Porsche Sports Car Together Fest is a labor of many Porsche loves | Autoblog

Over Labor Day Weekend, Porsche held its second annual Sports Car Together Fest (SCTF) on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We occurred to be close by, so we swung by to take a look at an occasion we’d by no means heard of till just a few weeks earlier than. Reading about it on Porsche’s U.S. site made us suppose it might be one thing like Rennsport Reunion for the Midwest. Turns out SCTF is simply as a lot of a special form of enjoyable.

The fest

Tom Moore’s the person behind Dark Horse Motorsports, the motorsport marketing consultant for Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) PR. “People love Rennsport Reunion, but that’s every three to four years,” he defined. “We needed to collect individuals on these off years, and we did not need to simply do a mini Rennsport, as a result of that’s its personal factor. We’ve maintained the motorsport historical past at Rennsport. Here [at SCTF], we’re doing the present have a look at what Porsche racing is for.”

In this case, which means gathering what Moore known as “our Porsche motorsport pyramid.” That’s the vary of fanatic drivers from novice to hotshoes making an attempt to get to top-tier endurance racing, “[starting] with the progression from Porsche Club of America track days up to the top of the ladder of one-make racing in North America,” the Carrera Cup North America, a collection made up of nothing however the newest 500-horsepower 911 GT3 Cup automobiles. 

The three days of racing motion allowed virtually any form of Porsche proprietor concerned about clipping apexes to compete round an Indianapolis Motor Speedway structure tweaked with an infield part. This yr, that included ex-NASCAR star Jeff Gordon, popping out of retirement to reunite along with his longtime NASCAR crew chief Ray Evernham for the top-class Cup races. 

Evernham instructed us Gordon hasn’t raced in 5 years and he hasn’t been a crew chief in 22. On very brief observe, Gordon completed in 14th within the Pro Class within the first Carrera Cup race of the weekend driving the #24 Hendrick Performance Group Porsche, and eleventh within the second race. Afterward, he mentioned, “I made a pass on the white flag lap. That made my whole weekend … I must say that yesterday, I thought ‘man, I am getting beat out here’ and I don’t like that. If I am going to be in an environment like this, I want to be competitive. But today turned the corner for me. So, I hope I get to do another one day.” 

When we strolled the paddock after the occasion, uncovered sheet metallic proved “Rubbing is racing” is a factor within the Carrera Cup in addition to NASCAR. Gordon didn’t draw back, however he saved it clear. Mark Kvamme, the AM Class winner within the first race, mentioned, “I was around Gordon the whole race. It was a lot of fun. He is a very good driver, obviously, and he drove very fair too. He did an exceptional job.”

Speaking of kindness from different pilots, Pro Class driver Adam Adelson of Premier Racing usually places #24 on the aspect of this GT3 Cup. His bio lists his first racing reminiscence as “Watching Jeff Gordon race in NASCAR,” making fairly the symmetry when he relinquished his common quantity to Gordon for the weekend.

Evernham instructed us that, like Gordon, he hopes to return again as properly. On the topic of Gordon getting beat on the market, Evernham acknowledged the expertise hole and mentioned, “It’s like if you’re good at piano and someone gives you a guitar, you still gotta learn the instrument. I told him we can do it, we just need tools and time.”

Digital racing made its personal assertion in Indy. Porsche runs a world TAG Heuer Esports Supercup globally, this yr, SCTF hosted the finals of the first-ever Porsche Esports Challenge USA hosted in Gran Turismo 7. Sixteen avid gamers gained the feeder collection’ to succeed in the finals in Indy. Randall Haywood claimed the cup within the closing race and took residence the the $15,000 high prize. 

Competition is barely half of the weekend, although. The different was about common enjoyable for households and Porsche house owners. There had been bus excursions across the observe, autograph classes, shows of highway automobiles and guided walkarounds of the latest 992-series highway and race automobiles. There was the Pretty Cool 911 popsicle coupe, a GT Corral with greater than 100 GT automobiles just like the GT3, GT2, and 917, and parade laps for GT automobile house owners. There was a restoration problem and a Radwood meet only for Porsches. And on Saturday evening, Porsche turned the large infield board right into a film display to indicate “Top Gun: Maverick.” For anybody who enjoys automobiles and racing, Sports Car Together Fest is a good way to spend a full, enjoyable day or three.

Rennsport Reunion returns to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey subsequent yr, so 2023 will go with out SCTF. But if you happen to occur to search out your self round Indianapolis within the twilight of summer season of 2024 and also you’re as much as do some laps across the Brickyard—in a automobile, or a bus, or on foot—or merely watch others accomplish that when you get pleasure from Porsche ice cream, try Sports Car Together Fest. Get a preview of what to anticipate within the captioned gallery of specialty automobiles and race automobiles within the gallery above, and the captioned gallery of on-track motion and household festivities within the gallery beneath. 

The 2023 Porsche 911 GTS Cabriolet America Edition

Everywhere you checked out SCTF, you noticed Porsche Easter eggs. There was the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo that American artist Sean Wotherspoon was a multicolored homage to his private Volkswagen Golf Harlequin. There was the “Pretty Cool” 911 with the Porsche popsicle on high. This was Stuttgart’s tackle an ice cream truck after the sports activities automobile maker collaborated with Chicago’s Pretty Cool ice cream on a run of 5 branded flavors in 5 Porsche colours. 

