FALL COLOR DRIVE

Our car club had to postpone our Carolina Fall Color Drive recently due to bad weather.  Our new date was pretty much colorless, but not in good cheer.  Everyone was delighted to see masked friendly faces.

Our drives always include potty stops.....which can be challenging now since covid has closed so many locations.  Luckily the facilities at Caesars Head State Park were open and there was room for all 26 cars to park.

The views are incredible........

Beautiful blue skies, beautiful vehicles, weather was warmer than we expected and far more comfortable without the ever present mountain  winds.  We went on from there to a social distance picnic lunch at Table Rock State Park.  I totally neglected to take pictures.....but won't forget the wonderful day!

CRUSIN' THE BACK ROADS

 Social distancing at its finest.....driving the mountain back roads on a crisp fall day with our local PCA car club.......

BELATED ROLEX 24 HOUR REPORT - Part 1

 After the simply awful weather at last year's Rolex 24 Hour race at Daytona International Raceway, this year we were rewarded with perfect weather.

More perfect was the opportunity to gain access to Porsche VIP Hospitality. (Thank you David A.)  Our home away from home was 5 suites high up in the grand stands...behind those big glass windows you see here.

The patio area was just one of the great places to view the race.

 I normally have my face in my Kindle the entire time we are at the track.  It's obviously much more interesting when you can see the entire race track and actually hear the announcers.  I never even opened my Kindle!

 It's a very posh experience!!

 And the complimentary food was astonishingly good.

 As were the complimentary beverages.  No bubble, but I made do.....ha, ha.

One of the suites featured comfy leather recliners facing a wall of two huge TV screens.  AND...if you feel the need to get up and order a fancy coffee at the always open coffee bar.....there was a smaller screen available so you don't miss a single minute.

 Other areas (all with TV screens everywhere) are outfitted with table and chairs for your comfort to enjoy the numerous buffets.  The whole experience was awesome...I may not even grumble about 'the husband' dragging me to various races if I can enjoy them in this manner!!

APPALACHIAN PORSCHE CLUB

We belong to the most marvelous Porsche Club!  The Appalachian PCA does an outstanding job of organizing monthly day time drive and dine events to interesting locales with friendly, welcoming members.

 This past weekend we meet up and as is typical, there were two groups of about 10 cars each.  Each one has as a leader and a sweeper who keep track of everyone in between via hand held radios.  As you can see, the weather didn't look like it would cooperate.

 We all headed to Lake Lure for Pontoon boat rides with the hopes of a sunny, warm day with beautiful fall color.  It wasn't sunny and it definitely wasn't warm but for the most part it didn't rain.  No real color either.

Our group filled 5 boats, trolling the lake and enjoying the wonders of our smoky mountains region.  Lake Lure is famous for being the filming location of the movie "Dirty Dancing", none of the iconic buildings are still standing.  This fact may be a surprise to many since it's assumed it was created in upstate New York.  

As we headed back to the dock, the next stop was to be a lovely group lunch. However 'the husband' has been experiencing dreadful pain again, so unfortunately we bade goodbye so he could get home and rest.  

REQUIRED ATTENDENCE

Petit Lemans, a premier 10 hour road race, is held at Road Atlanta every October. It's always an exciting race because there are 4 different categories of cars running at the same time...requiring the super fast prototype vehicles to navigate around the slower classes.  Car enthusiasts look forward to this very competitive event, while wives like me dread the 3 days of loud cars, terrible food, either too hot or too cold weather.  Alas, we go every year.

Porsche has now teamed up with Coca Cola thus a new look for their two factory sponsored cars.  Personally, I'm not a fan, preferring their old school styling of the past.  Unfortunately, the new look didn't bring them a win....they came in 4 & 5th of their class.

The saving grace of these type of car races is the Porsche Club of America's hospitality tent and their Porsche only parking for about 200+ cars.  A very impressive site.  It's so large I couldn't get all the cars in just one photo.

On my personal "keep myself amused' list is license plate viewing. I'm very late in coming to the TV series Black List.....I'm guessing this owner is a fan too.

