- Giuseppe Victorious
- Car or Driver
- Hy-Vee To Sponsor INDYCAR Weekend At The Historic Milwaukee Mile
- Rolex 24 Race Report
- HSR Classic 24 At Daytona
- Rennsport VII
- UPDATE: Ben Keating – Ironman
- Motul Petit Le Mans – Redemption
- IndyCar Returns To The Milwaukee Mile For A Tire Test
- Anticipation Builds as Larson Passes Indy 500 Rookie Test
Rennsport VI
- Updated: October 4, 2018
Porsche 962 in the Corkscrew. [Photo by Jack Webster]
By Jack Webster & Eddie LePine
We were like kids in the ultimate candy store – wherever you turned, wherever you looked, there were Porsches, and more Porsches.
Porsche knows how to celebrate a birthday, and on the occasion of its 70th, it pulled out all the stop for Rennsport Reunion VI at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca on the last weekend of September.
The weather was of the typical Monterey Bay variety – foggy mornings followed by clear skies and mild temperatures in the afternoon. In other words, it was perfect, just like the event itself.
“If you build it, they will come” couldn’t have been truer at Rennsport, as record crowds (over 80,000) showed up to take in the incredible display that Porsche had arranged. There were countless historic Porsches both on display, and more importantly, racing. Not only were the cars on display, but legendary drivers of the past and present were on hand as well, entertaining the assembled masses with their tales of great battles from the past and present. Porsche also organized numerous driver forums and lots of autograph sessions so the fans had the rare opportunity to get up close and personal with their heroes.
We have been doing this for a long time, and have never seen anything quite like the show that was put together for Rennsport VI. There was Hurley Haywood, driving the old Brumos Porsche 917/10 CanAm car and George Follmer piloting the L&M Porsche 917/10! There were numerous Gulf Porsche 917Ks, a large number of Porsche 956 and 962 models, 935s, RSKs, etc. – even the largest assembly of Porsche tractors ever gathered had a race! Porsche also brought the 919 Tribute car, along with a bunch of current factory drivers to do demonstration runs. We even speculated for a time that they may be going for the overall Laguna Seca track record.
One cannot even begin to name all of the legendary drivers in attendance. Names such as the aforementioned Haywood and Follmer were joined by the likes of Ickx, Redman, Hobbs, Mass, Fitzpatrick, Bell, Attwood, Elford, Larrousse, Van Lennep, Piper, Lins, and many, many more.
Rennsport VI is now in the record books, and we are sure planning is already underway for Rennsport VII. It will be almost impossible to top this one.
However, knowing Porsche, we know they will try.
Jack Webster has been shooting motorsports since the early 1970’s, covering Formula One, CanAm, F5000, TransAm, GrandAm and American Le Mans races, among others. In addition to his photography, he has also worked on racing teams, both in IMSA and IndyCar, so has a complete knowledge of the inner workings of motorsport. Both his photography and writing can be seen here on racingnation.com. Eddie LePine has been involved in motorsports for over 30 years as photographer, columnist, and driver. Eddie also is now a retired racer (well, retired unless a good ride pops up). You can usually find Eddie in the paddock area, deep in conversation with a driver.