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And
now… back to your regularly scheduled Newsletter. For the last five or so years, Maralee Dyson has done a wonderful job as editor of our region’s newsletter. Many of the articles that she would include provided a nice balance for all facets of PCA. Thank you for all you’ve done. Now the torch has been passed on to me, Jason Walter. Because I already run our website, being editor of the newsletter should fit right in with monthly updates. Be sure to check out it online at http://www.pca.org/cia/ Feel free at any time to offer any suggestions or constructive criticism about how I am doing as editor. Remember, this is YOUR club – take part and make it what YOU want. Autocross
– Saturday, May 11 Come join us
in Marshalltown and drive, watch, or just hang out. It is a great day to see
great Porsches and to drive your own the way you always wanted to. We can always
use flag persons and timekeepers if you don’t want to drive. It helps the
event and gives you a feeling of participation. Arriving
about 10:00 am, we will have time to inspect the track and several opportunities
for practice laps… just one car at a time. After lunch it will be time for 3
sets of timed laps beginning at 1:30 pm. Each set consists of three laps. With
only one car on the track you can set your own pace and have a great time. This
is a very safe way to practice your driving skills. To learn more
about the track look at their web site: www.bestofiowa.com/ia-intl-raceway/index.html
If you have any questions or need additional information call John Dyson,
319-335-9843 or john-dyson@uiowa.edu
Driving
Tips VISION - FEEL – SOUND VISION: It is the singular most important factor of high-performance driving as well as safe driving. Your VISION determines your physical reaction. Driving faster than your vision can process the data to your brain, results in failure to react fast enough to changing conditions ahead. This failure is referred to as "overdriving your vision." As such, the development of vision skills form the most basic fundamental of high performance driving. The following are pointers for vision skills development: 1. Lift up your vision (it helps by raising your chin slightly) by thinking and looking farther ahead. Looking farther ahead allows you to plan and organize your moves in advance of executing them. This will lead to smoother operations in the cockpit and better car control. 2. Look where you want to go, NOT where you don't want to go! Where you look is where you automatically steer to. This is critical in avoiding crashes. Remember, your vision leads your physical reaction. Look to where you can avoid an impact and you will naturally steer away or around it. But if you look at where you think you are going to crash into, you WILL hit it. Try this simple exercise; seated behind the wheel of your stationary Porsche, look to the left and try turning the wheel to the right. Awkward? 3. Don't lean your head! It is imperative that you maintain vision parallel to the road surface. During track events, the additional weight of a racing helmet on your head combined with g-forces in the corners, may cause your head to lean from side to side. Leaning distorts your vision and affects your driver-input. Some race drivers, particularly in oval track racing, use supports or straps on their helmet to help overcome this problem. FEEL: Although the highest percentage of sensory input comes from vision, a driver must also develop the interpretation and respond to FEEL from within the cockpit of the car. Almost all drivers improve their vision skills through conscientious practice of the pointers mentioned in vision skill development, but the development of sensory input from FEEL relies almost exclusively on track time and experience. To begin, sit as low as possible without impairing your vision. Being closer to the center of gravity enhances your FEEL. On your next Driver Ed opportunity, try to develop the following sensory inputs of FEEL: 1. Feel a tire sliding or "chattering" as it locks up under braking. 2. Feel if the car is sliding in the corners. 3. Feel and recognize rough or bumpy portions of asphalt that may be affecting tire adhesion to the track. 4. Feel the precise moment when the car reacts to your steering input. 5. Feel brake pedal fade on repeated threshold braking. SOUND: Wearing a helmet while driving is an experience. At first, you may find that your helmet eliminates a lot of sound -- and it does. But as your senses become more acute from within the car, you will discover how much auditory information you are able to receive. Develop your ability to pick up sound through focus and concentration. While under hard braking for example, listen for any tire lock-up. A locked tire may squeal or howl. Conversely it may actually become very quiet as it slides along the asphalt and traction dissipates. You will ultimately absorb more information through VISION and FEEL than through SOUND. The more information you receive, however, the better you are able to determine the necessary driver-input. The ability to amalgamate VISION, FEEL and SOUND into a single sensory input distinguishes the Great Drivers from the Good Drivers. For
Sale: Are you in the market for a Porsche Classic? Be sure to stop by European Motors, Ltd. in Cedar Rapids and check out the 1965 356 SC, Red, fully restored, black interior with red piping. 1600cc 4-cyl. engine, 4-speed manual. $15,850.
