Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/594324
November / December 2015 8 EDITOR'S COLUMN By Stan Thorne I Was Broken Hearted FOR FOUR LONG YEARS I stood there broken hearted. Around me was arguably the greatest gathering of Porsches in the world. I was standing on the dusty hallowed ground of Laguna Seca Raceway. My ears were filled with the howling sounds of flat sixes as they dove through the wickedly tricky turn 8, known to racers simply as The Corkscrew. The pit in my stomach grew as PCA club members began to line up their cars for the parade lap. One by one they sped away smiling and waving. And there I stood with no Porsche keys in my pocket, broken hearted. That was four years ago, at Rennsport IV, and I have been thinking about that day ever since. You see Rennsport does not come with an "oh, we can do that next year." Rennsport is like the Olympics. It comes every four years. Miss something and you are going to have a long wait for another chance. So when Rennsport V was announced, I was not going to miss driving Laguna's seductive curves. Going to Rennsport V first came up at breakfast. "Who's interested?" I floated to the crowd. There was lots of interest. "Who can really go?" That thinned the herd. I knew I'd be there even if I had to fly solo, but much to my joy, Fred Quintana said "I'm in!". A plan was hatched. Time was on my side to get prepared. Little did I know that time would soon be working against me. Airplane tickets, hotel rooms and Rennsport V tickets were easy. I'd been there before. I knew the drill. It was the car that would be the tricky part. Could I rent a Porsche on the west coast? The internet is a wonderful thing. I found a gentleman named Tony who was willing to rent me his limited edition 2000 Boxster S for the weekend. (Insert muffled snicker). I'm a believer in right-car right- purpose, and the Boxster has to be the right car for the back highways of sunny California. Sea, sun and Laguna Seca here we come. The internet is also a terrible thing. It turns out that so many people had registered online and expressed an interest in the parade lap that event organizers had decided to sell the parade laps. Fear of heartbreak crept back into my Porsche soul. The parade lap tickets were to go on sale as first come, first serve. Fred said he'd get the tickets for us. We decided to shoot for Saturday or Sunday parade lap tickets, since we were flying in on Friday. With finger on the ready, Fred was able to score us the parade lap tickets! Yea! They were for Friday. Heartbreak. Fred cheered me up on our strategy phone call, "It will be tight, but we can make it." The plan was to land and call Tony first thing. We'd meet at baggage claim where Tony would take us to his Porsche. So counting backwards; - Parade lap at 12:30 - Drive from airport to Laguna 1 hr 20 minutes - Leave airport no later than 11:15 - We land at 10:30 + off