Welcome to the Porsche Club Insider, your one stop for all things Porsche and PCA.
Here's your host, Vu Gwin and the Insider Crew.
Welcome everyone to episode 213.
We are roughly two months away from the largest Porsche Parade ever.
It's the 70th Porsche Parade in Lake Plasta, New York.
Before we get into it, I want to thank our presenting sponsor, Pirelli.
Pirelli tires have to achieve the highest levels of performance, safety, noiselessness
and grip on the road surface.
Innovative tires that can satisfy even the most specific mobility needs of the end consumer.
Thank you all for listening.
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again at www.pca.org.
For the first time ever in PCA Insider since day one, to the right of me, there's someone
that's absent.
He's not feeling well today, so we hope he gets well soon and that is Manny.
He's not on the podcast.
Sir, get well and we'll see you soon.
But I do have to my left here, I have Melanie Williams.
She's back.
She's our national events manager to share some insight on the upcoming events.
I have Damon at the controls making all this happen.
Of course, we also have the parade chair, Jack Stevenson.
Welcome everyone.
Thanks.
Man, two months away, a record-setting Porsche parade.
The goal of today is to go through.
I know Jack's sweating.
He's like, yeah, don't keep reminding me.
But, you know, there's a lot to go through phase two, which is going to be opening at
noon Eastern time on April 15th.
What that means is there's up to this point, people have simply registered and indicated
that they want to come.
They've gotten their codes to be able to book their hotels.
But it was basically, do you want to come?
Yes, know who you're bringing.
And it was a very easy part of the registration.
Come April 15th, now it's getting into the details as Mr. Jack knows.
And we want to know everything that you want to do at Porsche parade this year.
And there is a lot of things to do.
I see all the notes that Melanie has to share with you all.
But any opening comments, suggestions, Jack, to the listeners that are coming to parade
this year?
Well, everybody that is coming, thank you.
You've made this a tremendous response to phase one, as we said, our biggest ever.
So a couple things to know about phase two.
One of the first things is this is the second year of our new registration system.
And it will do you a lot of good if you're prepared to go through it.
Know what events you want to sign up for.
One of the pro tips, and Melanie might talk about this a little bit later, is some of
the events have caps on them and will go through all the various events.
But one of the things to do is when you come in, know what you want to sign up for that
might close right away and sign up for it, pay for it, and then come back in and finish
the rest of your registration.
Good tip.
Yeah, because you might sign up for it, but you might spend time looking through various
things or signing up for volunteering, and then somebody else might grab that spot.
So if it's something you want to do, jump in.
All right, so let me just underline what you're saying there, Jack.
What you're saying is know exactly what, say tours and dinners, anything that might
have a limitation on capacity, go in, register for those as quickly as possible, check out
and pay for them, and then log back in, and then you can put your details of those other
items that don't have limitations.
So that way you secure those spots.
Correct.
And you can go out and in as many times as you need to to purchase things and then go
back in and purchase more things, so absolutely get your tours and your dinners and then go
back in.
Yeah, that's what I was going to ask you.
The limited events that are critical would be tours, those always sell out very quickly,
as well as the dinners, those will sell out, especially with the volume that's coming.
Right, especially in the beginning of the week.
And please don't be upset if you don't get into them, if you can only imagine we have
what, 2,500 people coming?
2,618 as of right now.
2,618, 2,618 people coming to Lake Placid.
So there's going to be limitations.
There's going to be limitations.
But there's still fun things to do.
Hopefully you get everything that you want.
If not, then kind of decide ahead of time what your second choices or your third choices
and that way you can try to fill out your dance card as much as possible.
Yeah, and the Parade Committee, the chairs, they have worked, well, every year they worked
hard, but they have worked so hard to add events on top of events so everyone has something
to do.
I mean, the list of tours going out each day and the spots available is just amazing.
Holly has-
I see over a dozen tours a day.
No, this is through, well, this actually, this might be a day, I don't know, that actually
might be-
There's five tours a day with some having multiple start times.
Multiple start times.
Yeah.
So far, close to a dozen.
So that sounds like a lot, which it is.
But again, with over 2,600 people, it's going to be tough to accommodate for everyone.
So don't be discouraged, there's still lots of fun things to do.
How do we want to start this off doing a go day by day?
How do you want to kick this off and share some details here?
Well, I thought what we could do is start at the highest level, which is the competitive
events and talk about those pretty quickly.
There's four main competitive events that have been around since-
The dawn of time.
Probably started.
Yes.
Yeah.
And by day, those are the concours on Monday.
Usually does not fill up with people, so there should be time to sign up for that.
It's going to be at the ice skating rink, the speed skating oval right outside of the
Olympic center itself.
It should be an incredible venue.
On Tuesday is the TSD rally.
Timespeed distance rally.
Timespeed distance, which is different than a gimmick rally.
Timespeed distance is a competitive event where you're trying to get from point A to
point B on the exact amount of time.
There is no limit on that.
They can take as many cars as they have time to send them off.
Jack, there's different classes with TSD as well, right?
There is.
There's five different classes this year, primarily based in the, I don't want to say
novice classes, but the classes that don't use equipment to help them, it's based on
the year of your car and the equipment that your car comes with.
There is a, the top classes use computers and things like that.
There's very few people in it, but they're in class one.
And don't be afraid to try and do this.
