nor’wester · 11/12/2016 · [email protected] [email protected] *secretary: barbara...

THENOR’WESTER Newsletter of the Olympic Peninsula Region / Porsche Club of America

November/December 2016

New members alert!

Jeanne Joseph-Port Ludlow-2013 Boxster David Holsinger-Gig Harbor-1988 91 Carrera Evan Brown-Pacific Beach-2016 Cayenne S Kevin & Carol Root-Bainbridge Island Keiko Kobayashi-Port Orchard-2015 Cayman John Andrew Franklin - Kingston-2016 Cayman GTS

Alpha Dogs in Discussion

Board of Directors Committee Chairs

*President: Alex Raphael *Membership: Kip Sparber

[email protected] [email protected]

*Vice President: Bill Elwell *Social Events: Pete Fischer


*Secretary: Barbara Hanford *Webmaster: Maryann Elwell


*Treasurer: Maryann Elwell *Newsletter: Don Conner


*Member @ Large: Don Knievel *Goodie Store: Neil Green


*Past President: John James *Technical: Alex Raphael


*PCA Zone 6 Rep: Tim Hagner *Auto Events: John James


Nor’Wester is the official newsletter of the Olympic Peninsula Region of the Porsche Club of America and is published bimonthly in Bremerton, WA. Opin-

ions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily constitute opinions of the Porsche Club of America, Olympic Peninsula Region, the Board of Di-

rectors, or the Nor’Wester Editor. Articles and photographs by OPR members are encouraged and should be submitted to the Nor’Wester Editor, Donald Con-

ner no later than the 15th of the month prior to publication.

Classifieds (Auto Platz) are free for Olympic Peninsula Region members, must be Porsche related and typically run for two months. Please send submissions to

the Nor’Wester Editor. $20.00 fee for non-members. OPR Website can be viewed at http://www.opr-pca.org/. Articles, photos, and classified ads are gladly ac-

cepted by Webmaster, Maryann Elwell.

In This Issue

Calendars…………………...………..4

Events…………………………….......6

New Member Picnic…………………7

Fall Colors Tour…………….……….8

Packwood II Tour..……..…….…..….9

Annual Meeting Minutes…………..11

Tour Driving Etiquette…………..…15

Meeting Minutes…...……………….17

Detailing 101….....………………….20

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2017 Ad Pricing

Ad Size Color B / W

Back Cover ¾ page $570 N / A

Front/Back Inside $630 N / A

Full Page $630 $ 3 1 8

Half Page $360 $ 2 2 2

Quarter Page $180 $ 1 2 6

Business Card $ 90 $ 78

ON THE COVER:

The best of things - Wine

and Porsches - Bill Elwell

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January 2016 13th – 6P/7P Dinner/Member Meeting at Clubhouse Restau-

rant, McCormick Woods in Port Orchard

23rd – 11A Tech Session at Griot’s Garage in Tacoma – Bill

Elwell

February 2016 10th – 6P/7P – Dinner/Member Meeting at Clubhouse Res-

taurant, McCormick Woods in Port Orchard

13th – 6P/7P - Social Dinner – Tacoma Yacht Club Cocktails

at 6P with Dinner at 7P – Don and Sue Knievel

15th - March/April Nor'Wester Deadline

March 2016 9th – 6P/7P Dinner/Member Meeting at Clubhouse Restau-


12th – Social Dinner & Beer Tasting – Tacoma – Brett

Burroughs

26th – Support Our Sponsors Rally/ Dinner - Time and Loca-

tion TBD – Pete Bonfrisco

April 2016 3rd – 2P Sunday – 11th Annual Chili Cookoff – Gig Harbor -

Maryann and Bill Elwell

10th – Sunday Drive and Supper – Time and Location TBD –

Pete Fischer

15th – May/June Nor'Wester Deadline23rd – 3P/5P/6P -

Tour/Dinner/Member Meeting – meet at McDonald's in

Poulsbo for Tour to Port Angeles - Brett Burroughs

May 2016

11th – 6P/7P Dinner/Member Meeting at Clubhouse Restau-

rant at McCormick Woods in Port Orchard

14th-15th – Saturday/Sunday - Tour to the Tri-Cities – Brian

Forde

14th – 9:30A-12:30P Tech Session at MAXRPM Motorsports

– Bremerton – Cobb Tuning – Alex Raphael

22nd – Sunday Drive – Need a volunteer to organize! 31st – SOVERN Pacific NW Historics Car Corral ticket or-

dering deadline

June 2015 8th – 6P/7P Dinner/Member Meeting at Clubhouse Restau-

rant at McCormick Woods in Port orchard

15th – July/August Nor’Wester Deadline

18th – Tour/Garage Warming Party – Mason Lake – John

James

26th – Sunday Drive – would you like to volunteer

July 2016 1st-3rd – 9A SOVREN Pacific NW Historics Races & Sat.

Car Corral 13th –7P/8P Dinner/Member Meeting - at Clubhouse Restau-


15th-17th – PNWR Maryhill Hillclimb Tour – Maryhill, WA

30th – Ziplining Canopy Tours NW – Camano Island – Pete

Fischer

August 2016

13th – 2P/5P/6P - Tour/ Dinner/Member Meeting- Hurricane

Ridge Tour and Sequim Dinner/Meeting

15th – September/October Nor'Wester Deadline 27th – Club Picnic – Belfair – Anna Hoey and Kip Sparber

September 2016

3rd – Jammin’ in the Park - Car Show – Port Angeles Rotary

Club – Don Conner

7th-11th – Porsche Treffen Lake Tahoe – Resort at Squaw

Creek – Sierra Nevada Region

14th –7-8P Dinner/Member Meeting - at Clubhouse Restau-


23rd-25th – Packwood II Tour and More – Don and Sue

Knievel

October 2016 2nd – Sunday Fall Colors Drive – Timber House Restaurant

in Quilcene – Brooks and Barb Hanford

12th – 2017 Board/Chair Nominations Due

12th – 6P/7P- Dinner/Annual Member Meeting at Clubhouse

Restaurant, McCormick Woods in Port Orchard 15th – November/December Nor’Wester Deadline

