Porsche Rennsport Reunion

There are gatherings of car faithful, and then there’s PorscheRennsport Reunion, arguably one of the most staggering displays of single-marque automotive firepower ever assembled. Got your attention yet?

The brainchild of the late Bob Carlson, Porsche’s communications man in North America, and racing giant Brain Redman, Rennsport Reunion began 10 years ago at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut as a simple celebration of iconic Porsche racing machines. But the party quickly caught fire, and was repeated at Daytona International Speedway in 2004 and 2007.

This past weekend, the fourth iteration of this Porsche love-in unfolded under a typical mix of foggy and sunny skies at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca on the central California coast. Co-hosts for the festivities were well-known Porsche collector (and somewhat well-known comedian) Jerry Seinfeld, who brought some of his cars including the last air-cooled 993 to roll off the factory line in 1998, and Norbert Singer, the retired Porsche engineer who helped put many of Zuffenhausen’s creations in the winner’s circle.

Carlson would be proud; more than 300 race cars and 50 drivers from a range of decades thrilled hundreds of mostly male fans crowding Laguna Sega’s famously undulating track. Shrieking past were Porsche racing thoroughbreds as disparate as a 1973 911 RSR in Martini livery, the 1998 911 GT1 that won Le Mans that same year, and the 2007 911 GT3 Cup car that Jeff Zwart raced to the top of Pikes Peak in 2010. At the controls were storied Porsche drivers that included Derek Bell, Patrick Long, and three-time Daytona 24 Hours winner Hurley Haywood.