region's Tour. We will start at 9AM with breakfast at Kals Kaffe Mocha on Airport Blvd. just outside the Sonoma County Airport. Wine /Lunch stop will be at Annapolis Winery where we will do some wine tasting.They do have a picnic area for those who would like to pack a picnic lunch. http://www.annapoliswinery.com/ Saturday afternoon is for exploring the shops of Mendocino & Ft. Bragg. Also SVR holds their Kite Flying contest and "Social" out on the Mendocino Headlands. Dinner Saturday night will be a Restaurant at Noyo Harbor in Ft. Bragg. More details to follow.. HOTEL INFO- You will need to make your own hotel reservations. Again this year most of the group will be staying at the "North Cliff Hotel", in Ft. Bragg. www.fortbragg.org/index.php?page=northcliffhotel Call 1-866-962-2550 & ask for Jill and mention "PORSCHE CLUB". We have a discounted rate of $159 for a room with either a Queen or King bed. If you would like a room with a King with a Jacuzzi Tub that is $175. If you stay Friday or Sunday night, special discount rate of $135 or $159 for the Jacuzzi Tub room. Another hotel option across the street is the "HarborLite Lodge". www.harborlitelodge.com Call 1-800-643-2700. As we did last year, the dinner is within walking distance from the hotels. I have also made arrangements for the passenger van to dinner & return.