Championship winning race cars, the engineers who designed them and the men who drove them to victories around the world will be united again at the Weathertech Laguna Seca Raceway near Monterey, CA this weekend.
The four day “family reunion” will take place from September 27th to September 30th, the first time for Rennsport Reunion to be held over 4 days. The fifth edition in 2015 saw nearly 60.000 people coming to Laguna Seca for Rennsport Reunion V. It’s the world largest gathering of vintage and contemporary race cars, those who have driven and engineered them and fans. Hosted by the Porsche Club North America, Rennsport Reunion VI will again feature the widest variety of historic racing cars in competition as Porsche celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.
The 2018 theme “Marque of Champions” focuses on the legends of the Porsche brand and will bring together the world’s largest gathering of Porsche race cars and enthousiasts.
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The list of attendees includes a lot of names and personalities who have shaped Porsche’s rich and long history: Hurley Haywood, the most successful American endurance racer; Brian Redman, co-creator of Porsche Rennsport Reunion and racing driver extraordinaire; Vic Elford, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his legendary 1968 season; Norbert Singer, known as the “father of the Porsche 962 and Jacky Ickx, Monsieur Le Mans and Paris-Dakar winner, will all be attending Rennsport Reunion VI alongside many others. Overall more than 50 legendary drivers will be at Laguna Seca, making their appearance on track and signing autographs.
Twelve factory drivers will also be on hand this weekend at the Monterey track; including Patrick Long, Earl Bamber, Timo Bernhard and this year’s Le Mans winners in GTE Pro: Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Michael Christensen.
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Not only the people will be the stars and heroes of Rennsport, but also the cars. The 919 Hybrid Evo which already shattered laptime records at Spa-Francorchamps and the Nordschleife will be on site and perform a daily demo drive. In pit row, a special Champions Garage will be on display, showing 11 victorious and legendary Porsche race cars, including the 1960 Porsche 718 RS Spyder which won the first major endurance race for Porsche in 1960 at the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 2008 Porsche RS Spyder which won over three years three manufacturer championships in the ALMS and scored an overall win in the 2008 Sebring 12 Hours, beating the top prototype class for the first time in 14 years. A third legendary car is the Porsche 911 (953) Carrera 3.2 4x4 Paris-Dakar in which Porsche tackled the desert race for the first time. Porsche scored an outright win at Dakar in 1984, after which the 953 was replaced by the 959 in 1985.
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Porsche doesn’t only brings its cars from the past to Rennsport, but also looks forward to its new challenges in the future. Linking the rich history of Porsche cars to the future of e-mobility, the 356 “N°1” Roadster will be at Laguna Seca alongside the electric concept study “Mission E”. Other displays include more than 1.300 cars in the Porsche corrals and an exciting collection of 70 significant race cars in the Porsche Heritage tent.
Overall 350 Porsche race cars will be competing in seven different classes, from the 356 through the mighty 917 to modern 911 GT cars and many, many more.
Action on the WeatherTech Laguna Seca raceway gets underway on Thursday September 27th at 8 am with the first practice sessions. Throughout the whole weekend there will be practice sessions for all 7 classes, with their respective races on Saturday afternoon Sunday. The 919 Evo will have daily exhibition laps, as well the 917 and 918, a lot of cars and vendors are to be seen in the paddocks, a 959 gathering on Sunday, Concours on pitlane on Friday … enough action on and off the track for 4 days of Stuttgart finest.
To keep up with all the news and action from Laguna Seca, download the Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI app on the Apple store or at Google play, with lots of info about RRVI such as schedules, driver and car info’s, etc. Or visit the Club Arnage website and facebook page throughout the weekend. We’ll try to put up some daily pictures and news updates during the weekend and more pictures in the week following Rennsport Reunion.
Kristof Vermeulen