The Process
Over the 50 plus years, our region’s activities have evolved and changed as “Champions” of various Porsche Club activities have stepped forward to take on the challenge of expanding the programs and driving then with a passion or a unique vision. At the beginning of the year, the club devotes an entire meeting to planning the up coming year’s activities. All members are encouraged to attend and help plan an exciting year. If you have any ideas for the up coming years activities, please contact any of the current board or committee members.
Business Meetings (formally know as Board Meetings)
Business Meeting are scheduled each month (see Calendar) to discuss and plan region activities. ALL club members are invited and encouraged to attend. Help us better our club, come and attend the next meeting. Check the Calendar or with the VP for location and time. At the beginning of the year, the club devotes an entire meeting to planning the up coming year’s activities. All members are encouraged to attend and help plan an exciting year. If you have any ideas for the up coming years activities, please contact any of the current board or committee members.
Minutes of past meeting can be found in DOS (archived on-line within monthly DOS editions Newsletter).
Charitable Contribution Program
While MORPCA has long been associated with charitable giving, the process was formalized in 1997. As part of our IRS 501 (C4) status, the Board established a giving program initially set at $12,000 annually, to be supplemented as additional funds are available. Six charities are recommended by the membership and selected by the Board to receive a three-year commitment of support. These are rotated to allow two new charities to be added each year. Through 2006, over $190,000 has been presented to worthy area organizations, such as The Children’s Hospital Foundation, Urban Concern, Arthritis Foundation, Kobacker House/Hospice, Habitat for Humanity, Canine Companions, Ohio Brain Injury Association, and a scholarship program at Columbus State Community College among others. The additional sponsorship and support that MORPCA and its members provide at area charitable events provide us with much satisfaction in assisting and being a part of the local community.
The Possibilities
Social Events
Traditionally, our group has engaged in regular meetings with a variety of themes and programs. The themes have been along these lines: Wine Tasting, Pig Roasts, Chili Cook-off, Concours, Columbus Clippers Baseball Games, Holiday Dinner and others too numerous to mention. Each spring and fall we try to have a drive and dine event, where we travel to some interesting place, usually a restaurant, and sample their menu. It provides an opportunity to warm up your Porsche, hone your driving skills, and swap tales with your fellow members.
Concours Events
The Club’s current and recent past efforts in this are are encapsulated in our annual P2O® weekend. P2O® is a “Casual Porsche Party” where judging is done via participants, so more of a “people’s choice” approach. Keeping it casual. Prior to P2O®, more elaborate Concours events had been hosted by the club. Past events where the cleanest, most original, and most attractive automobiles reward their owners. Since a clean, original and attractive Porsche is even more special—these competitions enjoined the membership to engage in all manner of elbow grease and black magic to get the machine clean. A Concours D’elegance or Concours for short is really a beauty contest for automobiles and the competition is usually very keen. As the years have gone by, we also continue to see the rare and beautiful surface as winners in their classes and at P2O®. It is always good to see older Porsches age with grace. These competitions, by the way, can fall into classes by type and age with arrangements often made to cover “TOP SIDE ONLY,” so a dirty undercarriage need not keep you from entering.
Driving Events
Driver Education
Porsche Club’s Driver Education events are more than learning how to drive. They are an event where you master the art of driving in a safe and sane way. You will have the opportunity to drive your Porsche on the race track in a high performance manner in a much safer environment than the street. The experience of driving your car on the race track under specific and unusual circumstances will teach you about your car and yourself. Even though the event is held on a race track, it is not a racing school—fun and safety are the primary objectives.
Autocross Events
Autocrossing is a performance driving event and is a safe way to learn how to drive your car within a controlled setting. An autocross is a timed event on a course defined by pylons that test a driver’s ability to control his/her car while learning a course quickly. In most cases there is only one car on a course at a time, therefore, making it safe and limiting the chance of a collision with another car.
Autocrossing provides an entrant the opportunity to learn their abilities as well as their car’s abilities. It also offers a chance to meet numerous other people with the same interest in cars and socializing.
The Inter-Regional Autocrossing Championship (I.R.A.C.) is a series of autocross events hosted by a number of different regions within the same zone. Currently, MORPCA is in Zone 4, which includes events put on by Mid-Ohio, Northern Ohio, Maumee, Allegheny, and Ohio Valley regions. These events are competitive, fun and filled with opportunities to learn how to handle your car. The end of the I.R.A.C. season features an Octoberfest gathering where awards and trophies are given to class and overall winners.
Club Race
Club Race events are for those PCA members who want the ultimate competitive driving experience. The operation of a PCA Club Race weekend is a partnership between the sponsor (MORPCA) and PCA Club Racing National. MORPCA has sponsored a Club Race every year since 1994. When PCA Club Racing was organized in 1991 a set of principles was established which is still adhered to today, and remain the basis of the Club Racing program.
Rally Events
The purest form of automobile competition that anyone can afford is a rally. No special vehicle preparation is required and normally takes a driver and navigator to compete. These events may include fun rallies, where you just follow a predetermined course, answer questions along the way or collect things along the way. There is the pure time, speed, distance rally in which participants are to follow a certain course at varying speeds for a certain distance to arrive at a precise time. There are always different classifications for levels of competence and equipment in rallies. You are encouraged to participate in rallies just to meet other club members and, by all means, have a good time.
Tech Sessions
Porsche automobiles are an unusual amalgam of superb engineering, art, and old world craftsmanship. Porsche engineers consistently use state-of-the-art technology to design and build cars of truly legendary capabilities and value. Success on the world’s race tracks is a Porsche hallmark.
Tech sessions help members get the most enjoyment from their cars by providing technical information about all phases of maintenance. For instance, the MOR 1990 decade began with a 911 engine rebuild, and an earlier session in 2007 covered interior and exterior detailing. On the National Club level, a consistent publishing program, Up-Fixen Der Porsche, has produced a prodigious amount of technical how-to information to aid the “backyard mechanic” or enlighten the technically minded owner. It is just this kind of effort that makes ownership a cherished experience.