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President’s Report
Paul Miller
It has been a truly indulgent Porsche time for me over the past few months, between a trip to California, driving breath-taking South Island roads on SWOTY, South Island Driver Training, track days, Leadfoot and DYPD, I have been going to Porsche places and attending Porsche Club events most weekends.
The California ‘Vibe’
On a recent family holiday to Los Angeles we visited a few LA Porsche attractions, including the Petersen Museum to view the ‘Uncompromised Design’ display supported by Porsche Cars North America. The following day we visited the Porsche Experience Centre LA, and got up close and personal with the new 718 Spyder and GT4 models. En route we dropped into the South Bay Porsche dealership, with a sizable mix of new and classic Porsches for sale. To ‘name-drop’, Jerry Seinfeld’s Rivera Blue 993 RS was in for a service – (no photos allowed), but - ooh, what a stunning car! Next year I would like to pop over for a quick boys (and girls) trip to see Luftikult – (maybe a Club group?)
An Enthusiasts Club
I was recently asked if we are just a ‘sports car’ Club and do we make people with ‘4 door’ Porsches welcome? From my perspective we are a Porsche enthusiasts Club and make all people (owners and enthusiasts) equally welcome to join. I am reminded that our current Treasurer and Life Members, Steve and Michelle Neville, joined the Club when the family drove a Vauxhall Viva and had only dreamed of owning a Porsche. I would like to think we still openly welcome all people who are enthusiasts for the marque. Looking at the spectrum of events the Club runs there really isn’t any event unsuitable for any Porsche model to participate (they even raced Porsche tractors at Rennsport Reunion). In looking at what other Porsche clubs do, there are active registers and interest groups for all models, and I note the Macan and Cayenne registers run special off-road drives and BBQ events etc. With the growth of new Porsche models the Club would happily organise registers for any Porsche model, we just need enthusiastic Club members to lead them – (any volunteers please?). You will also notice in recent and future Spiel’s we are running regular articles on Macan and Cayenne Club member ownership experiences and will look to doing this across the spectrum of all Porsche models.
Leadfoot
In September the Club returned to Leadfoot again with 66 cars and 46 spectators. The ‘vibe’ at Leadfoot this year was something special with most members inviting friends and family to share their cars and the Porsche Club experience. Rod Millen kindly hosted us and joined in with regular runs of his Porsche Cayenne S, a factory car used to compete in the 2007 Trans Siberian Rally. It’s encouraging to see many new-ish and first time Club members attend. Special mention to Nick Diggens for coming across from Australia, Guy & Alan for bringing the Singer across from the ‘Naki’, and Martin Healy who made the trip up from the South Island. Finally, on behalf of PCNZ we wish to thank EML and the Official Porsche Centres for their generous sponsorship of the day – their on-going support is genuinely appreciated by our Club members.
South Island Adventures (DT & SWOTY)
I have had the pleasure of attending two recent South Island events, the first being as a helper and instructor for the South Island Driver Training day. This year we took four instructors/helpers down including Racing Ray Williams, Steff Chambers and Michael Neville. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and look forward to returning next year.
The second event was SWOTY 2019, where 29 Club members descended from as far as Australia (Kevin and Suzanne Jelley), into Aoraki Mount Cook. Having just completed two days of ‘spirited’ driving though some of the prettiest scenery New Zealand has to offer, and hanging out with Brian-‘Porschaholic’ as his driver and photography assistant, I feel like I have been on holiday and am fizzing with a major ‘Porsche fix’ (driving a Boxster, roof down and a 650HP 996TT helps with the fix!).
A special thank you to the organisers; Channon, Paul, Andre and Roger, a first class run event by the SI Regional Committee. The SWOTS (Summer Weekend of the Year) will be held in Cromwell in February next year, I understand the registration flyer will come shortly and I plan to attend this too – (Roger Carter had me at the mention of Highland Park laps and runs up the Crown Range!)
DYPD
Approximately 180 members (a quarter of the Club!) attended Drive Your Porsche Day (DYPD) events held on 22 September 2019 throughout the country, in Auckland, Wellington, TOTS, Canterbury and the ‘Deep South’. This annual event would be, by far, our biggest. We warmly welcome our newest Regional Chapter – Queenstown/Wanaka (the Deep South), who had several people participate from as far as Dunedin in a drive to Mandeville. If you want to attend events in this region, contact the Club and we will put you in touch with Henrik Falkner who is the regional coordinator.
