Porsche Club of America
Porsche Tech Tactics West 2011 By Jason Zammit For almost thirty years, Porsche Cars North America and PCA have been conducting the annual Tech Tactics day-course. Previously it was held in Pennsylvania. It was our turn this time. On November 12 & 13 the 1-day training event known as "Tech Tactics" was offered to PCA members on the West Coast by Porsche Cars North America and PCA. This event was held for the first time at the Porsche parts distribution warehouse and training facility in Ontario, CA. Ken Supin (red 997 coupe), Colleen Stein (white 996, coupe) and myself (black 996, cab) met at a burger joint at 6:30am off interstate 5 Sunday morning. We headed off in procession into the rising sun being passed by a couple of CHP without even a blip on the Valentine 1. Lucky we managed our excitement and kept our vehicles travelling at a reasonable rate. We arrived at the address with no obvious signage on the building except a little Porsche flag at the driveway. The aroma of coffee and pastries welcomed us, as did the wares of the Porsche Design of Beverly Hills and Porsche of Pasadena.
Los Angeles Region
Cayman that an employee had crashed. It was down to just the body so it was easy to see the structural reinforcement throughout. Surprisingly the guy walked away from a collision at high speed with what some have speculated as a tree as the driver did not disclose the exact object.
January/February 2012
Inside: Tech Tactics West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Porsche Experience Center . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5, 7 Classified Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Next for us was Hybrid Technology in the "Sears Point" room, sounds boring, right? It is the same technology that they have developed to compete in races like Petit Le Mans and developing the new 918 Spyder that are being deployed in the Panamera and Cayenne. Some of us are familiar with the orange 911 GT3RS which has this hybrid technology. We were shown some of the safety precautions that must be taken whilst working on these vehicles due to the high voltage output. Dr Ferdinand Porsche would have been proud seeing the utilization of this "new" technology being the original designer of hybrid technology in 1899.
LA & Z8 Events Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
weight loss by 100 pounds. The body length has been increased as well as the distance between the wheels increasing comfort and handling. The 991 on display was slate grey in color with a beautiful guards red interior, a bit bright for some but I would take it any-day. The Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Lane Change Assist class was held in the "Portland" room. We learned about the technology and also how the Porsche technicians calibrate these systems to keep them accurate.
After lunch we got to see the new 991 in detail. The model has an increase in horsepower although the base engine size has been reduced from 3.6 to 3.4 which has contributed to overall
For the last session for the day we were shown the benefits of the Durametric. The Durametric Continued on Page 3.
We checked in and received our credentials for the day and were ushered into the "Laguna Seca" room (yes, every room is named after a famous racetrack). This is where we were introduced to our educators for the day, both the local talent and some special guest appearances from abroad. The first speaker was Dr Walliser in charge of the "918" Spyder program specializing in Hybrid technology for racecars amongst other things. He presented a detailed slide show with photos of development that were taken hours before he boarded his flight to the US. The group then broke up into four smaller teams and went to different rooms with different instructors. The first sessions focused on (pre993) 911 Fuel Injection Systems. After a quick discussion the three of us opted on information that was more relevant to our vehicles so we thought that we would go to the "Riverside" room and attend the session on "Porsche Vehicles Collision Repair". We were shown a
Jason Zammit by a new 991 at Porsche Tech Tactics West.
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