When I first
bought my '72 911 in 1994, I fulfilled a longtime dream of owning a Porsche
911. I drove my first one at the age of 16 and after that drive, I said
that I would one day own one of these machines. Shortly after buying the
car, I heard about Porsche Club of America, and how they have events at
local race tracks where Porsche owners can race their street cars. Intrigued
by the idea, but worried I would be laughed off the track when I showed
up in my tattered Porsche I worked for almost a year fixing and preparing
for the racetrack. I had some of the rust holes welded up, and tried my
best to make the car presentable for the tech inspectors. I was on a tight
budget, and sometimes felt out of my league when compared to the newer
and immensly more expensive Porsches.
The track was Bridgehampton Race Circut on Long Island NY, and it was a hot August day when I slowly rolled into the paddock area where dozens of Porsches were parked. I felt like it was the first day at a new school, and everybody was sizing each other up. I tried not to look too nervous, but my hands just wouldn't stop sweating. I was assigned an instructor, and he asked to first drive my car to feel it's particular quirks on the track so he could better teach me how to drive it. I handed him the keys to my baby, and hoped he would be gentle.
We casually drove the 13 turn race course as he pointed out "braking points," "turn-in points," "apexes," and "track-out points" on each turn. I was frantically trying to absorb everything being yelled out over the wind noise and the rumble of the engine. After driving two laps, my instructor traded places with me, and it was now my turn to try driving my car for the first time on a race track. As the day progressed I started to understand how to smoothly transition from one turn to the next, and there was a certain rhythm you could get into to drive faster. It was very "Zen like."
The coolest thing was how my car became transformed on the track. Porsches are fast cars, we all know that, but you have no idea how truly amazing these machines are when you get them at full tick. On the street you probably never squeeze on wide-open-throttle for extended periods of time, nor are the brakes applied one click shy of locking up the tires, but on a race track this happens several times a lap. Porsches, and I'm sure many other race-bred cars, seem to come alive when you push these limits. I was so proud of my old girl, the one that putts around town, and drives in stop-and-go traffic, when she was snarling and spitting with ferver at every lap around Bridgehampton. As I was getting faster, and keeping up with the guys in my "run group," other owners would come up to me in the pits, and admire my car! They all owned nicer, faster 911s, but they had a certain admiration that my old car was still around running on the track. I left that weekend promising to come back next year for more!