Porsche Club of America
Porsche Secures LMP2 and GT2 ALMS Manufacturers Titles Key Performances by Penske and Flying Lizard At Laguna Seca Finale From PCNA ATLANTA - October 18 - Porsche entered today's Monterey Sports Car Challenge, the final round of the 2008 American Le Mans Series, with the LMP2 prototype drivers championship and the GT2 production-based drivers championship
Los Angeles Region
fourth in class to seal the manufacturers championship, 220 - 215. Originally, Dirk Werner (Germany)/Bryce Miller (USA) in the Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR had finished third, but the car was excluded at post-race tech for a ride height violation due to a broken right front spring. Previously, Joerg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler (both Germany) had clinched the drivers championship in their Flying Lizard Porsche, and Flying Lizard Motorsports had sealed the team title their first.
November 2008
Inside: Porsche ALMS Champs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Historic Ridge Route Drive . . . . . . . . . . .4 Classified Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 LA Events Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 8 Zone 8 Events Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Hartmut Kristen, head of Porsche Motorsport, couldn't have planned the season any better for North America, was particularly gratified with the success of the 2008 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR after the 2007, when Ferrari got the best of Porsche for the championship.
Porsche wins the American Le Mans Series LMP2 division Championship.
already clinched, but the manufacturers titles in both classes were still up for grabs.
"Over the winter, the engineers at Weissach, led by Roland Kussmaul, completely revamped the race car, including a new aerodynamic package and a four-liter engine, and provided us with a great package - and our teams did the rest. A special thanks must go to my staff at Porsche Motorsports North America, who provided critical parts and service support to keep everyone on the track," said Ritchie, whose organization is based in Santa Ana, Calif. Other LMP2 Porsche finishers included Helio
But, when the checked flag fell on the four-hour sports car classic early Saturday evening, a Porsche race team in each class scored a third point finish - good enough for the marquee to win both manufacturers championships. In a race which featured 13 yellow flags and a racing surface which lost its grip due to excessive gravel on the track from the many racing incidents, the 2007 and 2008 LMP2 drivers champions, Romain Dumas (France) and Timo Bernhard (Germany), overcame an offtrack incident of their own to guide their Penske Porsche RS Spyder to a third-place finish - just high enough to edge Acura by a single point in the final standings. Porsche ended up with 214 points, and Acura, with its one-two finish at Laguna, finished second with 213. Penske Racing had previously clinched their third straight LMP2 team title. In the production-based GT2 class, Porsche had a more comfortable lead of 15 points going into the last event, but a strong contingent of Ferraris threatened to overcome those points with a sweep of the top position in the fourhour finale. But the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Patrick Pilet (France)/Johannes van Overbeek (USA) finished
Porsche wins the American Le Mans Series GT2 division Championship.
this final result. "To win all six championships - team, driver, and manufacturers titles in both LMP2 and GT2 - is so much more satisfying than any individual race that we could win. This team effort included all our teams, their drivers and crews, our engineers - both at the track and in Germany - and all the Porsche AG, Porsche Motorsport, and Porsche Cars North America employees that helped make this happen. A special thanks must go to Penske Racing and Flying Lizard Motorsports, the teams that produced the drivers championships and contributed heavily to the manufacturers titles," said Kristen. Paul Ritchie, president of Porsche Motorsport
Castroneves/Ryan Briscoe in the Penske Porsche RS Spyder (fourth); Guy Smith/Chris Dyson in the Dyson Racing Porsche RS Spyder (fifth); and Marino Franchitti/Butch Leitzinger in the other Dyson Racing Porsche RS Spyder. Other GT2 Porsche finishers the Darren Law/Seth Neiman Flying Lizard Porsche (fifth); the Joerg Bergmeister/Wolf Henzler Flying Lizard Porsche (ninth after an early-race accident resulting in a long pit stop for suspension replacement). The Francesco Pastorelli/Nicky Pastorelli/Mark Basseng VICI Racing Porsche did not finish due to an early-race accident. Complete results and points are available at www.americanlemans.com.