TSD rally holds two classes on Sunday and Monday to get you used to how to do it.
And Peter Schneider, this year's rally master has made it so that no one should get
lost in the use of the rick to it makes it easier not to get lost because the rally
master is watching you while you're out on the road the whole time.
And if he sees you off track, he can ring you back in.
So TSD to a lot of people is kind of a complicated thing, but it really isn't.
I love to do the rallies.
So that's my thing.
So the more people we can get the better.
Well, I will, I will say this about all of our competitive events.
Don't be intimidated to try it for the first time because there will be someone
there to hold your hand through all of it.
And who, you know, who cares if you do well, like you might get lucky and find out
that you are a TSD like person and you're going to do well, but it's okay.
If you're not, you're still going to be out there driving and join the cars and
join the scenery.
Same thing with the concor.
Don't be so focused that whether or not you're going to do well.
I've said it before, sometimes just going and being parked on the lawn
with all the other cars is special enough.
And then if your car gets judged, you can, you can learn sort of what
deficiencies you might have with your car and then you take care of those
deficiencies and then you can start cleaning up locally afterwards.
So concor, TSD and the next one, I always say do this.
And that would be the autocross.
Autocross, which will be on Wednesday and Thursday.
And once again, the same thing, don't be afraid to come out and try it.
They're, they'll walk you through how to read the map and how to get around the
course and have instructors available for you in that various classes on that as
well.
Um, and that will be on Wednesday and Thursday, uh, out at the Plattsburgh airport.
Yeah.
One of the things to mention, if you're going to drive on the autocross, you
have to volunteer to work the autocross.
Anybody who autocrosses knows that that's part of being in an autocross, you drive
it, you work it so everybody else can drive it at the same time.
I actually find that as part of the fun of coming to autocross is because, uh,
you get to see how the others drive and, um, and then typically you're working
a corner or something like that with two or three other people.
So you're, you know, learning about each other's cars, seeing how people run.
You're saying work, but it goes by very, very quickly.
Oh, yeah.
And it's, I like to be the second group first so I can watch what not to do.
See, he's, he's sharing some strategies.
Let, let other people warm up the pavement.
You see where they're doing wrong.
And then you run on the second, second group, let them put some rubber down.
Exactly.
Good tip.
Good tip.
And the fourth, uh, competitive event.
The fourth competitive event is the technical and historical quiz that is on
Friday and we test your knowledge of all things Porsche.
And once again, it's by class.
So there's general questions and then there's car specific questions.
So if your thing is Cayenne's, you can take the Cayenne quiz.
Um, if you're early air cooled, you can take that quiz.
So, um, once again, uh, they're written to test your knowledge of the mark that we love.
Give it a try.
I will tell you now, if this is your first time doing it, it will humble you.
It'll, it humbles the experts in our club and it's designed that way, but it is a lot of fun.
And, um, some, some of the questions are actually kind of funny.
Some are super serious, but some are, some are funny.
I believe, isn't there like a study guide?
I mean, Pano reading in Pano and stuff like that.
Right.
So yeah.
And also the bibliography of the, what's used to create the, uh, quiz is made available,
I think a month before.
So if you're that serious, you can get ahold of that and read what they're reading.
Start studying.
Yeah.
Start studying.
Exactly.
It's a long ride for, for a lot of people to live classes.
Mm hmm.
All right.
Something to pass your time.
Yep.
What's next?
The, the unofficial competitive events.
Oh, okay.
Let's, let's go.
In the unofficial just means they're competitive and everybody's trying to win.
It's just they're not the ones that are, uh, covered in the PCRs, which has a
parade of competition rules.
So if you're going to do any of the other four, I'd suggest downloading the, uh,
parade of competition rules, which are online.
Yep.
Read those over all sorts of good information on it.
But the, uh, social competitive events or unofficial starts off the Hans Peter
Porsche art show.
Yes.
This is always a fun one.
It's great to spectate and the pieces are amazing.
Oh, and, um, I don't mean to back up, but this
also goes with the art show is there's so many different classes, right?
So just like, um, in the autocross, make sure you know in advance what class
your car sits in, um, read, read all the different classes so that you know, uh,
where to place yourself.
Same thing with the art show.
There's different mediums.
You can, you know, do art, you can do textile, you can do all sorts of things.
So read all that stuff in advance so that when it's time to register, you
know exactly what to put down.
Yeah.
There's four main categories and then 16 subcategories in the art show.
All right.
Next.
Next is the, and one of the favorites that always draws a lot of people
because it's a lot of fun and you can do it with a group is the gimmick rally.
Yeah.
The gimmick rally will be held on Thursday this week.
And Ellen Beck, who's the rally master for the gimmick rally, always comes
up with some fun, adventurous things and fun roads to drive.
And little inside this year, part of the gimmick rally is going to the top of
white face mountain.
Oh, okay.
Very exciting.
And along with that, to celebrate kind of the 70th year, and I don't know if
it's a 70th year of gimmick rallies, but we're going to pretend that it is.
The, um, she has in her husband have developed a special grill badge that
they're going to be selling.
Oh, no.
Will you ever purchase that grill badge during registration or you do that later?
During registration only if you are a gimmick rally registrant.
Okay, got it.
Okay.
Um, can you, can you confirm?
I know the competitive events.
You have to do those obviously in a Porsche with the gimmick rally.
