Slipstream - February 2006

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Club Coupe Weekend Photo provided by Mike & Maria Stafford By Mike & Maria Stafford In early summer I entered the contest for the 911 Club Coupe giveaway. I had read about the contest in Panorama. On September 19th I received an overnight letter delivered by FEDEX from Young America Corporation. The letter was a congratulation letter informing me as a contest winner. There was no mention of Porsche on the letter or the envelope. I was not sure if this was junk mail or real, so I phoned the 800 number on the letter. Young America is the contest company for Porsche. They informed me I was one of the three runners-up for the 911 Anniversary Club Coupe. Wow! What a total surprise. One of three from all of the contestants. I was to learn latter that the other two winners called their local clubs to confirm whether the letter was official or not. I sent my notarized documents confirming our eligibility. On September 26th I received our flight documents and the weekend’s itinerary. As a winner I received an all expenses paid trip from Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) for a four day / three night trip, round trip airfare, hotel accommodations, rental car, $300.00 spending money and race tickets to the ALMS Petit Lemans at Road Atlanta Sept. 29 - Oct 2. The Hotel was the Grand Hyatt in Atlanta. The rental car turned out to be our personal use of a Porsche Cayenne S. Each of the other runners-up received a Cayenne S, as well. Maria and Mike with the loaner Cayennes. On September 29th we arrived in Atlanta and took a cab to the Grand Hyatt. After we checked into our room we received a bottle of champagne on ice delivered from PCNA along with a welcome letter from Jack Bair, PCNA facilitator. Jack is the person who handled all the arrangements for the three runners-up and PCNA. Jack is a very competent and dedicated representative of PCNA. He left nothing undone the entire weekend. At 7pm that evening we met Jack and the other two runners-up in the hotel lobby. They were Garrett Burch from Pennsylvania and Clif Rosenberry from New York. We received a package containing the keys and race tickets for the weekend. From the hotel we all then walked a short distance to Bone's Restaurant. There we were met by Lee Newton (PCNA Marketing) and Tom and Eleanor Bobbitt. Tom is the PCA Club President. We had a wonderful evening visiting with our new friends and a very good steak dinner. Dinner was compliments of PCNA. After dinner we returned to the hotel for a night of rest. On Friday morning we drove the one hour trip to Road Atlanta where we met Photo provided by Mike & Maria Stafford Photo provided by Mike & Maria Stafford The Club Coupe up with the other two runners-up and Jack, Lee and Tom at the Porscheplatz. This was a tented area for the weekend’s events and the display of the Anniversary 911 Club Coupe. The day was very busy. We walked the paddock area in the morning and later returned to Porscheplatz for lunch and guest speakers. In attendance were race drivers Bobby Rahal, Chip Robinson, Doc Bundy, Dick Barber, and Rob Dyson. From Porsche racing was Norbert Singer (engineer) and Uwe Brettel (PMNA President). After lunch, the day was ours. We returned to Porscheplatz at 5:30 pm to line up for laps around Road Atlanta. There were approximately 100 other PCAers there to drive the course. We did three laps around the track. It was a lot of fun in the Cayenne. We lowered the ride height on the Cayenne. It did very well around the track. We felt as if we could have competed the day of the race! We returned to Porscheplatz for a barbecue dinner provided by J-3 Racing. J-3 is a local Porsche race team. In attendance were the team’s owner and two drivers who answered questions and talked about the team’s activities. Very informative. J-3 also gave away door prizes. We returned to the hotel about 9:00pm. Saturday morning finally arrived. That was the big day. The drawing for the Club Coupe was to be at 9:45am at the Porscheplatz. Better that it was sooner rather than later. We met the other runners- Mike and Maria, Clif & Andy Rosenberry (NY), and Garrett Burch (PA) 20
up in the hotel lobby about 6 am. We drove our Cayennes' across the street to Caribou Coffee (similar to Starbucks). From there it was coffee to go. We caravaned to Road Atlanta and arrived about 7:30 am. We walked the area trying not to think about the coming event. Not possible while thinking about ownership of a new Club Coupe. That would be fantastic. The time finally arrived. Jack,Tom and Lee stood across from the three of us. They had in their possession a car key inside a special blue Club Coupe hat. Three hats and three keys. One for the lucky winner. The other keys were Jack and Lee’s 911s. I took mine from Tom. Clif from Jack. Garrett from Lee. I was elected to go first. I turned the key. Nothing. I pushed in the clutch. Nothing. That was my moment of fame. No car for me that day! Next was Clif. He turned the key. VROOM! The engine ran. That lucky dog. The car was his. Clif and his wife Andy were most excited. In attendance for the contest were Speed TV, Panorama and Excellence magazines. Upon returning our keys to Jack and Lee we asked jokingly if we could keep the keys to look for the other two 911s. Of course they said no. But Garrett and I won again. Jack and Lee arranged a complimentary two-day driving school at the Porsche Driving Experience in Alabama as our consolation prize. WOW! What a way to start the racing day. After all the contest events we were treated to a most fun 10-hour Petit Lemans race. The race started at 11:45 am and ran until about 8:30 pm. There were a lot of action and lead changes throughout the race. This was our first experience seeing night racing. The car lights and the glowing brakes make for exciting racing. We returned to the hotel Photo provided by Mike & Maria Stafford late that evening. Sunday morning it was time to pack and return home. Our flight arrived at DFW around 1 pm. What a fantastic and fun weekend. Although I did not win the Club Coupe, I was a winner after all. The racing activities, Porsche Driving Experience, winning the trip for two, and most importantly all the fine people involved. We made many new friends from PCA and PCNA. PCNA, we cannot say enough. They took care of everything as did PCA. As the saying goes “It’s not the cars, it’s the people!” The weekend was evident of that. Mike receiving his keys... 21
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Slipstream - February 2006

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