Zone 12 PCA Happenings – September 9

Our Zone 12 Gathering at Parade – it was a grand week, full of wonderful memories!

Thankfully we’ve made it past our first major hurricane of the season and even though the heat of summer will last a bit longer, it’s not too early to focus on the fall. Our next big event is coming up soon at Daytona International Speedway …

Zone 12 OktoberFast at Daytona – October 25-27

Our annual Zone 12 OktoberFast Club Race / Advanced DE / AX is October 25-27. The Club Race starts Friday afternoon and lasts through the Enduro on Sunday; the DE is Sat-Sun; and the Autocross is on Saturday, on the kart track in the middle of the speedway. It’s very cool to watch the race cars go up the banking and around the speedway while you’re enjoying the AX!

If you’re a racer or advanced DE’er, register now and plan to be there on track. And whether you’re an AX expert or have never done an autocross, you’ll love all the competitive fun on the kart track. It’s a great place to try your first AX! Hopefully you’ll plan to come out and participate, or just come out to watch all the exciting racing and experience Daytona in a way that only this special weekend allows – as our own historic playground for our favorite Porsches.

Please consider being an OktoberFast Volunteer if you plan to attend or if you live in the north/central Florida area. It’s a lot of fun to be there and enjoy all the excitement of a Club Race weekend, plus you’ll get a cool Volunteer T-shirt! Email Raylene (Ray) Grynkewich at raygrynk2@outlook.com to become a Volunteer.

Everything is open for registration on ClubReg. Just go to www.ClubRegistration.net and search for “Daytona” to find all 3 events:

• DE (listed under Zone 12): https://clubregistration.net/events/event-details.cfm?event_id=10050
• AX (listed under FL Citrus): https://clubregistration.net/events/event-details.cfm?event_id=10068
• Club Race (listed under Zone 12): https://clubregistration.net/events/event-details.cfm?event_id=10085

Space Coast and Suncoast Regions’ Sunrise to Sunset Rally – November 8-9 (Fri/Sat)

This is one of the most exciting events we have in Zone 12. We start out with a rev-up Blue Skies party at Porsche Melbourne on Friday night, then on Saturday at sunrise we have a beach-front breakfast and take off for a rally across our beautiful peninsula, winding up on the glorious gulf coast to enjoy a spectacular sunset dinner. At Parade, several people from around the country asked me when we were planning Sunrise to Sunset, because it’s such a unique event.

You don’t have to be an experienced rally-er – or even compete in the rally. There will be 3 categories to choose from when you register: Expert (3 or more rallies done); Novice (less than 3 rallies); or Touring (just going for the drive and food!). Registration will be on ClubReg beginning in early October, and the total number of cars will be limited, so plan to register early and get your spot!

SAVE THE DATE: Zone 12 Porsche Parade of Presents to the Children’s Hospitals of Florida – December 14 or 15

Save the date and stay tuned as we finalize details for a statewide charity day to benefit children’s hospitals in all the major areas within the Regions in Florida. In the next month or so, we’ll have registration set up for all the Regions that will be participating (drives on either Saturday, December 14 or Sunday the 15^th). We’ll meet up for organized drives in each Region and then set off to visit the hospitals to make a donation and bring a little car joy to the kids as they recover in the hospitals over the holidays. Thanks to President JP Petracco and the Everglades Region for originating the idea and setting the standard with their annual Porsche Parade of Presents to the Golisano Children’s Hospital:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.712447162488215&type=3

All of our Regions are always having fun socials, drives, Driver’s Eds and Autocrosses each and every month. So, if you’ll be in the vicinity of any of our Region events, plan to participate and have fun with other Zone 12 members.

