Yahoo Autos Porsche Sports Car Together Fest is a labor of many Porsche loves
Over Labor Day Weekend, Porsche held its second annual Sports Car Together Fest (SCTF) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We happened to be nearby, so we swung by to check out an event we’d never heard of until a few weeks before. Reading about it on Porsche's U.S. web site made us think it would be something like Rennsport Reunion for the Midwest. Turns out SCTF is just as much of a different kind of fun.
The fest
Tom Moore’s the man behind Dark Horse Motorsports, the motorsport consultant for Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) PR. "People love Rennsport Reunion, but that’s every three to four years," he explained. “We wanted to gather people on those off years, and we didn't want to just do a mini Rennsport, because that’s its own thing. We’ve maintained the motorsport history at Rennsport. Here [at SCTF], we're doing the current look at what Porsche racing is for."
In this case, that means gathering what Moore called "our Porsche motorsport pyramid." That’s the range of enthusiast drivers from novice to hotshoes trying to get to top-tier endurance racing, "[starting] with the progression from Porsche Club of America track days up to the top of the ladder of one-make racing in North America," the Carrera Cup North America, a series made up of nothing but the latest 500-horsepower 911 GT3 Cup cars.
The three days of racing action allowed almost any kind of Porsche owner interested in clipping apexes to compete around an Indianapolis Motor Speedway layout tweaked with an infield section. This year, that included ex-NASCAR star Jeff Gordon, coming out of retirement to reunite with his longtime NASCAR crew chief Ray Evernham for the top-class Cup races.
Evernham told us Gordon hasn’t raced in five years and he hasn’t been a crew chief in 22. On very short practice, Gordon finished in 14th in the Pro Class in the first Carrera Cup race of the weekend driving the #24 Hendrick Performance Group Porsche, and 11th in the second race. Afterward, he said, "I made a pass on the white flag lap. That made my whole weekend … I must say that yesterday, I thought ‘man, I am getting beat out here’ and I don’t like that. If I am going to be in an environment like this, I want to be competitive. But today turned the corner for me. So, I hope I get to do another one day."
When we strolled the paddock after the event, exposed sheet metal proved "Rubbing is racing" is a thing in the Carrera Cup as well as NASCAR. Gordon didn’t shy away, but he kept it clean. Mark Kvamme, the AM Class winner in the first race, said, "I was around Gordon the whole race. It was a lot of fun. He is a very good driver, obviously, and he drove very fair too. He did an exceptional job."
Speaking of kindness from other pilots, Pro Class driver Adam Adelson of Premier Racing normally puts #24 on the side of this GT3 Cup. His bio lists his first racing memory as "Watching Jeff Gordon race in NASCAR," making quite the symmetry when he relinquished his usual number to Gordon for the weekend.
Evernham told us that, like Gordon, he hopes to come back as well. On the subject of Gordon getting beat out there, Evernham acknowledged the experience gap and said, "It’s like if you’re good at piano and someone gives you a guitar, you still gotta learn the instrument. I told him we can do it, we just need tools and time."
Digital racing made its own statement in Indy. Porsche runs a global TAG Heuer Esports Supercup globally, this year, SCTF hosted the finals of the first-ever Porsche Esports Challenge USA hosted in Gran Turismo 7. Sixteen gamers won the feeder series’ to reach the finals in Indy. Randall Haywood claimed the cup in the final race and took home the the $15,000 top prize.
Competition is only half of the weekend, though. The other was about regular fun for families and Porsche owners. There were bus tours around the track, autograph sessions, displays of road cars and guided walkarounds of the newest 992-series road and race cars. There was the Pretty Cool 911 popsicle coupe, a GT Corral with more than 100 GT cars like the GT3, GT2, and 917, and parade laps for GT car owners. There was a restoration challenge and a Radwood meet just for Porsches. And on Saturday night, Porsche turned the giant infield board into a movie screen to show "Top Gun: Maverick." For anyone who enjoys cars and racing, Sports Car Together Fest is a great way to spend a full, fun day or three.
Rennsport Reunion returns to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey next year, so 2023 will go without SCTF. But if you happen to find yourself around Indianapolis in the twilight of summer of 2024 and you’re up to do some laps around the Brickyard—in a car, or a bus, or on foot—or merely watch others do so while you enjoy Porsche ice cream, check out Sports Car Together Fest. Get a preview of what to expect in the captioned gallery of specialty cars and race cars in the gallery above, and the captioned gallery of on-track action and family festivities in the gallery below.
The 2023 Porsche 911 GTS Cabriolet America Edition
Everywhere you looked at SCTF, you saw Porsche Easter eggs. There was the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo that American artist Sean Wotherspoon turned into a multicolored homage to his personal Volkswagen Golf Harlequin. There was the “Pretty Cool” 911 with the Porsche popsicle on top. This was Stuttgart’s take on an ice cream truck after the sports car maker collaborated with Chicago’s Pretty Cool ice cream on a run of five branded flavors in five Porsche colors.
And slightly less rare than those unique cars, there was this red, white, and blue one. Yes, the 2023 911 GTS Cabriolet America Edition debuted in June, and 114 of the 115 examples Porsche will build are sold out. But this egg had some surprise knowledge inside.
My inability to raise the engine cover to its highest position led to the arrival of Michael Tam, PCNA Product Manager for 911, Boxster, and Cayman models for the U.S. market. He gave us a walkaround and talked about the gestation and details throughout the droptop.
