30 Years of Porsche Club Autocrossing
in Northern California
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| Norbert Nieslony = My Dad |
Porsche
and ‘racing’ have been a part of my life since before I can remember. My father, Norbert Nieslony, came over from
Germany in the mid 50’s as a Porsche factory representative. Being in this
unique position he worked on various Porsche’s and or Porsche powered specials.
After my father decided to open his own Porsche repair shop during my early
childhood, I was always excited when Steve Froines’ RSK was in the shop or Ed
Bowman’s Elva-Porsche was getting upgraded. Very exciting times for a 5 or 6
year old boy!
Demands
on my Dad to keep Porsche daily drivers in service became greater and the time required
for race cars inevitably took a back seat.
In the late 80’s my dad acquired a tired 1960 Porsche Coupe with a
Normal engine. It had “thrown a connecting rod” and the owner didn’t want to
repair the car. My father rummaged through his parts bins and put together an
engine so that he had a car to play around with for a bit. PCA-GGR was running
a very successful Autocross series, and my father was invited to participate.
After attending one event he started trying to convince me to join him. In
1980, I was 19, almost 20, and was unsure of my skills and I didn’t understand
what this form of racing was all about. Frankly I was a bit scared of
embarrassing myself.
Finally
my Dad convinced me to give it a try. On the Friday night before the event we
mounted up our 5.5x15 steel wheels with worn down Michelin XWX’s (the hot tire
set-up at the time) on the car. We also packed a small tool box, tire gauge and
a portable air tank. On Saturday we got up early and drove over to the
Pleasanton Fairgrounds for my 1st Autocross. What I most remember is
that registration was $5.00 for a single, $7.00 for two drivers (same car).
There were so many Porsche’s there… several 356/912’s, a number of 911’s in
various levels of updates and a massive swarm of 914’s. Amidst those cars were
several cars running race slicks, and 3 or 4 that were heavily modified. This
was exciting… I was going to be racing!
My Dad
had arranged for Karl Beckle Jr to be my instructor. He had won the 356 class
the past few years, so I was in good hands. We walked the course, and there was
a lot of hand waiving, and terms like over steer, adhesion threshold, and
pointing to where I should be at a certain corner, etc… After the drivers meeting, and when my turn
came I was ready. Helmet on. Safety belt attached. Karl was in the passenger
seat. I had already worked on course and saw what was happening. It didn’t look
that hard – heck they aren’t even going that fast – you stay in 2nd
gear – how fast can you really go in 2nd gear!
The green
flag dropped, Karl yelled at me… “Go!!!” and away I went! He was yelling at me
to give more gas, then to brake, yelling at me to turn earlier, brake now, go
left, go right, a blur of commands. I was working my tail off, the car was
moving. I was Mario Andretti… I was hustling that car around the course,
practice lap… 1st timed lap…. 2nd time lap… then the checkered
flag. I could hear the crowds roaring in my head… this was fun and I did great!
I reached out the window to get my 1st timing slip… my hand was shaking with
adrenaline… and then I read my time… boy was I slow! Karl looked over at me and
said, that I drove nicely for the 1st time and that we had several
things to work on before the day was done. Luckily I didn’t finish last that
day – but I still had to learn a lot of things – but I was hooked, and was
already planning the next event as my father and I drove home!
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| The 1962 Porsche Coupe at Pescadero, Ca |
The Pea
Green 356 was replaced shortly thereafter by a no-rust 1962 coupe. Tire
technology had moved on a bit and we know had the 1st R-compound
tires – Yokohama A001R - which improved our grip quite a bit. We installed
Carrera brand shock absorbers and a Weltmeister front sway bar and built a nice
Super 90 / 912 engine so that we had a chance at competing with the faster
912’s. My Dad and I drove this car to 3 Porsche Parades (Costa Mesa ‘85,
Monterey ’90 and San Diego ’92). I had lots of fun driving this car and took 1st
in Class at the San Diego Parade.
In 1984 I had restored a 1973
Porsche 914 2.0, and made some suspension tweaks with the thought that I would
I begin to autocross with it instead of the 356. In 1985, I was transferred from
Santa Clara to Folsom and my adventures with the silver 914 began. In the 80’s,
the vast majority of the Porsche’s Autocrossing in Zone 7 where 914’s. They
ranged from bone stock, to wildly modified, and some of the area’s best
drivers, including many quick drivers from Sacramento where pushing 914’s
between the cones. The competition level was very high, and if you did well in
Zone 7, you could do well anywhere in PCA.
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Phil Cloud Drving the Race 914 at Mather Field
before I rebuilt the car |
That Silver 914 with the vanity
plate D WUCHT, served me very well as I competed with it at many northern
California Autocrosses for 16 years. By the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the
nature of the events began to change - there were less 914’s and those that did
show were increasingly being towed to events as opposed to being driven there.
