spinner - schonesland · 2019. 2. 8. · classified ads are welcome from sl-pca members....

SPINNERSchönesland Region Porsche Club of AmericaFebruary 2019

NOTICE:The Spinner newsletter name and content herein are copyright protected and may not be reproduced without SL-PCA’s express written permission. All logos belong to their respective owners. Porsche, the Porsche Crest, Targa, Boxster, Carrera, Cayenne, Cayman, Panamera, Tiptronic, VarioCam, PCM, 911, 4S, are trademarks of Porsche AG. This newsletter is only for our Iowa Subscribers. We do not intend to establish contacts or enter into any contracts outside of the State of Iowa. INFORMATION IN THIS NEWSLETTER IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITH NO WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Inclusion of an advertisement or Internet link in these pages does not imply any endorsement of the services or the site, it’s contents, or it’s sponsoring organization. The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Spinner, the Porsche Club of America, the Schonesland Region of the Porsche Club of America, its officers, newsletter editors, or web-master. Classified ads are welcome from SL-PCA members. Nonprofessional, non-corporate sale of personal Porsche-related items only. Classified cost is FREE! Editor reserves right to limit ad size due to space limitations.

February 2019

PUBLICATION CONTRIBUTORS: Will MacFarland (President)David Safris (Vice President / SPINNER Editor)Alecia Kindred (SPINNER Designer)

COVER PHOTO: Photo provided by David Safris from Thermal Club, Thermal, CA

SPINNER – February 2019 Page 1

TABLE OF CONTENTSSchonesland Officers & Board Members 2

President’s Apex 3

Events Calendar 4

Termal Club 6

Cars I Want and Don’t Want 8

Start Your Engines 10

Woodhouse Ad 11

Advertisements 12


SCHONESLAND OFFICERS & BOARD MEMBERS

Bob TimmermanPresident

Terri JohnsonSecretary

Doug HillmanTreasurer

Julienne KrennrichSocial Media Chair

Garry SeemannTour Director

David SafrisNewsletter Editor

Members-at-Large: Paul Rathjen, Skip Hammerman, Jeff David, Rich Collins, Chuck Stewart, John Peeler

Jen ScharffSafety Chair

Drew HillmanVice President/

Tom RuskClub Historian515-233-1594

Will MacFarlandFormer President

Bob EddyAutocross Chair

Ken WatkinsMembership Chair


PRESIDENT’S APEX

Bob TimmermanPresident

Welcome to 2019! Thank you to all who submitted a ballot for the Board of Directors of the Schonesland region. Thank you also to our board, whose members are already taking the ball and running with it. I would like to especially thank our immediate past President, Will MacFarland, for his stellar work to enhance our region over the last two years. He has graciously helped to put me in a position to build on his success.

I’d like to extend a warm welcome to our newest members:Steve Casteel, owner of a 1985 911 CarreraJeff Pomerantz, owner of a 2014 911 Carrera SPaul Rathjen, owner of a 2012 Panamera Turbo S Bryan DeJong, owner of a 2016 911 Targa 4SJamie Neuwerth, owner of a 1987 911 Carrera

Please be sure to welcome them and all our new members whenever you meet them. It’s not the cars, it’s the people!

We are very excited about the events scheduled for this year, which include our monthly Cars and Coffee, Drive and Dines, one-day and multi-day tours and other special activities. Please see our calendar for details of these events.

Finally, as incoming President, I’d like to give you a brief personal background. Sports cars have interested me since I was very young. My father owned roadsters during my formative years so I got to experience the joy of riding in an Austen Healey 3000, a Triumph TR7, and a Mustang, among others. Consequently, I had to have a roadster as my first car. I couldn’t afford much, but I found a 1966 MGB that ran well and had no glaring electrical issues. Some of the best times I can remember with my Dad were working on that car and going to races at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI. That started the passion I have for sports cars and sports car racing that I have today. I feel fortunate to have become a Porsche owner, not just because it’s a great car, but because I get to know all of you. I look forward to enjoying time with all of you.


EVENTS CALENDAR

On Facebook? So are we.

Join the Schonesland Facebook page by searchingSchonesland Region of the PCA and clicking the Join button. Then share your favorite Porsche photos or car related items.