PORSCHERAMA
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PCA-LA REGION PRESIDENT ......................................................David Altemus 310-478-7727, fax 310-479-5181 1537 Pontius Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90025 VICE PRESIDENT ..................................................Bob Gordon 818-888-7224, fax 818-615-0624 SECRETARY .........................................................Roger Ignon rignon@edgesystem.net TREASURER ........................................................Jan Altemus 310-478-7727, fax 310-479-5181 MEMBERSHIP ...............................................Joe Shubitowski joseph.shubitowski@gmail.com ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR ..........................................Bob Gordon 818-888-7224, fax 818-615-0624 ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE Dick Shipman.....................................310-474-8194 Roger Ignon .........................rignon@edgesystem.net Martin Holford.........................holford@sbcglobal.net Arthur Yuter ................................a.yuter@verizon.net WEB MASTER............................................................Eric Mai ericmai@msn.com NEWSLETTER EDITOR & ADVERTISING MGR......Bruce Pollock imset@pacbell.net
November 2008
2008
2008
Zone 8 Calendar
LA Region Calendar November
November 1
Concours - Ariz. Reg.
5 (Wed.).........................................LAR Board Meeting call 310-478-7727 to verify
2
Autocross - Ariz. Reg.
22 (Sat.) ..................................................Breakfast Club
8
Zone 8 Presidents Meeting
December
15
Concours - Cal Inland Reg.
22-23
Time Trial - San Diego Reg.
3 (Wed.).........................................LAR Board Meeting call 310-478-7727 to verify
Event Contacts
December
PCA-ZONE 8 ZONE 8 REPRESENTATIVE....................................Michael Dolphin carrera3@msn.com ZONE 8 WEBMASTER ...........................................Tom Brown webmaster@zone8.org CONCOURS CHAIR .................................................Joe Nedza jcnedza@aol.com RALLY CHAIR .........................................................Tom Gould tcg3@aol.com CHIEF DRIVING INSTRUCTOR.................................Paul Young pdyoung@cox.net TIME TRIAL CHAIR/DE CHAIR.................................Paul Young pdyoung@cox.net AUTOCROSS CHAIR ........................................Neil Heimburge porschebadboy@cox.net CLUB RACE COORDINATOR ...........................................Vince Knauf vvvince@aol.com RULES COORDINATOR................................................Tom Brown webmaster@zone8.org TREASURER ..............................................Linda Cobarrubias MS993@aol.com REGION COORDINATOR ....................................Gary Peterson Gary.Peterson@HRH.com CHANGE OF ADDRESS .....................................Notify at once: Joe Shubitowski - joseph.shubitowski@gmail.com AND Ruth Harte / PCA National P.O. Box 30100, Alexandria, VA 22310-8100 SUBSCRIPTIONS PCA members of other regions may become “Dual” members of PCA-LA and receive the Porscherama for 12 months by sending $24.00 to Joe Shubitowski, Membership Chairman, joseph.shubitowski@gmail.com Non-member subscription $36.00/ year. EDITORIAL POLICY Porscherama is the official publication of the Porsche Club of America, Los Angeles Region. (PCA/LA), a California Non Profit Corporation. It is published in accordance with the club by-laws and conditions of the charter granted by the Porsche Club of America. Statements contained herein are those of the author(s) and do not constitute an opinion of the PCA/LA, its board of directors or staff. All contributions become property of Porscherama. Porscherama reserves the right to edit all contributions. ADVERTISING POLICY Classified Advertising: Porscherama accepts classified ads for Porsche cars, parts, and Porsche related items. Ads can run for three consecutive months. No charge to PCA/LA members. Non-member cost is $10.00 per month payable in advance, after which time they must be resubmitted. Porscherama is not responsible for the accuracy of information contained in any ad and does not warrant or guarantee the condition of items offered for sale, nor the accuracy of any claims or representation made by the advertiser. Type or print clearly, include your PCA number and email ad copy to: imset@pacbell.net with “Porsche Classified” in the subject line
13
Autocross - San Diego Reg.
