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5. Classic ReportsPorsche Classic

AvD-Oldtimer-Grand-Prix at the Nürburgring

The AvD-Oldtimer-Grand-Prix at theNürburgring, that great festival of his-toric motor sport, remains a magnetfor the public. At the 32nd event thisyear, 69,000 spectators experiencedan unsurpassed 32-hour racing pro-gramme. Around 600 historic racingcars lined up on the grid, ensuring anexciting and fascinating atmosphere.The roaring engines, the absorbingbattle for positions on the track andthe hectic pit stops thrilled young andold alike. There could hardly be a moreintense and impressive way to revivethe spirit of motor sport’s gloriouspast.

Porsche fans do not just come to thecircuit to see classic racing cars fromtheir favourite marque in actionthough. Over time, the Oldtimer GrandPrix has developed into one of the mostpopular meeting points for the Euro-pean Porsche Clubs. The Porsche areahas acted as the central contact pointfor some years and is still highly valued thanks to the wide range ofservices on offer there.

The advance VIP packages offered byPorsche Classic, which included entrytickets, a parking space on the site fora Porsche vehicle and access to thehospitality tent with its customaryexcellent catering “were sold out veryearly on” according to Klaus Boizo,Manager of Aftersales Classic. Buteven for those who had not purchaseda package, it was well worth a visit tothe Mercedes Arena, where the entireworld of Porsche was represented andseemed to stretch as far as the eyecould see.

The motto was variety, which was cer-tainly reflected in the colours and agesof the four hundred Porsche vehicles

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which, arranged by type, had assem-bled on the site. Variety was also pro-vided by Porsche’s partner companiesMichelin, Bose, ElringKlinger and Koni,who presented their products andwere on hand to provide help andadvice wherever it was needed – justlike the various departments ofPorsche itself, which were also repre-sented at the event. Staff fromPorsche Classic answered all the vis-itors’ questions about spare parts andsold technical literature, the ClassicCenter demonstrated the quality of afactory restoration using a PorscheCarrera RS 2.7, the living workshopprovided an insight into the produc-tion of spare parts and anyone whowanted to know anything at all aboutthe Clubs could speak to the PorscheAG Club Coordination or PorscheDeutschland GmbH.

The Exclusive and Tequipment depart-ments, the Porsche Sports DrivingSchool and the Travel Club were alsoon hand, while Selection had a rangeof much sought-after Porsche acces-sories. Porsche’s successful appear-ance was rounded off by theinterviews held several times eachday, which were moderated bySusanne Francke from Bavarian radioand included informative and enter-taining discussions with authors ofbooks about Porsche, engineers andtyre experts.

It is always impressive to see the num-ber of foreign Porsche fans who fly oreven drive to the event, whether theycome from Scandinavia, Great Britainor Southern European countries likeItaly. The Customer Service Managerof Porsche Italia, Antonio Tissi,brought a total of 24 Italian PorscheClub members to the Nürburgring.

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Tissi co-ordinates the trip every yearand pays special attention to his non-German speaking countrymen, allow-ing them to fully enjoy all that theOldtimer Grand Prix has to offer.“Some of them want to drive on theNordschleife again, while others defi-nitely want to visit Zuffenhausen”, hereported, when asked what his flockwere intending to do next.

A large group from the Porsche ClubEspana also comes to the OldtimerGrand Prix every year and someonenew is always with them, this yearLeonardo Benaton. He was totallythrilled by the mammoth programmeprovided by Porsche and told us: “It isunbelievable what is on offer here.”

Bernd WoytalOn Behalf of Porsche Classic

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The twelfth running of the Le MansClassic, which was held from 23rd to25th July 2004, once again includednumerous highlights. One of them wasthe fact that the Porsche marque wasparticularly well represented this year,with more than 650 vehicles in theClub area alone. The Club Porsche deFrance had its hands full directing itsown members’ vehicles and thosebelonging to the visitors from all overEurope on the 21,000 square metreparking area.

The Club members enjoyed a host ofcomforts. A large, shady tent wasavailable from Friday to Sunday, witha terrace that provided a fantasticview of the historic racing cars as they

Club Porsche France 911 Classic

Le Mans Classic 2004

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lined up for the start. Of course,numerous Porsches were amongthem, including those that crossed thefinish line first in classes 5 and 6.