How about something a little newer?
1986 944 Turbo for sale: asking $6000. Is a really nice car and we
like it but have to downsize our toys, as we want to retire.
Contact Diane Eberhart by EMAIL: hvymtl31@Iowa.net The Entry Level
Porsche But for the person who rushes out and buys the first car he looks at, the experience may well be one of woe and expense, and usually ends with the victim, -- the car itself, -- being blamed for the bad experience. If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is that your success in purchasing a used Porsche will be directly proportional to the time and effort you spend educating yourself. The decisions you make prior to the actual purchase, such as whom you talk to and whom you choose to inspect the car, will follow. A large determining factor is your expectations and how realistic they are. For example, if you expect to purchase a 1979 911SC for $10,000 and then not have to spend any money for repairs, you are probably setting yourself up for a fall. It is not unusual for these cars to require an amount equal to their purchase price in repairs, refurbishment, and maintenance that was deferred by the previous owner(s). The 911SC was built from 1978 to 1983 and is similar to 911s up to 1988 that sold for $60,000 when new. So, is it reasonable to buy a car like this for $10,000 and not expect to have to spend any money on it? Probably not, but that doesnt stop some of us from trying to defy the laws of physics. The question then becomes how to avoid, or at least to reduce, the amount of cash outlay and still obtain a reliable and relatively trouble-free used Porsche. It can certainly be done, providing that some suggestions are followed to help insure that your first Porsche experience is an enjoyable one: 1. Establish a budget for the total amount that you want to spend: include the car and allow a reasonable amount for repairs. As a rule of thumb for cars costing less than $15,000, you might use 50 per cent of the price of the car. Add these two numbers together and see if it fits your situation. If it does not, then you might consider purchasing a less-expensive model. For example, while a 1977 911S can be purchased for $7500, this car may well require $7500(or more) in repairs and refurb for a total of $15,000. If that is in your budget, fine, although most people would at that point try to find a 911SC for the same money. If you are planning, though, on spending a total of $7500, you might want to consider an early 944 or one of the 914 4 cylinder models, either of which can be purchased for less than $5,000, which leaves an ample cushion to cover any needed repairs. 2. Establish a relationship with the repair facility that will be servicing the car. If you plan to do the work yourself, you still need to consider the cost of tools, parts, and the availability of workspace and technical assistance in case you get stumped. If you have the work done professionally, it is absolutely vital that you find a good facility and stick with them. The wrong choice here can literally cost you thousands, especially if you have to pay someone else to do the work over later. Regional officers of the Porsche Club of America are usually a good source of information as to who the good guys are, but no matter what you hear about a shop, good or bad, pay them a visit yourself to confirm things. Many people feel that they have been burned by mechanics and even when they haven’t are automatically critical of them because they fail to understand what the mechanics role is. The reality is that a good mechanic can make or break an older Porsche, so if you find one of these, stick with him, even though you may not always like what he has to say about your car or how much he wants to charge. The bottom line is "Does he fix the car properly and give good value for the money spent?" Since there are more Porsches than good Porsche technicians, their time is valuable. Call the shops that are known to specialize on Porsches in your area. Explain that you are considering buying a used Porsche and ask if there is a time when you could come and chat. Most will be glad to oblige, and not only will you learn more about the cars, but you will also see first-hand how you are treated. This will give you the opportunity to see what kinds of cars are there and to form an impression of how they operate their business. Make questions specific and concise, and be considerate of their time. You might ask about the cost of yearly maintenance on the model you are considering, for example, both to compare prices and to help you establish a maintenance budget. Just remember that value is more important than low price, and that slipshod repair work can destroy the value of your car. You should also inquire about the cost of a pre-purchase inspection. Depending upon the model and what is done, expect to pay between $100 and $250 for this service, and consider it as part of the cost of protecting yourself from purchasing a car that needs more work than you want to do. It is usually possible, if you purchase the car, to recover far more than this cost through negotiating with the seller over the needed repairs. Just remember that you are talking about a used car here, and that while all used cars will have problems, some have far fewer than others. A repair shop that specializes in Porsches is also an excellent source for a good used