24th – Holiday Party Payment Due

31st – Silent Auction Donation Responses Due

November 2016 9th – 6P/7P – Dinner/Membership Meeting at Clubhouse

Restaurant, McCormick Woods in Port Orchard

11th – Holiday Party Rooms Released

15th – Roster Updates Due

16th – 6P/7P – Calendar Planning Meeting at Clubhouse

Restaurant, McCormick Woods in Port Orchard

21st – Silent Auction Donation Responses Due

30th – 2017 Board Election Ballots Due

December 2016 3rd – 6P/7P – Cocktail Hour/Holiday Party at TBD

15th – January/February Nor’Wester Deadline

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PCA Olympic Peninsula Region 2016 Event Calendar

Event/Social Chair: Pete Fischer e-mail: [email protected] or (360) 275-8811

mailto:[email protected]

November 2016 9th – 6P Dinner/7P Member Meeting – Join us for a 7P dinner followed by the monthly Board Meeting at 8P at the

Clubhouse Restaurant at McCormick Woods located at 5155 McCormick Woods Drive SE in Port Orchard. We will

be meeting in the back room.

11th – Holiday Party Hotel Rooms Released – If you plan to stay overnight at the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Re-

sort after the Holiday Party, be sure to make your room reservation by 11/11/16. You can make reservations at any

time by calling (866) 609-8700 and press “2” for a guest service agent. You need to reference the Olympic Peninsula

Porsche Club to get the group discount and be added to the block. You can also go online to https://

reservation.clearwatercasino.com/V1WebControls/Custom/GroupLogin.aspx and use the Group ID 10217 and Pass-

word 37001677. Under group Options, select Make Reservation to book your room under to the OPR PCA block of

rooms. (Note: no need to enter anything for Group Contact password.) 15th – Roster Updates Due – The Roster will be updated based on member information in the PVCA National database.

Please confirm at http://www.pca.org that your address, phone number, email address and car information are correct

or get it updated. You can also send any OPR Roster updates to Maryann Elwell at [email protected] or

phone (253) 853-4003 by 11/15/16. If you would like your e-mail address listed, please also let her know that. 16th – 6P Dinner/7P Calendar Planning Meeting - Join us for dinner followed by the meeting at the Clubhouse

Restaurant at McCormick Woods located at 5155 McCormick Woods Drive SE in Port Orchard. We will be meeting

in the back room. If you cannot attend, but are interested in planning an event for 2017, please contact our social &

event chair, Pete Fischer at [email protected] or call (360) 275-8811, preferably before the meeting.

21st – Holiday Party Silent Auction Items Wanted - Each year our club raises fund for a local charity at our

Holiday Party via a Silent Auction. We are now seeking donations and request interested parties to contact Debbie

Raphael by 11/21/16 via email at [email protected] or phone (360) 340-1583 and bring your item9s) to the

party.

30th – 2017 Board Election Ballots Due - Be sure to cast your vote and turn in your election ballot to Brett

Burroughs. Can alternatively e-mail him at [email protected] or mail to him at 17024 Scandia Ct. NW,

Poulsbo, WA 98370.

December 2016 3rd – Holiday Party – at the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort located at 15347 Suquamish Way in Suquamish, WA

(near Bainbridge Island bridge). You can make reservations at any time by calling (866) 609-8700 and press “2” for

a guest service agent. You need to reference the Olympic Peninsula Porsche Club to get the group discount and be

added to the block. You can also go online to https://reservation.clearwatercasino.com/V1WebControls/Custom/

GroupLogin.aspx and use the Group ID 10217 and Password 37001677. Under group Options, select Make Reser-

vation to book your room under to the OPR PCA block of rooms. (Note: no need to enter anything for Group Contact

password.) Deadline to book is Friday November 11, 2016. Cocktail hour is 6P and dinner will be a buffet at 7P.

Buffet dinner cost is $59/person. Mail payment by 10/21/16 to OPR-PCA at P.O. Box 3572, Silverdale, WA 98383-

3572. Room choices and group rates listed below.

Guestroom Description # Rooms Discounted

Sat. Dec 3, 2016 Group Rate ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Resort Water View 5 $135 + tax**

Resort Non View 3 $99 + tax**

Resort Non View Suite 1 $135 + tax**

Tower Northwest View 4 $115 + tax**

Tower Queen Suite 2 $155 + tax**

TOTAL 15 rooms

**Suquamish Tax rate is 10.7%

15th – January/February Nor’Wester Deadline - Provide any articles, photos or ads to Don Conner at don-

[email protected].

http://www.pca.org





Other Region Events

11/5 – 8A – Caffeine & Gasoline at Griot’s Garage 3333 South 38th Street in Tacoma. Theme: German Cars.

11/10 – 5P-8P – Race Night at America’s Car Museum (2702 East D St. in Tacoma). For details go to https://

www.americascarmuseum.org/events/. 11/19– 7A – PNWR Tech Ed at Vintage Racing Motors in Redmond. For information about the event go to pnwr.org

or RSVP to [email protected].

11/19 – 11A-4P - Family STEM Day: 3D Printing and Automobiles at America’s Car Museum (2702 East D St. in

Tacoma). For details go to https://www.americascarmuseum.org/events/.

12/1 – 11:30A-12:30P – If Cars Could Talk at America’s Car Museum (2702 East D St. in Tacoma). For details go to

https://www.americascarmuseum.org/events/.

12/3 – 8A – Caffeine & Gasoline at Griot’s Garage 3333 South 38th Street in Tacoma. Theme: Pre-War Era.


www.americascarmuseum.org/events/.

12/17 – 11A-4P - Family STEM Day at America’s Car Museum (2702 East D St. in Tacoma). For details go to https://

www.americascarmuseum.org/events/. 1/3 – 11:30A-12:30P – If Cars Could Talk at America’s Car Museum (2702 East D St. in Tacoma). For details go to

https://www.americascarmuseum.org/events/.

1/7 – 8A – Caffeine & Gasoline at Griot’s Garage 3333 South 38th Street in Tacoma.


www.americascarmuseum.org/events/.

1/21 – 6P-11P – PNWR Awards Banquet & Annual Meeting at Museum of Flight. For details on registering go to

pnwr.org or RSVP to [email protected] by 1/13/17.

