We come to automobile manufacturers for various causes. Possibly your dad drove a automobile that turned particular to you. Or your uncle gave you a journey in a single. Maybe a cool automobile was featured in a film you liked, otherwise you bear in mind the joy of races seen both in particular person or on TV. Then you definately get deeper right into a model and study its historical past, its accomplishments, and the individuals who made it work. If you happen to’re fortunate, your appreciation grows by experiencing the automobiles, or shopping for one…or 10.

For the Porsche fan, there’s no better celebration of the model than the Rennsport Reunion. It began in 2001 as a public relations effort to achieve out to Porsche followers, and has grown immensely since. Rennsport Reunion 7 occurred Thursday, Sept. 28–Sunday, Oct. 1 at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca. The occasion coincided with the model’s seventy fifth anniversary, and appropriately, was the largest but with greater than 91,000 followers in attendance.

Motor Authority was there to absorb the sights, sounds, and environment of a legendary model celebrating the automobiles and folks that have created so many followers worldwide.

Porsche Rennsport Reunion 7, picture courtesy of Porsche

Porsche Rennsport Reunion 7, picture courtesy of Porsche

Porsche Rennsport Reunion 7, picture courtesy of Porsche

And there was loads to see, beginning with the motion on the observe. All through the occasion’s 4 days, greater than 300 fashionable and historic automobiles grouped by period and pace, hit the circuit to the delight of drivers and followers. The classic racing was finished principally for enjoyable, however the Porsche Membership of America additionally carried out membership races that counted, and the ultimate two rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America sequence had been held at Rennsport.

In between the races, particular automobiles such because the 356/1, the primary Porsche prototype, that kicked off the sports activities automobile model, and the 917/10 racer that dominated Can-Am within the Nineteen Seventies, took parade laps. Additionally featured on the observe was a hilarious race of Porsche tractors piloted by legendary racers.

Talking of legends, a number of profitable drivers from Porsche’s previous had been available to drive the automobiles and act as model ambassadors. Among the many names had been Derek Bell, Dick Barbour, Joerg Bergmeister, Timo Bernhard, David Donohue, Romain Dumas, George Folmer, Hurley Haywood, David Hobbs, Jacky Ickx, Leh Eager, Arie Luyendyk, Brian Redman, Danny Sullivan, Mark Webber, Jeff Zwart, and co-Grand Marshall Patrick Lengthy. Lengthy was joined by Alwin Springer as the opposite co-Grand Marshall. Springer spent nearly six many years as an engineer, supervisor, and government advancing Porsche motorsports.

Porsche Rennsport Reunion 7, picture courtesy of Porsche

Porsche additionally used the occasion to make some information. Webber launched the model’s newest particular version, the 611-hp Porsche 911 GT3 R Rennsport, a million-dollar track-only particular restricted to 77 items. Porsche racer and model ambassador Patrick Dempsey and watch model Tag Heuer confirmed a 718 Cayman GT4 RS that Dempsey will drive within the Carrera Panamericana. The finale of the Porsche Esports Championship occurred in racing simulators, and a brand new champion was topped. Within the car parking zone, opponents for a Porsche restoration problem had been on show and three winners had been chosen.

The car parking zone itself was an excellent automobile present in its personal proper. Followers drove Porsches of each stripe to the occasion and parked with automobiles by period, with gleaming, rounded sheetmetal bringing shade to the arid panorama. Onlookers might sidle up near the race automobiles within the paddock, and Porsche had shows of a number of essential new fashions and ideas, together with the together with Mission X idea, the Imaginative and prescient 357 Speedster idea, and the brand new 911 S/T. Additionally available had been Mirage, the 911 Carrera RS 3.8 from the newest “Transformers” film, the Sonderwunsch-built Sally Carrera impressed by the “Vehicles” films, the cartoony Lightning McQueen and Sally Carrera full-size fashions additionally from “Vehicles,” and a safari-style 944 that obtained became a Scorching Wheels automobile.

Porsche Rennsport Reunion 7, picture courtesy of Porsche

Most of those automobiles had been proven in a central sq. by the primary stage. The stage was the sight of a keg-tapping to kick off the occasion, and several other curated talks that includes racers, Porsche personalities, and model data.

On this gallery you’ll be able to see lots of the sights of Rennsport Reunion 7. You gained’t be capable of hear the offended bee howl of the automobiles, scent of the exhaust, or meet the individuals. For that, might I like to recommend attending Rennsport Reunion 8, which ought to be held on the identical place 4 years from now.

Porsche paid for journey and lodging for Motor Authority to expertise a celebration of its legendary model.