2023 News Archive

A week-long auction for a 13-day Autobahn Adventure led to a final bid of $22,000 for a $40,000 trip of a lifetime.  All proceeds benefited Hinds Feet Farm an organization dedicated to serving persons living with brain injury.

Over 40 Appalachian Region members brought their Porsches out to Asheville Outlets for the monthly AppCafe´ event.  This is a no commitment but fun event to see friends, cars and meet new members.

Our rambles to the Smokey Mountain Cafe in Hot Springs are always popular, and this one was no exception.

For the first time we held a social mixer at  Ecusta Brewing.

August 2023 Mid-Month Sign-ups

Every second Tuesday morning, members of the Appalachian region meet at the Monte Vista Hotel for coffee, and in August we enjoyed the patio.

We had all the ingredients for perfection, great weather, great roads, well-driven cars, and a really good lunch.

A summary of our recent and upcoming events.

Appalachian Region sponsor Hagerty Insurance provides agreed value insurance coverage through their Guaranteed Value® policy for your Porsche.  This is an important feature for you to consider when making your insurance decisions for your collector cars.

The forecast for the afternoon was hot and muggy, but the temperature in the morning was perfect for our parking-lot event, and we had about 80 cars at the Asheville Outlet Mall.

In July we returned to the Eluvian Brewery. Although the skies were overcast and threatening rain, the evening was warm and dry.

A summary of our recent and upcoming events.

Breakfast in Linville at Louise’s Rock House Restaurant is a long way from everyway in the Appalachian Region but we still had 22 members make the journey.  Rick Schorr might have been closest being only an hour away while Allen and John from Flat Rock might have traveled the furthest, driving just short of two hours.

After taking a holiday in June, we resumed our coffee get-togethers at the Monte Vista Hotel in Black Mountain.

The July 8th drive to Hemlock Farm in Spruce Pine was a high demand event that gave drivers a nice trot through the pastures of Prices Creek and the South Toe River valley.

Porsche Asheville had its Grand Opening with ribbon-cutting on July 6 2023 at its new facility at 621 Brevard Road in Asheville. The new facility is a stand-alone building that represents a new concept for Porsche.

A summary of our recent and upcoming events.

Appalachian Region was awarded first runner-up in the Region of the Year competition as announced at Porsche Parade Palm Springs 2023.

Parking is unlimited at the App Cafés but the coffee isn’t.  Everybody apparently needed a wake-up this morning as we couldn’t keep the coffee in stock.

They didn't know it of course. As usual, we just showed up, about 10 APR members this time, for good beer, food, and friendship.

Our June breakfast ramble was to Eggs Up in Hendersonville. Fortunately we arrived early; by the time we left there was a waiting line outside.

The June 15, 2023 Porsche to Peaks hike had seven Appalachian Region members hiking four miles round-trip along the Appalachian Trail to High Rocks Vista.

 A summary of our recent and upcoming events.

The Monte Vista Hotel in Black Mountain was the setting for the Appalachian Region Celebration of the 75th Anniversary of Porsche.  Fifty-five members of the Appalachian Region gathered on June 8, 2023 to enjoy steaks off the grill in the courtyard of the Monte Vista.

June 3 dawned warm and bright for about 50 Appalachian Region members to tour southern North Carolina.

Twelve Appalachian Region members spent the weekend in “Hotlanta” driving Road Atlanta in the latest High Performance Driver’s Education event that we attend as a Region.

 A summary of our recent and upcoming events.

The first AppCafe´ Porsches & Coffee welcomed summer with a Memorial weekend kick-off.  The Memorial weekend is the “start of summer”, but the temperatures were more fall-like as everyone was bundled for the 50° temperatures.

On Sunday, May 21, 2023 the Appalachian Region of PCA took over Point Lookout Vineyards to welcome new members to the Region.  Forty-seven new members and their guests joined existing members for a total of 120 members meeting and enjoying each other’s company.

In typical Appalachian Region fashion, there were 10 early arrivers at the New Belgium Brewery for the May 17, 2023 Social Mixer.  The social mixers are designed as come and leave as your schedule allows so over the evening another five members arrived while some of us headed for home.

I had a new experience on the May 16, 2023 Big Laurel Spring Driving Tour.  I wasn’t a Lead, I wasn’t a Sweep, I just drove in the middle of the pack.

We had a wonderful hike in South Carolina to Caeser's Head with 6 hardy hikers making the trek; Thad and Sonia Hodgdon, Robin Grainger, Jeff and Kim Anderson and Don Zelm.

We had planned on coffee and rolls on the Monte Vista Hotel patio, but the morning began wet and gray, so about 15 members had breakfast inside next to the fireplace.

A summary of our recent and upcoming events.

The Luft Wasser Porsche Celebration in Brevard on April 29, 2023 brought a new look with a new location and a new experience to celebrate five years of Luft Wasser.

