Rennsport Reunion IV Review and the CTF Back Story

I love Porsches! And if you have been following my blog for any period of time, you have probably figured that out already. I just got back from Rennsport Reunion IV, the world's largest gathering of historic Porsche race cars and the drives that drove them. How was it you ask? Well, I will tell you...it was a three day long Porsche-gasm! I am hooked and plan to be at the next one, no matter where it is.

I wrote a pretty thorough review for www.planet-9.com / here is the link: Rob's Planet-9 article

Also, I took a bunch of photos, just click on the slide show above. I took about a hundred. Not near as many as Porsche Purist, who took 500. That link is here: Rennsport Reunion Wrap UP.
Check them out!!

What I want to share with you is the back-story about partnering with the Children's Tumor Foundation (www.ctf.org) and their motorsports arm (www.racing4research.org). I met these wonderful folks during the Rolex Grand AM event at Laguna Seca back in August. The cause is just - finding a cure for Neurofibromatosis or NF. And the fact is, these kids are suffering from this debilitating disease and they deserve better. CTF works tirelessly to make that happen.

I was the guest of The Racers Group (TRG) during the Grand Am weekend and saw the CTF folks in action. I met Jill Beck who runs the Racing4Research part of CTF and I will tell you, I got tired just watching her. She worked non-stop with meetings, interviews, media engagements and then there were the kids and their families. I would say there were well over 100 of them. She made sure each child felt special, felt like they mattered. She shepherded her flock from car to car and team to team, making sure she got maximum exposure to get the CFT message across. How successful were they? No less a media outlet than the Today Show came and taped a segment about the CFT kids. You can see the segment at the following link: Racing4Research. Check it out!

What I realized was that this foundation, this fight to find a cure was a perfect fit for me as I looked to find a partner and a cause to support while promoting my book. I turned to Jill and told her that I wanted to work with CFT, I wanted to help spread the word and awareness about this terrible disease. She saw in me (I hope) a kindred spirit who wants the best for the kids.

When I heard about Rennsport, I reached out to Jill and she told me about her plans. Those plans involved the Cayman Interseries. This single marque series is geared (pun kinda intended) towards the Porsche Cayman. Napleton Porsche came up with the idea of taking the fantastic platform of the mid-engined Cayman and turning it into a great entry-level modern race car (if you could call a $100K race car entry level). The series is for Gentleman racers that want to race a competitive racecar, but have the support of a professional race team. It is the perfect storm, Napleton does all the heavy lifting and the drivers do all of the heavy driving…or something like that.

The cars themselves are painted in the color schemes of famous racing Porsches and it is a hoot to see some of the fan favorites from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s but in a modern Cayman inspired interpretation. Anyway, Jill Beck came up with the idea of selling raffle tickets to support CTF. One of the cars, sponsored by Lee Davis and his new men’s clothing line Luna-C donated the prizes, I tossed in a couple of personalized books and we were off to the races (yes…that time the pun was intended).

The point is, these events are a great platform to promote NF awareness. And when we can do a raffle or promotion that raises money to research a cure, everybody wins. The racers that support NF win, CTF wins, I win and most important the kids win.

Give to CTF. The kids could use your support.

And on that exhaust note, we will see you next time.