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Rennsport Reunion V

A historic line up of Porsches at Rennsport V. [photo by Eddie LePine]

A historic line up of Porsches at Rennsport V. [photo by Eddie LePine]

It certainly has been a hectic couple of weeks, with more to come. It seemed like I had just gotten off the plane from Austin where I was covering the FIA-WEC and IMSA TUDOR races at the Circuit of the Americas and now I was turning around and flying across the country to San Francisco to head to Laguna Seca to cover Rennsport.

After a pleasant drive from San Francisco along the coast to Monterey, I finally arrived at Laguna Seca and the world’s largest gathering of historic Porsche race cars and drivers in history.

The weather was fantastic, as it always seems to be in this part of the country and there were no wild fires in evidence. As with everyone, I have been following the news about the California wildfires and thankfully, the Laguna Seca area has been spared.

No one but Porsche could have pulled off such an outstanding event as this. Over 350 of the most historic Porsches in history along with 70+ legendary drivers all in one place on one weekend – it was fantastic.

I got to spend some time with legendary drivers and good friends such as Hurley Haywood, Hans Stuck, Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx and marvel at their stories of past racing glory. I never get tired of listening to their stories and one has to wonder as these legends get older how many more times they will all be able to get together for such a wonderful event.

It was also great seeing George Follmer, he of CanAm fame and one of the greatest Porsche drivers ever, reunited with his legendary L&M Porsche 917/10.

Going to an event like this is like time travel – look one way and you see not one but two Gulf-Porsche 917K race cars, look another way and you see the Rothmans Porsche 962 Le Mans winning car, with both winning drivers Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell. Stroll through the paddock and you see everything from this year’s Le Mans winning Porsche 919 Hybrid to Porsche 935’s, 911’s, 934’s and even very rare beasts like the Porsche 718 RSK Spyder.

It was sensory overload on a massive scale – everywhere you went and everywhere you looked was something extraordinary.

I guess my only complaint it that there were not enough gift shops open for official Rennsport merchandise – the lines were around the block regardless of the time of day you tried to get into the shop. That is something they really should address for the next Rennsport. I couldn’t even find a program to buy.

Oh, by the way, something happened to me that has never happened to me before at any racetrack, anywhere. Although I was legally parked, complete with Media parking pass, my car was towed on Friday. Guess that is Karma for all the times at various tracks where I wasn’t legally parked. Oh well, these things happen.

Now it is off to Petit Le Mans for the season ending race for IMSA.

I will try to park where I am supposed to.

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