As a Porsche Club member, I want to invite you to come to Broad Street in Brevard this Saturday, April 29, 2023 between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. for one of the biggest Porsche gatherings in the Southeast. Your PCA Region, Appalachian Region, hosts the Luft Wasser Porsche Celebration in Brevard that will bring over 200 Porsches and their owners together for a day of driving, showing cars and socializing. 

About a dozen  Appalachian members welcomed spring with great beer, great sandwiches, and great weather.

The first hike of the 2023 Porsches to Peaks event was a trail walk to explore and learn about Spring Wildflowers.  It was a short 1.1-mile trail outside of Hot Springs.

A summary of our recent and upcoming events.

The Appalachian Region kicked off the 2023 driving season by introducing new members to our “famous” Drive & Dine events.  Driving Tour Chair Don Lowcavage designed a new member drive that introduced 22 new members to our most popular event.

A summary of our recent and upcoming events.

About 20 Appalachian members met at the Enka Library where our Tech Chair Dan Dazzo led a lively discussion of some electronic tools available to help us maintain our cars.

Rhett Blanchard, General Manager of Flow Automotive/Porsche Asheville announced to the Appalachian Region Board that Porsche Asheville has tripled their Porsche Service capabilities.

New PCA National President Aaron Ambrosino introduced his mission for the club: “Have fun, enjoy our Porsches and meet people” during a gathering of PCA Zone 3 Presidents.

Our March Mixer returned to the Sierra Nevada Taproom, the site of the first one in July 2016.

A summary of our recent and upcoming events.

It was just above freezing with a few scattered snowflakes falling on the drive to our usual second-tuesday coffee.

For the first time ever, at a High Performance Driver’s Education (HPDE), Appalachian Region DE Chair David Wells brought together the largest group of HPDE drivers with 14 participants. 

PCA National held its annual Werks Reunion at Amelia Island that brings together over 600 Porsches and their owners.  The 2023 edition was bigger and better than ever and saw 24 Appalachian Region members attend the event.

The 12 regular Sim Racing Drivers were at Appalachian Region sponsor, The Track at Asheville for the final race of the season.

The Appalachian Region Sim drivers drove Porsche GT4’s on Road Atlanta for race two of the Sim Racing League that is held at Appalachian Region sponsor, The Track at Asheville facility in Biltmore Village in Asheville.

On February 15 over a dozen Appalachian members met on a warm night at Hillman's Beer for food and drinks.

As usual on a second Tuesday morning, a group of Appalachian members met for coffee, fruit, and pastry at the Monte Vista Hotel in Black Mountain.

A summary of our recent and upcoming events.

The Appalachian Region PCA Breakfast Ramble tried added a new restaurant to the list with a stop at the Victory Kitchen in Lake Lure. In typical Appalachian Region fashion, members started to arrive at 8:30 a.m. for the 9:00 a.m. breakfast.

At the Saturday, February 4, 2023 Tech Session, Track Chair David Wells presented the minimum commitments for participation in High Performance Driver’s Education (HPDE) events.

 La Quinta Resort & Club Palm Springs, California

The Saturday, February 4, 2023 Tech Session was designed to improve a members’ Porsche driving experience with three distinct topics for members and their cars:

  • Porsche Driving Control Modes
  • High Performance Driver’s Education (HPDE) Basics
  • Autocross Basics

A summary of our recent and upcoming events.

At the Holiday Party we announced that Dan Dazzo was being recognized as the Appalachian Region Enthusiast of the Year.  The Region also submitted Dan to PCA as the National Enthusiast of the Year.

Unlike modern Porsche engines, classic Air-Cooled Porsche engines can be easily removed for repairs as demonstrated here by Appalachian PCA member, Charlie Hickey. Charlie identified an oil cooler leak in his 1972 Porsche 911T Targa and the only way to make the repair is to remove the engine.

Race 1 of the Appalachian Region Winter Sim League held at club sponsor The Track at Asheville, started like 2022 finished with Michael Delaguardia leading the Championship, Sean McDonald in 2ndand David Wells in 3rd.  Tad Dixon, driving as a reserve for Tim Gallagher was new to the series this year and is currently holding down fourth place in the championship.

A summary of our recent and upcoming events.

As many of you have realized, we here at 924S944.com encourage our front engine/transaxle friends to join the Porsche Club of America. We have been members since 1998, making this our 25th year of PCA membership. But this month we decided to do something different – join up with PCA again.

Moving our meetings to the second Tuesday of each month appears to have been a good idea. Fifteen Appalachian members attended our first one in 2023.

The January 7, 2023 Tech session introduced Appalachian Region members to the underside of the 718 platform with Dan Dazzo’s Racer Yellow GT4 up on a lift.  Over 30 members came out for this first-of-the-year gathering for Appalachian Region.

A summary of our recent and upcoming events.