Can you do that in a rental vehicle?
You can.
And it's the one event that you can bring a guest with as well.
And kids, um, there is a kids class.
If you have kids in the car with you, um, it's a lot of fun.
Everybody that comes back from a gimmick rally, um, just talks about how much it's,
it's not intense.
It's, it's fun.
It's, uh, you're not getting to get a fight with your driver or your passenger.
Everyone loves it.
That never happens.
All right.
The, um, the next event.
Oh, you can probably talk to this.
Favorite.
And this would be the RC car competition.
Oh man.
If you've RC'd, uh, if you had RC cars growing up, you want to come to this
competition.
It's for kids and kids at heart.
Um, you can come with your RC car to come race with us.
We use typically one 10th scale cars.
Um, but you don't need to bring one.
Uh, those that are competitive like myself might, might find ourselves, I'll have
mine packed, but we provide some, uh, great HPI and Traxxas, uh, RC cars.
We set up a autocross.
Uh, I, will it be indoors indoors this year?
The venue, I believe it is.
Yes.
The venue changes, but it might be a track that's indoors.
I know we typically run the, the, uh, off-road out outside, but no matter where
we, we have it, it's a lot of fun.
We do a course and you race typically about three, maybe four cars at, at a time.
Uh, the kids really love it.
They have their own announcers.
They have timers and you get some pretty cool trophies.
Uh, when you, when you, when you, uh, place there.
So, uh, RC cars, definitely do it.
Sign up for it.
I'll see you there.
In this year, the, uh, off-road is going to be on Wednesday.
No, I'm sorry.
The off-road will be on Tuesday.
Tuesday.
In the on-road will be on Wednesday, which might be slightly different from what
we've done in the past.
Okay.
Um, next thing is on Wednesday is the golf tournament.
Yep.
Once again, it's, uh, it's going to be at a beautiful golf golf course.
I've played it a couple of times over the past couple of years.
The white face club, uh, it is on Lake Placid itself.
And, um, it's a scramble format.
And whether you're a novice or a scratch golfer, anybody can come.
Uh, they usually try and balance out the teams, uh, a lot of fun.
Uh, and it's a great golf course and that is on Wednesday.
And if you have a decent stroke and you want to go out there, I will say more
often than not, a lot of our Porsche, PAG, PCNA VIPs find themselves on the, uh,
the golf course that day.
So that is one of the events that they love.
They love.
Exactly.
So if you want to catch up with them, hang out with them for the day, that
might be your chance in addition to that, rather than walking, well, you can
walk at this one and who wants to get one of your events.
What's that?
5k.
Oh, yes.
The 5k because we are not tired from spending a week together at the end of it.
We're going to do a 5k at the crack of dawn.
Fun walk and run.
Yeah.
You can choose again, do it just because we're all going to be out there.
It's a lot of fun.
You can choose to walk it and many, many people walk it.
You can also run it.
You're running, um, in your various age groups and, uh, it's also quite humbling
to see myself being passed by people that I don't expect I'm going to be passed
by, um, but it's, uh, is, is the course challenging this year?
Some, some like, uh, Birmingham was completely flat, which I was very happy
for.
I remember one year in, uh, Vermont where, uh, the hills were nonstop.
Uh, what's, what's the course like this year?
Do we know?
It's around the lake.
It goes around the lake across any streets.
No, that sounds pretty flat to me.
So I'm in goes right around mirror lake.
Oh, okay.
It turns out that the distance of mirror lake is about a 5k.
Oh, perfect.
Okay.
Works out.
Well, I can do that.
If you get tired, you can just jump in and swim the rest of it.
Or if it gets too hot, we'll finish it as an Ironman competition.
And that will be on Friday.
Yeah.
Hmm.
Now, all during the course of the week is one of my favorite things is a PCA
SIM racing this year.
Again, we'd return with the hot lap challenge.
So you can test your skills against other PCA SIM racers, um, to set fast lap.
Um, and once again, there's various groups that you can compete in and also
during the course of the week, we'll have, you want to give, try and see what
SIM racing is all about.
We'll have units set up that you'd be able to come up and sit down or schedule
the time and try your hand at SIM racing.
And this is why I think this is one you definitely want to sign up for.
Because that room is constantly busy.
They schedule, they schedule it all out.
Um, don't worry if you're a novice, it's a great way to learn and check out
some of these rigs.
Um, more importantly, you'll be amazed at how hard you think you can drive.
Driving on a SIM rig is very different.
Um, and when you, when you drive against someone that's like Jack, you're like,
wow, how does he do that?
How does he, you turn the wheel, but some, some reason you go straight into the
wall, like you just, your, your coordination is a little bit different on
SIM racing, but they'll, they'll teach you the ropes.
And again, if you've never done it before, people will be, be there to help
you out, but seeing the pros drive is quite impressive.
Yeah.
It's a happening place every single day, for sure.
Yeah, it is busy.
And yeah.
And also check out PCA SIM racing on YouTube and watch the races that occur
weekly, uh, during the course of the season.
But that's definitely good plug PCA sim racing.com.
Thank you, sir.
Shameless plug over there, Jack.
Shameless plug.
We also have non-competitive events in this year where we have two, the first
one is going to be on Friday night and we're calling it cars and community.
