Competition

Cindy Wyett brings her 996 Carrera across the finish line after another quick run at the Marina AX. (Photo C Kugler)The traveling road show that is the PCA Zone 7 Autocross Series wound its way to Marina, CA in late July. Since we had committed to do the full series this year and the Monterey area is one of our favorites, it was a no brainer to hit the road early Friday morning for a leisurely cruise down using alternate routes the Salinas Best Western Hotel, our home for the weekend. Always prepared to take advantage of our weekends away, we headed for the southern Monterey County wine region. A short 25 minute drive south on Hwy 101 took us to Soledad, CA, home to Hahn Estates, Chalone and a few other well heeled wineries. With the afternoon fading and a dinner date on Cannery Row pending, we headed west to the Santa Lucia Highlands and Hahn Estates. This winery is part of the Monterey Bay Region - PCA sponsored tour during Historics Week so it seemed like a natural. Without making this a wine tour article, the large deck replete with market umbrellas and tables, wines of excellent quality, engaging and knowledgeable staff and views of the vineyards and valley below make this a “must see” stop if you’re in this area.

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.

Terry Zaccone “helps” his car, Marcel, around the final turn on his way to top PAX time on Saturday at the Zone AX. (Photo by C Kugler)The first two rounds of the Zone 7 Autocross series were hosted by the Redwood Region and held at the Charles Schultz Sonoma County Airport. The advance weather reports sounded great so we committed to go. With the event just north of Santa Rosa, we naturally left Friday morning to enjoy the drive and take advantage of the proximity of the Russian River wine area. There are several routes to this area but we took the quickest to maximize our afternoon in the vineyards. Stopping at several smaller wineries we were able to enjoy the familiar family feel that we’re accustomed to, in an area of gorgeous rolling hills and green valleys. For those unfamiliar with this area, let me just say the wines tend to be more refined and food friendly, with Pinot Noir being particularly good. Based on a recommendation from the folks at Deloach Vineyards, we had dinner at Willie’s Wine Bar. Only 5 minutes from our Santa Rosa hotel, Willie’s, a California “tapas” style restaurant, had selections which were extensive and the four “plates” we selected were equally good. An early return to the hotel allowed a little prep for the morning and a chance to get a good night’s sleep.

The snow-covered heights overlooking Caples Lake on our Highway 88 drive through the Sierra Nevada. (Photo ML Kugler)The late March weekend weather looked promising and after a long winter of wind, snow and cindered mountain roads, a chance to get an early start on the Autocross season sounded like a great opportunity. Sacramento Valley Region (SVR) was hosting a Sunday Autocross in Stockton and even a three hour drive didn’t seem too daunting to spend a day “running the cones”.

Dean Watt's historic "901" vintage race car in the paddock at last year's Coronado Speed Festival.2010 is upon us and that means opportunities for the performance minded—drivers and spectators. Here’s an early season overview.

Autocross (AX) is primarily a lower speed event which gives you an opportunity to learn car control skills, improve your performance driving and experience the limits of your Porsche in a safe environment. It’s a fun, low cost way to get a “rush” without abusing your baby. Locally, Reno Region SCCA will have its annual Autocross School on Saturday, April 17th at the Stead Airport. Signups start @ 8AM and the school lasts all day so bring a lunch and plenty to drink. The first “points” event will be the following day and AX events run through October (www.renoscca.com for details). Helmets are required but you may be able to use a “loaner”.

PCA related AX events are out of area with Sacramento Valley (SVR) having 5 events scheduled starting March 24th. Zone 7 has several AX events planned with the first hosted by Redwood Region (RR) at the Charles Schultz Airport in Santa Rosa on April 17th /18th. The SVR events are usually in Stockton but on May 29th the paddock at Infineon Raceway will host a Zone 7 event (and it’s near the wine country). See the links from our website (www.snr-pca.org) to RR, SVR and Zone 7 sites for additional information.

Ken Hollman enjoying the ride in his little red race car. (Photo by C Kugler)Last year I simply had the wrong date on the calendar for my favorite vintage car race. I was surprised to get a call on a Friday morning asking where I was (in my garage, not in Coronado 560 miles away with the rest of the vintage drivers). I ended up making a frantic drive that day to make the event, left my wife at home, and had to cancel house-sitter plans for the following week.

Well, the only good thing I can report is that my calendar skills have improved. Wednesday we left Reno in a caravan with the Hollmans, Watts, and Christensens and drove to Lone Pine for the night. We met the Turnbeaugh’s there and had a great dinner. Thursday we had an easy drive to Coronado where we parked our race cars for the long weekend. On Friday Dean Watts and I were asked to drive Navy VIP’s around the track in our visually identical white 911’s – yes, that quickly broke into a bit of a race contest and our riders loved it. (I had an older gentleman with me and was taking it easy when Dean blew by us. My rider said in a gruff voice, “You’re not going to let him do that are you?” I replied ‘No Sir” and we were off.)

The author negotiates a tight turn during the Autocross in his 2006 Cayman S. (Photo by ML Kugler)The end of October brought the local Autocross season to a close for 2009. SCCA is our main resource for local AX events and this year was more of a challenge for the organization and the drivers as the Stead airport facility had surface “issues” due to an incorrectly applied seal coat last fall. With Stead off the schedule, we used various facilities in the northern Nevada area including Reno Fernley Raceway, Hawthorne Airport and the south lot at the Grand Sierra Resort. We even crossed the state line for a weekend event at the Truckee-Tahoe Airport.

In preparing for the final weekend event I was surprised to see another venue change on the SCCA website, this time back to where it all started: Stead. I kept my fingers crossed for good weather, hoping to end the year on a high note.

We were scheduled for the last afternoon run group so when we arrived Sunday morning the early group runs were half over. Talking to a few of my driver friends while watching the action, it became clear that the surface traction issue that had banned us from Stead in April had not disappeared. The surface was such that car control and finding the limits given the surface would dictate how well we would fare. We taped up the flares and low hanging rear body parts and prepared to do battle one last time.

Paul Christensen and his 1956 356A waiting their turn to take to the track. (Photo by C Kugler)The allure of hundreds of vintage race cars at a world famous race track with Porsche as the featured marquee provided all the impetus we needed to sign up for our first visit to the Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca. We booked our room last November and a good thing we did as reasonably priced rooms were impossible to get months before the races. Along with the Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach, the races are the lynch pin to a weeklong series of classic car events around the Monterey Peninsula (see Frans Nelson’s article on the other events).