Happy New Year!

2021 is off to a, well, interesting start, shall we say; but we here at SDR are ready to go. The 2021 management team is mostly in place and is now just waiting for the rest of the world to catch up with us. To see who we are please visit: https://pcasdr.org/about/contacts/ Thank you to all the board members and chairs for volunteering their time to make PCASDR a great club.

COVID-19

Unfortunately, as 2021 begins, COVID is still with us. As you are no doubt aware, November-December saw us going from the Red to the Purple stages and even further into a “Purple Plus” or “Super Purple” lockdown state as the number of new cases skyrocketed and hospitals became overwhelmed. This continues, and likely will, throughout January until the surges from holiday travel and get-togethers subside (we hope they do). As a consequence, PCA-SDR events continue to occur on a limited basis and in limited formats. At the January board meeting we reviewed our event policy and reaffirmed the following: First and foremost, we will not be hosting any indoor events, as COVID is most contagious in indoor settings. Secondly, we will not be hosting any ‘social gathering’ type events, even outdoors, for the foreseeable future (to be reevaluated when we return to orange or yellow alert status). Outdoor events will be limited to “in-car” events such as our driving tours and track events, where socializing and otherwise gathering in groups is not the purpose of the activity. Masks are REQUIRED and social distancing protocols MUST be followed.

Upcoming Events

To see what we will be doing be sure to keep a lookout for our advertising emails or an eye on our calendar. For example, in February we currently have two Zoom socials scheduled. One is a new member meet and greet on February 10 and the second is a virtual “tasting” event with a local brewery or winery on February 17. Both our driving tour and time trial/driver’s ed programs will also continue with their next installments as well. All this and more can be found on our calendar page: https://pcasdr.org/events/2021-01/

Our Autocross team recently took a survey of our regular autocross attendees and the results are promising. Despite the loss of the stadium here in San Diego, a significant number of you are willing to drive to out-of-town venues, which promises to keep our autocross program alive. Unfortunately, the closest of our options is currently closed until further notice due to COVID. But stay tuned, it looks like we will definitely be autocrossing again in 2021.

Charity

In these troubling and challenging times, members of the San Diego Region have really stepped up to assist those that are less fortunate. Our charity drive collected over $17,000 in the last four months of 2020, all of which was donated to the Food Bank. Always in need, even in normal times, the Food Bank has become more important and in demand than ever with the extraordinary levels of unemployment we are seeing as a result of the pandemic and the resulting economic shutdowns. As this need is ongoing, the region has decided we will continue these efforts throughout 2021, with a goal of raising $10,000 each quarter. Please see https://pcasdr.org/pca-sdr-virtual-food-drive-donation-goal-thermometer-q1-2021/ to help us reach this quarter’s target. Big or small, your donation will be appreciated by countless people in need.

The Windblown Witness

It’s time for our wonderful editor to produce another issue of our amazing magazine, the “Windblown Witness.” To do so she needs your help. If you have a Porsche experience you’d like to share, please write it up and send it in. You might just see your name in print! It can be anything either car, company or club related that you think is interesting, long or short. If you have pictures, even better, be sure to include them. Tell us your story. Send articles, photos, etc. to: pcasdreditorsabrown@gmail.com preferably by January 16.

Tractor!

I’ll close this month’s edition with a little discovery of my own. Keith Verlaque (past president and longtime club member) and I happened to be enjoying an outdoor, socially distanced, picnic lunch late last year in Civita Park in Mission Valley. To our surprise we discovered there was an old Porsche tractor there, setup for kids to crawl on and take pictures with. Talk about serendipity! Did you know Porsche made tractors? (Civita Park, by the way, is very nice.)

Hopefully we will be able to get together soon.
Tom Brown
PCA-SDR 2021 President