Rennsport Reunion VII, aka Porsche Woodstock
Four days of sensory overload
I’ve been home for a few days and am still unsure if I have fully processed the four-day extravaganza I just experienced. It isn’t easy to describe to anyone not swimming in the pool of Porsche, but I’ll try. Imagine going to a racetrack with tens of thousands of people all routing for the same team and having cars from the 1950s to the present day race on the track nearly every minute. You may have only heard of some of these cars but never seen them in person.
At the same time, imagine there were also ten different Cars and Coffee experiences scattered around the facility, along with a small county fair, a concert or DJ, live interviews, and random celebrities roaming around. Oh, and the line for the merchandise store averaged two-and-a-half hours of wait time every, single, day.
If you imagine this bizarre convergence of experiences, it probably scratches the surface of what Rennsport Reunions are like. They are a pure and unadulterated celebration of the Porsche brand, its racing history, and the people who made and continue to make it. Oh yeah, and all the brand fans whose support is deeply rooted and just maybe a little cultish.
To put it another way, I spent four days at Weathertech Laguna Seca Raceway and walked about 20,000 steps daily. I walked through the main paddock area dozens of times, crossed the Continental Tire bridge to the vendor row and Porsche Club of America tent and massive parking corrals as many times, and hiked to the top of the famed Corkscrew and back a few times. Yet, as I look at Instagram, I see photos of cars, people, and locations I somehow missed. How is that possible?
At one point, I sat on a picnic table in the heart of the paddock and just watched the masses pass by. It was amazing. Race cars sputtered at walking speed as hoards of people walked in all directions alongside the main “street.” Staff members directing traffic with whistles and frantically waived hands tried to get people’s attention to direct them from oncoming traffic. Most of which were the aforementioned race cars with brakes that don’t work so well when they are not hot to the touch.
I felt for the staff members trying to clear the path, but I completely understood the spectators because no one knew where to look. It is easy to say they should have known to stay out of the road, but sometimes that road was a pedestrian walkway and sometimes a path for vehicles, but all the time, it was surrounded by shiny objects of desire that made everyone stop and stare.
The weather was fantastic, except for Saturday, which was cold, windy, and rainy. It was not a great recipe for a motorsports event or a car show, but while the crowd was noticeably thinner, the action did not cease. The wet weather provided some exciting moments on track, with six-figure cars pirouetting out of corners and nearly hitting other vehicles or cement walls. Several drivers of some of the more fragile and expensive vintage race cars (their values have two commas) decided to wait until later when the track had dried, and I don’t blame them.
By the late afternoon, the rain was gone, and the weather was perfectly agreeable for the planned concert that evening. Porsche managed to cater to all generations of fans with its displays, gaming centers, DJs, and bands. Still, Saturday evening’s Doobie Brothers concert was aimed at their largest demographic and was a huge hit.
The “lifesize” Transformers on display were yet another reminder of Porsche’s brilliant marketing people, as they were an integral part of this summer’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts movie, screened on the main stage Friday night. Three of the movie’s hero Autobots were on display the entire event, along with the exceptional and rare 911 Carrera RS 3.8 hero car (only 55 Carrera RS 3.8 cars were ever produced).
During the event, I was lucky to be a spectator and freelancer for the Porsche Club of America. I wrote and photographed different features for the “Live Blog” PCA ran on their main website, which you can read here at pca.org, and gathered photos and interviews for upcoming articles in their new quarterly publication, Club Racer.
Based on my last post, I consciously planted myself in one place several times to observe the activity around me while searching for unique photo opportunities. With over 4500 photos shot in four days, I still have much work to do, culling the unusable and out-of-focus from the keepers and then editing those. But while I continue to kick myself over what I “should’ve” shot, I think I came away with some great photos.
More importantly, I had a fantastic experience, made new friends, reconnected with a treasured mentor, and made new contacts in the freelancer world. It was a magnificent event and one that I will not forget. I do not know when the next one will occur, but I am sure there will be another; they are typically held every three to five years. This was the seventh iteration, and they are only getting more popular and spectacular.
I will make one significant change for the next event: I will not fly there but drive my own Porsche and make an epic road trip out of the experience. Cars, especially Porsches, are made to be driven, and your experiences with them add to their value and yours.