Launch of the 2019/20 Pirelli Race Series
The Club held the launch of the 2019/20 PCNZ Pirelli Porsche Race Series at the Continental Cars Services Porsche Dealership on 26 September. We had a good turnout of around 50 people with the star attraction being Tony Huston’s new Boxster-Spec car, the first in New Zealand. The car is an impressive piece of kit and sounds impressively ‘throaty’. We see these cars as the ‘economical’ option and the future of our race series. In time we hope to see several of these cars racing in their own Class, and we encourage Club members to come see Tony’s car in action this year. Many of our sponsors attended including Simon Pool and Glen Hicks from Pirelli, Nathan Webber from CCS Tyre Centre, the Neville family from Actibush, and representatives from the Official Porsche Centres; Continental Car Services and Giltrap Group.
Looking forward
The Pirelli Porsche Race Series gets underway in November and we look forward to various regional Christmas parties. The Porsche theme for Milford this year is the 20th Anniversary of the GT3 and it’s my pet project to assemble a large display of these models (invitation to GT3 owners to come shortly). All Club members from throughout the country are most welcome to attend.
Editorial
Peter Stewart
The weather throughout New Zealand for our celebration of the birthday of Ferry Porsche was exactly as we needed for driving our favourite marque. The warmth of the sun and the leaves starting to show we are moving towards summer. I enjoyed the cruise with the roof down as the breeze designed my comfortable hair style.
We are all proud of our personal appearance as well as the appearance of our Porsches. That was seen in the reflections one could see in the polished paintwork as we parked under the trees at our lunch destination whether that was in the Bombay Hills, Lake Ferry, Waikuku, Golden Bay or Mandeville.
This habit of fastidious presentation should be evident with even more attention to detail when you arrive at your Christmas celebration ready for judging by our Concours experts.
We are all more than a bit competitive so why not bring out that streak and enter the Concours competition.
SPIEL 203 CONTENTS
Neville's 1954 Porsche 356 Pre-A - Part 3 By Angus Cooper |
Higgins 1050 356 Cabriolet #5135 |
Winter Road Trip By Luigi Sussman |
An amazing Spring DYPD By Anne & Ross Simpson |
Drive your Porsche Day By Judy-Anne Dentice VIEW GALLERY |
Central DYPD By Dan Reeves VIEW GALLERY |
Top of the South DYPD By Andrew Anderson VIEW GALLERY |
Canterbury DYPD By Graeme Lyndsay |
Deep South DYPD By Henrik Falkner VIEW GALLERY |
Leadfoot Experiences By Paul Madeley, Chris King and Martyn Jagusch VIEW GALLERY |
Driving as an art By Rodger Anderson |
SWOTY Mount Cook By Andre Hopman VIEW GALLERY |
PCNZ Annual Concours Competition By Ash Powell |
GT3 Experience By Nick Diggens |
917/30 Go Kart By David Higgins |
Sunday Drive to Wainui By Donna McMillen |
Toi Toi Cafe for Coffee By James Nimmo |
Rotorua Targe - at a more Sedate Pace By James Nimmo |
Destination Rotorua By Dave Umbers |
2019/20 Race Programme / Launch |
Autocross By Carl Shepherdson VIEW GALLERY |
Driver Training - Levels By Arvind Masilaman VIEW GALLERY |
My Happy Place By Barry Sapwell |
One Door Opens, Another Door Closes By Peter Grundy |
Introducing my 550 By Stephen Moon |
John Fairhall - Obituary |
Mount Cotton Experience By Paul Alexander |
Safe Driving Tips from Racing Ray |
ADAC 24-Hour Race at Nurburgring By Guy Stewart |
Committee MembersThe Club’s affairs are managed by a Committee of volunteers elected each year at our annual general meeting. As all Committee Members are volunteers email is our preferred method of communication. Private phone numbers are not listed on this website for privacy reasons. Members are welcome to contact the Committee - a Contact Directory is published in Spiel Magazine.
President | Paul Miller |
Vice President | Ashley Powell |
Treasurer | Michelle Neville |
Secretary | Malcolm Thompson |
Spiel Editor | Peter Stewart |
Club Administrator | Teresa Conway |
Committee | Andrew Anderson |
Committee | Tim Boys |
Committee | Roger Carter |
Committee | Steff Chambers |
Committee | Chris Fleury |
Committee | Grant Nauschutz |
Committee | Michael Neville |
Committee | Dan Reeves |
Committee | Andrew Ryan |
Committee | Teresa Conway |