Report: Porsche Rennsport Reunion 2023
Class reunion on the Pacific
Porsche Racing Reunion 2023
© press-inform – the press office
Every few years, the biggest Porsche fans in the world meet at the Laguna Seca racetrack and pay homage to their dream brand at a class reunion of a different kind. The atmosphere is unique – the cars no less. But in addition to roaring cars, electric drives are increasingly coming into focus.
Class reunion on the Pacific
In addition to roaring classics from 75 years of Porsche history, countless motorsport successes in international racing series and the 60th birthday boy Porsche 911, the dusty parking lots around the ups and downs around the legendary Corkscrew Corner not only contain all 911 generations, 356 classics and the like small models 914, 924 and 944, but more and more Macan, Cayenne and Panamera – mostly particularly popular as sporty GTS versions. Classic sports cars still have the upper hand, but four-door models are quickly becoming a presence in conversations. “I’m here with my basic blue 911 – a great car,” smiles Dale, who lives about three hours north near the Bay Area, “but I love my 955 – the Cayenne. I drive it every day. This is the best Porsche for everyday life.”
Customers and the brand hang between worlds, because around 90 percent of new Porsche models sold have nothing to do with a sports car. Macan, Cayenne and Panamera ensure volumes approaching 300,000 vehicles per year and the long-awaited profits. Porsche wants to become more and more of an electric brand in the coming years – not all customers are happy about that. The successor generations of the Cayman, Boxster and Macan will be purely electric – only the Porsche 911 will remain as a combustion engine in the medium term and it will also be partially electrified with a hybrid drive for the first time from next year. Not all fans cheer, especially at a motorsport event like the Rennsport Reunion. But the crowds aren’t just big for the classics with and without motorsport history, roaring touring cars and GT racers. In Laguna Seca you can not only admire the cinematic Transformers models and the spectacular Mission X electric hyperathlete, but also the Taycan’s battery technology and the sustainability at the Swabian car manufacturer. Porsche is trying to take the fans gently into a future that is lived especially away from the international racing circuit.
Benjamin David doesn’t dispute any of this. The managing director of David Finest Sports Cars from Hamburg doesn’t have electric models in mind in Laguna Seca, but rather meets his customers, and more and more of them come from the USA. “We now sell a third of our vehicles abroad,” explains Benjamin David, “many to the USA and especially to the West Coast. The favorable dollar exchange rate makes exporting models older than 25 years interesting.” Together with Matthias Höing from Höing Autosport, a true engine expert from Hamburg, you will meet old and new acquaintances at the Rennsport Reunion and those who will become customers. Americans particularly love exclusive Porsche models – preferably with a corresponding racing history. “Demand and prices here are up to 20 percent higher than in Europe,” reports Matthias Höing, who, as an engine expert, is now also successfully brokering special Porsche models. “I lived here on the west coast for many years. The vehicles have a different status among younger customers and you can feel the enthusiasm here at the reunion.” But the two people from Hamburg are not just interested in customer contacts; it’s also about their own, very private passion. You can talk shop with other Porsche fans from the USA about historic 356s, 911s or historic racing cars. And where can you get Derek Bell, Jochen Maass or Hurley Haywood in conversation as well as current Porsche brand ambassadors from Jörg Bergmeister to Timo Bernhard to Patrick Long or Mark Webber? This is exactly how you imagine the perfect class reunion of a very special kind.