Slipstream - March 2003

Road Ramblings
by Keith Olcha, Maverick Region President
Last month I mentioned how much I look
forward to February as the start of the
racing season. It begins for me with
the Daytona 24 hour Sports Car Race.
Congratulations to Kevin Buckler and his Racers
Group team for an overall win this year in the
#66 Porsche GT3RS. I began buying parts
through the mail seven years ago from Kevin
when he and his wife Debra were the whole
company. Kevin walked me through many an installation talking
to me on my cordless phone while I was leaning over the car.
Kevin still club races with PCA and is a regular guy.
Of course, a GT class car never should have won Daytona
in the first place. It was only because of problems with many
of the cars in the brand-new Daytona Prototype class that
attrition allowed a lower-category car to win first place overall.
We’ll see how Grand-Am does this year. I still don’t think there
is enough fan and sponsor interest in three sports car organizations-
SCCA, Grand-Am, and American Le Mans. We’ll see…
So what have I done so far starting in February? I attended
Autocross 101 – an introduction to autocrossing, and Karen
attended the ladies-only autocross school the day before at
Pennington field. She loved it. I’ve only driven my Boxster on
the street for the past three months and I forgot where the
steering wheel was pointed a few times when the car was sliding.
By the time you read this we will have completed our first track
event, the Drivers Education at MotorSport Ranch. So what is
going on in March? A full calendar, of course, as the weather
improves.
you can enjoy working on your own car with your hands and do
a better job than most paid-services is good old-fashioned
washing, waxing, and interior cleaning. It can be time-consuming
but there is nothing like a clean Porsche in-and-out! There are
various websites such as www.carcareonline.com that will tell
you about techniques, and sell you the cleaning products.
Another thing is an oil and filter change, and/or changing the
pollen or particle filters on the newer cars. Again, this is about
50% of the total scheduled maintenance on a daily driver over
time. There are people who also think routine brake services
such as pad replacements and fluid flushing are too complicated
for the novice. It’s easier than you think, and in just a couple
of years can save you enough money to spend more on other
fun car-related stuff. There will be opportunities over the year
to attend tech-clinics designed to demonstrate the things you
can work on yourself on your Porsche.
Finally, next month I’m going put on paper, a frequent
dream of pretending what I would acquire (money being no
object) if I had to fill a 15-stall warehouse collection of
Porsches. Racecars, road cars, and special editions- you name
it. All these cars should be drivable. While I might not put
much mileage on them, they are theoretically able to run as
intended with reasonable notice. Factory mechanics on call!
Why don’t you all think about it also and email me with your
favorite road and race Porsches. You don’t have to list 15. I’ll
take everyone’s favorites and compile a weighted list of our
readership’s 15, and my 15. Feel free to add your comments. I
bet your list will be more interesting than mine!
...I forgot where the steering wheel was pointed
a few times when the car was sliding...
There is one more set of autocross and time-trial schools,
on March 8-9 this time being held at Mineral Wells, and the
first regular timed-event autocross and time-trial weekend of
the year will also be out at Mineral Wells at the end of March.
Time trials are on Saturday, and autocrosses are on Sunday.
The schools are low-pressure, instructive, and fun. Our first
dinner social is March 1 as well as our first tour of the year
along the Dogwood Trail to Palestine on March 23rd. Please
look over the calendar on the first page for the rest of the
month’s activities.
March 15 marks the long-awaited and much-ballyhooed
introduction of the Cayenne Sport Utility Vehicle. I don’t know
about you, but feel as if this thing has been written about,
talked about, and sneak-previewed for ten years already. And
just when a gallon of gas is almost as expensive as a gallon of
milk. I guess timing is everything. I read that every Cayenne
they will produce for the next 18 months is spoken for.
Hopefully our area dealers will have some unveiling parties, etc.
I think the Cayenne and the Hummer H2 compete for the most
exotic medium-duty tow vehicle.
I have often heard people talk at our socials about what
services they can or cannot do on their Porsches as far as owner
maintenance is concerned. Many people think if you can’t
perform a tune-up then you might as well not work on the car
at all. I’m not sure about that. One of the biggest areas where
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