What’s New

alt

NNJR Event Calendar 2012 Rev. 7/5/12

July

1 Sun Driver Ed Pocono All

2 Mon Tech Mosport Tech Town Porsche,105 Grand Ave, Englewood, NJ 5:30-7:30pm

5 Thur Board of Governors meeting Somerset Hills Learning Institute, Somerset, NJ 7:30pm

8 Sun Rally High Marques Rally High Marques, Morristown, NJ

8 Sun Parade Start National PCA Parade Salt Lake City, UT

11 Wed Monthly Meeting Bruce Wennerstrom The Villa, Mountain Lakes, NJ 8pm

13-15 Fri-Sun Driver Ed Mosport Drive Ed Bowmanville, Ontario

13 Fri Social/Concours Biergarten at Deutscher Club Pavilion, Clark, NJ 5:30-10pm

14 Sat Parade End National PCA Parade Salt Lake City, UT

22 Sun Social 55th Anniversary Celebration Harbor Hills Picnic Grove, Mendham, NJ

23 Mon Tech Watkins Glen I Tech Powertech, Rockaway, NJ 6 - 8pm

24 Tue Closing date for September issue of Porscheforus

29 Sun AX #4 Autocross Met Life Stadium, Lot E, Meadowlands, NJ 8am

August

3-5 Fri-Sun Driver Ed Watkins Glen I Watkins Glen, NY

8 Wed Monthly Meeting Tim Pappas The Villa, Mountain Lakes, NJ 8pm

9 Thu Board of Governors meeting Brick Academy, Basking Ridge, NJ 7:30pm

12 Sun Concours MiuliMark Concours New Hope, NJ

19 Sun AX #5 Autocross Met Life Stadium, Lot E, Meadowlands, NJ 8am

20 Mon Tech Lightning Tech Shade Tree Garage, Morristown, NJ 6 - 8pm

24 Fri Closing Date for October issue of Porscheforus

25-26 Sat-Sun AX Zone 1 Autocross Fort Devens, Ayer, MA

Read more
alt
  Notice of Annual Meeting: Pursuant to Article X of the Bylaws,…
Read more
alt

I used to have this shirt that I would wear sometimes when doing SCCA Solo II events in my Miata. I think the wording was, “Autocross: If it were any easier, they would call it Driver Education.” I know, real funny. I thought it was, at least. It was all part of the good-natured ribbing that takes place between parking lot racers and track guys. The lines of demarcation have always been blurry for some, though. If you look at many of our chiefs (Bill Gilbert and Scott Studer immediately come to mind), instructors like Keith Peare, Rick Newman, and Robert Ida, and advanced drivers like Tom Iervolino, Joe Aiovoli, Lou Hudyman, and Iskender Catto, the multi-discipline guys are represented in good numbers.

I count myself among the “ambidriverous” (I just made that up). And so, when the SCCA Northeast Autocross Championship was up on the calendar for May 12-13, I was really excited. Finally! A national-level event locally at the Meadowlands! What would I drive? Who would I co-drive with? The excitement lasted a couple of hours, when Tom Iervolino reminded me that the 13th was Mothers Day. There are some things in life that that you just do not mess with, and Moms are one of them. Rats. I had to cancel. Intrepid Lou Hudyman, with his teammate and wife, Kelly, were driving their Lotus in the big event, though. I decided to live vicariously through them, and follow the live results online as they drove in the competition over the two days.

I was surprised on Sunday, when no results were being posted. I figured something was wrong with the online results system. A text message from Lou late in the day, informed me that the event had actually been cancelled due to a fatality that took place at the Meadowlands early in the day involving a motorcyclist and a traffic investigation. Being a part-time motorcyclist myself, it always touches a special chord in me when I hear about a fallen biker. Naturally, your thoughts turn to their lives, their families, and the general sadness of it all.

Read more
alt
Well, you decided it is time to “upgrade you car” with a few bits and pieces. While this article is not meant to cover what you can and cannot do to move from Stock to Production to Improved, etc… it will cover some relatively easy and somewhat inexpensive changes you can make to help improve your times.
Read more
alt
So what did you decide to do on a rainy, cold Sunday, April 22? About 60 plus of us went and played with our Porsches in the rain at Met Life Stadium Meadowlands Parking Lot J. We were assigned instructors and led around four different driving stations, including a slalom course, a braking exercise, and two skid pads, clockwise and counterclockwise. The wet pavement helped make the event more enjoyable and educational.

Do any of us really know how fast we can stop our cars in an emergency situation? We learned more about that in the braking exercise. After starting up, shifting to second, we maneuvered a sharp right hand turn, and then floored it until we thought we needed to brake hard and try to stop just in front of the designated stop cones. Each successive run through this braking exercise (we must have had 6 or 7 passes), we increased our speed and control on the right turn, and got closer to the stop cones. Most of us stopped way short the first time, got closer in runs 2 and 3, and plowed through the cones on another run, before really figuring out when to brake and successfully stop before the cones. Porsche brakes are indeed amazing.

The slalom course taught us about control and cornering, driving smooth, and looking ahead. Bill Knox, first time CCC driver, described the slalom as a different kind of challenge, with much more emphasis on precise steering than speed. Bill’s instructor, Mike Raff urged Bill to move smoothly, without jerkiness. “It took almost all my turns to come even close to acceptable.” Bill was grateful that for him, the slalom came last after the braking and skid pad drills, “because all of the skills encouraged by the earlier drills were needed for the slalom.”

Read more
alt

This time of year as the weather warms and our thoughts turn more to outdoor activities, NNJR-PCA provides one event that is tailor made to get the entire family out for a truly fun day of automotive pleasures. Our “Welcome To The Club” event is just the right type of activity to get the entire family thinking “Porsche”.

As many of you know this event, in its many incarnations in recent years, was held at Schooley’s Mountain State Park. For this year’s event, we decided to move to a new venue that would be more geographically convenient for most of our members. Somerset Hills Learning Institute in Bedminster, NJ and just off RT 287 fit the bill. The school, being the benefactor of our current charity fund raising efforts, generously agreed to host our event. The school is a beautiful and modern facility set in the rolling hills of Somerset County. With this change of venue we had the comforts of indoor dinning and clean restrooms. We are sure those of you familiar with Schooley’s Mountain would agree the amenities at the school were a significant improvement.

For those unfamiliar with the “Welcome To The Club” event, it is open to all, but its focus is to give new members experience with our concours and rally programs. In concours, Hank Menkes and Craig Ploetner’s goal is to teach the new member how to prepare their cars for a judged event and at the same time to help them preserve their condition and value. Rally master John Vogt started the rally portion of the event with a school so members will be familiar will rally terms and how to follow route instructions. After which participants were sent off on a “Gimmick Rally” that required following instructions, and correctly answering questions on sights along the way.

Read more