Following my Redman for President story yesterday, I got into an email chat about the cars coming out for Rennsport Reunion. One friend felt strongly that Porsche were making a mistake with the RRIV line up: bringing ‘east coast cars for a west coast audience’.
“I believe Porsche is making a big mistake with their entries for RRIV. It has a very European taste which may go down well on the East Coast, but this is California. This is the land of “Cal-Club” and the hot rod. This is where Vasek Polak took drag strip secrets to make his Porsches faster than Factory Cars and the home of race car drivers: Gurney – McAffee – Macdonald – Miles – and Milt Minter! There’s a story there…”
My buddy’s sentiment is on the money. But hot rods are not exclusive to California.
Similar strip-learnt secrets were used by east coast teams like Brumos, who – legend has it – offered Stuttgart assistance to make German RSRs go as fast as the American ones. When the offer was declined, Brumos painted ‘Made in Jacksonville’ on the tail for factory drivers to read as they were lapped. East Coast/West Coast: two sides of the same dragstrip? Perhaps.
Whatever Porsche choose to ship for Rennsport, their presence and support is the most important thing. We all agree on that. BUT I also think my amigo makes a nice point. For sure, Cali is the home of car culture and the home of the hot rod. So, what would YOU bring to keep those boys happy?
Some factory never-seen-beyond-Stuttgart hot rods would go down well. I’d like to see the 961 there – the 959 has only just got legal in California so the race version would be cool. A Dakar 959 would rock. In fact, a bundle of Rothmans cars lapping Laguna would look great.
Then there’s the new SC RS resto and Walter’s rally car from Targa Tasmania. And what about some F1 cars: 718, 804 and a McLaren or two?
Dare I say 914/8? There’s a thing that needs to travel. Hugely relevant given the VW connections, and California is the 914′s adopted country. I’m down for that feature if it gets out west!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I've been lucky enough to see both sides of it, and involved enough to come out objective all over again. Truth is, it's all good. Hot rods are everywhere, always have been. The west had an earlier or more publisized start, and still has the reputation today. The concentration of cars out west is the real difference. But certainly during the 935 IMSA days for example – the best, certainly the most entertaining cars were all certified hot rods. What we thought of as 'east' teams or home teams around Daytona and Sebring and Road Atlanta – the JLP and Swap Shop cars, Brumos, the Whittington Brothers and others – what you got from the factory was something you just started with to go fast. That was truly a period of crazy fast hot rods. But there are differences between east and west. Some for good reason, some just because. The west coast is used to what is around, how things are done there, certain styles, certain setups etc. I think it will be good in this case to have the winds shift for a weekend. But the difference between east and west Rennsports will be really interesting to see, aside from amazing numbers of great cars. Not to be missed.
Too right.
Alex M was just saying on Facebook that a hill climb car or two should come and I agree. That little 348 kilo 909 from the centre of pic 2 is a hero. No hot rodders making that rare-metal mental case any faster.