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Drivers Education 2023

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Prez’s Corner

Prez’s Corner

Looking For More Track Days?

Our Club, the California Central Coast Region, has many opportunities to bring your car out on the track. We have three Drivers Education events, May 5th at Buttonwillow, June 26th at Laguna Seca and another date at the new Buttonwillow track sometime late fall. We also have Autocross events for 2023, April 15th Autocross School, April 16th, May 13th, June 10th, July 15th, August 26th and October 21st all at the Santa Maria Airport. If that is not enough track time, some of the other regions in Zone 8 and Zone 7 have additional ways to track your car. The GPX Region in Zone 8 has DEs on March 27th and October 16th at the Streets of Willow. The 16th is also an Instructor School for those who wish to take the class to become a driving instructor for our DE events. The San Diego Region also in Zone 8, will have Time Trials May 6th and 7th at Chuckwalla, September 16th and 17th at Willow Springs and October 21th and 22nd at Chuckwalla. The last date will be at Buttonwillow on December 2nd and 3rd. The Golden Gate Region in Zone 7, will have six DE and Club Race events in 2023. March 4th and 5th at Thunderhill, an Instructor School if you wish to attend. They continue with April 8th and 9th at Thunderhill, May 6th and 7th at Buttonwillow, (CCCR will be there on the 5th) June 24th and the 25th at Thunderhill, August 4th, 5th and 6th at Sonoma, September 15th, 16th and 17th at Laguna Seca. Diablo Region in Zone 7, has February 15th, March 3rd, June 23rd at Thunderhill, then finish the season at Laguna Seca November 19th. These are just the Driver Education events, these clubs and other regions, have Autocross dates available. You can find all of the dates on each region’s event calendars. Each Zone will have a master calendar showing the available dates for all of the regions within that Zone. There are many private clubs to join on the track too. Checkered Flag, Speed District, Speed Ventures and Track Masters are just a few. All of these clubs have rules and regulations different from PCA and from each other. Please be sure to check with the clubs for specific rules and regulations. If anyone is interested in becoming an PCA Certified Instructor and would be interested in attending instructor school, either at Thunderhill with GGR on March 4th and 5th or with GPX at Streets of Willow, October 16th please contact me.

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See you all on the track!

Bob Bruington CCCR DE Director 805 431-0919 Aircooled911sc@gmail.com

Details and Registration at MotorsportReg.com For any questions, you can contact Bob Bruington, Drivers Education Events Director at aircooled911sc@gmail.com

Story & Photos by Bob Kitamura

The board members of the California Central Coast Region of PCA had a chance to tour the newly completed Porsche San Luis Obispo dealership prior to their December board meeting. Many of us had visited the facility more than a few times before but this was an opportunity to see if it was an possibility to use their meeting room as a place for our monthly board meetings. That is yet to be decided. As an architect I have seen car dealership styles change over the last 50 years, but not a lot. In the last few years we are seeing a lot of changes in the interior of a dealership, not only in its design, space flow and décor but in its location, specifically the showroom. Where the showroom has gone towards attracting the public. Tesla and some other car companies have made that leap. Porsche has done it also but from the direction of their retail sales of clothing and accessories of their Porsche Design stores in the malls. What you see at the new Porsche dealership in SLO is an extension of that idea. Yes, it’s still a car dealership with a showroom, offices and service area but the transparency of the design and layout make it feel more open and flowing where you feel like you could have a very nice party. I am sure that might be happening someday. The front lot still looks very much like a car dealership …… a parking lot for new and used cars. As members and owners of Porsches be sure to drop by to take a look. I am sure they would be happy to take you on a tour of the latest design in a car sales and service center.