14
Drivers’ Education - San Diego Reg.
Bob Gordon 818-888-7224
Dick Shipman 310-474-8194
January ‘09 17
Roger Ignon
Awards Banquet & Presidents Mtg.
Ed. Note By Bruce Pollock So I trust that you all survived Halloween and the election. Good. This month’s issue features our Historic Ridge Route road driving tour. If any of you have ideas about events of this or any other nature, please present them to one of the activities committee members. That’s how this one came to be. Robert Vincent presented and planned this entire event and it was a welcome success. Now is a good time of year to dream up new events, since January will see the beginning of the formation of our schedule of events for next year. The breakfast meetings are a great place to hatch event ideas. November’s breakfast is on Saturday the 22nd, the weekend before Thanksgiving. Next year is 2009. Just one year prior to our region’s 50th anniversary. I’m sure there are some celebratory activities in the offing. As Porsche becomes 60, we become 50. I believe that Porsche will once again be the honored marque at the Monterey Historics in 2009. And speaking of 60 years (weren’t we?), our next issue will include some new book releases, one of which is Porsche Sixty Years by Randy
rignon@edgesystem.net Leffingwell. I have finished reading this book and found it captivating. Also on tap in the book department is a book about Autocrossing that focuses on Porsches to a large extent. The third book is called Race To Win by Derek Daly. In it Daly presents his ideas about what is required to really succeed at the racing game these days. All very interesting. On Page 3 of this issue you’ll find an ad from the National Humane Society for a raffle which looks rather interesting. We’re glad they chose to advertise with us. If you should choose to try your luck, I’m sure they’ll be glad they did too. Welcome too, to our new advertiser Imagine Auto, Inc.. Their ad is on Page 5, and looks like they offer some interesting parts and services. The Los Angeles Auto Show will take place November 21-30. LA is becoming a more important show as time goes on and from the looks of their web site (laautoshow.com) there should be an ample supply of debuts and concept cars. OK. That’s all for now. Bruce
November 2008
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engineered and built. They contain slight banking to aid your progress through the turns, and wherever possible, they afford relatively vast forward visibility so that you can connect the turns in the most optimum manner. And the surface is mostly asphalt with very few seams, so directional transitions are smooth and precise.
Historic Ridge Route Driving Event By Bruce Pollock, with historical information from Robert Vincent — event organizer On October 19th, we all gathered in the parking lot of the Town Center Mall in Valencia on the opposite side of Interstate 5 from Magic Mountain. The weather was of the kind that keeps people flowing here from everywhere, and all 48 of us in 25 cars were in for a treat. LA member Robert Vincent had researched, presented, planned and organized one of the best touring events ever on our schedule. We set out on our drive over one of the remaining accessible portions of the Historic Ridge Route. The Historic Ridge Route was built in 1915. It connected Highway 126 in the Castaic Lake area to Highway 138 near Gorman. The Ridge Route served as the middle link to complete the drive from Newhall Pass, nearer Los Angeles, to Grapevine, nearer Bakersfield. Its completion signalled the existence of a road connecting Northern and Southern California. There is a lot of information about the Ridge Route available on the Internet. A simple search will yield a wealth of interesting results.
November 2008
Over the duration of our tour, we encountered a variety of environments. Some areas were wide open to the sky, while others yielded shade from The weather was more than cooperative, providing a trademark California day for the group to embark upon our Ridge Route drive. Bob Gordon Photo.
Continued on Page 5.
canyon roads that wound their way through various parts of the Angeles National Forest and around three lakes. The surface on the Ridge Route portion was noticeably in need of repair in some spots, but generally in pretty good shape. The other canyon roads, of which the bulk of our drive was mainly comprised, were in very good shape and are clearly maintained with regularity. I was reminded of Angeles Crest Highway, where I spent a good deal of my youth learning to drive faster than normal. These roads are quite predictably
This is the front of the lineup at our first gathering stop. The cars go back around the corner to the off ramp just this side of the bridge. Bob Gordon Photo.
