Having been a PCA member for 25+ years, judging the club on the actions of some individuals at an isolated event is really not very fair Like any other large organization, some events are good, some are not so good. some members are nice, some are not so nice.

There is a 'hard core air-cooled" element in the club as well as a "purist element" (the purists don't like my RSR...lol) but there are many different venues and opportunities with the Potomac Region alone that you can fill up your weekends with just PCA events. They have a great autox program, DE program, club racing venue, Tech program, and many social events to choose from. I have found lots of camaraderie and met many great people all over the country through PCA.

my $0.02 worth for your consideration....

 

So, on Saturday I went to the PCA Brunch at City Grille in Manassas, followed by a drive to the Virginia Museum of Military Vehicles (http://www.vmmv.org/).

Let me start with the brunch- My wife Lindsay and I have been very active with the local Jeep club for YEARS. When a social event is scheduled, if you aren't at least 20 minutes early, you're already late! LOL.... Well, Lindsay, Sean(my two year old son), and I pulled up right at 1100hrs, and the parking lot is almost empty! Are we in the right place? Are we here on the right day? Yup, just everybody else started showing up at the advertised time! Shocker! HAAHAHAAA!!! Well, we sit down for food, and are immediately welcomed. Lots of talk about not just Porsches, but travel, jobs, and networking. Over the next hour, the parking lot filled with a very nice collection of Porsches! Everything from my ratty little 944, to some really nice 911 Turbos(my favorite was a light blue mid-eighties car with some work done to it). After brunch, the group moved out to the parking lot for a little chit-chat around the cars, and then talk of the drive started-

The Drive- First things first, waivers! Everybody signed a waiver, and the had minor waivers for the little kids too! This is great, and I have no issues with this whatsoever. The drive leader then had a short talk about where we were going. Then came the drive itself- This is the only time of the day when I had a few complaints-

A: Directions/Route sheet- We got lucky here because one other person(Fraggle), knew where we were going! Unfortunately for the rest of us, no directions or anything were handed out... $2 worth of paper and ink would have made EVERYONE a lot more comfortable.
B: Proper group management! If you are going to lead a ride, be sure to either keep the group together, or have a mid-pack and tail-gunner to keep everyone on the route! We didn't even make it past the first stoplight without at least half the group gettting left behind! Even this wouldn't have been a problem if the leader had pulled over, but there was no such luck.
C: If you're going to lead a group drive for a Porsche Club, no offense, but use a PORSCHE! Our leader was in what I believe is an early 80's Rolls Royce?!!?! While the non-Pcar isn't that big a deal, the fact that we had to do 10 under the speed limit is... We had a stack of "civilians" behind us on the country roads, and you could tell they weren't pleased.

The Tour- The tour was GREAT!!!! First, a video presentation was given detailing who they are, and what their mission was. After that, we were split into three groups. The group I was in, our first stop was a ride in a british personnel carrier!!! This consisted of two laps around their "test track", at about 30mph! It included a couple nice mud holes, and everybody had a fun time! Next stop was their restoration area, where they had several on-going projects, and gave us a run down on each one. Finally, we got to hang out for a bit at the "hangar" where all the restored vehicles are kept when not in use- Their collection was very diverse, and it was a fun walk down memory lane for me. The entire time, the staff was very accommodating, and answered any questions that came up. They also had a nice refreshments area with drinks, cookies, snacks, and fresh fruit! I came away so impressed, that I went to their website and signed up to volunteer!

All in all, it was a great day! My kid had a blast, and any pre-conceptions of being the odd man out in my "poor man's porsche" were quickly washed away.. I'll definitely be doing more events in the future!!!!

 

Did you get to drive the deuce? The ride in the APC was cool.

Nice to meet you and your family.

It was kind of amusing, the group I led after losing the front crew got there 10minutes faster!

They've got some neat hardware, right there in our backyard!

 

It was my first time at a pca event too. I actually showed up to the restaurant at 10 because I misremembered the time and so I went to Khol's for an hour

The drive wasn't the best, but I don't think it was supposed to be a cruise. And it really sucked making a left out of the restaurant parking lot. It would probably have taken 20 minutes getting us lined up down the road. The leaders route seemed to be the long way around and I guess he figured other people would just catch up. I had the address in my navi and it was constantly wanting to go left for most of the trip which is why the people that got left behind got there first.

The tanks where awesome and my gf and I had a great time and it was nice to meet so many cool people.

Adam

 

Was checking out your car Jake- Definitely a nice ride!!!

 

I'll probably have a vid of the apc running around the track tomorrow.

 

I love that 'ASBESTOS MITTENS' stencil! The scale of the tools needed to work on these things was amazing.