President's Message

Hello again fellow Porschefilles,

Seems like I was just sitting down and writing to all of you just last week. Even though the weather hasn’t been very corporative lately I hear a bunch of folks enjoyed a fairly good weekend, weather wise, at the region’s autocross school and subsequent first autocross of the season. I hope all that attended learned something about their car and car control. Again a huge thanks goes out to Dan Dazzo for helping us secure the State Police training facility and to the entire Autocross Committee as well as all those who volunteered to make the weekend a successful one.

I don’t know how many of you felt it but back around the last weekend of March there was an unmistakable tremor in “the force”. That was caused when I dropped of my “G” class 911sc race car of to its new owner. That’s right, its with a heavy heart that I have to report that, the old car is gone. But I'm sure all of you realize what that means!! Of course, room for a “new” race car!!! Kim and I went straight from Philly where we dropped the old car off to Connecticut where we picked the new car up. That came in the form of a Cobalt Blue 1991 911 C2 fully prepared “E” class car. The reason I wasn’t able to make the autocross school was because I was down at Road Atlanta getting a little seat time in the new car. My stepson Zach and I joined fellow region members Mark Lee and Derrick Schwarz along with his girlfriend Tanya there for the Peach State Regions Club Race. As many of you know Derrick is one of the regions premier autocrossers who has recently crossed over to “the dark side” of Club Racing. He too brought down a “new” race car and from the moment we all unloaded the fun started. For Derrick and I it wasn’t just about learning a new car it was also about learning a new and very daunting race track. For those of you that may be unfamiliar with Road Atlanta there is a sphincter clenching 7story drop at the end of the very long back straight that brings you down to the front straight. The first time through I'm pretty sure I closed my eyes and just held on. All and all at the end of the weekend we were able to celebrate since we all had top 5 finishes. Mark and I both finished 3rd in class and Derrick had a solid 4th place finish. Another fun filled weekend spent with good friends from not only here but all around the country. I thoroughly enjoy going to these races if for no other reason then to get together with friends that I only see once and a while, hang out, bust some chops and enjoy some good local cuisine. That’s why I always say if you’ve never been to one you really should try to make a weekend get-a-way and take in a PCA Club Race.

As far as events in our region are concerned the autocross series is now in full swing and another one is coming up shortly. We have also had to make some last minute changes to the Chesapeake Challenge so check out the article in this Patter and keep an eye out for future announcements. We continue to look for places to hold our Monthly Social and this past month it was at the Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis. Good food, good beer and great conversation. Again keep an eye out for announcements on where we’re going next.

As I mentioned in my last article the Chesapeake Region teamed up with sister regions Delaware, Blue Ridge and “Zone 2”, for the annual Zone 2 DE at VIR. The reason I'm mentioning this again is because prior to that event it was decided that all the proceeds from the charity laps, as well as some regional support, would be donated to the Susan Cohan Kasdas Colan Cancer Foundation in memory of our beloved Lynn Ekels, who recently passed away. I'm very happy to let you know that preliminary reports have us donating a total somewhere in the area of $5000.00. This once again goes to show that “its not just about the cars its also about the people” and how generous those people can be. Thanks to everyone that contributed and a special thanks to all those Chesapeake members that volunteered and once again helped make this a very successful event.       
 
Don’t forget to volunteer when you can!! I hope to see you at an event soon!!
 
Thanks, Tim