Helluva weekend!, First PCA event Options

[ThePaintedMan]

Just thought I would share my first PCA event with everyone. I had been talking with John (FourBlades) about his upcoming PCA DE at Sebring and mentioned that I would like to see what "its" all about, so I finally came off the $42 or whatever it was and joined PCA. After talking with T.C. (Carr914), who is a PCA Instructor and one hell of a driver himself, we decided to drive down so T.C. could instruct John and I would watch. The plan was to leave Saint Petersburg around 5:30 a.m.

Saturday morning arrives and I get a call from T.C. at 05:00 saying he's on his way to my house so we can ride together. Five minutes later he called back saying his alternator light was on in his truck and things weren't looking good, so he turned around. Another five minutes and he was stranded in Tampa, with a tow truck on the way. A little bummed out I wouldn't have my buddy riding with me to Sebring, I drove off into a beautiful sunrise over the orange groves of central Florida.

Got to the track and immediately started receiving thumbs up from all the PCA guys, quickly realized out of the hundreds of cars there, I was the only 914. A few minutes later I met up with John and we caught up for the first time since the Tropical Ramble.

Long story short, I spent most of the day watching John on the track and walking around the pits meeting other Porsche owners. At lunch we had the chance to take my car on the track for a couple of parade laps, and I think we both concluded it was an absolute blast. We're both looking forward to bringing our cars out for another PCA DE in April.

All in all, I really enjoyed myself. Bummed that TC couldn't join us, but I really had a good time with John and with the rest of our PCA region. Honestly, I was really anxious about joining, thinking that I really had nothing in common with most Porsche owners. If anyone is hesitant, I would urge you to reconsider. I found people to be very much down to earth and I'm looking forward to more!

[smj]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your PCA event, George and John.

Been a PCA member since '97 starting in Zone 1. PCA people are just people, by and large everybody's just looking to have a good time. Even if you did run into an idiot, hopefully the other 95% make up for it. I enjoyed the DE program with just about every region in Zone 1 until moving to CA in 2005, then got sucked into region management... Plenty of headaches, but it did open my eyes to the other fun things that PCA does.

If it works for you, go for it. The DE and AX programs are generally a good way to get seat time and instruction. But if it doesn't, no worries - there are lots of other opportunities out there nowadays. Chumpcar among 'em.

George, it may help to remember that your PCA membership can get you discounts at various vendors. 10%, 15% - if you're still in starving student mode every little bit can help...