FEBRUARY 2019

JUNE 2019

MARCH 2019

APRIL 2019

MAY 2019

Saturday 2/9 - Cars & Coffee at Cozy Café Johnston (8AM - 10AM)

Tuesday 2/19 - Drive & Dine at Central Standard (6:30PM - 8:30PM)


Tuesday 6/18 - Drive & Dine at Central Standard (6:30PM - 8:30PM)

Thursday 6/20 - Car Show in Valley Junction (3PM - 7PM)

Saturday 6/22 - Marshalltown / Amana Drive (8AM - 2PM)


Tuesday 3/19 - Drive & Dine (6:30PM - 8:30PM)

Saturday 3/30 - Tech Session at David Sly’s Garage (9AM - 11AM)



Saturday 4/27 - New Member Picnic (11AM - 2PM)

Saturday 5/4 - Sunday 5/5 - Weston MO Drive


Saturday 5/18 - Poker Fun Run (8AM - 1PM)



EVENTS CALENDAR (CONT.)

JULY 2019

OCTOBER 2019

DECEMBER 2019

AUGUST 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019

NOVEMBER 2019

Saturday 7/13 - Cars & Coffee / Ft Madison Drive (8AM - 3PM)


Sunday 7/21 - Sunday 7/28 - National PCA Parade Week

Friday 10/11 - Sunday 10/13 - Wisconsin Fall Drive



Saturday 12/7 - Holiday Party (6PM - 11PM)


Saturday 8/10 - Cars & Coffee / Winery Drive to Carroll (8AM - 2PM)


Friday 8/30 - Sunday 9/1 - Eureka Springs Drive

Sunday 9/8 - Car Show at Des Moiens Concours (8AM - 4PM)






I had run about ten laps when Drake signaled me in for a little chat. The chat was succinctly put as - ‘What are you doing? You are way off the pace!’ Lap time numbers don’t lie so I had to admit to him being in his car and on this private track my mind was mostly focused on ‘not messing up.’ It did not help that his car had a few new body panels from a recent student that had impacted a wall. Things like that get in your mind and I very much did not want to be ‘that guy.’ Shaking his head at me Drake grabbed his race gear, moved me to the passenger seat and we went out to discuss what the MX5 Cup could really do. Riding a few fast laps with Drake was probably the most enlightening or did I mean frightening things I have done in a race car. Drake

THERMAL CLUB

David SafrisNewsletter Editor

In a remote desert setting thirty minutes Southeast of Palm Springs, CA exits a magical place for car lovers called Thermal Club. I was lucky enough to visit Thermal Club in January and I can tell you very directly. Go there if you can.

Thermal Club is to cars as the highest end golf club might be to golfers. The entire facility is surrounded by tall permanent fencing and the entry is through a staffed access gate on a very normal public road. Once inside it takes a good while to process what exactly is going on. And really “Yes, what exactly is going on!”

When Karen and I arrived, a parking lot just inside the gates held twenty or more new BMW M3’s staged for BMW’s high level member driving program. Porsche had a long caravan of 991.2 911’s lined up for an upcoming event for their top echelons of dealers and customers. And the parking lot around the racetrack clubhouse was a feast for the automotive eyes. (see attached pictures) Thermal Club

is not a car show or museum, this is a place with multiple full-length racetracks where the biggest toys come out to play.

I was lucky enough to be the guest of Drake Kemper at Thermal Club for a day of lapping in his Mazda MX5 Cup race car. Drake was an instructor at Skip Barber that I had met years back and has made the rounds through IMSA Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge, Pirelli World Challenge, and INDYCAR Global Mazda MX-5Cup. Drake won the 2014 MazdaSpeed Pro Challenge Championship season and definitely knows his way around a race track.

After taking in the sights for a while and totally psyching myself out it was time to go out on the track. Drake took me on a few laps in a BMW M3 and showed me the course layout for the day. It proved to be a long and very technical track including multiple straights, multiple hair pin turns, a long constant radius turn and a stretch of esses where I almost ended my day early and unsatisfactorily.


THERMAL CLUB (CONT.)ran a 2:31 which was impressive to the 2:40 I was running before our enhanced ‘discussion in the car.’

After the demonstration on massive threshold braking, apex shattering corners, and tire melting constant radius turns, I decided I was not going to waste my day short shifting and worrying about what might go wrong. I went back out and over the next few sessions saw lap times fall away. At the end of the day I turned a 2:35 and I was perfectly happy conceding four seconds to the professional on his home track. I expect, if pushed, Drake could go faster than a 2:31 and I believe, with another day in his car, I could go faster than a 2:35. And that’s the essence of competition right there.

