Porsche-O-Phile

Nice thanks. I'm gonna e-mail that one to my mom & tell her it's my car.

Anyway, the Ventura event is much later, IIRC isn't it in September or something? I was thinking of maybe meeting in Bishop or Mammoth Lakes - somewhere in that area and heading across the Sierra on the 120 through Yosemite (we could stop in Toualame Meadows - awesome part of the Park that gets WAY less traffic than the valley). Yosemite Valley gets insane in the summer months so I'd say that'd be a good "first day" kind of drive, camp there or whatever (or there is a hotel closer to the Valley for those that can't take sleeping on the ground. . .) Next day fire up and head through the park and down to the Big Sur / Monterey area. An alternative route would be to extend further north on 395 by Mono Lake and then cut over on the 108, which goes down towards Sonora (although I'm less familiar with that one).

I can't stress enough how awesome the Sierra Nevada mountains are in the summer - one of my favorite settings on earth. To do a drive there would be incredible, the only problem is the constant distraction from the road! Every time I go through there I end up pulling over every half hour because I can't resist the urge to get out, walk around, take some pics or whatever!

Of course I'm still open to other ideas, but I PROMISE that would be a magnificent drive. . .

KuHL 951

I think the key is to get a location where the highest turnout can be achieved. Face it, BC is beautiful with fine roads and draws the WA/OR crowd, 944Fest is cool and can stand alone but too far south for many up North, do the math the geographic center of the West Coast is far NorCal but doesn't offer an easy drive for anyone. Maybe looking for a centralized location for the entire West Coast is stretching it and not possible, but anything else is regional. The key to making it work is getting everyone together with something to entertain everyone; some people will always have a distance advantage...ask Harry of 912 fame he does a road trip very year...lucky guy!

KuHL 951

I totally agree with you on this one. This is a great driving area...I used to do it all the time in my Miata...Monitor Pass uphill is by far my favorite climb; Sonora Pass (108) is fun but ends up nowhere unless you cut over to Markleville and camp at the Grover Hot Springs. The logistics of a Rolling Thunder Tour combo camp/motel like this will be difficult at best but worthy of further input. Avoid Yosemite (120) and the Valley at all costs, scenic but not worth the problems. I love the Eastern Sierras, it's just hard to imagine a rolling venue.

hoffman912

we did it in solvang (central location to so cal and no cal), and then last year monterey (still more central than so or no cal). has worked well for us. this year its back to solvang again.

theedge

I think interest will take off as soon as someone jumps up and does what Dan P does, lets everyone into his house and turns his yard into a parking lot That reduces the costs all around, so many might be eager to drive further since they wont be facing hotel costs... Just a guess, but thats how I look at it. Ive driven 10 hours each way (round trip of about 18-20 hours) 3 times this year to visit friends, because I get there and all I pay for is the beer I buy... Not saying that someone should pay for all the food for a pack of rennlisters, just giving a perspective.

theedge

Porsche-O-Phile

The only problem I see with starting in the mountains and ending at the coast is going across the central valley - that's going to be the hot, flat, boring, miserable part of the drive. . . Hopefully we'd be able to traverse it in about 2 hours or so and get into the coastal woods. Perhaps with judicious selection of back roads it wouldn't be so bad either. . .

I'd also like to have a set destination at the end - Big Sur / Monterey / Carmel is awfully big. I need to look into specific places that could host 50 or 60 (hopefully) cars & crews, allow people room to hang out, show off their cars, talk, set up BBQs, pop open some suds after that long drive, etc. That'll pretty much rule out "downtown" settings, but I'm pretty sure something in that area could be found - a local fairground, a small track, a park. . . something.

hitbyastick

Can we go to Laguna Seca raceway?
Maybe not, but I'd definetly be game. Is it ok if my car isn't water cooled?

Porsche-O-Phile

L.S. looks unlikely for anything other than a visit. Someone suggested being able to take some parade laps - that'd be pretty cool and would save us all the insurance B.S. hassle and costs. . . Maybe that'll be the termination point. It does have camping too. Excellent idea.

911s are welcome but they have to drive in reverse - engine in "front". Where it belongs.

hoffman912

if you want me to get you in contact with the guy who set up the parade laps for the 912 registry durring the pre-historics weekend, i can.

shmucklebuckle

I remember taking a pretty cool road with the fam on a vacation drive up the coast a while back...took it from Hwy 1 to the 5 or something. Part of the road was pretty curvey and was only 1.5 lanes wide... I'll see if I can figure out where that was and post it.

KuHL 951

Jeff,
You've got time and interest working in your favor in planning this event. I can relate to the hot flat boring thing of the valley (I live there) floor but don't let it discourage you. People that love to drive will drive...a Rolling Thunder 944 Tour has a certain appeal that hasn't been attempted anywhere yet..set a good route and they will come! Who amongst us doesn't appreciate a good road? I rest my case.

Steve

Porsche-O-Phile

Absolutely true! And it's the journey anyway. . . A flat straight hot road is better than no road! It isn't really all THAT bad anyway plus it'll be an excuse to just do some casual motoring for a while. It's a good cross-section of what CA has to offer - we'd be seeing mountains, forests, the central valley, coastal areas, etc. Pretty much the only thing left is desert land and if we started down in Bishop or Independence that'd give people a taste of that too (plus an incentive to make the 5000' elevation gain up into Mammoth to cool off!)

I'm actually getting really interested in the idea of ending up at Laguna though. . . Even if we can't race, it'd still be an AWESOME place for a community camp-out and 944 extravaganza - with race cars in the background! What could be better! Of course if there's anyone that is willing to donate their back yard in that area it certainly wouldn't hurt, but I'm not about to ask for such a thing - it'd be a heck of an imposition!

M758

If you do a track thing... maybe you can match it up with 944-spec race date. We can see of we can arrange about a 20 944-spec car grid for a feature race.

Porsche-O-Phile

Cool idea. . . Lemmee know what you find. . .