President’s Report – Page 7

President’s Report – April 2013

April 5, 2013/in President's Report/by admin

Welcome!

April is now upon us, but judging from the weather you wouldn’t know, seems winter doesn’t want to let go this year! I guess we were spoiled last year with a very mild winter.

Cars n Coffee is now in full swing. I went to the March meeting and the weather was sunny but a little cold due to the wind. The turnout was good in general, but not so good for Porsche with only 4 cars turning up so at the next one (4/13) let’s try and fill a row up with Porsches. It is now held at Captains Quarters. There are coffee and cakes for sales inside the main entrance.

This month I have my first 2013 track event and will be at Putnam Park on April 5th- 7th with the 10/10th group. I will be instructing and taking part in time trials and hope to add to my trophy collection!

I attended the zone 13 PCA meeting in Springfield IL last weekend and it was an opportunity to meet PCA President Manny Alban who I found really down to earth and easy to talk to. I also met with our zone 13 Rep James Jacisins. The meeting was held at the Isringhausen Porsche dealership in Springfield Illinois. The meeting was a chance for each Zone 13 president to bring up issues they have and to share ideas to help each other’s club be more successful. I spoke with Bluegrass President Ed Stevenson and we discussed teaming up on some of our drives this year as it will be a good way to increase participation at our drives and meet some new people. Manny presented reports that showed PCA has been growing nationwide over the past year and we are doing well at retaining existing members.

Manny also brought up the subject of the Street Survival Program that Tire Rack and the BMW Club have been running for some time. PCA got involved in a trial last year to see how it would be received and all indications are that it went very well. Street Survival is a driving course targeted at young drivers from the age of 15-21 years old. The course is designed to teach young drivers how to react to certain highway emergency’s such as sudden stops and braking hard in wet conditions. The students are encouraged to drive their own cars on the course so they get to know how they behave in different and extreme situations. I think the course is something we would all like our own children to try as it helps to prepare them for the trials of driving on our street and highways. Let me know if any of you would be interested in volunteering time to assist in one of these events as I can contact National for more information on how to get one setup.

President’s Report – March 2013

March 6, 2013/in President's Report/by admin

Hello Fellow Porsche Fans,

March is upon us and that means basketball and March Madness. Being from England, basketball is not followed as keenly as it is here in the States. We tend to watch football, or soccer, as its better known over here. To be honest I’m not a fan of either; I used to play rugby at school, which was a pretty rough game! I was ok at it but I was never going to be a champion of any sorts.

From a young age my Dad and I would spend most weekends at our local race track “Brands Hatch “. The track dates back to the mid 1920’s. It was first used as an army training ground before becoming a race track in 1926. The Grand Prix circuit is 2.6 miles in length and the Indy circuit is only 1.1 miles. Unfortunately due to noise restrictions the Grand Prix circuit is rarely used these days. My Dad and I were present for the last ever Grand Prix held there in 1986. In those days Grand Prix cars were unbelievably loud and if you didn’t have hearing protection you could only endure around 10 minutes next to the track!

President’s Report – February 2013

February 4, 2013/in President's Report/by admin

Hello KY PCA Members!

February is the month to celebrate love. Have you seen the new Cayman? Love at first sight! I just got the brochure for it in the mail the other day and it’s beautiful. I think it may be a bit optimistic to expect one of those for Valentine’s Day but I’m eternally hopeful (please make loud hints to Lucy on my behalf and I’ll return the favor).

Hope it’s not too cold out there for you?! Don’t worry, as living in the Louisville area it will be 70 degrees next week I’m sure! Joking aside, carefree sunny days are not too far off and then Porsche driving days will be here once again. Be sure to let our activities committee know of any suggestions you have for good drives or places to visit as new ideas are always welcome. They are busy putting a schedule together for the coming year and I look forward to seeing it as I’m sure you do too.

Last month’s meeting was held at the new Champps bar and it was one of our largest turnouts for a while. I was very pleased to see so many faces, so please keep it up! The meetings are a great way to catch up with fellow Porsche enthusiasts and an opportunity to bring up ideas for events. If you have any proposals please come along to a meeting so you can share them with the group.

President’s Report – January 2013

January 4, 2013/in President's Report/by admin

Welcome!

Let me take a few lines to introduce myself as your new KYPCA President. My wife Lucy and I are avid Porsche fans and have a mini fan in the making, our one year old daughter Sasha. I have been an active member of the Kentucky region since 2009 and I was first introduced to the club by Blue Grass Porsche after leasing our first Porsche (Cayman S) from them. This was also how I ended up being a track enthusiast after Blue Grass invited me to a track day at Putnam Park. It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life – I was hooked.

After the first event I decided I needed to go on the hunt for a track car as the Cayman S was my wife’s daily driver, not that I needed an excuse to extend our Porsche family! I ended up buying a Lindsey race prepped 944 turbo and then spent all my summer months attending events at Putnam park, so much so that this year I decided to become a DE instructor.

President’s Report – November 2012

November 1, 2012/in President's Report/by admin

This will most likely be my last president’s comments column. We’ve elected new officers for the 2013 year and I truly wish them the best. Our Club is well on its way to being stronger and more financially sound than it’s been in a long time. The key reason is our membership and the outstanding job The Kentucky Region DE team has done on putting on an outstanding event each and every time. But with all great events requires outstanding sponsors. Blue Grass Porsche headed by Randy Biery has gone way above and beyond their involvement with our DE events. Many, many thanks go out to them for their strong and continuing support of our Club. Without them these events would not be as awesome as they are.