SHOWROOM

OFFICES

CONFERENCE ROOM SERVICE AREA

EMPLOYEE LOUNGE

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LOBBY / WAITING AREA

CCCR Holiday Party

Story by Bob Kitamura

We were able to gather again for our annual California Central Coast Region Holiday Party. Thanks to Sanja Brewer and other members of the board for making this great yearly event happen.. The San Luis Obispo Country Club once again did a great job of taking care of us. Another high priority that took a lot of time and effort was obtaining the raffle items for the evening. Thanks to Rene Verbrugge from Porsche Santa Barbara for attending our event and bringing some great gifts. Another big thanks goes to Guy Ober for providing us with a number of great gifts for the raffle. The Stable does a great job of taking care of our Porsches and helps with our events. We had some good entertainment and It was a great way to end a year. Our illustrious outgoing president, Andy Winterbottom, did a great job of emceeing the proceedings. Our new 2023 CCCR president, Joe Shubitowski, was introduced to our members.

Andy

Bob & Chuck

Photos by TB1 & Alfred Abken

Ken Carol Sanja Bob

Erin & Bill

Joe Shubitowski Terri Koskie

Sam

Rene

Story & Photos by Bill Gibson

For all you 911 drivers who are unfamiliar with the type 356 Porsche, they have many events during the year. One particular event is the Palm (Springs) to Pines (Idyllwild). This event has been in existence for over 30 years. It is not part of the 356 Registry but organized and sponsored by 356 Club of Southern California. It is probably, happily, the most unstructured event that is put on. It started with a very small group of 356ers in a hotel room in Palm Springs and has grown to over 80 cars and some very close friendships. This year I started in Paso Robles on Thursday Nov 17th without my wife Erin who opted to go to a Carrie Underwood concert in San Franciso. The drive is (supposed to be) just under 5 hours. But this year because of some fantastic freeway work it took a bit longer, 2.5 hours to drag along 24 miles just outside of Palm Springs (P.S.). We still arrived in P.S. during daylight as opposed to others who were stuck in the dark surrounded by 18 wheelers, we all know how much fun that is! We checked into the Palm Mountain Hotel downtown, which is a perfect location as you can walk everywhere. There is no “command hotel” for this event, everyone stays where they want. But Thursday night the entire downtown is shut down to autos and is turned into a fantastic downtown marketplace, music, food, vendors etc. Friday morning there was an unstructured group drive up to unique Pioneertown. This place is like a movie set, a great spot for photos! Then a self-serve catered lunch before driving back down to P.S. Upon PORSCHE PALM SPRINGS

arrival at the Palm Mountain Hotel, we regrouped for a drive to The Vault up in Bighorn. The Vault is privately built and owned by select homeowners within Bighorn. From the outside it seriously looks like a giant vault. Within there is an amazing car collection of every type: hot rods, antique, custom, foreign and domestic along with a private lounge and bar. As if there was not enough to do on Friday, everyone drove to Porsche Palm Springs, which also happens to be a Porsche certified Classic Car Repair Shop. There, we all enjoyed a deli buffet diner catered by Sherman's Deli of P.S. Sandwiches, salads, cookies, pies and beverages provided gratis from the dealer. We also had the entire dealership to ourselves for the event and filled the display floor with 356's provided by the participants. Saturday morning, the main event; drive from P.S. to Idyllwild climbing over 6000 ft. on a seriously twisty road through beautiful landscape. Upon arrival into a cute mountain town, we all looked for parking after taking over the downtown area. People then walked around inspecting the many shops which were all open along with some wine tasting rooms and brew pubs. Everyone then settled down to lunch in the various restaurants in town. Word to the wise, make reservations beforehand, My personal favorite is Gastrognome restaurant. After lunch the group gathered at the Totem Pole in the downtown square for the annual photoshoot of participants. Now it was time to leave and descend by another route which has some good straight PORSCHE PALM SPRINGS

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PORSCHE PALM SPRINGS

and fun curves. On the way down everyone stopped at the vista point for another annual photoshoot of all participants and cars. Farther down the hill we stopped in Bighorn to attend a cocktail party which is put on each year for the group by Ron and Pat Harris in their absolutely gorgeous home overlooking P.S. Sunday was pretty much checking out, saying our goodbyes, getting fuel at the Indian casino (cheapest fuel) and hitting the 10 home. All went as it should until the Grapevine where I parked my car in lane 3 with everyone else headed North. The 4+ hour drive became 7+ hours. (wife was very happy she had opted out) Fun time had by all! Just as an FYI other models of Porsches are allowed and encouraged to participate in the event it is alway the weekend prior to Thanksgiving. Finally, a thank you to 356 Club of Southern California for keeping the event alive; although there are so many good strong friendships that have developed, I think this will go