And barely much less uncommon than these distinctive automobiles, there was this crimson, white, and blue one. Yes, the 2023 911 GTS Cabriolet America Edition debuted in June, and 114 of the 115 examples Porsche will construct are offered out. But this egg had some shock data inside.

My lack of ability to boost the engine cowl to its highest place led to the arrival of Michael Tam, PCNA Product Manager for 911, Boxster, and Cayman fashions for the U.S. market. He gave us a walkaround and talked concerning the gestation and particulars all through the droptop. 

The key bit is that simply earlier than Tam’s arrival, an SCTF attendee walked up and, talking to Moore, questioned whether or not the America Edition may very well be definitely worth the cash for a splash of paint and stickers. And let’s be sincere, that’s the plain take. But when Tam talked about he’d spent two years on this one, we needed to ask what took so lengthy. It’s simply paint and stickers, proper?

“First, we need to propose [to Germany] that we have something good to celebrate,” he said. “Germany can solely make so many particular editions for all of the nations around the globe, and every nation has to compete to see who has a greater concept.”

This was information to us. Porsche’s accomplished so properly with what seems to be nothing greater than paint samples and glue that it looks like execs provide you with a particular version over lunch, run it on a devoted line at Zuffenhausen within the afternoon, and promote your complete run earlier than clocking out. Not the case, apparently.

“We said we really want to celebrate [the 356 America], they’d loved the idea.” Then got here preventing for board approvals. Then got here the workshopping. Then got here extra approvals. “We asked, what do we want the whole car to look like?” Tam mentioned. One of the out there colours on the 356 America was Azure Blue. When the crew selected that colour, the fashionable model paint wanted to be reformulated with out no-no metals like lead, and taking the clear coat and paint store processes under consideration.

“The Azure Blue alone took a year of the approval process,” he said, “because we painted three body-in-whites, then tested to make sure the paint looked good on the body-in-white before we actually painted that first car.”

Porschephiles blue with envy about this can be completely happy to know Azure Blue joins Porsche’s paint-to-sample program subsequent yr.

Many of the main points are normal stuff, just like the sill plates celebrating the 1952 and 1992 America Editions, and the particular Pebble Gray and crimson stitching within the seats and instrument panel. Some are particular particulars you won’t discover at first look, just like the black windshield body supposed to decrease the windshield, which is generally physique colour, for a extra roadster-ish look.

Other particulars got here from buyer strategies or noting what clients do to their Porsches. One of those on the America Edition makes a world first: Two-color mannequin script on the rear bumper. Tam mentioned some clients prefer to have their badges painted in contrasting colours, so Porsche’s accomplished it for the primary time ever from the manufacturing unit.

But wait, there’s extra—a second factory-stock world first on this automobile is the crimson numbers on the shift knob. 

There are particulars you wouldn’t know until you had been deep into Porsche historical past. The 356 America Roadster was a business failure. It barely offered 20 models in its sole market, the U.S., and the coachbuilder for the aluminum our bodies misplaced cash on each shell, serving to drive that firm out of enterprise. However, the America Roadster led to the 356 Speedster, which, placing it mildly, did fairly properly. Forty years later, maybe hedging its wager, Porsche offered the 1992 911 America Edition around the globe, calling it the “Turbo Look” Carrera in different markets.

And then there are particulars you wouldn’t find out about until you bought a tour from the product supervisor or a educated salesman, just like the three-color wheels. The rims characteristic a Guards Red stripe on the lip, polished silver faces, and white pockets, and all of it’s painted by hand. Let’s say that once more: Every one of many 460 wheels on the 115 automobiles to be offered within the U.S. and Canada is painted by hand. And we assume there can be just a few spares in there as properly. 

Naturally, we requested if the product crew had tried machines for this. 

“Of course,” Tam replied. “We tried to machine the silver face, but we found it didn’t go very well because where the red and white meet is a very fine edge. The machines didn’t do it the way we wanted it.” In this case, robots couldn’t replicate the precision a 911 wheel calls for, so Porsche known as within the human artisan who “masks it out and paints each section individually.”

The wheels are additionally a throwback: Depending on how house owners decked out their 1952 356 Americas, the roadsters may need had white painted facilities, similar to the wheel on this America. Tam mentioned, “We were trying to evoke little of that without putting a hubcap on the car.” The effort concerned within the wheels is what helped hold the manufacturing quantity all the way down to 115 models—100 for America, 15 for Canada.

The SCTF attendee who’d made the remark about paint and stickers and price had walked away earlier than Tam gave his spiel. Would data of two years of labor behind every element and painted by hand wheels have modified his thoughts? Who is aware of. But it expanded ours.

For anybody who’s now concerned about taking one residence, there’s one automobile left unclaimed. The solely approach to have an opportunity at getting it’s to affix the Porsche Club of America and enter the membership raffle. Tam mentioned, “If you’re a club member, pay $50, and enter the raffle.”

Which sounds about like what it takes to get nearly any automobile these days. Except these different automobiles don’t sit on hand-painted wheels.

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