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https://www.americascarmuseum.org/events/











For two years now, the club has sponsored an event called the “New Member Picnic”. The idea is simply to create an event specifically designed to draw out our newest members so we can get to know each other. Each year the event has been hosted by Kip Sparber and Anna Hoey at their spacious property in Belfair.

We had a great turnout. With 38 attendees and 18 or 19 cars,

this is one of the best attended events that we will hold in 2016. I’m sure the weather had something to do with the turnout. It was a beautiful early September day. Temperatures were in the mid 70’s with bright sunny skies.

The food was terrific. The main course was brought in from the Wig Wam Pub in Gorst. The Wig Wam does some killer barbe-que. We brought in copious amounts of pulled pork, baked beans, and sweet pickles from the Wig Wam. You’ll always find me on the clean-up crew for this event because it means taking home some of that wonderful barbeque. Salads, appetizers, and des-serts were brought by club members.

Maryann and I were responsible for picking up the food from the Wig Wam on our way to the picnic. Our 944 has the most storage room inside of all our Porsches, so that’s what we drove to the event. Even so, figuring out how to get all of the pulled pork, beans, buns, pickles, and more into the car was a challenge.

But somehow we did it. The odor of pulled pork inside the car made it a real test of our will power to not stop the car and eat lunch on the side of the road. We’re proud to say that the food made it to the picnic untouched.

I’m sure you’ve heard it said that the Porsche Club is more about the people than it is the cars. This event is a perfect exam-ple of that. Wherever you turned, folks were gathered together in little groups, talking, smiling and laughing. But, there was no shortage of beautiful Porsches to talk about either.

An enormous thanks goes out to Kip Sparber and Anna Hoey

for hosting the event. My wife and I understand the amount of work involved in hosting 40 people at your house, we’ve hosted the chili cook-off for 11 years now. Kip and Anna have a wonder-ful property and they deserve our thanks for opening it up for us every year.

Bill Elwell

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New Member Picnic

It was a bright and sunny Sunday, October 2. About 25 OPR mem-

bers hit the road for what might turn out to be our last “perfect tour

day” of the year. Coming from throughout the Region, Neil Green

led a 4-car group from the South (Olympia-Shelton). Brooks led

the 6 cars from East of the Hood Canal Bridge (Kingston, to Gig

Harbor) and others drove on their own. We were all heading for

the Timberhouse Restaurant in Quilcene on the West side of Hood

Canal. The plan was to arrive at our destination in time for a 2pm

lunch.

The Fall Colors Tour was designed as an informal get-together for

members to enjoy leaves turning color on the Olympic Peninsula

roads, reunite with old friends after a busy summer and welcome

new members over a casual lunch. Everyone seemed to enjoy their

drive but the highlight was our arrival at the Timberhouse. It was

impressive. Imagine a bright stream of Porsches entering the park-

ing lot from two directions at the same time. It was a colorful pa-

rade with leaves from the trees fluttering down on the scene. The

arrival was impressive to see, but the real highlight was that we all

arrived at once. It was the first time in our collective memories

that we left from different locations at different times and arrived at

our destination at the same time. We all agreed that it had to be a

new record! Not only that but we arrived on-time for our reserva-

tions. Thanks to Brooks, Neil and other drivers for making it hap-

pen.

Thanks to owners Paul and Mary and their staff for preparing our

excellent meals in such a timely manner. We all know serving 25

hungry guests at one time isn’t easy. Plus they decorated our pri-

vate dining room with model Porsches and fall colors. A special

thank you to our hostess/server, Debbie who helped set-up the

event and did a great job taking care of our enthusiastic and noisy

group.

The Timberhouse in Quilcene is a great destination restaurant. Try

it sometime, you’ll like it.

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The Fall Colors Tour Sets Record by Barb Hanford

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Our adventures on the Packwood II tour began at the Gig Harbor McDonalds on Friday afternoon, September 23rd. That’s where a majority of the tour attendees met to start the trip. From there

we headed directly to the new Elbe rest stop on Route 7, to pick up some additional members for the drive to Packwood. Our drive took us a couple of hours via scenic roads between Mount Rainier National Park and Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Al-though we had a few showers along the route, the rain was mini-mal. Once we arrived in Packwood, we stopped off at Don & Sue Knievel’s home for happy hour. We enjoyed appetizers and drinks before heading off to our hotel, the Packwood Lodge, to check in. Once checked in and unpacked, we headed back to Don & Sue Knievel’s home for pizza. After dinner and a few cocktails, we headed back to our room for some much needed rest, especially since I had only been back home from a work trip for less than 24 hours before having to leave for the tour. After breakfast for us and a gas fill-up for the 911, we met at Sue and Don Knievel’s home around 9:30A for the drivers meeting for our tour to Yakima. Don gave us the run down for the trip, told us about the wineries we’d be visiting and made sure everyone had their printed directions. We started from downtown Packwood and drove Highway 12 along the scenic drive past Millridge Creek, Clear Creek, Rimrock Lake and Teiton River to Naches, where we branched onto some small local roads up to the Wilridge Winery in Naches Heights, passing apple and pear orchards along the way. Wilridge Winery was our first stop for a sit down wine tasting on their deck. This winery was at the top of a hill overlooking the Yakima Valley with breathtaking views of the Cowiche Canyon

Conservation Area. In addition to buying their grapes from Red Mountain winegrowers, the Winery now grows 22 different vinif-era wine grape varietals. These include five red Bordeaux varieties (Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, and Petite Verdot), both white Bordeaux varieties (Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc), Rhone varieties (Syrah, Mourvedre and Viognier), Italian varieties (Barbera, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Sagrantino and Pinot Grigio), several white Muscats, and four Portuguese Port varieties (Souzao, Tinta Cao, Touriga Nacional, and Tinta Roriz). After everyone had time to buy their favorite wines, we all got back in our cars and headed over to the next winery stop. We meandered back down from Naches Heights over to the sec-

ond winery, Gilbert Cellars in Yakima. Don and Sue arranged for us to attend their wine club’s annual party. In addition to the wine tasting, they had music and a full buffet spread with gourmet cheeses, fruit, a whole roasted pig, corn on the cob, roasted squash and sweet potatoes, and a S’mores bar with a bonfire for roasting marshmallows for dessert. It was great to hang out and enjoy each other’s company while trying some more local wines.