THE VAULT

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IDYLWILD VISTA POINT

Story by Bob Kitamura Photos by TB1

50 members went on Drive N’Dine to the recently opened Brook’s Burgers at the San Luis Obispo Public Market in San Luis Obispo. First starting out at the brand new Porsche San Luis Obispo on Los Osos Valley Road at 8:30 am. It was nice to have our members fill their parking lot with 32 Porsches.

After a fun drive through the hills around SLO about 20 members ended up at Brook’s Burgers and ordered off of their menu. It was great to see some of us chomping down on their scrumptious 1/3 pound creations!

Sheri Peter

Carol Jeff

Jason and Bonnie Alfred Ken

Andy Bill

Brian Jason

Tom

by Pedro P. Bonilla - Suncoast Florida PCA

One of my favorite American racecar drivers became one of us this past weekend. Four-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Jeff Gordon became a PCA Member! How did that come to be, you may ask, because in order to be a member you need a Porsche VIN. So, did he buy a Porsche? If so, which one? A 911, Cayman, Boxster, Panamera, Taycan, Macan or Cayenne? Well, he bought a 911, but not just any 911. It all happened haphazardly and here’s the back story. …

Earlier this year, in his capacity as Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports and while overseeing the Hendrick Performance Track Attack, at The Thermal Club in Southern California, Jeff Gordon got a chance to drive a Porsche Cup Car that Don Cusick (Cusick Motorsports) had just purchased. He enjoyed himself so much that he decided to buy one. What he didn’t know at the time was that in order to purchase a Porsche Cup Car you must agree to race it. That’s when everything was set into motion. Jeff called his old friend and crew chief Ray Everham who immediately agreed to join him for a weekend in the second-year series where neither one of them had any experience: The Porsche Carrera Cup. Jeff also got to run with his iconic number 24 on the side of his Porsche and they picked the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for this one-race comeback! During the second Friday practice, as Jeff continued to learn the road course and the race car, he was 23rd overall and 14th in class (Pro). He had had only one day of in-car testing at Carolina Motorsport Park and a lot of iRacing (race simulation) as preparation for the weekend. On Saturday he placed 15th and on Sunday he improved to 11th. After the race, during the interviews Jeff said: “All week I’ve been happy I am here, having a great time with Ray and the whole team. I must say that yesterday, I was getting beat out there, and I don’t like that. If I am going to be in an environment like this, I want to be competitive. But today turned the corner for me. So, I hope I get to do another one, one day”. The IMSA-sanctioned Porsche Carrera Cup is one of the most important one-make racing series today. This is so, because the emphasis is placed solely on the driver’s skill since every car competing is identical to the next. Same make, model and year, all equally prepared by the factory, all Spec 911 GT3

Cup Cars. Driver talent and team strategy is what will claim podiums. The Series is run in 3 classes: Pro, Pro-Am and Am. The series is in its second year (2022) and has a fantastic schedule which includes many of North America’s iconic tracks:

Round 1: Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, FL. Round 2: Grand Prix of Long Beach, Long Beach CA. Round 3: Weathertech Raceway, Laguna Seca, Monterey, CA Round 4: Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, NY Round 5: Streets of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada Round 6: Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI Round 7: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, IN Round 8: Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA

This year’s schedule is almost over, but if you get a chance, try to catch one or more races next year. The 2023 race calendar will be out soon.

Happy Porsche’ing,

JEFF GORDAN www.pedrosgarage.com

Written by David K. Whitlock

This past month was certainly a December To Remember with 455 Porsches sold at both online and in-person auctions totaling over $40 million. Porsche sell-through rates have slumped in the last month to 70% and although that is low for the marque, it outpaced the overall collector car market rate of 57% which has been in a decline in the back half of 2022.