The Thermal Club experience is beyond comparison and I haven’t even yet mentioned the palm trees, beautiful mountains, warm weather and bright blue January skies.

Every time you pull into the pit area a team of people are ready for you. Check the tires? Gas? Need a bottle of water with a straw so you don’t have to remove your helmet type service. Want to have lunch in a beautiful clubhouse environment, they have that too. Did you fly to the track in your private plane? No worry, they have you covered with their private airport. If you decide you want to live in the desert and be a member - they would love to have you but please note the website indicates the trackside villas are 8,000 - 15,000 sq foot with twenty car lower level garages. So, bring your checkbook.

It is possible that you and I cannot dream big enough to understand the

scope of what they have going on at Thermal Club. But I have to tell you, for one glorious day in the California desert, I sure had fun trying.

Comparison on the variety of cars on the track at Thermal Club the day I was there. I did not check track upgrades and modifications of each car so using a rough estimated value. Example the Cayman was heavily track prepped vs a stock GT3 which makes a big cost and performance difference so this is really just a guessing game for fun a comparison.

Car Lap Time Est Price Gap Cost/SecondMazda MX5 Cup 2:31 $60K - -Porsche Cayman 2:26 $80K 5sec $4K /secPorsche GT3 2:25 $180 6sec $20K /secPorsche GT3 RS 2:20 $225 11sec $15K /sec

Or looked at another way - the GT3 RS is 3.75 times more expensive for a 7 percent speed increase. And along with purchase and build prices the running costs vary greatly across these track cars. It is easy to see why the Mazda Miata is the number one track day platform in the world but there is no way around it - I still want the GT3 RS! Don’t you?


SUV, the Aviator, is a better-looking American-made Range Rover Sport with four hundred turbocharged horsepower, those incredible million-position seats from the Continental, and a ten-speed gearbox (co-developed with GM). The Aviator arrives right-sized at just the right moment in time. I want it.

2019 Acura NSXAcura is having a tough time selling these cars, but that is certainly not the fault of the folks at work there. For 2019, the NSX evolves from its 2017 original with larger stabilizer bars, stiffer rear toe link bushings, and new, exclusive Continental SportContact 6 tires. The hybrid powertrain, magnetic-ride suspension, power steering, and stability control systems have all had their software tweaked as well. The car is significantly faster, more talkative, and even looks better than it did at introduction. I want it – in Thermal Orange, please.

CARS I WANT AND DON’T WANT

Will MacFarlandPresident

CARS I WANT

This list is pure id. It makes very few concessions to reality. Perhaps the only binding thread that connects these cars is that they are somewhat attainable and daily-driveable and would not cause flash-forming of an Instagram-crazed mob.

Porsche 718 Boxster SI’ve already written about how sublime this car is. I want it.

Alfa Romeo Giulia QuadrifoglioI’ve also written about the four-cylinder Giulia, and it’s grand. But I’ve been a passenger in a Quadrifoglio and it is much the same car, but turned up like Michael J. Fox turned up the amps at the beginning of Back to the Future. It’s scarily, heart-poundingly powerful and blindingly unreliable. It’s Penélope Cruz in Blow. It’s terrifyingly laughable that I want it. I want it.

Hyundai Veloster NI recently returned from a business trip to southern California, where my rental car was a Kia Rio S. It really was pretty good! The transmission slid into gears with authority and predictability, the steering and tires allowed steady modulation of grip right up to the limit, and it even had a Sport button! It made me fantasize about what those Korean engineers must have done with double the budget and all that much more focus on fun and speed! I want it.

BMW 740iI wrote about the current G11/G12-series 740i when it first came about in summer of 2016. This generation of 7-series is just about to see a midcycle refresh that includes a 40% larger front grille. I’ll pass on that—give me the original G11 with that Panoramic Sky Lounge LED Roof option. I want it.

2020 Lincoln AviatorThe new Navigator is nice, but just too big. Lincoln’s more recent resurrected

http://theflatsix.com/2018/10/test-drive-718-boxster-s/

http://schonesland.com/documents/news/92.pdf

http://theflatsix.com/2016/08/bavarian-bounce-back/

https://jalopnik.com/yes-the-2020-bmw-7-series-grille-is-a-whole-40-percent-1831809570

https://jalopnik.com/yes-the-2020-bmw-7-series-grille-is-a-whole-40-percent-1831809570


CARS I WANT AND DON’T WANT (CONT.)CARS I DON’T WANT

These cars are new, but don’t make the above list for reasons I’ll articulate.