Here are a few other highlights for the fall (most events requiring registration are listed on ClubRegistration.net.):

• Sept 14: Sonnenschein Region Autocross (register now on ClubReg)
• Sept 15: Crown Region sponsors the Ponte Vedra Auto Show 
  The Auto Show, which is open and free to spectators, will feature up to 180 classic and new collector cars all vying for the show’s 30 trophies. Automobile entrant pre-registration is $35 per vehicle thru September 11th. Day of registration is $50 per vehicle. Visit pvautoshow.com to learn more.
• Oct 11-13: Citrus Region Instructor Weekend and DE at Roebling Road Raceway (register now on ClubReg)
• Oct 15: Thoroughbred Region Drive and Dine to Belle Glade Country Club in The Villages (register now on ClubReg)
• Oct 25-26: North Florida Region Oktoberfest in Apalachicola(learn more: http://nfl.pca.org/upcoming_events.htm)
• Oct 27: Everglades Region Autocross at Buckingham Airfield (register now on ClubReg)
• Nov 2: Space Coast Region Oktoberfest Concours / BBQ (register now on ClubReg)
• Nov 16: Gold Coast Region Porsches by the Bay Concours at the Mandarin Oriental (registration will open in October on ClubReg)
• Nov 22-24: Suncoast Region Instructor Weekend at Sebring (register now on ClubReg)

As always, you can find most of the events from all our Regions on our Zone 12 website calendar (scroll to the bottom to see the calendar): https://zone12.pca.org/

Volunteering

Please – if you have the time, ability and inclination – volunteer in your Region to help out in any way you can. Every effort helps, whether big or small, so please reach out to your Region leadership and ask how you can help keep our Regions growing and having fun! We can’t do any of this without our Volunteers – and hopefully, everyone can give back a little time here and there to keep things rolling along throughout the years.

Thanks to everyone who volunteers – none of our events could go on without you. So, let’s all please keep it going by helping out in our Regions whenever we have time.

Porsche Parade in the Rearview Mirror

Now that a little time has passed and allowed for a breather, I realize just how much fun Parade was! So many members from Zone 12 were there, enjoying time with old friends and making lots of new friends. It’s a shame that many more couldn’t attend this year – anyone who missed Parade missed a great time!

Again, a giant Thanks to all who volunteered to help before and during Parade, especially the gang from Gold Coast who helped with so much of the pre-work for the Tours. Much appreciation to those Volunteers who didn’t even attend events – but you just wanted to be at Parade to help. You all made this a very memorable and successful Parade!!

After being behind the scenes for almost a year and seeing everything that must be done, it’s amazing the amount of work the Parade Committee Volunteers do, all year! And we in Zone 12 certainly enjoyed our opportunity to host and help at this wonderful event, which may not be in Florida for a long time to come. Parade 2020 will be a tad bit farther away, in Palm Springs, CA.

Here’s a final best-of-Parade summary:

• Total Attendees: ~1,800
• Volunteers: 650
• Porsches: 550
• Cars in the Procession of Porsches: 227
• Total donations to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital: $19,000

Here’s a good summary of Parade week: https://www.pca.org/news/2019-07-30/porsche-parade-driving-through-week-south-florida

Great pics from the week:  https://porscheparade.zenfolio.com/f387934313

Some of our Regions won big awards and a lot of our members won individually. So, congratulations to all of you!

• North Florida Region – Public Service Award, for the second year in a row (2nd place this year; 1st place last year). From NFL President Roy Vaughn: “PCA recognized our charitable work in the communities of our Region that included the Robert C. Wilson Memorial Autocross, with the proceeds benefitting the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital Auxiliary; the Great Porsche Armada for Second Chance of NW Florida; the WTXL TV Thanksgiving Turkey Drive; our Christmas Toy Drive for Sacred Heart of the Emerald Coast Hospital Children’s and Emergency units; and our Christmas Food Drive for Second Harvest of the Big Bend.  The award also includes a check for $1,000 to continue our charitable events.”
• Thoroughbred Region – Factored Growth winner (almost doubling their membership in a year!); President Jack Hollrah
• Suncoast Region – Newsletter Class 5 – 1st place; Porsche Profile, editor Norm Sippel
• Sonnenschein Region – Website Class 2 winner; http://son.pca.org/, Webmaster Keith Boring
• Zone 12 – Website 2^nd place; https://zone12.pca.org/ , Webmaster Jeff Dorman

All award winners are posted here:  http://porscheparade.org/

And finally, I can’t say it enough – thanks for all you do to keep our Regions strong, fun and engaging! If you see a new member at an event or meeting, please reach out and welcome them to the club. I’m sure you recall when you were new – it can be imposing. But once you get started, we’re all equally a part of this great big Porsche Club family … here to have fun, enjoy our cars and our friendships, and occasionally give back when we can.

Hope to see you at an event soon!

Lisa
Zone 12 Rep