However, the Porsche Club memberswere not just spectators. Around 200of them also took the opportunity todrive two laps of the track, which wasextremely enjoyable without a pacecar to slow them down. The newPorsche 911, which was specially pre-sented by Porsche France some daysin advance of its official launch, alsogenerated a great deal of interest andexcitement.

To the delight of everyone present,Porsche France took this uniqueopportunity at Le Mans this year toorganise a 911 retrospective on thelegendary Circuit du Mans.

It was not only Porsche Club membersthat were involved. The event alsogave other customers and dealersfrom France the chance to experiencehistoric racing up close. They also hadthe pleasure of driving on the Le Manscircuit themselves in the brand new997.

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Porsche France had organised a smallfleet of three 997s, which were drivenby professional drivers; this gavePorsche customers a unique opportu-nity to experience a few laps on thetrack in front of a huge crowd, includ-ing night driving. You could truly feelthe “Magic of Le Mans”!

The whole event met with greatacclaim from all the visitors. Specialthanks go to Porsche AG, PorscheFrance, the RS Magazine and theorganisers from the Porsche France911 Classic Clubs for their energeticsupport.

Club Porsche France 911 ClassicPresident: Vincent FlandinTel.: +33 (0)1 43 25 26 80Fax: +33 (0)1 43 25 26 51E-mail: cpf-classic@dial.oleane.com

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Porsche Diesel Tractor Register, USA

Gmund West 2004

Over 550 guests, including VolkerSpannagel from the Porsche ClubCoordination and Jack Bair, Club Coordinator for Porsche Cars NorthAmerica, took up the invitation fromGeorge and Sharon Maybee to cometo Henderson/Colorado. The arrival ofthe 180 Porsches on 25th July 2004was a sight to behold in itself.

Porsche enthusiast Maybee, who onhis property has constructed a copyof the building in the Austrian town ofGmünd where the history of Porschevehicles had its origins, had put togeth-er a varied programme, including aConcours d'Élégance in which more

than 90 vehicles participated. APorsche Diesel that was given a maxi-mum score of 100 by the jury wascrowned “Best in Show”, while aPorsche Carrera 906 was way aheadin terms of audience popularity. Therewere also the first driving competitionsfor the tractors. In between times, thevisitors had ample opportunity to sam-ple German food and beer. It is alreadydefinite that the event will be repeatednext year.

Porsche Diesel Tractor RegisterPresident: George K. MaybeeTel.: +1 (0)303 287 80 53

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Porsche Club Tirol

Porsche Clubs at the Ennstal Classic

The Ennstal Classic oldtimer event provided a backdrop for the first meet-ing organised by the Porsche Club Verband Österreich (PCVÖ), the newumbrella organisation that includesseven Porsche Clubs. The PorscheClub Steiermark had organised themeeting with the active support of thePorsche Club Tirol, and 49 Porschecars arrived to participate.

The highlight was the PCVÖ’s first“Stoderzinken trial”. This involved com-pleting the nine-kilometre Stoderzinkenmountain route with its numerousbends in the allotted time of 11 min-utes 40 seconds, which correspondsto an average speed of 46.3 km/h.The vehicles set off on the course atone-minute intervals, but messingabout with stopwatches and averagespeed tables left no time to enjoy themountain scenery. However, everyonehad the chance to make up for this thefollowing day on a walk that includedbreathtaking views over the glaciersof the Hohe Tauern national park.

Everyone who attended had a greattime and the Porsches themselvesmade a memorable appearance, particularly at the time trial coursethrough the town of Gröbming, whichsaw numerous spectators lining thestreets.

Porsche Club TirolPresident: Werner KoblerTel.: +43 (0)5238 864 58Fax: +43 (0)5238 864 58E-mail: w.kobler@svd.co.at

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Some call it classic sports car restoration.

We simply call it craftsmanship.

Original factory restoration with Porsche Classic parts.

Porsche Exclusive and Porsche Classic.

For more information, visit www.porsche.com