At its height, there came to be several resorts, motels, restaurants and other support establishments to service travelers. The trip was long and not that fast. There remains not much evidence of these establishments. But some of the road is still there. Our drive encompassed about seven miles of the last remaining, driveable section of the original Historic Ridge Route. The balance of our excursion took us over a total of around 85 miles of
This is the line up of cars at the first gathering stop. This is not all of the cars. Imagine from where this photo was taken and the cars go up to there and beyond. The “taller” car second from the end is someone who keeps insisting that Porsche now controls Volkswagen. Jacqueline Shubitowski photo.
November 2008
PORSCHERAMA
One of several gathering stops along the way. This one in a well-developed residential area not far from the canyons where we travelled.
Ridge Route (cont.)
Which leads me to believe that a return trip for the purpose of photography would surely be in
some very old tees. In either environment, the driving was fun and the scenery refreshing and exhilarating. We encountered some rather sporty motorcycle riders at a few points, adding some excitement but no real problems. While sporty, they were also courteous and seemed to enjoy that we were having fun too. All the accompanying photos of the drive were taken while we were at a stop of some sort. This is indicative of the degree of attention and concentration required while driving in these conditions. There’s not much sight-seeing going on.
The day. The cars. The people. The road. This is Southern California. Bob Gordon Photo.
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A tranquil spot for our next-to-last gathering stop before the restaurant. There began to be heightened interest in, shall we say - amenities. Bob Gordon Photo.
order. The scenery was quite interesting and there are lots of areas where there were ranches populated with livestock. I’m sure there were ranchers too, but I didn’t see any. I briefly got a glimpse of a very interesting rock formation that actually had the appearance of still being in a molten state. It looked as though it could easily just ooze on down to the road before I got out of its way. So photography would be nice. If you were one of the lucky participants in this event and you have some photos you would like to share, send them in. Our trip culminated at Le Chene French Cuisine, where we enjoyed a fine luncheon in their main Continued on Page 6.
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November 2008
Ridge Route (cont.)
David E. Altemus
dining room. The view of Le Chene from the road looks like a small castle made of river rock. Once inside, the rock motif continues through the entrance, then opens to a large bar area overlooking the garden and an open patio shaded by oak trees.
THE ALTEMUS COMPANY Industrial and Commercial Real Estate
The main attraction is the food and the four wine cellars. The food was delightful, as was the entire event.
Since 1946
Thanks to Robert Vincent.
E-mail: AltemusCompany@aol.com 1537 Pontius Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 478-7727(ext. 133) • Fax: (310) 479-5181
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A welcome sight after an exhilarating drive over the little-used roads of yesteryear. We’ve reached our destination — Le Chene French Cuisine restaurant on Sierra Highway in Aqua Dulce. Art Yuter Photo.
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November 2008
Classifieds Ads can run for three consecutive months, after which they must be resubmitted. If your ad is included here with three dots following it, you must resubmit. Submit by email to imset@pacbell.net and include
page 7
BREAKFAST CLUB
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2008 — NOVEMBER - DECEMBER Dates are subject to change.
November 5 (Wed.).........................................LAR Board Meeting call 310-478-7727 to verify 22 (Sat.) ..................................................Breakfast Club
December 3 (Wed.).........................................LAR Board Meeting call 310-478-7727 to verify
2008 Events Dates are subject to change.
November 5 (Wed.).........................................LAR Board Meeting call 310-478-7727 to verify 22 (Sat.) ..................................................Breakfast Club
3 (Wed.).........................................LAR Board Meeting call 310-478-7727 to verify
January 2009 17 (Sat.) ......Zone 8 Awards Banquet & Pres. Mtg.
•
Event Contacts Bob Gordon
If you change your email address:
December
A l l
D a t e s
logon to
pca.org
818-888-7224
Dick Shipman
and change it there. That will take care of all local and national pca groups that need to know.
310-474-8194
Roger Ignon rignon@edgesystem.net
A r e
S u b j e c t
T o
C h a n g e
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