Porsche. In many cases they have been maintaining the car for years and have both service history and current knowledge regarding the cars overall condition. In the example cited above, the purchaser of the 1977 911S had followed this advice, -- up to a point. He had spoken to an experienced technician at length and indicated that a 911SC was within his budget. The technician even referred him to one of his customers who had a 1981 911SC for sale; an excellent car that needed no repairs and which subsequently was sold to another party for $14,000. The purchaser of the 1977 car bypassed this opportunity and, without having had a pre-purchase inspection performed, purchased the 911S. Much to his chagrin, he subsequently learned that it required $10,000 worth of mechanical and cosmetic work. The lesson here, of course, is to buy the best car in terms of condition that you can afford, and not to be taken in by low price with the thought that things can be fixed later. It is almost always better to let someone else pay for the repairs, since although repairs add value to the car, their cost will depreciate very quickly. Another example is the case of a 1983 911SC Targa that sold for $24,000. For this price, it would be possible to purchase a newer Carerra Targa. But each car is individual, and this Targa was one-owner and always garaged, with less than 30,000 miles. It was immaculate cosmetically and mechanically, and was all original, including the paint and interior. It had just come out of a comprehensive maintenance service, and needed nothing. The purchaser has had the car for a year with no problems. His analysis is that while he could have possibly purchased a newer car for the same amount of money, after a year of looking he was unable to find one in the outstanding condition of this car. He also feels that to fairly establish the value of his car, he should compare it to the cost of a new replacement, which would be roughly three times what he spent, plus greatly increased costs of registration and insurance. Unlike the newer models, the SC has very little in the way of electronics, which can prove costly to repair. He may have paid a little more initially, but it all went into the value of the car and not into repairs or refurbishment, which is billed in current dollars, unlike the price of the car, which is adjusted downward to reflect depreciation and what the market will bear. This new Porsche owner, by the way, followed all of the steps as outlined above. Although they required a little more effort on his part, he was rewarded with the acquisition of a car destined to become a classic, one that draws comment wherever he goes and that will provide him with twenty years or more of enjoyment. When amortized, this works out at just slightly more than $1,000 a year for the initial investment to enjoy driving in its finest form. If values remain constant and the car is properly taken care of, in twenty years he could sell the car for at least as much as he paid for it, thus reducing his cost of ownership even further. Whoever said that owning a Porsche was expensive?
License
Plate Surrounds · I’m not
weird, You’re just boring. · Back up my
hard drive? How do I put it in reverse? · I just got
lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory. · Everyone
has a photographic memory. Most don’t have film. · When the
chips are down, the buffalo is empty. · Seen it
all, done it all, can’t remember most of it. · I feel like
I’m diagonally parked in a parallel universe. · He’s not
dead, he’s electro-encephalographically challenged. · How much
deeper would the ocean be without sponges? · Diplomacy
is saying “nice doggy” until you find a rock. · A day
without sunshine is like, you know, night. · Save the
whales, Collect the whole set. · On the
other hand, you have different fingers. · Change is
inevitable. Except from a vending machine. · I brake for
no apparent reason. · Lottery: A
tax on people who are bad at math. · It IS as
bad as you think, and they ARE out to get you. · Time is
what keeps everything from happening at once. · The more
people I meet, the more I like my dog. · Laugh alone
and the world thinks you’re an idiot. · I get
enough exercise just pushing my luck. · Work is for
people who don’t know how to fish. · Sometimes I
wake up grumpy; other times I let him sleep. · Women who
seek equality with men, lack ambition. · Real women
don’t have hot flashes, they have power surges. · IRS:
We’ve got what it takes to take what you’ve got! · Hard work
has a future payoff. Laziness pays off NOW. · Be nice to
your kids. They’ll choose your nursing home. · According
to my calculations, the problem doesn’t exist. · How can I
miss you if you don’t go away? · Make it
idiot-proof and someone will make a better idiot. · It’s
lonely at the top, but you eat better. · A bartender
is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory. · We are born
naked, wet, and hungry. Then things get worse. · Ever stop
to think and forget to start again? Get
Hooked Up! If you have e-mail and are not
getting notices of Porsche Club events, please update your e-mail address by
contacting: john-dyson@uiowa or jmdyson@mchsi.com
or, phone 319-337-5367 or 319-335-9843. If you have a FAX number we can send
information by that method. There are times that we might need to
contact you about an upcoming event that we don’t have time to send a mailing.
