Social Reflections

Welcome to our first edition of Porsche Parade for 2023 and my Social Reflection for March. I hope everyone had a great Christmas, New Year and a wonderful break. Covid is no longer intense and controlling our Social Club Events. Consequently, we have a full year of events planned, totaling 29, so hold on tight, our runs will bring plenty of curves, corners and salivating lunches. Club Nights will be special with great speakers, technical nights and one off events will keep you requesting more. The Annual Dinner Committee has already confirmed the venue and planning is well underway.

The Club will fund Social Events going forward, which will encompass all Club Nights and a subsidy for Annual Dinner. Consequently, I thought it would be of interest for members to appreciate the associated costs. Our last Club Night cost at PCM was $63.25 per person and has averaged $70 per person over the last four Club Nights. Overall the total cost to the Club averaged at $13,419. Catering costs for food only have substantially increased and our actual costs were $18.24 per person in October 2019, compared to $49.75 in October 2022 per person for basically the same menu. Accordingly, I request members to register and RSVP and if cancelling please give administration early notice to mitigate unnecessary cost to the Club. Every cancellation at the last moment costs the Club, as we are required by caterers to provide attending numbers four to five days in advance.

At the date of writing my article, we have held two events, our Club night at PCM Motorsports and our Summer Run to Warburton.

Our Club Night organised by Russell, at PCM Motorsport was fabulous, albeit a touch warm. PCM Motorsport had only a day earlier announced their exciting breaking news, the signing of Courtney Prince. It was amazing to hear this very young confident 21 year old address our club night with great aplomb, however, doused with a touch of reality as to her early expectations of achievement in the Carrera Cup. Many thanks to PCM for affording the Club the use of these facilities.

Our run to Warburton was booked out with plenty of enthusiasm from the attendees. Kon always attracts this attention to his runs and all compliments to him. The roads provided all that our members enjoy and lunch was at a hotel steeped in history.

The Fine Food and Wine Appreciation night organised by Greg Burns, has been booked out and our members are looking forward to an experience to remember.

I have requested Greg to explore organising a dinner, with a larger member group to attend, with a lower price point. Unfortunately post Covid costs have escalated and Greg has experienced difficulty at sourcing a venue at the current dinner price of $221 per person.

The Technical Night organised by Werner Engel should provide insight into NineAuto a specialist Porsche Workshop. Werner has also organised a Driver Training programme and I encourage everyone to consider and take advantage of this opportunity, not just for themselves and their partners, but consider children or grandchildren on learners for this Defensive Driving Programme.

Planning our next Club Night at Doncaster shall be very interesting with the night focussed on all things Taycan. We will be educated on the technicalities involving these fine Electrical Vehicles from Porsche Cars Australia and Doncaster representatives.

Club Night at PCM

I am looking to change up our Club Night in August, to a Club Sunday Morning! With socialising being high on the agenda. Subject to finding an appropriate venue with plenty of parking. My thought is for our members to bring their Porsches along and have them all parked together (not a formal display). Enjoy breakfast and coffee in the company of fellow members talking all things Porsches and viewing our members prized Porsches. I hope this idea hits a chord with our members. Please feel free to communicate your thoughts to me.

If any member wishes to discuss any aspect of Social or wish to be involved, please be in touch.

Drive safe.

Clyde White Social Director