It's an event that we started last year, which is pretty much just a car show to
allow the members of the community to come, see our cars, talk to us, find out
what we do and what we're all about.
So this year on Friday night, we're doing a cars and community in Lake
Saranac, which is about six miles away from Lake Placid.
What they've invited us to come to kick off what they call cruising 26, which
is their weekend devoted car shows.
So we're having a Porsche car show on Friday night.
And then on Saturday, they're holding their own car show in the morning, uh,
well, during the day on Saturday.
And in addition, they'll have music and food and local bar, uh, in the area.
So it's a lot of fun.
It was a lot of fun last year.
It's just a chance to get together, look at other people's cars and enjoy
the town of Lake Saranac.
The cars and community check, is that something that you have to register
for to be able to participate in?
Or does everybody just head over?
Yes, there is a charge for it to cover some of our costs on it.
And also you have to register because we are limited to 90 cars.
Oh, wow.
The size of their parking lot.
But there's public parking lots in the area and lots of spots around it to
park, but the central area is limited to 90 cars.
So you will need to register for that.
So you register to be a show car than not one of the 90, but if you just
want to attend and not be a show car, you're more than welcome.
You don't have to register.
Okay, gotcha.
So, um, it's very exciting.
I, that's the one event I got to see last year and it was amazing.
And I think the location this year, I always do that.
The location this year is even better.
Okay.
And did I mention Saranac's about six and a half miles away from Lake
class at a short ride?
Short ride.
Short ride.
Good.
And, and then of course, our other non-competitive event that
everybody loves to do is on Saturday morning and it's the parade of porches.
Yes.
And once again, it's 250 cars lined up to take a ride around Lake, the Lake
Placid area.
They've got some great roads picked out and a chance to say goodbye in our
way to the, uh, to Lake Placid and, um, that will be on Saturday morning.
And will we have an escort like we normally do for the parade?
Uh, we have the state police lined up to black roads for us.
Perfect.
And that starts at the Olympic ski jumping complex.
Okay.
Where all the tours will start.
Yep.
And, um, yeah, and also on banquet nights, you'll be able to park there and
then we're going to be running a shuttle from the ski jump area to bring
people to the banquet, um, because parking by the banquet's somewhat limited.
Gotcha.
Yep.
Okay.
Something new for this year.
Um, what else do we have to look forward to?
So we have so much, we barely scratch the surface.
I know we have two whole pages.
Yeah.
So one of the big things that we do is on, we're calling it dinners,
events and experiences.
And the dinners, muddy nights, a free night, we don't have a banquet.
It's after the concourse.
And so we've arranged several restaurants where group dinners will be served.
You'll have to sign up for these.
But for instance, mirror lake in, uh, it's going to have a I love New York
banquet buffet, the Lake Placid pub and brewery, um, will have a buffet
dinner as well on a private deck or we're looking mirror lake, uh, high peaks resort.
It's going to host a dinner and they're calling it Mulberry on Maine, which is
going to be an Italian theme buffet, uh, the Cambria lake resort.
We're doing a dinner there.
That'll be on their outside patio or we're looking the mountains.
Uh, the dinner out menu will include lobster bisque and beef and chicken
dishes and a chef's choice of dessert.
Uh, so something to give you a place to be with your friends.
Um, the big thing about parade is it's a family reunion.
So this night you can get together with your friends and other PCA members and
have, uh, a nice dinner.
Yep.
So you're talking with that was for dinner options for Monday.
Prior to that would be Sunday, which is the welcome party, the welcome party.
Exactly.
Okay.
Gotcha.
And then Tuesday we get into, go ahead, which is the first of our banquets.
And Pirelli has a theme for theirs.
Yes, they're theme Pirelli welcome party.
Their theme is stars, stripes, and speed.
So you can start thinking of your attire now.
I think I've got some stars and stripes I can don.
I would not be surprised.
I am glad I talked Megan out of using rubber in the theme.
I was worried about a rubber suit for you.
I wasn't sure where you were going with that.
Melanie, let's keep moving on.
So that would, that's the theme for a walk-in party.
That's an evil outfit.
An eagle outfit.
I can see evil.
Oh, evil.
Oh, now you've put it in his head.
It's out there.
Don't worry.
I will show up in proper gear.
All right.
How about Tuesday?
Tuesday is our form.
It's more of a formal night.
Concourse banquet.
The Porsche Concourse Day elegance.
Yes.
And this is a special one.
This is, they're all, they'll all be fun.
Walk, the welcome party is sort of like the first one where
everyone's back together, so to speak.
And it's noisy and there's no real agendas.
It's just, you know, catching up with everyone.
Fun.
That's, that's a lot of fun on Sunday, Monday.
As you mentioned, kind of dinner on your own, but Tuesday is
the first formal banquet.
And when I say formal, I say that kind of loosely.
It's formal because there's an agenda, but it's also a lot of
fun in the sense where we go through recognition of a lot of people,
those that have come to parade and in various years.
We have some guest speakers.
We'll definitely hear from, I'm going to take the leap that the Porsche family,
I know they're planning to attend and hopefully everything works out
that they will attend, but we'll certainly have some Porsche VIPs that
we'll speaking to, we'll be speaking to as you'll hear from the executive
council, so on and so forth.
Again, it's one of those that don't let the term banquet or formal
dissuade you from coming because it's, it's very special.
How about, how about Wednesday?
