Porsche Club 2024 Awards Event

NMS brings home the 2024 SO2 class winner trophy. 
Thanks to John Kelly for running the autocross program. 

Last Saturday I aimed my car towards Mooresville NC for the Carolinas Region Porsche Club of America Driver of the Year awards. It was an informal get together to pass out a few awards from 2024, eat a free lunch, and make sure everyone knows about the 2025 season. We met at GMP Performance, and it was cool to be sitting in a working auto shop with a bunch of other folks interested in driving their cars faster! GMP services mostly German cars, and they have locations in Mooresville, Charlotte, and over in Atlanta. 

An Audi TT from the ChampCar series in for service at GMP. 

Like last year, the Porsche Club will be hosting six autocross events, with two events at each of three locations: Michelin Proving Ground in South Carolina, the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds, and at the Greenville NC Coliseum. The region covers a lot of territory in both Carolinas, so this seems to be a good way to reach most of their membership. When I lived on Long Island I was lucky that the New York Metro region held their autocross events on Long Island too, so they were all close to where I lived. Here in retirementland where I live now, these three locations are all over an hour away. 

Nice trophy now at NMS-North HQ. 

NMS is proud to announce that the #77 Porsche Cayman took 1st place for 2024 in its class, after driving in all six events. The trophy was very nice, with woodwork, laser engraving, some cute little autocross traffic cones, a Porsche emblem, and even a Cayman Matchbox car! OK, it's not like we're autocrossing to win bazillions of dollars like in NASCAR and other fancy races, so you know we're doing it for fun!

GMP's alignment drive on lift, very spiffy. 

I was able to look around the facility and see a few cars that were in for work, such as an Audi TT racecar with the top of the engine out, an old Mini Cooper, as well as a few BMWs and Porsches up on lifts for service. One cool part of the shop was their alignment rack, because it was level with the floor, making it probably a little easier to use than having to drive up onto a 4 post lift like the set-up we have a York Technical College. 

My kind of meeting, in an auto shop!
SAFETY TIP: Don't bump your head on the Porsche 911. 

During the event I talked to a few other attendees that have not driven an autocross event before, so they all were looking forward to giving it a shot in 2025. Hey, no matter where you live, I bet there's an autocross somewhere near you. Various makes like Porsche, BMW, and others sponsor these kinds of events, as well as national organizations like the Sports Car Club of America, and other local car clubs.