d56tuye

81
Tony McGuiness
San Diego, USA
@tonymcguinessgt3rs
Model 997.2 GT3 RS
Year 2011
Acquired FEB 2011
Model 991.1 GT3
Year 2015
Acquired DEC 2014
For the first time in
nearly six months,
I attended the local
cars and coffee
event held in Rancho
Santa Fe, in San
Diego County. I’m a
bit embarrassed to mention it has been
such a long time since I drove either one
of my GT3 cars to the gathering. It has
been one of the car events I’ve always
enjoyed on a weekly basis every Saturday
over the last five years.
If you have been following my column
for some time, you may recall that
Rancho Santa Fe Cars and Coffee was
previously named the ‘Secret Car Club’.
However, after some disagreements with
the founders, a few other car enthusiasts
stepped in and the club transitioned into
‘RSF Cars and Coffee’. The newly named
event just seemed to keep growing; it
really doesn’t need anyone to run it now
as it pretty much runs itself.
Because of business commitments,
for a time, it was impossible for me to
attend the regular Saturday car event.
Fortunately, last month I was finally
able to make it back to this fantastic
gathering and meet up with all my
Porsche 911 friends.
I’d been away so long; I had almost
forgotten how good Rancho Santa Fe
Cars and Coffee is! It isn’t good because
of how many exotics or classic cars turn
up. It isn’t even a great event because
there is always a big Porsche turnout.
Nor is it necessarily a fantastic event
because it is held in a beautiful area
(although that does certainly provide a
great backdrop with incredible weather).
I have come to realise over the years
that Rancho Santa Fe Cars and Coffee
is a terrific event because of the friendly
people who turn up every Saturday
morning excited and ready to passionately
share stories about their cars.
After bringing my GT3 RS back to
RSF Cars and Coffee after a long break,
it struck me that Porsche 911 owners
are perhaps the most passionate and
knowledgeable brand owners. Possibly I
hadn’t recognised it before, but listening
to 911 owners talk about their cars and
engaging with them about the 911 in
general led me to recognise I can’t stay
away from RSF for six months again!
Chris Wallbank
Leeds, UK
@chris_wallbank
@chrisjwallbank
Model 997.1 CARRERA S
Year 2005
Acquired NOV 2012
So… after putting my
997.1 C2S Cabriolet
up for sale and
seeing little interest
over the course of
three weeks, which
I can only presume
has not been helped by the time of year
and non-stop torrential rain and flooding
we’ve been having here in the UK, I
changed my mind one last time and
decided to keep hold of the old girl!
I do realise I’ve probably been
annoying the hell out of Total 911
readers with my indecision these last
couple of months, but I just don’t think
I’m ready to part with her…
So in an impulse decision I went
out and bought a 2010 BMW M3 DCT
for use on track. Yes, it may not be a
Porsche, but it’s a hell of a lot of car for
the money now that you can pick up
a good example for around £15k, and
much more suitable for track than my
low-mileage Carrera S Cabriolet! The
great thing is, I now feel I’ve got the best
of both worlds… a great weekend car for
twisty B roads and a great track car! All
while still being a whole £15k better off
than I would have been upgrading the
997 to a 2012 991.
Meanwhile last month I also made my
first ever visit to the annual NEC Classic
Motor Show in Birmingham. I’ve been
meaning to go to this show for years,
but it always clashed with the SEMA
show in Las Vegas.
The show was much bigger than I
had expected, with a massive Porsche
presence and a hugely impressive
manufacturer stand from Porsche GB
and their classic car programme. I didn’t
know where to look first; it made for
some lovely photo opportunities.
The stand was made up of various
Porsche GB classic restorations that
were up for sale to the general public,
including an absolutely stunning 930
Turbo, live engine build demos from
Porsche mechanics, and you could even
buy a lovely Classic Porsche Tool Kit if
you had around £500 spare! Definitely a
show I’ll be returning to next year.