For three days, participants gathered in the Concours Prep Area and broke out their rags, toothbrushes, cotton swabs to wash, polish and clean their cars in preparation for the first event, the Concours on Sunday, July 4th. This provided a great opportunity to interact with fellow members, talk about cars, and learn little secrets for cleaning and prepping their cars. It was also a great way to meet and make new friends, even when they are your competitors!
The Concours was held on the Pheasant Run golf course on a beautiful Sunday morning. All of the cars were displayed in their finest splendor from the earliest 956s to the newest GT3RSs and Panameras. Porsche provided a display of all of their latest cars including the GT3R Hybrid racecar. Tension was high as the judges prodded and inspected the cars looking for that tiny piece of lint or spot that the contestants may have missed in their preparation. All in all, it was a fantastic display of beautiful cars (photo of our car getting ready to be judged). We were lucky to be judged first at 9 am and but then had to wait until 3 pm to find out we happily took a 2nd place trophy.
Other competitions held during the week were the TSD Rally, Gimmick Rally, 2-day Autocross, and Technical/Historical Quiz’s. Additional activities included a 5k Run/Walk, Art Show, Golf Outing R/C Car Competition, Tech Sessions, Tours, and a Michelin Drive and Compare. The 2 day Drive and Compare event gave people the opportunity to drive two different Boxster Spyders (both with PDK) over a short autocross course to compare the standard Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires and the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires. I first drove the Spyder with the PS2 tires one lap around the course (about 30 seconds) then drove the course again in the second Spyder with the Cup tires to see the difference between the two. It was a fantastic ride using the PDK and the lightweight Boxster Spyder! (The Cup tires were better). (photo of Dave in his Spyder ready to run the course)
There were five banquets/parties during the Parade, ranging from the welcome party on Saturday at the DuPage Airport, adjacent to the Pheasant Run Resort, the Concours Banquet, the Rally Banquet, the Autocross Banquet and culminating with the Victory Banquet on Friday night. At each of these events, the National and event awards were presented to the winners including a trip to Stuttgart, Germany provided by Porsche, A.G.
Donna and I represented the First Settlers Region along with Andrew Chisholm and we all brought trophies home. The trophies were for Concours, Tech quiz plus a trophy for the Best Region Website (Marco Estrada).
There is so much more but it would take pages to describe. You will just have to go to the next Parade and see for yourself. There were people in attendance who were participating in their 52nd Parade. Once you go and make new friends, you attend each year just to see them again.
The Porsche Parade is the PCA's annual convention. It is a weeklong extravaganza of car events, tech sessions, social events and FUN. Whether you like to autocross, rally, tour or concours, there is plenty to do and see. Attendance is roughly 2000 people, most of which arrive in their beautiful and much loved Porsche automobiles. In addition to all these fun activities the Parade is a great family vacation. It provides you with the opportunity to visit a different area of the country each year, as well as the chance to catch up with all your Parade friends that you only see at Parade. The next Parade will be in Savannah, Georgia from July 31st to August 6th. Donna and I hope to see you there!
