From DER Prez

Things are still happening this fall in the Down-East Region!

by Don McGilvery, aka NINE44T

    We are officially in the fall season here in Maine – a time to wind down after the busy summer months. It is also a time when I, once again, come to realize just how lucky we are to live here in such a beautiful, ever-changing place that has so much to offer from the ocean, to the lakes, to the mountains all along the back road twisties. The things that perfect Porsche car drives are made of!

            I urge you to check our calendar of events for October in this newsletter – it is full of varied opportunities to enjoy your cars and meet up with fellow club members. I would like to make a plea to you to join the Down East Region’s e-mail list. In this day of “instant information,” we are remiss if we do not subscribe to using this powerful tool to it’s fullest. While I am not suggesting that we will abandon hard copies of newsletters and fliers for those who are not connected to the web, there are considerable savings in time and costs to the club by using the internet.  We are currently exploring how we can batch e-mail notices to our members, providing timely, up-to-date, and accurate information about events as they evolve. We are also exploring a web–based newsletter vs. mailed, hard copy. As you might imagine, once implemented, these changes would reduce printing and mailing costs substantially, yet still provide much needed information to most of our membership. Imagine timely articles supplemented with color digital photos of our past and upcoming events, perhaps even on a more frequent basis than our current, quarterly issues of PORSCHEFORME. Wouldn’t this be a step in a great direction?

            If an updated e-mail list, which represents a majority of our membership, can be assembled, then we will continue to pursue these options. If you agree, send your e-mail address to either the DER website directly or to me at drm@maine.rr.com and I will see to it that you are added. If you have reservations or comments about joining our list, please also let us know.  I look forward to seeing how you all respond to this suggestion within the next few weeks.  Otherwise, I feel that we are missing an opportunity and we will continue to do the best that we can with the time and funds available to keep you all informed.

            One last reminder that we are again looking forward to supporting our neighbor, the North Country Region, to promote and provide a Track Sampler event this fall at the New Hampshire International Speedway. Last year DER had approximately 25 participants for this event, and I know of at least three who tried their first full-fledged DE event. If you are not familiar with this event, NHIS is about two hours from the Portland area. The event includes some classroom instruction of the dynamics of track driving, “rules of the road“, the various signal flags used on the course, and a general introduction to what you can expect during a typical day at the track. In addition, there is “open track” time in which you can drive your own car at a controlled rate to get a feel for the track, and finally, there is the opportunity to ride as a passenger with an Instructor in his/her car to experience track driving with an accomplished driver. This event, by far, provides the best opportunity at minimal cost to experience what I continue to talk about as the best opportunity to drive your car the way it is meant to be driven. I know you won’t be disappointed...you will have spent a day with great people, seen some fine machinery, driven your car in, and experienced an event that might otherwise not be available to you – how can you lose? Check out the North Country Web site at www.ncr-pca.org for their detailed event information as well as the DER Tour to the event described elsewhere in this issue.

            Time to go out and enjoy some early fall foliage and cooler weather– hope to see you on the roads or at the track.

Don

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