Wednesday is now, and we've consolidated two banquets.
So on Wednesday, we're still calling it the TSD rally banquet, but
it's not actually on Wednesday.
It's on Thursday.
We don't actually have a banquet on Wednesday this year.
So on your own on Wednesday?
Yep.
Yeah.
On your own on Wednesday, a chance to take advantage of the town.
And I would highly consider thinking about planning that out in advance
and making reservations.
There's a lot of great restaurants in Lake Placid.
But they're also quite small.
So as you said, make your plans early, because otherwise doing it the day
of might be a bit difficult.
Yep.
And just a quick hint, open table usually opens reservations three months
in advance.
So we're about right there where you can make reservations now.
Okay.
That's a good tip.
Oh, I'll be right back.
Jackson has something to do.
Okay.
And so on Wednesday, it's the, sorry, on Thursday, it's the rally banquet.
And a lot of the awards that will be given out there, the PCA juniors, the
sim racing awards, RC cars, the golf tournament, newsletter awards, the
website awards, archery awards, national membership awards.
And of course, the TSD rally awards this year presented by Porsche Design.
Oh, absolutely.
You know what we have to talk about.
Some people don't realize this.
If they're new is when you attend these banquets at the end of these banquets,
there are some phenomenal raffle prizes and you can only be eligible to win
these raffle prizes, such as tires, such as trips, such as Porsche Design,
sunglasses, cruises, so on and so forth.
If you want to be in on these raffles, you have to attend the banquets and you
must be present to win.
So don't forget another solid reason to be at all these banquets.
And should probably mention this before we move on to the last rally banquet,
but the banquets are going to be on the ice.
Yes.
And where the miracle on ice occurred.
1980.
Yeah.
Forty, what was it?
Forty eight years ago.
Exactly.
And 48 years ago.
No, because 1980.
Thought it was 40.
No, it would be my brother.
I will figure that out in the meantime, but we'll have to edit that in.
It's a historic venue for anybody who was alive at that time.
It's 46.
Yeah.
Where the United States Olympic hockey team with a bunch of amateurs beat
the Russians in a hockey match.
So we'll be sitting inside the rink, like on the ice, but obviously covered
with some covered but some platform on the ice will be on the ice research.
There's a, I believe a movie.
I believe it's a Disney movie.
It is a miracle on Netflix right now.
Watch it and you know what's funny?
What's up?
The US hockey team did it again this year.
You had another reason to go watch it.
We did it again.
We won for the first time, I think in 46 years or something like that.
I might be wrong on that, but the final banquet is on Saturday night.
And that's the victory banquet.
Victory banquet.
Reliable carriers sponsors that one.
John, I love him.
And one of the raffle prizes there is getting John Golombowski from reliable
carriers to transport your car to the next Porsche premium.
It's pretty cool.
Man, so much to do.
What else do we need to share?
Well, vendor village.
We haven't talked about how our sponsors are going to activate this year a little
bit differently.
So instead of the normal way we've had them in the hospitality area, which is
changing a little bit, we're going to have them out there.
Well, they're going to be near the check in on Sunday mingling with us and out
there on the concourt next to the concourt field.
And this is a check in.
They'll be right, right next to check in on Sunday.
And then on Monday, vendor village will be right there next to the speed skating
oval next to the field.
Yep.
And then hospitality, which is now called parade plots is, um, and
it's called rumors cafe.
It's this whole floor.
It has arcade games.
It has a bar, great seating.
Um, we'll have other games in there.
We'll have fashion shows with stuff from not only the PCA store, but from
Porsche design, Porsche design will be in there doing watch consultations.
It's just going to be, you know, a great place to mix and mingle with
on the other members of parade.
Yeah.
This is a little bit different than what we normally have because we typically
have them in a ballroom that you would go to concourt for most of the day and
then come back, uh, Monday afternoon to hang out in the hospitality ballroom to
meet with all the vendors.
And you have that opportunity on Monday, Tuesday and a little bit on Wednesday.
But here we're changing it up.
You'll see them on Sunday.
You'll see the Monday on the field with the concourt.
And then there's a few of them that are going to stay on and you can see them on
Tuesday.
So a little bit of a change up, but primarily, I think the inspiration for
this is it works really well for works reunion, where you have the vendors
right next to all the actions.
So you don't have to go anywhere to see them.
Um, and, you know, they get to be together with all the folks during
the concours going on.
So they have a lot of fun.
So it's a change up for this year.
We'll see how it works.
Yeah, absolutely.
There are sponsors are excited, so more excited as well.
So are you going to talk about the, probably the most popular, um, sign-ups
for, for parade is all the tours and where they're going.
The tours, the tours, a lot of the, um, dinners, events and experiences,
parade of Porsches, um, the banquets, they're going to be the most popular.
Uh, like Jack had mentioned, phase two, um, little, you know, it's, it's
very similar to last year, you know, obviously we launched the platform
last year and we've tweaked it this year.
So it's going to look very much the same, but we've made enhancements.
Um, so we're very excited about that.
And we'll be putting out a tutorial just to walk you through it, you
know, anything new, but, you know, we heard all feedback last year and
we're just excited to keep, keep tweaking, you know, this registration
platform and to make it exactly what we need because parade is a very large
event with lots of moving pieces.
Yeah, it's a, it's a complex system.
