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Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region

By Dave Weber, 38RSR@PorscheNet.com
NOR'EASTER Online - April 2001

What a month March was for watching motorsports on television! Speedvision's coverage of the 12 Hours of Sebring was very well done, and while the racing wasn't all that close I still spent a lot of hours in front of the tube. NASCAR's race at Atlanta was fantastic with the last twenty laps featuring some of the most exciting racing I've ever viewed. Five drivers's challenged for the lead during those twenty laps, with Kevin Harvick finally beating an on rushing Jeff Gordon by a foot or so. Harvick was driving Dale Earnhardt's car in his third Winston Cup race. Numerologists could no doubt discern something very magical in that race which also featured a full course caution on lap three - the third race in a row that had problems on lap three. I was on the edge of the sofa, cheering the driver's on, amazed at their ability to drive in such close proximity at 190 mph. The finish was highly emotional given the circumstances - televised racing doesn't get any better than that coverage. Another NASCAR race a few weeks later at Darlington was also highly entertaining, with Dale Jarett coming on late in the race to steal the win from Steve Parks.

Speedvision obtained the rights to televise Formula 1 racing at the last minute prior to the first race in Australia, so fortunately those of us who are fans of that series were able to get two more racing "fixes" during the month. Michael Schumacher demonstrated why he is the best with two convincing wins. The latter race in Malaysia featured heavy rain on part of the circuit and dry conditions for the rest. Schumacher mastered those changeable conditions and just ran away from everyone else. He's now qualified first in six consecutive races, all of which he also won. He's probably worth the 80 million or so that he earns each year!

One other race kept my interest during the month. The CART series first race of the year was held in Monterey, Mexico on a track better suited for Driver's Ed events or go-cart racing. A huge highly enthusiastic crowd was present to watch car after car slip off the course, or into each other on the tight circuit. The track features one of the more unusual land marks, that being a steel mill around which the course travels. I'm told that the mill produced a lot of the steel that was used to construct the Golden Gate Bridge years ago.

I've tended to be critical of many of Porsche AG's decisions of late, particularly the SUV project. With their recent announcement of plans to build a 996 GT2 street version, I'm feeling a bit more encouraged about their commitment to building performance cars for those of us who value that attribute over creature comforts. I've just finished reading Autoweek's test drive of the new Porsche, in which they rave about the car. The statistics are very impressive, and best of all you can order the car with things like "roll cages" - fantastic! Unfortunately only 250 or so of this model will be made for the US market, and at $180,000 each they will be "unobtainable" for all but a few. Porsche will not have any trouble selling this car - and I hope they'll take the hint to make more versions that have primarily a performance focus. Who needs or wants a navigation system, or traction control in a high performance Porsche!

The bad news for the month was the 40 inches of snow that fell on West Boxford, breaking tree limbs everywhere, and burying my trailer. I'd just started thinking about getting organized for the upcoming season when two storms hit in quick succession. We ended up with a pile of snow in our front yard at least 10 feet high. We'll be looking at snow into May! Needless to say the trailer hasn't moved. Our snow blower has received quite a workout this season, as have my arms, legs, and back. I started thinking that a garden tractor with two-stage snow thrower might be a better solution for next year. Bill Chadwick set me straight in a hurry on that idea, pointing out that an appropriately sized tractor would cost a lot more than new cars I purchased years ago! Of course if I made the investment we'd no doubt have lots of years with below average snowfall and my cost per use would be really absurd! I'll file this idea away for the day when I win the lottery!

A question for readers of this column - one of you left an item with Susana and I during last October's Driver's Ed event at NHIS. If you miss the item give us a call, we'd like to find the rightful owner!

Porsche Club of America The Northeast Region

Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region