Ken Hollman looks on as John Strom instructs Ron and Lanette Petersen in the proper way top load a Nerf Gun for the Funkana. (Photo R Chew)Sierra Nevada Region recently celebrated another milestone in its illustrious history, 45 years as a PCA Region. As one of the older clubs in PCA, a special party was planned for Saturday, June 19th at the Washoe Flats Restaurant in Washoe Valley. A western theme was chosen and the large picnic/special events area well behind the restaurant become our ranch for the day. A group of twelve members arrived at 10 AM to get ready for the event. Hay bales were dropped off and arranged in semi-random fashion in front of the “stage”. The Funkana course took the most time as its devilishly serpentine course was marked and several diabolical stage stops were set up for the “special” cowboy events. More on that later. Satisfied with the morning’s work, the field hands retired to their personal bunk houses to prepare for the party.

Hard hat for hard heads! Our illustrious tour group is ready to dig for gold in the Midas mine. (Photo by C Kugler)Harry & Debbie Dell along with Doug Coffman, my friend who drove my green Cayman, coordinated the early morning "take-off" from the Starbucks in Sparks to the "landing" at the Global Coffee Shop in Winnemucca. The I-80 drive was brisk and the group arrived without incident. Since the mine tour would overlap our normal lunch time, sack lunches were distributed and the group was off again to the Golconda/Midas Mine stop-off . After a spirited drive to the end of the pavement, the tour of Newmont Midas Gold mine really started when the group parked their vehicles at the intersection north of the small town of Golconda, Nevada. There Rob & Rosa Whisenand were patiently waiting for our arrival. Rosa graciously gave each tour participant a commemorative gift bag donated by the various local mines.

Q. I purchased my 1995 993 six years ago when it had 72k miles. It’s now at 105,000 miles, it runs great, is used only on the street and I have had no mechanical problems. Several weeks ago, however, I noticed a vibration or 'chatter' in the clutch in 1st gear, reverse, and sometimes downshifting to 2nd. The vibration occurs often, but not 100% of the time. I've reviewed the PCA data base Q&A, but I'm not sure what is going on. Do you think the problem is clutch related, dual mass flywheel, or both? J L 5/16/2010

Rich & Karen O’Larey, Dan & Jackie Aynesworth and Cam Warren & Su Kemper at the Trolley Car luncheon in Nevada City. (Photo by C Kugler)Perseverance finally paid off, at the last minute the weatherman relented, and the first Saturday in June dawned bright and sunny! After five month’s of mysterious behavior winter went away, and the PCA tour to the Greenhorn Creek Guest Ranch was underway. Twelve shiny Porsches headed west from Reno via the prime residential area of Somerset, on through rural Verdi, and joined I-80 at Gold Ranch.

We tried to stay off Interstate 80 as much as possible and the construction area west of Reno had us concerned, but proved to be a quick 10-minute traverse on a Saturday morning. We then detoured through the residential area of Glenshire east of Truckee; around Donner Lake, up to the viewpoint above the west end of the lake via old US 40, continuing back down the river to the interstate via Rainbow Bend. It was a gorgeous day for motoring!

Craig Kugler gets the green flag to start his AX run at Infineon Raceway. (Photo M L Kugler)Looking for the opportunity to build my driving skills and to stretch the car out a bit, I took Craig Kugler up on his offer to try an autocross. Craig has autocrossed for several years and offered to show me how it worked. We found a date that we could both make work and set our sights on a Zone 7 event hosted by the Sacramento Valley Region at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. Memorial Day weekend - it sounded perfect: a bit of wine tasting on the way down, dinner in the quaint town of Petaluma (really), autocross on Saturday and some more wine tasting before returning home on Sunday.

Rich O’Larey on an instructional ride with Sharon Neidel in his 1989 Carrera Cab. (Photo M L Kugler)Naturally , as with all “perfect” plans, it snowed on Thursday night prior to our departure from Truckee on Friday morning; so much for a clean car. Once we got past Blue Canyon the road dried out and the rest of the drive down the hill was beautiful. We took the Napa turn off and visited several wineries the the Carneros region, an eclectic mix including: Artesa, a hilltop winery that had wonderful wine, fantastic views and museum quality artwork and sculptures; Shug Carneros Estate, a small Pinot Noir specialist in a lovely old world setting where we had our picnic lunch; and Anaba a relatively new family winery along Hwy 121 with nice wine a good future. All were interesting and it made for a wonderful afternoon. We made our way to our hotel for the weekend in Petaluma and had an excellent Mexican dinner with Karen, Craig and Mary Lou which ended our lovely day. Now, on to the autocross.

Rich Wyett’s 1985 Guards Red Turbo Look Cabriolet waits patiently for the crowds to show up. (Photo by J Strom)On June 5, the third annual Gilson Show and Shine came through again to support a local school with much needed financial assistance. This year’s event supported the construction of a new school library for the Bailey Charter Elementary school located at 210 Gentry Way.

With Porsche Parade looming and one of the favorite member events there being the Tech Quiz, we thought we would exercise your knowledge with a little Tech Quiz of our own. Here are a few questions that even the most astute Porschephile will find challenging. The answers are on the bottom of page (no cheating).

1. Who was the American importer of foreign cars credited with helping Ferry Porsche design the famous Porsche crest emblem?
A. Erwin Komenda
B. Karl Rabe
C. Ed Hugus
D. Max Hoffman

2. The first mid-engine 911 was:
A. The 935
B. Porsche would never put the engine in
the middle of a 911
C. The 959
D. The GT1

Brad Ripley, Barry Fleischer and friend eyeball goodies at Siegfried Fiolka’s table. (Photo C Kugler)There’s a first time for everything and this year the Reno Rennsport Swap Meet gave Sierra Nevada Region members a chance to experience a Porsche only swap meet right in their own back yard. The site was the parking lot and the street area surrounding our Reno Rennsport shop in Sparks and the hope was that we would have a good turnout of sellers and buyers. The Saturday morning weather was perfect. Blue skies with no wind and set up started at 8 AM. Sure enough several folks showed early with trucks and trailers to unload and get ready for the day. By 9 AM several vendor tables were full of goodies, just in time for the members who started to arrive.