Packwood II Tour - by Maryann Elwell

After we all had our fill, Don led us back along more scenic roads and Highway 410 to Whistlin’ Jack Lodge in Cliffdell. We checked in and a bunch of us headed down to Brett & Diana’s cabin for

happy hour cocktails prior to heading over to the Lodge for a drink at the bar and then dinner at the restaurant. Everyone seemed to enjoy their dinner and good conversation. For dessert Bill ordered the famous Cinnamon Bun which was the size of a dinner plate. Between the two of us, we managed to eat about ¼ for dessert, before we had to quit. The remainder made a nice breakfast for

us in the morning. On Sunday morning, folks came down for breakfast and headed

home at their own pace. Bill and I were the last to check out along

with Barb and Brooks Hanford, so we drove back together most of

the way. The trip home was via Highway 410, which took us again

through incredible scenery of Mount Rainier National Park and

Gifford Pinchot National Forest. We just had to stop on one of

look outs to get a great view of Mount Rainer from the side of the

road.

I want to thank Don and Sue for putting on a great tour and for

their awesome hospitality! As Neil Green put it at the October

member meeting, this event should be the standard for all of our

club tours.

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OLYMPIC PENINSULA REGION-PORSCHE CLUB OF AMERICA Annual Meeting Minutes October 3, 2015

Jon Wyman called the meeting to order at 5:50 p.m. at Kokopelli Grill, Port Angeles, WA Board Members Present: Jon Wyman, President; Pete Bonfrisco, Vice President; Amy Bonfrisco, Secretary; Maryann El-well, Treasurer; John James, Past President Members Present: Don and Mary Kay Conner, Dave and Adrianne Loser; Brooks and Barb Hanford; Corby Somerville and Jeannie Martin; Fred and Christy Mitchell; Lori Schenider and Chuck Leber; Dan and Sue Kalinski; Brian and Jeanine Kawal; Gene and Betty Stahl; Patty and Dave Meyers; Darwin and Carol Geary; Bill Corrigan and Robin Hake; John and Sherl Cuny; and Louis Fry Jon inquired if anyone had any additions or amendments to the November 12, 2014 annual meeting minutes. Maryann Elwell made a motion to approve the minutes and Bill Corrigan seconded the motion. Both motions passed with all in fa-vor. President: Jon presented the 2015 state of the region address (see attached copy). He also informed the members that tomorrow, October 4th is the 12th Anniversary of the Olympic Peninsula region and we had a cake made to celebrate after dinner. Secretary: Amy Bonfrisco: Nothing to report. Vice President: Pete Bonfrisco: Nothing to report. Past President: John James: Nothing to report. Member at Large: Neil Green not present. Treasurer: Maryann Elwell: Beginning balance: $10,226.25; Ending balance: $10,014.97; Deposits of $407.55 and With-drawals of $618.83. The club made a profit on Lake Cowichan Tour of $163.92. Maryann made a motion to keep the ad-vertising rates the same and Adrianne Loser seconded the motion. All were in favor, so the motion passed. Maryann also made a motion to keep region dues the same at $20 and John James seconded. All were in favor, so the motion passed. Advertising Chair: Pete Bonfrisco: Nothing to report. Membership Chair: Kip Sparber not present. Jon Wyman presented that as of October 3, 2015 the total count of members is 239, including: 142 Primary Members and 97 Affiliate Members. Goodie Store Chair: Neil Green not present. Newsletter Editor: Brian Forde not present. Maryann Elwell advised members that the Newsletter Editor position is avail-able, as Brian Forde is retiring from the positon. She also informed members that the time commitment for this position is about 16 hours every other month, just prior to publishing. Brian Forde uses Microsoft Word and will be happy to train his replacement. If anyone is interested in taking over as the Newsletter Editor let Jon Wyman know. Webmaster: Maryann reported that the website is up to date through December 2015 and that if anyone is interested in taking over as the Webmaster to let Jon Wyman know. Racing Event Chair: John James. John reported that Bill Roberts had a great time at the Driver Education event at The Ridge in Shelton. The final 2015 SOVREN Historic Race was last weekend. John recommended members check out The

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11

...it’s the people!

Ridge’s calendar in Shelton, WA. Social Chair: Pete Fischer not present. Maryann Elwell presented the upcoming events for the next several months. Maryann is putting together a social dinner in Gig Harbor on October 17, 2015. There is a joint PNWR/OPR Happy Daze tour on October 24, 2015 starting at MAXRPM in Bremerton, stopping at the Alderbrook resort for lunch and ending at the Tides Tavern in Gig Harbor. To attend you need to register by October 19, 2015 at the Motorsports Registration website by visiting: http://pnwr.org/ and clicking on the link listed under the event. Members will also need to send in their pay-ments for the Holiday Party, which is scheduled for December 12, 2015 at the Inn at Port Ludlow. There will be a buffet dinner with chicken and steak, with an option for a vegetarian meal. If you are staying overnight for the Holiday Party you will need to book your room no later than November 11, 2015 to get the club discounted rate. The club also needs more donations for the Silent Auction so please contact Debbie Raphael by October 31, 2015 if you have a donation and bring it to the Holiday Party. Brian Kowal donated a Porsche 911 part for the Silent Auction. Finally, Maryann reminded members that we will be holding the monthly meeting/dinner and 2016 calendar planning meeting on November 11, 2015 at the McCormick Woods Clubhouse in Port Orchard. Technical/Speed Chair: Alex Raphael: Not present. Old Business: Jon Wyman announced the open positions for the club for 2016 board: Vice President (2 year term), Secre-tary (2 year term), and Member at Large (1 year term). Anyone who is interested should contact our nominating commit-tee chair, Don Knievel by the nomination deadline of October 8, 2015. Chair positions that are open for 2016 include: Newsletter Editor, Safety Chair and Webmaster. If interested in volunteering, please contact our President, Jon Wyman. New Business: No new business was presented. Maryann made a motion to adjourn at 6:10P. Pete Bonfrisco seconded the motion. All were in favor, so the motion car-ried. The next board meeting and member dinner will be held on Wednesday, November 11, 2015 at the McCormick Woods Clubhouse, located at 5155 McCormick Woods Drive SE in Port Orchard with dinner at 6:00 p.m. followed by the meeting at 7:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Amy Bonfrisco, Secretary