You could hear a pin drop as this very respectful huge crowd stood with hands or hats over their hearts, as the National Anthem was sung while two sky divers carrying American flags, landed on the start/finish line just before the race began.

That was followed by HUGE, numerous bangs of fireworks to mark the start of the race.

We stood on the medical helicopter pad overlooking the last turn as the cars made their first lap around the track....this driver ended up sideways but fortunately got himself straightened out without further incident.

The weather was actually perfect this year and surely I must have lost a pound or two with all the miles we walked around the track.  Back home now....and ready to sew again!

UNIQUE PCA CLUB DRIVE

We had a unique experience this weekend with our local car club.  One of our members, an employee of the National Forest Service, organized an hour+ Porsche SUV drive on forest service roads in the Pisgah National Forest.

Looking back 'the husband' and I spent more time than I can believe, doing real off roading in the 'Northwoods' of Wisconsin with our Jeep and Land Cruiser....always equipped with a winch to get us 'unstuck'.  This drive was bumpy and a tad scary in some areas where there had been wash outs and no guard rails.  However 13 cars made the trip unscathed...naturally they were all 4-wheel or all-wheel drive SUV's  The sky was sunny and the roads were dry...we all paraded to a local restaurant for a hearty breakfast where our fellow member Rob gave us lots of info about the roads/national forests etc.   

We are so delighted to be members of this very special PCA club! 

MORE LUFT WASSER PHOTOS

Here are a few more photos from the Luft Wasser Porsche event held in Brevard, NC.  - not into cars??  Please ignore...

 Here's the elusive 'the husband' unfortunately, our car was parked next to the trash containers at the staging area......wish I knew how to photoshop them out.

 Impressive turn out!

I'm sure this group of men are plotting how to obtain another car for their collection!!

2nd ANNUAL LUFT WASSER

Warning...this is not fiber related.....so let your curiosity decide whether you want to read on.......

The 2nd Annual Luft Wasswer (Air and Water cooled engines) Porsche Parade took place with 170+ cars participating in downtown Brevard, NC.  It's organized by our local car club The Appalachian Porsche Club of America.

It was a beautiful spring day, georgous cars, friendly people, good food, and simply the best event our club has ever hosted.

 Safety is never overlooked, esp. with a caravan of approximately 12 cars from the Waynesville, NC area, driving to our staging area in Brevard.  All drivers were expected to attend the safety meeting before we headed off.  

Here's the Waynesville group just getting lined up.  We follow a lead car and have a sweeper at the rear who are both equipped with radios to keep all of us moving in the right direction as we wound our way through the National Parks and Forests to our destination.

After about an hours drive, we arrived at a school parking lot and lined up with other groups from outlining areas.  There were participants from 11 different states who joined us!!  Ultimately these lines were 4 cars wide and long....long...long.  We had a police escort with various streets blocked off as we made our way downtown.  The organization that went into this was clearly evident by the number of volunteers directing traffic.

 Three entire blocks of main street were used to display the cars which were parked near the curb on each side of the street and a line down the middle.

 There was a steady stream of folks using the opportunity to learn about Porsches and of course those of us who own one....walked around and were possibily displaying some Porsche envy over all the incredible models shown.

 I'll admit I'm disappointed more than not with restaurant meals.....I have to say this was one of the best lunches I've ever had anywhere.....devine.  Served quickly with smiles and at the foods' perfect temperature, despite hoards of Porshce enthusaists flooding the place.  It was actually more than I could eat.....but I will be back.  I ordered Chicken Curry....might sound boring but every aspect of this meal was seasoned and cooked perfectly.  So where was I??? The Squared Root, Brevard, NC.

'The husband' who doesn't get out much these days was also in his glory....he had fish tacos.....again, seasoned and presented perfectly.

 I'll spare you a ton of car photos.....but want to comment about the variety of cars on display, everything from this older rally car.....

 ....to a vintage Roadster.....yes this is the original color.  We smiled all the way home.