President’s Report – August 2012

July 30, 2012/in President's Report/by admin

I would like to announce that Gene Hoffman has accepted the position as our new Membership Chair. Gene and I discussed that we need to canvas the membership to acquire each member’s latest email account name/address so we can make sure everyone gets the club’s timely information. I’m also asking the membership to go on line to www.Kypca.org and sign up. I’ve had several people in the last week or so ask about some events that have been posted in the new online digital PaceSetter. This tells me there are still members out there that are not getting information about club events.

During Parade, the National officers had a meeting to discuss various business matters concerning the Club. One of those bits of information discussed and voted on was to have the Panorama available as a digital copy on line at www.pca.org. I believe this form of media will be available sometime in mid Fall this year. It was also sighted that the Porsche Club of America is growing at a rate of 2% per month where all other major Car Club memberships are sharply dropping off. I think the Porsche Club must be doing something better than all the rest. That brings me to a question I’ve asked month after month about our Region’s activities. Is there anything that we can do to make things more interesting and fun so we can encourage more involvement from our membership? If it looks like we’re limited in our activities, it’s because we need new and fresh ideas— and people interested in putting them on. Is anyone out there? Is anyone even reading this? Heck who knows, we could have a huge turn out for something new.

President’s Report – February 2012

February 8, 2012/in President's Report/by admin

The 2012 Kentucky Region calendar year is off to a roaring start. The After Holiday Party was a huge success with 42 people attending, good food and wonderful door prizes, and drinks for all. If you missed it you really missed a good time. So to keep the wheels moving, I asked our activities chair Steven Rountree to put together a list of events for this year. Hopefully one event in March would be a wine tasting event (more information about this event to be posted on our website).

Speaking of the Kentucky Region website, have you signed up on our website to get these notices? It’s very easy to do and I highly suggest you do it soon before you miss out on some interesting upcoming events. We are proceeding forward with placing the PaceSetter on the website only and discontinuing the mailed paper version. As you noticed last month the newsletter was really late in getting to everyone because of problems with our printer. Our efforts, in 2012, are to make Club information real time and give as much notice as possible. My hopes are to roll out a review of the features of the website PaceSetter so you can see what our plans look like. Right now I foresee the paper version still being mailed out until the August time frame (and it could be longer if we don’t have things in place).

President’s Report – January 2012

January 18, 2012/in President's Report/by admin

Happy 2012 to everyone and my wish for all is an exciting and prosperous New Year. The Kentucky Region is gearing up for another strong DE year with two events in June and September. And with the strong support from BlueGrass Motorsports, our Region will continue offering the best DE experience you’ll find anywhere. Along with those events, we’ll be planning some fun and interesting drives and other events in the coming months. If you have any requests for places to go, please let us know.

This year we’re planning on changing a few things, mainly in the way the PaceSetter newsletter is distributed. Our plans are to go electronic and do away with the postal mailed copy. The new PaceSetter E-version will have more content, hundreds more color pictures and we’ll work towards making it printable on your own printer. Our goal is to shoot for the June or July issue for implementation so it is very important that you make every effort to sign up on the website so you can receive your copy. By signing up you will also get monthly (very limited) notices, mainly concerning membership meeting announcements and when the PaceSetter will be available for viewing. We’ll also be changing the Bylaws to reflect E-voting for Officers.

President’s Report – December 2011

December 8, 2011/in President's Report/by admin

Well the holidays are here and the end of another successful year for The Kentucky Region is at hand. The election of officers for the 2012 calendar year has been completed in a different way than expressed in our By-Laws. The difference is that all of the same officers for 2011 were voted in by “acclamation”. Why you ask, because there wasn’t anyone new interested in extending their name for any of the positions. Thus, no new names so no ballots were issued in the newsletter. So fortunately or not, the membership is stuck with the same cabinet as last year.

2011 holds some challenges for us. We’ll have two DE’s in 2012 because money has been allocated for that and the key DE team is still intact. I am extending a plea to the membership and asking for someone or several people who would be interested in helping with next year’s activities. You can be as creative as you want, but keep in mind this is a Porsche club and drives are important. As President, I would love to see one or several of our new members step up for the challenge. Please consider it and give me a call.

President’s Report – November 2011

November 3, 2011/in President's Report/by admin

I hope this note finds everyone doing well, especially since Fall has fallen with some quite cool weather. There are still some great days ahead for doing a mid-fall drive somewhere and the leaves around here haven’t all gone away. If you have any ideas or want to make a plan, go on the website and place it on the Forum page. This year has flown by with elections next month and the holidays approaching. 2011 can go down as a good year for The Kentucky Region.

I would like to thank the membership for their support at the monthly meetings with some really nice turnouts. There is still a considerable number of members that have yet to make it to a meeting and or attend an event. It would be nice to know, as the chief officer of your club, what interests you so you can become more involved with your club. The National membership has risen to 60 thousand members and our region has grown by around 20 new members this year. If you have any improvement suggestions let me know. My contact information is always listed in the Pacesetter and on the website.