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http://pnwr.org/

I want to start this article by telling you exactly why I’m writing. I participated in a VERY well organized and exe-cuted tour recently. For a number of personal reasons, I’m not the biggest fan of tours but this one was probably the best I’ve driven on. Everything including the weather, the scenery, and the event organization was excellent. But what troubled me was some of the remarks that were made during and after the event about how slow we drove. Given some of the discussions we’ve had over the past few years about tour speed, I thought we were past the “we went too fast/slow” stuff. I guess not. So I’m writing to review a few of PCA’s tour guidelines and let you know my opinion of, and experiences with, those guidelines.

Let me give you some of my background. From 1991 – 1997 my wife and I belonged to the Potomac Region of PCA in the DC area. In addition to rallies, tours, and social events with the Potomac Region, I drove autocross and drivers edu-cation events. I also own a Harley and have driven motorcy-cle tours that range in size from small 5 bike tours to mas-sive 50+ bike spectacles. I’ve seen parts of tours groups miss a turn, leading part of the group off in the wrong direc-tion. I’ve seen parts of tour groups drive dangerously fast and in a few cases seen Porsches skid off the road as a re-sult. I’ve even been the recipient of a speeding ticket during an OPR tour.

Let’s start by looking at PCA’s position on tours. PCA recognizes how popular and enjoyable tours can be. But at the same time, tours are the most dangerous activity that PCA club members participate in. Tours and rallies are the only club sponsored activities where members mix it up in traffic with the general driving population. To date, PCA’s tour guidelines are pretty general (you can look them up online at PCA.ORG by logging in and searching for “PCA Tour Guidelines”). But I can tell you that there are efforts under-way to revise those guidelines. I’m going to quote (in quotes and italics below) some of the content of the guide-lines that relate to the rest of my article.

“… the primary consideration is always safety. The prin-cipal requirements are that the event:

Be planned and conducted with safety as a primary con-cern.

Be covered by PCA insurance Demonstrate a concern for the safety of entrants and ob-

servers in its procedures and instructions. Motorsports, including tours, are potentially hazardous

activities. Accidents at tours have occurred in the past. The intent of these guidelines is to assist regions in the organiza-tion of tours that will be safe and enjoyable experiences; however, they are in no way a guarantee against injury to

participants or others. The ultimate responsibility for the safe conduct of a motorsports event lies with the region or-ganizing the event and with the participants.”

The following bullet items are part of a longer list of items in the Tour Guidelines:

“Posted speed limits and prevailing conditions must be observed when establishing speed instructions.”

“Other than the lead and last car, drivers should always be able to see the car in front and the car behind in their rear-view mirrors.”

“Obey traffic laws, especially speed limits.” “Control speed or you will lose insurance coverage.” “The lead car must stay below the speed limit.”

Let me sum up PCA’s Tour Guidelines into a single sen-tence. It’s the tour leader’s responsibility to safely lead the group from the start of the route to the end. That’s a single sentence but there are two concepts there. The obvious concept is getting the entire group to the end of the route but the most important part is getting them there safely.

When I lead a tour, during the driver’s meeting I make the following announcement. “The lead car (that’s me) will be driving at or below the posted speed limit during this tour. If there are those of you that wish to drive at another speed, you are free to leave before I do and conduct your own drive (without PCA insurance) and meet us later in the day.” I say this because controlling the speed of the group is the most important tool I have to accomplish my job of get-ting the group to the end of the route safely. Let me tell you why.

#1 – PCA tour guidelines are clear about vehicle speed.

This one is easy. I drive the speed limit because that’s what PCA tells me I have to do or risk losing insurance coverage for the event. As a group leader it is irresponsible for me to make a personal decision to exceed the speed limit and as a result expose the rest of the tour group to risks they might not otherwise expose themselves to.

#2 – Not everyone in the group is comfortable driving

the same way. Some drivers in a group tour situation will push the boundaries of how they would normally drive in order to follow the group. One obviously example is where someone drives faster than they otherwise would in order to keep sight of the car ahead and avoid getting lost. If while following my leadership, the group is broken up and someone gets lost, has an accident, or gets a traffic ticket, I will have failed at my responsibility to get the entire group to the end of the route safely. Regardless of any legal liabil-ity, I take this responsibility personally.

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Tour Driving Etiquette by Bill Elwell

#3 – The only way to keep a tour group together in traffic is to drive at or below the speed limit. Remember that in a tour group you will have all sorts of drivers. Some may know the tour route already, but most won’t. Most will have a passenger who can read the directions provided, but some will be alone. Some will feel comfortable dicing it up and passing traffic while others won’t. Imagine driving on I-5 with even light traffic. If you drive above the speed limit, you’ll have to pass other cars. Individually that’s not a prob-lem. But in a group, passing cars quickly breaks up the group. Remember the part in the guidelines about being able to see the car in front of and behind you in the group? Once the group is on the road, driving at or below the speed limit is the only tool that the tour leader has to keep the group together. Yeah, cars outside the tour will break into the group via on and off-ramps. But driving at or below the speed limit will usually cause them to leave the caravan and pass the group.

#4 – Driving fast in a group on twisty public roads is

very risky behavior. Let’s talk about vehicle dynamics for a minute. There’s a performance driving concept called lift-throttle oversteer that applies here. Google it if you want the whole story. The quick version is that both lifting the throttle and hitting the brakes will shift some of the weight of the car from the rear wheels to the front wheels. If you are taking a corner particularly hard, lifting the throttle can shift enough weight off the back wheels to let the back end of the car break loose.

