Spiel

SEPTEMBER 2019 WWW.PNWR.ORG 47 As we say in the Porsche Club Northwest (PNWR.org) "We come for the cars, but stay for the people." This is a story of Jack and Deirdre's "Retirement" trip to Melbourne and a connection with the Porsche club of Victoria. Before our trip, I Googled "Porsche Club Australia" and found the Victoria Club. A few emails later we had an invitation to join the club from the Social Director, Alex Harmati, who provided lots of options to add to our trip. Alex connected us with their past president Michael O'Brien, who invited us to come out to Sandown Raceway and join them for the President's Day event and I'm happy to say it was quite a pleasure for both of us and a great way to kick off our adventure Down Under. The day is all about sharing the thrill of Porsches at speed. The racecourse is the Sandown International Motor Raceway. Sandown is one of the oldest tracks in Australia. It started as a horse racing track in the early 1900's. And horses are still raced there today, as well as Motorcycles and V8 coupes, "Supercars" as they call them there, and Porsches. This was our first day in Melbourne, and the last track event of their season, which even though it is summer, ends just before the Christmas Holidays. It's called a Ride-Along Track Day. The focus is to have folks who had prepared track cars take family members, friends and visitors along for a ride. Michael greeted us with a big Aussie welcome and began introductions – and the obligatory Registration & Waivers. Porsche Club Australia and a visit to Melbourne, Victoria Article and photograhy by Jack Staudt continued on next page

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