For those that have been to parade before, they fully understand what
they're getting into.
For those of you that are coming to parade for the first time or maybe
you haven't been in a while, uh, the registration is so complex.
It's because we give you so many options.
It's very different from say going on a cruise where you pay one fee and
you kind of get everything.
Um, this one here, it's highly focused on what you want to do.
And you get to pick a la carte of all the different events and all the
different meals, so on and so forth.
So building a registration system that can accommodate all of those
ala carte items, as well as being able to trigger warnings for when
you're doubling up on things and when things that, um, because it's such
high demand, making sure that it knows when things are full and it
doesn't double book you and all that kind of stuff.
So it's, um, you'll, for those of you that haven't seen our
registration system before, you'll, you should be impressed.
It's very, very comprehensive.
Um, and there's nothing out there that we could have bought to be able
to accommodate all of this.
In fact, we had over the years had to build our own registration system
so that we could do this for you.
But in the end, you know, it's all about what you want to do.
It's all about, uh, you having the most fun, the most time and giving you
the options at Porsche parade.
Absolutely.
And one of the things we will be doing is, uh, next week, we're doing,
uh, some zoom meetings, showing you actually how the registration will
work and we'll record that and put that out on YouTube.
So you can actually see the dropdowns and what you have to do.
The specifics of how the system works, but back to the tours.
Yes.
Holly's got some great places lined up.
So Holly's our tour chair.
Yes.
And these run Tuesday through Friday and they go out at various times
during the course of the day.
Um, one of them is going to a stable.
I hope I'm saying that right.
Chasm, which is considered the brand Canyon of the Adirondacks.
So it's a, um, as she put adventure, seeker, natures, lovers,
photographers and birdwatchers.
This one's for you.
Um, it's one of America's oldest natural attractions with waterfalls,
rapids and caves.
So they'll be going up there, um, during the course of the week.
Um, I highly encourage you to look online to actually read what she has planned
and the lunches that will go along with it.
All that's out there.
Another location is for Ticonderoga.
Which once again is, um, it's actually where pencils came from, because I
guess they had a lot of graphite up there.
Um, but, uh, yeah, it, um, it's a military fort that was, uh,
important during the revolutionary war.
Um, that'll be going up there several times.
Um, this one sounds neat, the tumble home boat shop.
If you're into vintage boats, wood boats, this is the, uh, excursion for you.
Um, you'll see them, how they handcraft and repair the old vintage boats.
Um, the wood hauled ones that so popular in the northeast area.
Uh, another one is the wild center.
And once again, this is, um, a must for anyone seeking an immersive
and educational experience in the Adirondacks.
You'll explore diverse ecosystems, including forest wetlands and rivers.
Enjoy ranger led programs and animal encounters.
So, should be a great time.
Uh, Lake Placid, for those that don't know it, is in the center of the Adirondack.
Believe it's a state park, but it's a huge area.
This will give you a chance to explore what the Adirondacks are all about.
And Melanie, I'm going to have to call on you.
There's one other one.
Revolution Rail.
Yes, that's it.
You want to talk about that one?
You get to explore the area on a rail car?
Yes.
The little ones?
Were you pedaling?
Were you like controlling?
And it looks like a lot of fun.
Um, we talked about it when we were there.
It's, it's the ones that you control.
Yeah.
I don't know exactly where they go.
I didn't print that out, but it definitely looks like.
Sounds like an adventure.
Yep.
Looks like great fun.
Yes.
One thing we didn't talk about, Jack, that we can't, we can't let pass.
One of the events, um, dinners and experiences is the curling tournaments.
Well, we're just about to get to those.
Yes, we got a whole slew of things.
We can't miss that.
Liz, Liz Shy has going on.
She arranges all these things.
And yeah, for starters on Tuesday, you've seen it on TV during the Olympics.
Here's your chance to learn how to curl.
We're doing a curling tournament and then a zone challenge curling tournament.
Um, is this really an excuse to just go drink beer?
I mean, let's just be honest.
Well, well, I'm pretty close to Wisconsin before I live.
So yes, it is.
She's heard beer and curling, Jackson home.
Yes, exactly.
But I want to experience it because I've seen it.
And, um, actually I'm looking forward to being the, the person with the broom.
I think, I think you, the sweeper.
Yes.
You sweep things to slow down, you sweep things in front of,
do you sweep things in front of the, the, what do you even call the, the curling thing?
Stone.
The stone.
Pretty sure it's a lot more complicated than what you're making.
Well, now we're going to have to try it.
I'm going to learn a lot.
That's what I'm looking forward to is learning the sport while eating
cheese curds and consuming beverages.
In addition to the curling, there is also wheeled luge.
Wheeled luge.
Okay.
Is that with a, not an alcohol luge thing.
That's different.
No, no.
Just like the Olympics, the luge runs on the, the bobsled.
Tracks.
Like cool.
And they're wheeled sleds in a safe setting led by professional instructors.
So you, you get some training and then get to do a luge.
I'm not even going to try to do the countdown like they do in cool running.
But I get, I get to hear it in my head.
I get to hear it in my head in cool runnings.
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
In a safe setting.
Yes.
In a safe setting.
And so in addition, we've got, um, private tours of the Mump Van Holmenberg,
where the, um, bobsled and luge runs are at, that you can sign up for.
