November 2023
With Jeff Clark, President and Turbo, illustration, Roger Warrick
Thank you to PCA because over the years I’ve developed a lot of Porsche friends. I’ve been around the country to Daytonas, Luftgekuhlts, Road Atlanta, Concours events in a couple of dozen states, etc. I’ve met Porsche luminaries: Patrick Long, Patrick Dempsey, Derek Bell, Justin Bell, Vic Elford, Magnus Walker, Jeff Zwart, and Hurley Haywood. It rarely mattered the context of the brief conversations because there is always a constant refrain and without exception, they all said at one point “These cars are meant to be driven”
My 911 4s is a 2006 model with about 32000 miles on her. When I acquired the car in 2020 she had about 22300. I’ve put miles on this car, but not nearly enough. The previous owner, who clearly loved it, might have done 1500 miles a year, nowhere near enough to get the engine hot, hardened, or fully lubricated. The problem is while the car is not being driven, and not acquiring miles, she is still aging. The average American puts 10,000 to 15, 000 miles a year on their daily drivers. If my 911 was used half as much, she would be north of 170k miles and probably looking down the barrel at a well-earned engine rebuild. But it doesn’t.
I had my 911 out a few weeks ago at a rally when the engine started bogging down. It was as if we had bad gas, plugs, coils or the mass airflow sensor had failed. No, it was much worse. Details don’t matter but thank you to my trusted mechanic Yuri Rojas. Moral of the story is if you don’t use it, you will lose it. I don’t know what Porsche does to imbue their cars with souls, but we know that they have them and these cars insist on being used. Not abused, but driven, long, and enjoyed. Please get on with it. Your car with its low miles may be very pretty but its soul and parts are still aging.
““At dawn when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work - as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for - the things I was brought into this world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?””
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I’ve tried to make a few road trips this summer. Between balancing work schedules and a young kid at home, vacations together can be trying. Anyway, my son and I were able to get out of town in mid-October and visit Chattanooga for the Motorcar Festival. This event took place first in 2019, skipping 2020, and resumed in 2021. I know this festival has flown under the radar this year as it happened within weeks of Rennsport. That’s a shame, it’s incredibly well run, the displays and variety of cars are amazing and the people of Tennessee are some of the nicest folks you’ll ever meet. We arrived at 8 am. Checking in was relatively smooth and a stack of cars already lined up and being tended to by their owners. We saw Justin Bell getting prepped for a full day of interviews and filming, we approached him and he couldn’t have been more friendly and outgoing. Ferrari Club had a great display. We walked up to the Ford GT corner and talked with those owners who were more than happy to stop primping their cars to show us every detail and talk about the history of their vehicles. Car people really are the best.
I felt like my head was on a swivel as I kept seeing auto celebrities everywhere. Donald Osborne of the Audrain Automobile Museum in Rhode Island walked by, and I said “Donald!” as though we were friends. He stopped, we talked, we shook hands, his voice is deeper and more musical in real life, btw. David Gooding of Gooding Auctions took a second and chatted up my son and I. Grand Marshall Luigi Chinetti Jr. ( his father was instrumental in developing Ferrari in the US) Wayne Carini, Chip Foose, David Hobbs, Kyle Petty. Adam LZ, all made themselves accessible for a handshake and maybe an autograph. Patrick Long and Jeff Zwart set up a Luftgekühlt display followed up with a talk with Brian Redman interviewed by Bob Varsha and a Q and A with the man himself. There was a decent contingent of OVR members and I’m fairly confident they would agree, if you have the time next year make the trek to Chattanooga and hang out for a few days. It’s a great getaway and you can see almost everything the festival has to offer in a single day if you keep moving.
Business: Vu Nguyen, our PCA Executive Director, was supposed to attend Rennsport. Several days before he was scheduled to leave for California he was feeling exhausted after playing Pickleball with his brother. He was getting winded and tired long before he normally would and was feeling weak in his left arm. He got in to see his doctor who sent him to a cardiologist and was admitted fairly quickly for tests. Mercifully he ended up having a stent put into his heart and is doing much better but missed Rennsport. He talked about it on the PCA podcast. We wish Vu the best. Your heart is not something to mess with. Glad his doctors caught it and got him fixed up.
I reached out to OVRs committee heads and Board Members and unanimously all are staying in their positions for another year. I cannot begin to thank you all for the incredible work you’ve done this year. It never ceases to amaze me the generosity our members have in giving up their time and talents to make this club work the way it does. We had more events in 2023 than we have ever had and attendance was at levels I could only dream of a few years ago. 100% of the credit goes to our amazing committee heads, their teams, and our Board Members. A heartfelt Thank You to each and every one of you.
Jeff Clark
President Ohio Valley Region
Porsche Club of America
