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Porsche Paradise?

Special Porsches were everywhere. The 963 just won Long Beach (and Watkins Glen the last weekend of Parade) and was eye candy at the Palm Springs Parade. (Paul Kudra photo)

Fresh back for an intense week of all-things Porsche, otherwise known as the annual PCA Porsche Parade. This year’s Parade was held in the world-famous Palm Springs area, the winter escape for Hollywood stars in the Coachella Valley of Southern California. I would never have put that on my short list of places to visit, which is really the beauty of Porsche Parades. A team of 50 PCA volunteers makes up the Parade Staff and spent a whole year (plus) making this another special and memorable week well spent. A complete immersion into fantastic Porsches and Porsche fanatics.

Here are some highlights:

From a 1950’s Porsche Team Transport to a Rennbow Taycan, both courtesy of Palm Springs Porsche, what a backdrop for the Parade AutoX! (Paul Kudra photo)

Special Porsches galore. From the latest Penske Porsche 963 gracing the center of the La Quinta Resort’s ballroom area (now with victories at Long Beach and Watkins Glen!), to the Dakar “Rough Roads” 911, the Concours field of beautiful cars, the historic display with even more special and rare ones, to the latest GT4RS and modified class cars driven flat out at the AutoX event. All balanced by an almost endless variety of well-chosen street Porsches driven to the event and filling the local roads and resort parking spots.

This special Mod 3 Class Cayman took Men’s and Women’s FTD at the AutoX. What a treat to witness such beautiful driving in such a well prepared and cool car. (Paul Kudra photo)

CVR AutoX-U goes National. Those that have participated in CVR’s AutoX program know about the AutoX-University approach of designing a course focused on two key driving skills. Now this approach has been shared with the West Coast. Held in a big parking lot at the Palm Springs Convention Center, the “CVR style” course highlighted Vision and Weight Transfer skills, just like we did at CVR’s AutoX #1. Compliments from many experienced and novice drivers made my week. Lots of DNF’s the first day made me sad. Despite the usual CVR touches like pre-publishing the course map, in-car video, and Zoom “Chalk Talks” before the event, typical novice tendencies (only looking 20-30 feet in front of their car) surprised many. After instructing many of the “lost” drivers, most then realized they were not actually “looking ahead”, like all drivers initially think they are. The coaching used our CVR green course arrows and 29 florescent green apex cones to help lift their eyes, helping send most home now realizing a whole new level of that critical vision skill. I was happy to have spread the AutoX-U lessons West. The course also had many challenges for the experts and it was a treat to witness them extract every fraction of a second from it.

Yet another special Porsche beast. This Transformer, that turns into a 964 in the movie, stood watch over the Parade Ballroom entrance. Some lucky Parade attendees were treated to a private screening of the movie in town. (Paul Kudra Photo)
Mark Porsche showed his driving skills and enthusiasm in this Exclusive Edition Turbo S at the Parade AutoX. He had fun and a big smile! So did Paul guiding him around the CVR style course! (Aaron Ambrosino photo)

Mark Porsche can really drive! Often a Porsche family member visits Parade, however it is unusual that representative actually drives the AutoX. AutoX is not big in Europe and many don’t “get it”. I am happy to report that Mark Porsche now does. He visited for a few laps, never really having AutoXed before, nor having the benefit of seeing the map or videos before showing up on-site. He hopped into an Exclusive Edition Turbo S 911,m after a very quick debrief by me showing him the course map. While I’m sure he has had the best training opportunities available, that doesn’t diminish the impressive driving skills he showed. What a special moment to be able to guide him around the course and see him quickly progress. He wasted no time in attacking the course and honing each of his 4 runs. He was indeed having fun and had a thirst to do better on each. Could we ask anything better from the Porsche Family? I think not. Our future looks to be influenced by enthusiastic family members. Who knows, maybe that experience will somehow lead to a Porsche AutoX edition Cayman in the future? I can only wish.

Another “beast”, a Mod 3 Class Boxster thrilled the crowd as it circulated the course at, and beyond, the limit every inch of the way. (Paul Kudra Photo)
Shared with the West Coast for Parade, our CVR AutoX recipe for fun blends AutoX-U focused learning and camaraderie as seen here at our May 13th CVR AutoX. (Charles Letouzey photo)

As I left the brick-oven-like So-Cal landscape and landed back in cool green Connecticut, I re-affirmed that the real Porsche paradise is right here!  The people and vibrancy of CVR, and the natural beauty of the Connecticut area should never be taken for granted. Join us at our next CVR AutoXs on July 15th and August 5th to see why we are all smiling. We know! Registration and info at: AutoX – Connecticut Valley Region, Porsche Club of America (cvrpca.com)

 

Yeah, it’s that fun! Great driving by Noelle and Beth and a special congratulations to Jen for top spot in the very tough Stock 3 class! Watch out, the next-gen AutoX Ace is already learning car set-up! (Charles Letouzey photo)
CVR AutoX is paradise! Come see for yourself why we had such a good time at the June 3rd AutoX. Join us at the July 15th and Aug 5th AutoX events. (Charles Letouzey photo)

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