The, she also has a private tour of the Olympic center set up.
She's got jewelry classes, just beat it.
So if you're looking for something a little bit less adventurous to do,
you can sign up for a jewelry making class and a candle making class.
In addition, there's going to be a wine tasting at the conference center.
That would be popular.
I know that would be popular.
Enjoy six to eight wines and sample from a delicious charcuterie board.
So we've got all sorts of things going on during the week.
There's a private tour of the Olympic jumping complex,
where you get to go up to the top of the, um, uh, I'll be at the bottom waving at you.
Me too.
And, um, there's also a tour to the high falls gorge area, which is, um,
22 acre privately owned nature park, which is gorgeous.
Yes.
So we've got all sorts of other, those are all organized things.
And then we have a list of things that you just want to take an afternoon and go do.
Uh, we'll give you directions, what to see and where to go.
The crazy loon distillery.
Um, the Adirondack experience, the museum on blue mountain lake.
Here's one.
Star Trek original series tour.
So the set, the set has been recreated and you can go sit in captain's Kirk's chair.
Okay.
Who would have thought?
The other one is the ensemble brewing company, uh, the Lake George steamboat company.
So we've got all sorts of things, museums.
All you have to do, the directions are online.
We'll have them available if you want to take an afternoon and go explore on your own.
So let's consider those, uh, self-guided tours, right?
Destination drive.
Okay.
Now for, for the tours that we are doing officially that people have signed up for,
let's say they do sell out, but I wanted to do revolution rail.
Like, could I just, will you give me the information so I can get myself to revolution rail and try to do it myself?
Yep.
Yeah, absolutely.
Okay.
Okay.
So not all is lost.
Not all is lost if you don't get on an official tour.
You can still visit all these different places and maybe it's yourself and your family or it's
yourself, your family and a couple of friends or something like that.
So you can still get to do all the wonderful things that Lake Placid has to offer.
Absolutely.
Sounds good.
All right.
Any other tips?
And I know you're going to do more videos for folks to watch, but believe it or not,
we're coming up closely on the hour.
I think we've hit on most of it.
Well, like Cook County, sign up early, sign up often.
Yes.
Other way, that's voting in Cook County.
Well, thank you both.
I know not only the both of you, but the Parade Committee, all of the representatives in Lake
Placid have been working extremely hard to prepare for this 2600 plus Folk Porsche Parade.
It's going to be super exciting.
And we're going to roll out information as we have it to make sure that you have a pleasant
registration experience and be prepared for a wonderful program when we're there in person.
Allow me to move on to our April PCA Insider sponsor, Platica, hosted by Harper Porsche.
Experience Platica at the Quarry venue in Knoxville, Tennessee.
After a record-setting global career GT gathering in 2025,
Platica is back celebrating the 9-11R, both the 2016 and 1967 examples.
Experience the finest offerings from air-cooled, water-cooled, and motorsport
Porsche models at the Quarry.
Platica is where the soul of Porsche means beauty of art and nature.
There's limited tickets to this event.
Again, it's May 3rd, Porsche Platica.
It's actually www.porsche-platica.com.
You can register and find information all about it there.
I also want to remind you to be sure to head over to PCA.org to sign up for our newsletters,
performance news, e-brake news, and Mark Fresh, all free.
Right now, I guess we're going to say goodbye to Jack.
Let him get back to his responsibilities and we'll move on with Porsche News.
See you later, Jack.
Thank you, Jack.
See you all in Lake Placid.
Yep. I'll see you sooner.
In the news for this week, we're talking about Cayennes primarily.
The first one, Car and Driver, and the 2026 Porsche Cayenne EV Drive.
I know we've done a video and, man, there's those that love EV and those that don't,
but I can tell you, Car and Driver really was impressed with this new Cayenne.
Yes, Car and Driver was, but because we also went on PCA.org,
I'm going to talk about Rob and what he thought about it since he was able to drive it.
Long story short, the new Cayenne is excellent.
And Rob said so himself in this article, and I'm going to scroll through a little bit.
Some of the highlights is 1139 horsepower in the Cayenne Turbo, which,
man, what a jump from the yes with only 657.
That's insane.
Isn't that?
Going 0 to 60 in a Cayenne at, like, what, two and some change seconds?
Yeah, 2.2 for the Turbo.
That's ridiculous.
Yeah, which, yeah, it's pretty crazy.
So, but Rob was able to, he took it off-roading, so they had an off-roading course set up,
which these are actually Rob's two pictures here, probably somebody else driving
since he was taking the photos.
But overall, it seems like Rob loved driving this thing, and that's what I've been seeing across
the internet.
It's just more one of those things, will people buy them?
Yeah, will be able to buy them.
I mean, I think if you're into EVs, you're probably going to be quite impressed.
I think many of folks have already been impressed with the Macan EV.
And insiders say, you know, driving the Cayenne, they feel like it's just that next generation,
that next evolution, it's even better.
But having said that though, our next news item actually is going to confirm that gas
is still in the future in internal combustion engines to be specific.
Yeah, here we're on autoblog.com, and this is one of those websites where the ads just
are relentless.
So please pardon the video playing in the bottom right-hand corner if you're watching on YouTube.
So we were just saying that will people buy the EV?
Well, that's in part because Porsche is going to be offering, continuing to offer internal
combustion engine Cayennes.