2019 Chevrolet Blazer

The Blazer is back, and certainly the exterior styling can look sharp. The problem is to get to the sharpness, Chevrolet forces the customer into the $45,000-50,000 range, which is too much for what at its core remains a two-row on-road transverse-engined front-drive economy crossover. Unless suddenly a ZR2 trim level appears, I do not want this car.

2020 Toyota SupraI struggled to figure out who this car was built for. Starting at $50,000 with the six-cylinder engine (don’t even talk to me about the four-cylinder), the Supra will make 47 less horsepower than its platform-mate, the fourth-generation BMW Z4. When it comes to two-seat sports cars, it appears the Supra attempts to undercut the Porsche Cayman and the Alfa Romeo 4C in price while offering a similar experience. The problem is if the customer is seeking a non-premium brand, they should be compelled to look at the Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro, both of which offer significantly stronger V8 engines and track-focused

performance packages for about forty-five grand. I suppose there must be some folks out there who want a new car,

don’t want a premium brand, but don’t want a domestic either, and therefore this is the car for them. As I am not those folks, I do not want this car.

Anything from Jaguar/Land RoverJag/LR has a portfolio of vehicles with lovely interior and exterior design, but the company gouges far too deeply for engine upgrades. A base Discovery Sport starts at $37,795 for 237hp, but the same-displacement engine in the same car producing 286hp starts at $49,395. A 340hp Range Rover Sport is $67,050, but a 380hp (again, same-displacement engine) is $82,450 – with pockets that deep, why would a buyer not spring for the 518hp, $85,850 5.0-liter supercharged V8? That would certainly make more sense, I suppose, than getting the 5.0-liter supercharged V8 SVR for $113,900. Beautiful car design is a special thing, but not so special that one should accept being overcharged for performance. I do not want these cars.

Here’s hoping the experiences to come in 2019 will bring about changes to this list! Check back here after the NY Auto Show, coming up in April.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/future-cars/a26064082/toyota-supra-bmw-z4-engines/


START YOUR ENGINES FOR 2019 AUTOCROSS AND TIME TRIAL EVENTS WITH DES MOINES VALLEY REGION SCCAAutocrossSchonesland has an agreement with Des Moines Valley Region (DMVR) of Sports Car Club America (SCCA) for our members to participate in any and all autocross (Solo) events during this year. These events are being done a bit different this year than in the past. DMVR has scheduled 10 separate events, all in the Des Moines area, beginning in April and running thru October.

Events will be run on Saturday and again on Sunday of the same weekend. Each day will be on the same site but will be totally different courses. It will be possible to enter an event on either day or for both days.

Dates and locations are: April 13 & 14 – AdventurelandMay 25 & 26 - Iowa Event CenterAugust 24 & 25 - Iowa Event CenterSeptember 28 & 29 - Iowa Event CenterOctober 12 & 13 – Adventureland

DMVR SCCA will provide helmets and some guidance and instruction if desired. Our members cost will only be the normal event registration fee. You NEED NOT be a SCCA member, but of course you may join. Rules for entering a autocross can be found on the DMVR web site: www.dmvrscca.org. and then by clicking on the appropriate link for “solo/autocross.”

Club Time Trial EventsDMVR and SCCA have changed track day events and are no longer called PDX. They are now called Club Time Trial events. DMVR are only doing one of these and that is on August 10 & 11 and will be held at Raceway Park of the Midlands (RPM) race track just south of Council Bluffs about 12 miles on Interstate 29. A second event is being tried to happen and held at Iowa Speedway some time in October. Stay tuned for more information. For this event you must be a SCCA member but this can be done by getting a weekend membership.

This is a full set of timed laps on the full 2.5 mile 15 turn race course. Again you may enter one day or both. Rules and requirements for this can be found also on the DMVR website: www.dmvrscca.org and then click on the “Club Time Trial” link and then scroll down for various connections.

Time Trial events are run where multiple vehicles are on the track at the same time, but each car is in competition with them self as you are going for your best time per lap. Helmets and such equipment will be provided by DMVR.

Any specific questions can be answered by Bob Eddy. There are also three of these events at Heartland Park race track in Topeka (about a 4 hour drive) and two events at Gateway race track in Saint Louis (about a 6 1/2 hour drive)

http://www.dmvrscca.org/

http://www.dmvrscca.org/

spinner - schonesland · 2019. 2. 8. · classified ads are welcome from sl-pca members....

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