Please consider getting this information to us.
The Club’s Website Besides my recent venture into becoming the newsletter editor, I also keep up the Central Iowa Region’s website. If you wish to look at the site, go to, http://www.pca.org/cia/ If you have any ideas for the site or contributions please let me know at jasonw@ninesixtyeight.com. Please visit our website, http://www.pca.org/cia/ Check out the pictures of past events, marketplace items, and our upcoming events calendar and information. [
Last month at the San Diego Region driving school I felt a lot of gratitude for the mentoring I'd received from the women of PCA. I found myself thinking about female energy, and about yin and yang. The concept of yin-yang (Chinese) or in-yo
in Japanese is associated in Eastern thought with the idea of the two
complementary forces, or principles, that make up all aspects and phenomena of
life. The two are depicted as the light and dark halves of a circle, which
together, form harmony. Yin is conceived of as passive, female, dark and
absorbing. Yang is conceived of as active, male, light, and penetrating. The longer I'm around the more I see how these opposite but complementary forces of yin and yang are present in all aspects of our daily lives, including the driving aspect! Yin and yang are great labels for the differences in energy forces; differences in men and women; differences in approach and style. What do the words "men’s locker room" conjure up for you? The smell of sweat, banging metal lockers, macho energy right? When I walk into the women’s locker room at the gym where I work out I get this wonderful feeling of comfort; it's quiet, it smells good on our side, there are wonderful one-earth-all-woman-together vibes, it's like being enfolded in a warm blanket. The same feeling came over me when hanging with some of the women at a couple of recent autocross events (and at the driving school, definitely there!). There was a female camaraderie, a feeling of being supported and nurtured. I've been cheered from the sidelines by the gals when I turned in terrible times or didn't finish, or came over the finish line off track with my windshield washer and wipers going. The gals gave me more than cheers, they gave me tips, gave me their versions of how to approach the exercises. One of the first women I met when I was a new member, not even THINKING of autocrossing, told me "it's just like going into turns on a bicycle make the best arc you can and do it smoothly." Then she said "girls are great bike riders." That got me thinking...
Since then I've been coached by a number of terrific men and women. Not
that I know anything yet (really know, like in my cells) about driving well, but
I have learned a lot from you guys and gals. Men taught me to attack, women to
finesse. One of the terrific women at the PCASD driving school, taught me to
start soft and roll into hard when braking, another, how to shuffle steer I am so grateful to the dedicated and talented men who've risked their sanity to instruct me, but the women have been very special, too. Without exception, every woman I've met or been mentored by at a PCA event has been totally supportive. Don't get me wrong; I like men, a lot. But we women, we're softer, smoother, we smell better and (from the times I see printed in the Witness,) some of us (not me, not yet) can drive better, too! NEXT EVENT: You may have noticed there is somewhat of a “driving” theme with this newsletter. The May autocross will be a great warm-up. Then a month later we’ll have our June autocross. Keep those tires warm and doing a bit of reading on the subject sure doesn’t hurt. If you didn’t put the May 11th autocross on your schedule, be sure not to miss June 8th! As always, we encourage all members to come and enjoy the day. The competition is a side component of these events, as with all of our events, it’s a great excuse to get together and spend time with each other and our beloved Porsches.
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