How does this apply to us? In most cases, we enter tight corners without the knowledge of what might be on the road around the corner, landscape or vegetation blocks the view. At reasonable speeds, if there’s a moose standing at the exit of the corner, we won’t see it until we’re well into the corner. When we finally see it we lift the throttle and stomp on the brakes to avoid an ugly encounter with nature. At reasonable speeds, good driving will keep the car under control. Crisis avoided. But if we entered the turn faster than we should have, lifting the throttle to avoid the moose will cause the car to swap ends very quickly. We did-n’t know the moose was there until it was too late. Oops! The only way to avoid the situation is to enter the corner at a speed that will allow a sudden stop while keeping the car under control. This is why racetracks employ corner work-ers. Corner workers are positioned so that they can see haz-ards on blind sections of the track in order to warn drivers in sufficient time to slow down before entering a turn or crest-ing a blind hill.

If I lead a group of drivers into a turn so fast that they can’t safely stop should something be on the roadway, I am exposing the drivers to the very real risk of one or more cars

having an accident if one driver is forced to lift off the throt-tle. That’s not a risk I am willing to take.

#5 – Even on clear open roads, some people aren’t

comfortable driving fast. Maybe it’s not the driver’s fault they can’t keep up. Maybe the passenger is getting car sick or maybe they’re carrying a cooler full of food and drink and they don’t want to shake up the bottles of soda. Who knows? A slow driver in the group will force a situation that will break the visual contact between drivers in the group. As the tour leader, I need to avoid breaking up the group, if I’m going to deliver the group to the end of the route.

#6 – Getting a speeding ticket on a tour is a very real

possibility. How do I know? Many years ago, I was on a tour with our region in Mount Rainier National Park. The road we were on was sparsely populated and fairly wide, but had a speed limit of 35 MPH. I doubt that anyone in the group was uncomfortable with the 45 MPH speed the group was traveling. I was the only one in the group keeping a safe distance between myself and the cars in front of and behind me. That allowed a park ranger traveling in the op-posite direction to get a clean radar lock on me. The whole group was held up for minutes while I got my ticket. I’ve read accounts of group leaders getting tickets, so I’m not the first to have this happen to them. As I pointed out be-fore, people will do things in a group that they wouldn’t do by themselves. So the leader has some degree of responsi-bility here.

#7 – Is there a liability factor involved? The waivers we

sign before tours are intended to protect all involved with organizing, hosting, and participating in events from being sued in relation to things that happen during an event. But the waiver won’t stop someone from filing a lawsuit if something happened on a tour where there was the percep-tion that tour leader or club policy contributed to an unfor-tunate situation. Frivolous or not, I don’t want to have to defend myself in court.

Those are the basics of how I feel about the subject. To save space and keep you from falling asleep, I didn’t get into topics like Porsche Club reputation or potentially frightening new members on their first tour. General tour driving be-havior, including speed, has been a recurring theme for as long as I’ve been part of PCA and it probably always will be. But I hope that going forward we all take seriously the re-sponsibility to drive tours from start to finish safely. Thanks for reading.

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OLYMPIC PENINSULA REGION—PORSCHE CLUB OF AMERICA BOARD MEETING MINUTES

AUGUST 13, 2016

Meeting was called to order at 7pm by President Alex Raphael at the Cedars Restaurant in Sequim. Minutes of the July 13 meeting were submitted and approved. Board Members Present: Alex Raphael, President: Bill Elwell, Vice President: Barbara Hanford, Secretary; Mary-ann Elwell, Treasurer; Don Knievel, Member at Large; Past President, John James. Members and Guests Present: Brooks Hanford, Steve O’Rorke, Kathy O’Rorke, Janis Putman, Bob Becken, Becca Becken, John James, Susi James, Sue Roberds, Bill Roberds, Dave Miller, Joan Miller, Konrad Klett, Ben Pisciotta, Jeanne Martin, Corby Summerville, Debbie Raphael, Don Knievel, Brett Burroughs, Diana Burroughs, John Cuny, Sherl Cuny, Don Conner, Mary K. Conner, Sue Knievel, Fred Mitchell, Christy Mitchell, David Meyers, Patricia Meyers, Carol Gearey, Darwin Gearey, Kelly Givens, Glenn Diefenderter, Jill Diefenderter, Gene Stahl, Betty Stahl, Brian Forde, June Moore, Judy Berrian, Kevin Strilcov. Board and Chair Reports: President: Alex welcomed everyone to our “Northern Outpost” meeting in Sequim. Vice President: No report. Secretary: Reminded everyone to sign-in. The sign-in information makes planning for upcoming activities, loca-tions of events and facilities needed easier and more accurate. Treasurer: Maryann reported OPR’s ending balance on August 12 was $12,286.37. This includes $1,978.23 in escrow for 2016 charitable giving and $10,308.14 in available funds. Member At Large: Don reported the Awards Committee is working on a “new” plan for recognizing members who have made a significant impact on OPR. Details to follow. The Committee is adding a new member to fill the position of Brian Forde, who has resigned due to lack of time available. Membership: August 1 PCA monthly report listed 4 new members—James Evans, Sequim; Bob Garai, Silverdale; Gene Johnson, Allyn; and Konrad Klett (listed in July), Port Orchard. We now have 256 members total with 158 primary and 98 affiliate members. Newsletter: Editor Don Conner reminded copy-photo contributors that Aug. 15 is the deadline for the Septem-ber/October edition. He also reported that copies of 3 editions of our newsletter were entered in PCA competi-tion. Brian Forde was editor of those were newsletters. While he didn’t win an award Brian’s outstanding work was recognized as an excellent example of what can be done by a small club (and a great editor). Website: Maryann is working on it as time allows. Goodie Store: Neil Green was absent. Social/Event Committee: Chairman Pete Fischer was absent. Several members reported. Don Conner re-minded members about “Jammin’ in the Park” on Port Angeles on Sept. 3. RSVP by 8-23. Sept. 10- noon to 3pm is picnic to Welcome New Members is at the home of Anna Hoey and Kip Sparber near Belfair. Contact them by 8-13 @ 360-275-3286. All are welcome. Sept. 23-25 Packwood Tour. Contact Don Knievel @253-858-6902 by 9-10 for sign-up or information. Check OPR calendars, web-site, and E-mail for info on all activities. Advertising: Chairman Pete Bonfrisco was absent. Holiday Party: Debbie Raphael has confirmed the party for December 3 at Clearwater Casino Resort. Additional information available at meeting in September or contact Debbie. Trip to the Ridge: Alex reported details are being worked out for proposed go-cart driving event.