One model, in particular, the 2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS faired the worse as not a single unit offered found a new home for the Holidays with an average high bid of $371,115, far below the most recent sale at $475,000 and a bit off from the moving average of $385,648. Delivery mileage 2022 911 GT3s, both Touring and Standard, continued to slide as only one car hit the $300,000 mark after months of that price being the norm. With a sell-through rate of 57% and an average sale price of $267,000, expect these once-hot commodities to continue to slide closer to MSRP over the next few months.

The Carrera GT market adjusted after a slew of nosales over the past few months with all three cars on offer this month finding new homes with an average price of $1,393,333 which is much lower than the $2,000,000 prices they were commanding earlier in 2022 and 2021. The sell-through rate was helped by two sellers rolling the dice and letting the market show its true self by offering their cars at No Reserve. Both cars had some mileage and were standard-colored cars, so over $1.5m in a slowing market wasn’t in the cards. Next month we’ll see a Seal Grey car with 13,000 miles as well as lowmileage Basalt Black and Guards Red examples crossing the block during the Arizona auctions. As prices soften and sellers adjust their expectations with regard to reserve pricing, we are seeing some examples become very interesting deals. 2016 Cayman GT4s in particular are starting to look quite attractive as prices are heading down toward the $80,000 mark for cars with a bit of mileage (10-30k) and sub-5,000-mile cars breaking through the $100,000 floor.

Top sale honors goes to a 1988 959SC ‘Reimagined’ by Cenepa at $2,920,000. Those who are not familiar with the name Canepa have him to thank for working out the Show and Display regulations that allow those with the means to bring important cars that were never sold here in the US to our shores. But now that the 959 is a number of years over the 25 year old threshold for importing anything into the States, he’s using his vast knowledge of the 959 to offer more power, make them more drivable, and an all-around better supercar from the ‘80s. How much better? Almost $1,000,000 better as a normal 959 sells around the $2m mark.

Other top sales for the month include the 3 Carrera GTs mentioned above as well as a pair of 964 Turbo S ‘Package’ cars selling for $1,265,000 and $912,500. But the biggest shocker of the month? That award goes to the 1972 911T Targa that was restored by Porsche Classic to S specification and trimed in a way Ferry Porsche would have liked. The car sold at RM Sotheby’s for $1,149,000, almost $800,000 over their own pre-sale estimate. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one.

As some markets continue to cool, the demand for the finest is still bringing the money and I expect this to continue into January as we have the Arizona sales on the horizon. Online sales I believe will continue to lower seller expectations and sell-through rates will work their way toward the rest of the collector car market. Until next month.

David K. Whitlock is a writer for The Stuttgart Market Letter, a daily market update for Porschephiles, by Porschefiles, delivered to your inbox. https://www.stuttgartmarketletter.com/

Monterey Pines Golf Course

1250 Garden Road Monterey, CA 93940 August 18, 2023

Schedule

7:00 AM Event Check-in Opens

7:00 - 9:00 AM Registered Judged Cars placed on judging field

All Day Porsche Corral open to registered cars Spectator Parking Lot open ($40 cash)

7:00 - 10:00 AM Coffee and breakfast items available for purchase*

9:30 - 12:00 PM Judging

10:00 - 4:00 PM Bars open with beer & wine for purchase*

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Youth Judging sponsored by Hagerty

11:30 - 1:00 PM Lunch available for purchase from onsite Food Trucks*

2:00 - 3:00 PM Awards Ceremony

Werks Monterey registration will open Wednesday May 24, 2023 at 3:00 PM (ET). The link for registration will be available on Motorsportreg.com

November 2, 2022 Board Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 6:03 pm at Piadina’s.

Our Board:

Attending were Andy Winterbottom, Sanja Brewer, Chuck Jennings, Bob Kitamura, Bob Bruington, Joe Shubitowski, Carol Walker, and Bill Chadwick. Absent were Ron Green, Gil Igleheart, Bill Gibson and Joe Kuntze.

President: Andy discussed our meeting venue. The December meeting will be here at Piadina’s. In the future, the SLO Country Club room is too small and the new Porsche dealership is a possibility. Sanja offered to talk to Dolphin Bay about a room they have away from the main dining area. Any changes to the Regional Procedures Manual should go to Ron Green and forwarded to Dave Witteried.