The current ones that are out are going to stay out until they're updated in 2028, 2029,
is what sources have been telling outlets like Autoblog.
I think it was Auto Express that had the initial scoop on this.
But it is going to use, I believe it's the MLB EVO platform.
Yep, MLB EVO and PPC platform, which is shared within the Volkswagen group.
So you've probably seen some Audi's and likely some Volkswagen's using these platforms.
And it's going to save Porsche a bit of money when they're going to have to develop something
that probably just a year or two ago, they thought they would never have to develop again.
I know, right? That's crazy to think that honestly, your strategy has changed
almost 180 degrees because the industry spoke, especially here in the United States.
But to their credit, they're making changes and they're coming out and giving you an answer.
The sad part of it is it can't come soon enough for a lot of people.
So people are going to have to be patient.
Pivoting and pivoting again.
Exactly, exactly.
Yep, yep.
PCA events that are coming up.
We talked obviously about Parade and the event, Porsche Parade, June 14th through 20th.
Phase two opens April 15th.
I do want to remind you also Treffen at sea, September 19th through the 25th.
We have some exclusive cruise rates with Princess Package Plus,
which includes your Wi-Fi, beverages, cruise appreciation.
We have PCA specific programming.
We have Porsche industry celebrities and automobile experts that are joining us.
I think it starts at $9.99 a person per room.
For what, seven days almost?
Right? Six days?
Seven.
Six days.
19th through the 25th.
So it's a solid deal going from Vancouver to San Francisco to Santa Barbara down to LA.
And we're hoping to have the local regions also meet us at the ports and have some fun there.
So check it out.
Checking in those details now.
All right, PCA video that as of this recording, this video dropped last night
and it's covering the buyer's paradise, the million auctions,
and it's doing extremely well, Damon.
Yes, it is.
And if I can figure out how to pull this thing up on the screen.
Yep, here we go.
Manny and Vu walked around.
You know, when I was editing this, I didn't realize quite how many cars we profiled.
I didn't think we had done that much, but I want to say it's like, it's more than 12.
Oh, definitely more.
Maybe not quite 15, but it's quite a lot.
One of the things that I took away from this is, well, one,
a lot of transactions being sold because 50th anniversary of the front engine transactional
cars, meaning the 924, 944, and all that.
But also, whether it was those cars or 911s or I think this GT-S or the Daytona car
that was a broad arrow, most of them sold for less than the estimates.
You know, not a ton less, but less than the bottom end.
So this video is sort of exploring, you know, is it a buyer's market?
You guys be the judge, but, you know, if it is, might be a good time to get your hands on
cars like this prototype, I think sold for less than 100,000 bucks.
It's a 924 prototype, the first one ever raced.
Yeah, and that could be your ticket to Rensport.
Exactly, yeah.
Or the 65, 911, you know, street car with historic plates.
It's local to Maryland.
I wonder where that ended up.
Yeah, I don't know.
So very cool examples.
Some good pricing, you know, but solid prices for cars that have the pedigree.
It wasn't a cliff, it was just that, you know, maybe a couple of years ago,
they would have been in there within their estimates.
Yeah, maybe it's starting to level off.
So good news for people that are hoping to get into the game, so to speak.
We talked about PCA Sim Racing at Parade, but you can check it out now, PCASimRacing.com.
If you want to race against other PCA members online, if you're new to it all,
they have all beginners programs that can show you, you know, what kind of equipment to get
and kind of teach you how to get started.
And it's a lot of fun.
PCA Insider Swag, we have that available at the PCA Web Store.
Just go to PCAWebStore.org.
We have bottles, mugs, t-shirts and such.
If you want to receive some PCA Insider decals, send us your physical address information
to podcastatPCA.org.
Happy to send you a set.
And just like that, we're at the top of the hour.
And Melanie, thank you for joining us again.
Thank you for having me.
And thank you all for listening.
Be sure to like, comment and subscribe.
Consider sharing our show with fellow Porsche enthusiasts.
Until next time, stay safe and we'll catch you down the road.
Bye.
About this episode
PCA Insider breaks down Phase II registration for the 70th Porsche Parade in Lake Placid, opening April 15 at noon ET. With 2,600+ attendees expected, the crew focuses on how to secure limited-capacity tours, dinners, and competitive spots using the new registration system. They preview concours, TSD rally, autocross (with required volunteering), and a Porsche knowledge quiz, plus “unofficial” events like the Hans Peter Porsche art show, gimmick rally (including Whiteface Mountain), RC racing, golf, a 5k, and PCA sim racing. Non-competitive highlights include Cars and Community, the Parade of Porches, multiple themed banquets on the Olympic ice rink, and a redesigned vendor village. The news segment covers the 2026 Cayenne EV drive impressions and Porsche’s continued ICE Cayenne plans, plus upcoming PCA trips.
In this episode we have Porsche Parade Chair Jack Stephensen calling in to talk about the next step in Parade registration. Phase II Activities Registration opens April 15, and it's when you'll pick out and pay for the things you do throughout the week at Porsche Parade. This includes competitive events like concours d'elegance, TSD rallies, and autocross; driving tours; social events including dinners, banquets, privates tours; and so much more. You'll want to know which activities you and your group want to do before registration opens, particularly if the activities are limited by capacity. Tune in for a brief overview of all the things to do as well as Phase II registration tips.