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Old Business: Business Cards: Corby Summerville inquired about his previous suggestion to provide OPR busi-ness cards for members at “no charge”. Expense to be paid by OPR up to 1,000 cards. A motion was passed to purchase up to 1,000 business cards for distribution to members at OPR expense. The Board will follow-up on the details. New Business: None Tech: None. Meeting adjourned approximately 9:15pm. Barbara Hanford, Secretary NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, September 14, 2016 at the Clubhouse Restaurant, McCormick Woods, Port Or-chard. Dinner at 7pm and Meeting at 8pm.

OLYMPIC PENINSULA REGION—PORSCHE CLUB OF AMERICA BOARD MEETING MINUTES

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Meeting was called to order by Vice President Bill Elwell at 6:58 pm. Minutes of August 13 meeting were sub-mitted and approved. Board Members Present: Bill Elwell, Vice President: Barbara Hanford, Secretary; Maryann Elwell, Treasurer. Ab-sent: Alex Raphael, President; Don Knievel, Member at Large; Past President, John James. Members and Guests Present: Brooks Hanford, Neil Green, Konrad Klett, Debbie Raphael, Brian Forde, Kip Spar-ber and Amber Gaume. Board and Chair Reports: President: Alex Raphael not present. Vice President: Bill Elwell reported that President Alex Raphael was absent due to an unexpected delay on a business trip. Secretary: Barbara requested comments from members regarding dinner/meeting start times. We have been meeting at 7-8pm for the summer at McCormick Woods due to highway work at Gorst. Meetings will return to regular schedule of 6pm dinner and 7pm meeting beginning in October. The club also needs to look for new venues for PA-Sequim meetings. The last two meetings there very crowded (attendance of over forty), making it difficult to serve meals on a timely basis; and to conduct business in noisy rooms with other distractions. Members were asked to recommend locations in their areas. Treasurer: Maryann reported OPR’s ending balance on September 14 was $11,199. 65. This amount includes $2,102.79 in escrow for charitable giving and $9,096.86 in available funds. Member At Large: Don Knievel, absent, no report. Membership: Kip Sparber’s report from PCA shows 257 total members with 158 primary and 99 affiliates. New members are Jeanne and Peter Joseph of Port Ludlow, Steve McPherson, Sequim, and David Holsinger, Gig Har-bor, returning member. Newsletter: Editor Don Conner was absent. Deadline Nov-Dec edition is October 15. Website: Bill Elwell is looking into new options for the website. Konrad Klett offered his assistance. Goodie Store: Neil Green has new catalogs. Social/Event Committee: Chairman Pete Fischer was absent. Sunday October 2 begins with the Fall Colors Drive and 2pm lunch at the Timberhouse in Quilcene. Trip offers a colorful tour of the West side of Hood Canal. Next meeting is October 12 at McCormick Woods. Advertising: Chairman Pete Bonfrisco was absent.

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Holiday Party: Debbie Raphael has confirmed that plans are in place for Saturday, Dec.3 at Clearwater Casino. Check calendar, newsletter and Website for reservation deadlines. Members will receive invitations by mail be-fore October meeting. Old Business: Business Cards: The Board will gather bids on cards and design based on suggestions from mem-bers at this meeting. New Business: Elections, Mary Ann reminded members that nominations for open positions should be submit-ted by November meeting. There will be committee vacancies as well. Volunteers are encouraged to apply. Contact Brett and Maryann for details. Meeting adjourned approximately 7:45pm. Barbara Hanford, Secretary

NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, October 12, 2016 at the Clubhouse Restaurant, McCormick Woods, Port Orchard. Dinner at 6pm and Meeting at 7pm.

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Before we get started, I want to check in and see how you did with your homework assignment. In the last issue I asked you to think about 4 questions regarding the care of your car.

How clean do you want to keep your car? Where do you store your car? How often do you drive your car? How are you going to clean your car and how often?

The idea was to get you started thinking about a plan to take care of the appearance of your car. I’m not going to grade your homework. We’ll all see the results the next time we see your car J

From this point forward, I’m going to try to do two things. First, I’m going to do my best within the space I have here in the newsletter to teach you how to keep your car in top shape with the least effort. Second, even if you don’t ever plan to pick up a microfiber towel to wash your car, I’m going to show you the ins and outs of the current car care products, so that you know what your detailer is talking about.

Here is the four step process that covers what we all should be thinking about when it comes to caring for and protecting the incredibly thin coat of paint on our cars.

Clean – The first step is to thoroughly clean the exterior of your car including the wheels and wheel wells. Any dirt that is left on the car will scratch the paint once you start the next steps.

Decontaminate – There are two types of paint contamina-tion. First, dirt that sits on the surface of the paint and is only lightly bonded to the paint will be removed when we wash the car. The second category is bonded contaminates which are tiny bits of debris that have either tightly bonded to the paint or actually become embedded into the paint. The process of removing this stuff is called decontamination. I’m betting that most of you have heard of using clay to decontaminate paint. But there are a couple newer methods I’ll teach you in a later article.

Polish – If your paint has any number of defects, polishing can remove most, or maybe, all of them.

Protect – The last step in the process is to apply some-thing that will protect the paint. Historically this has been some form of wax. Today, there are other op-tions to consider. I’ll cover this as well.

I know, I said this article was about washing wheels. I had to explain all that so that I could tell you that we are going to start this journey at the beginning with washing your vehi-cle. And the first step in washing a vehicle is washing the

wheels. Now, I know that you’ve always been taught to wash a car from the top down. Once we start washing the rest of the car, we will wash from the top down. But we do the wheels first because it’s a messy job that throws dirt and dirty water everywhere. Life is a lot easier when the rest of the car is still dirty and we don’t have to worry about where all the crap from the wheels flies.

Let’s start by talking about wash buckets. In a perfect

world, we would all have two 5 gallon buckets on wheels. Here’s a picture of my wash bucket rig.