Vice President: Ron Green had no report.

Secretary: Carol sent the minutes by email. Sanja moved to accept the minutes. Andy seconded and all approved.

Treasurer: Bill Chadwick reported that Autocross made about $13,000 for the year. DE made about $6,700 for the year. Drive/ dines made $315 this year. New member barbecue deposits were $1,500 and theHoliday Party deposit was $650. Our bank balance is $48,303 to date. We received no money from the 356 Registry event. Bill asked for approval to use a tax person, at a fee of $1,000, to advise on keeping our tax exempt status and possibly add more donations. Chuck moved, Joe seconded, and all approved.

Membership: Sanja reported there are three new members, nine lapsed, zero transfers in or out, for a total of 416 primary members, 284 affiliates, to total 700 members. Concerning the Holiday Party, she will be meeting with Sam at the new dealership on 12/14 to purchase raffle items. There will be a 5 piece band during dinner and after for dancing, along with a cash bar. She asked for a budget of $700 for raffle items and $750 for the band, and the board approved. New Board members will be elected and notified before the party.

Activities: Gil Igleheart sent his report via email: 1) There are 16 people signed up for the Gimmick Rally so far. Mersea’s in Avila Beach wants to sponsor our Gimmick Rallies from now on. All they want is advertising at the event, such as “these prizes were donated by Mersea’s on Avila Pier.” 2) So far there are 115 signed up for the New Member BBQ. We will report to the caterers as to final numbers by noon on Wed. 12/9. There will be nicer porta-potties for the ladies. Lori de Cristo will come to the New Member BBQ and Holiday Party. Sanja will offer to put her up for the party or possibly book a hotel. 3) We have prepared a notebook for Sam at Porsche of SLO that showcases info on how to join the PCA, how many members we have, all events throughout the year. It could be used or looked at by all salespersons. Joe talked about having such info in LA, that possibly the dealer could provide membership in PCA as a bonus with a car purchase. 4) I think many are tiring of so many events. I would like to try one driving event and one or two cars/coffee events during the first part of the year, instead of the many we have been doing. For the Gimmick Rally this weekend, we have 14 cars and 25 people. The Board agreed there were too many events.

Safety: Bill Gibson had no report.

Driving

Autocross: Chuck Jennings said the last Autocross of the year offered eleven runs, with five no shows. He talked about our relationship with the airport and the deterioration of the track. Since 2011 we have held 56 events, four Autocross schools, and approximately 26,400 laps over that time. The sun and environment also does a lot of damage, as do our events. Chuck suggested we make sure we have the lease for it for two more years. He moved we send to the Board of Directors a letter of proposal to resurface the track surface we use and see how far it goes through the approval process. Everyone approved. He thanked Bob Bruington for getting the resurfacing estimates.

Drivers Education: Bob Bruington set the date for Buttonwillow for May 19, 2023, which coincides with the GGR event on Sat/ Sun. He has asked Laguna Seca for a date of July 24, 2023, but no decision has been made by the new management. Potentially, in the Fall we will return to the new track at Buttonwillow or Willow Springs, Streets. He has also requested estimates from several resurfacing companies to fix the Autocross track and is waiting for their response.

Newsletter: Bob Kitamura has received several inquiries for placing an ad in the Coastalaire December issue. The print issues are completed for this year. He is giving FedEx a last chance at a good bid for printing, or we may switch to Jazz in Santa Maria. The current issue will be out the middle of the month.

Website: Joe Shubitowski has the election site structured with all the biographies. The voting site will be up soon and he will let it run for two weeks. There are twelve nominees for the board with voting limited to ten. motorsportreg.com has all the known activities. The New Member BBQ has 61 cars and 108 people registered. The Holiday Party has 30 people signed up so far and we will limit it to 100. Scott Burns, a member, wants to help with web organization but doesn’t want to be on the board.

Director at Large: No report.

Old Business: None

New Business: None

The next meeting will be December 7 at Piadina’s, Hotel SLO. The meeting was adjourned at 8:11 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Carol Walker Secretary, CCCR-PCA

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