It was at this time that I began to look into the purchase of a more modified
914 that would be faster than my street 914 and that could challenge the really
fast drivers and their cars. In 2000 I found just such a model, the price was
right and I purchased the car. It had been stored for a long time, and had been
built to be an autocross car.
I drove it at the last two events
of the year to see if the car and I were a good match – we were. That winter
and the following year I rebuilt the car, changed some body panels, added a
nice paint job with homage to John Surtees’ Team cars, and began to drive the
car in earnest in 2002.
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| The "Pylon Assasin" at McClelland Field |
The transition from a street car,
to a purpose built autocross car was significant. I needed to learn how to
strap the car onto the trailer, how to tow, and then I had to learn how Race
Slicks work vs. Street Rubber. Being in a race car was so different than a
street car, the vibration of the engine, and surface the tires ride on are felt
much more clearly and viscerally. The learning curve was steep, but as the year
progressed, I became increasingly comfortable with the car and was able to push
it faster and faster.
During the 2003 season I met the
love of my life and future wife, Joy. Ours was a long distance relationship
(Redding and Cameron Park), and in early 2004 I was able to share and autocross
with Joy for the 1st time. It was March, in Candlestick, it was
cold, it was damp it was a long drive that morning. This was Joy’s 1st
experience at an Autocross, she was going to drive for the 1st time,
and it was all going to happen in a full fledge Autocross race car! Against my
strong objections she wanted to get a ride with me before she would drive the
car. Did I mention that Candlestick in March is a cold, damp place? Did I also
mention that I am on slick race tires that need lots of warmth to get the traction
they need? The Green flag came out I gave gas, made the 1st turn,
and we started to slide sideways as the car scrambled to get grip, we were
heading down the course and I was looking through the passenger window. I got
it straightened out, didn’t hit a cone and had a very nice run. Joy can do a
better job of telling you her emotions after that run and the one after that - but
she looked a bit ‘green’. I was certain I had ‘blown it’ – that she would never
be back and would not understand my passion for Autocrossing. However, Joy
pushed through the early shock, and she competed the entire season and was
named the Rookie of the Year in 2004. She is repeatedly complimented on how
smooth she is, and her excellent car placement.
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Sabrina, Joy, Me and Hunter @ the Porsche Parade
in Portland 2006 |
In 2006 and 2007 we were lucky to
have back to back Porsche Parades in Portland (’06) And San Diego (’07). We decided to make these Parades our summer
vacation, and since Joy had relatives in both areas it was not just a Parade
but a family get-together as well. This was also the 1st exposure
that Joy and her kids had to all that is a Porsche Parade. Now parade autocrosses are normally bigger and
are higher speed than our local events. My 914 is not a high horsepower vehicle
(2.0 liter 4 cylinder), it relies much more on quickness than top speed. The
Portland Parade was a lot of fun, and we both took class victories, but at the
2007 Parade in San Diego, the proverbial stars aligned for me. The course was
big (at Jack Murphy stadium) and fast, but it also had a lot corners that
slowed cars down quite a bit, allowing a lighter quicker 4 cylinder 914 to make
up for raw horsepower. By the smallest of margins I was able to take the Top
Time of Day Overall Trophy home to Sacramento for the 1st Time.
Over the past 32 years, Zone 7 has
had events at many different sites and I have competed at: Pleasanton Fairgrounds,
Splinter City at McClellan, Oakland Coliseum, the old GM plant in Fremont,
Crows Landing, Stockton Fairgrounds (our current home), Candlestick Park, Delta
College, Alameda NAS, Mather Fields (3 different locations), Santa Rosa
Airport, Laguna Seca (in the Pits), Marina Airport, Negro Bar, Cal Expo, McClellan
(2 other parts), Sears Point/Infineon, Golden Gate Fields… to name just the
ones I can recall. Very few of these sites are available to us today (for a
variety of reasons), but each one was unique, had their challenges, which
really speaks to the uniqueness of Autocrossing vs. the other forms of Porsche
motorsports. Each event will be different then the last one you attended… the
course layout will be different even if it is the same site. In Autocrossing,
the driver is challenged to determine the quick way around the course beginning
with the morning course walk, trying to improve with each ‘run’. When you are
behind the wheel you are simultaneously addressing and correcting the behavior
of the car at that moment while also looking ahead 1,2 or even more corners to
determine where you and the car should be.
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| Ready to drive between the Pylons! |
While, the physical and cerebral
challenge of the sport is unique, what creates the strongest pull for Joy and I
is the people we have met and socialized with at the various autocrosses we
have attended. It is a little acknowledged fact that Autocrossing is as much
about the people as it is about the driving and I am sure that if you come out
to one of our events you will experience this as well. We look forward to
meeting you soon!