Why two buckets? One is for soapy wash water and the other is for dirty rinse water. Your washing tools start in the clean soapy water. You use a tool to clean something and then dunk it into the rinse bucket which has no soap. The dirt comes off in the rinse bucket and then you move the tool to the soapy water bucket and start the process again. This does a fantastic job at preventing dirt from making its way back onto your car. If you use this method, you’ll find that the rinse water gets REALLY dirty, but the soapy water stays almost completely clean. This is the two bucket wash method. Oh yeah, those grills beside the buckets are grit guards. They sit at the bottom of the buckets. Dirt falls off your washing tools and sinks below the grit guard so that it isn’t picked up and returned to your car.

The next step is choosing a wheel cleaning chemical. If you choose one of the wheel cleaners from Griot’s or almost any over the counter product at your local auto supply store, you’ll be in safe territory. Most of us have alloy wheels that are either painted or powder coated and they will tolerate just about any wheel cleaning chemical. For these wheels, I use a professional acidic wheel cleaner that cuts through brake dust very nicely. But be careful, you

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Detailing – Washing the Wheels by Bill Elwell

can’t use acidic wheel cleaners on bare metal, chrome, or anodized aluminum. If you have chrome wheels, there are numerous brands of wheel cleaner specifically made for chrome wheels.

In addition to wheel cleaner, it’s really handy to have some sort of degreaser or all-purpose cleaner. I use Me-guiar’s Super Degreaser. Griot’s sells Oil & Grease Cleaner. We also use car wash soap in this process but I’ll talk a little about that in the article about washing the car.

Now for the tools. Here is my wheel cleaning tool kit.

It consists of a Mother’s Wheel and Well brush kit (3 brushes at the top of the picture), a lug nut brush from Griot’s, and two Speed Master brushes (at the bottom of the picture). I’ll admit that I almost never use the brush in the upper right corner of the picture. Instead of the Speed Master brushes, some detailers like Wheel Woolies. You can Google “wheel woolies” if you want to check them out. Griot’s sells equivalent brushes to everything I’ve men-tioned here.

Now that we’ve got the tools and chemicals under con-trols, let get started on the process. The time required to clean a wheel varies significantly depending on the complex-ity of the wheel and how much of it you are cleaning. A Por-sche Turbo Twist wheel is dead simple to clean. If you have one of Porsche’s complex multi spoke designs, It will take longer.

Let’s talk for a moment about how much of the wheel we’re going to clean. Most people simply clean the face of the wheel and there’s nothing wrong with that. Some peo-ple go to the extreme of removing the wheels and cleaning not only the face but the inside of the wheel, which is gener-ally called the barrel. I use a hybrid method where I clean most of the barrel without removing the wheels. It takes a little longer than just cleaning the face of the wheel but the wheel looks nicer when you can look past the spokes and

see a clean barrel behind the spokes. OK, let’s get dirty. I did warn you that washing wheels is

dirty business, right? Fill one of your wash buckets with water and the second

bucket with car wash soap and water. For doing the wheels, I mix the soapy water at half strength. If you’re only using one bucket, just fill it with soapy wa-ter. Put all your tools in the soapy water.

Take your hose and rinse the wheels wells and the wheels. If your wheels are really dirty, the water will run down the driveway with streaks of black brake dust. Give the water a minute to drain before starting the next step.

Pick a wheel and liberally spray the wheel well and tire sidewall with degreaser. Then liberally spray the wheel including the barrel and caliper with wheel cleaner. Using the least amount of wheel cleaner doesn’t win you an award. The wheel cleaner is there to make your life easier, so use it. Now give the wheel cleaner a minute or two to do its job.

Grab the long handled brush and scrub the wheel well. If you have larger than stock wheels, you may not be able to get the brush into the whole wheel well area. Put the brush into the rinse bucket.

Grab one of the two short handle brushes and scrub the tire sidewall along with the outer rim of the wheel and as much of the surface of the spokes and center hub area as possible. Put the brush into the rinse bucket.

Grab the larger of the two Speed Master brushes and start systematically brushing each opening in the wheel and reaching back into each opening to scrub the barrel and the brake caliper. I’ll rinse the brush in the rinse bucket and then dunk it in the soap bucket after every one or two wheel openings. While they are great brushes, the Speed Masters will sling dirt and water everywhere. Take your time. Put the brush into the rinse bucket when you’re done.

If you have smaller spokes or tight spaces that the large Speed Master brush can’t clean, attack those spaces with the smaller brush. Depending on the design of your wheel, you may not need the small Speed Master brush.

Pick the lug nut brush out of the bucket and give it half a dozen twists around each lug nut. Put the brush in the rinse bucket.

Before you rinse the wheel, go to the next wheel and spray the wheel well and tire with degreaser and the wheel with wheel cleaner.

Rinse the wheel and wheel well you just finished cleaning with a hose.

Move the brushes from the rinse bucket, let them drain

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for a moment and return them to the soap bucket. If your wheels are very dirty, you may need to dump your rinse bucket and refill it. Move to the next wheel and go back to step 4.

I’m assuming that you’ll be washing your car after this so we’ll talk about drying the wheels and dressing the tires and wells later. Dump both of the buckets. Don’t even think about reusing the water to wash your car.

Some shops will use wheel cleaner and a pressure washer to clean the wheels. That method is really fast and it will clean the wheel faces nicely. I don’t use that method because it doesn’t clean the barrels and the setup and teardown time for the pressure washer is almost as long as it takes to wash the wheels by hand.

I’ll admit that reading my words only goes so far when it comes to trying to describe the process of washing a wheel. There are hundreds of videos out there on cleaning wheels but I’m going to recommend one specifically. Go to YouTube and search for “How to Clean Wheels Profession-ally” and the first video is from Melody at Pure Reflections Detailing. Her video nails it. Yeah, she only uses one bucket but she rinses each brush before putting it back in the bucket. And she uses a few more brushes than I do but the basics are there and it’s well presented.

Thanks for reading. Next time we’ll get into washing the car. And as always, if all this seem more than you really want to get involved with, bring your car by my shop at MAXRPM in Bremerton, and I’ll do it for you. You can write me at [email protected].


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Wanted to Buy: Period correct mid-1980s Porsche steering wheel for 911. Can trade or sell Momo competition steering wheel with Porsche crest. Please contact Andrew at [email protected]

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