Hartmut Kristen in Feb 2015 Panorama

The interview with Hartmut Kristen in the February 2015 issue of Porsche Panorama is also very interesting and has a Nord Stern connection.  Kristen attended the 1991 Last Fling as a guest of Nord Sterner Fred Senn.  You can read more on this blog here.

I remember the visit clearly as it isn't often someone from Porsche attends a Nord Stern DE.  They were specifically looking for customer input regarding importing a car like the Carrera RS.  While it wasn't possible to import the CarreraRS due to all the import requirements of the US.  They did come up with a version of the 964 called an RS America.  The car featured a whale tail, 17" wheels, M030 suspension, interior bits, and that was about it.  Sales languished because it didn't offer much in performance upgrades and the price was quite high.  I owned a '93 from 1994 to 2001.  I enjoyed the car very much.

I will to think those conversations led to the GT3 in 1999.  The change in thinking was that enthusiasts would buy new cars of they offered features they desired.  Some us us like a stiff suspension and don't need a valet system.

Another point on this Panorama article.  If you follow sports cars racing to the depth that I do, there is a great deal of "inside baseball" here.  Lot's of stuff he clearly could say when he was working for Porsche.  Obviously not a fan of the Balance of Performance process and the vagaries that come with.  I wouldn't expect a manufacturer to feel any other way.  Read this article carefully.

Fast Freddy Baker

 Photo from Feb 2015 Porsche Panorama

I was on a plane the other day reading the Feb 2015 Porsche Panorama and an article about a 1968 911L called Poster Car caught my eye.  It's original owner was "Fast" Freddy Baker, scion of the Mound Metalcraft Company.  If you like me you may have had several of their products as a kid - Tonka trucks.  Apparently Fred earned his nickname both on and off the track.

I had heard of Fred when researching Porsche history in Minnesota for Nord Stern's 50th in 2009.  Never really found out much about him until this article got me looking again.

I did little Googling and I found this link: http://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/results/Fred-Baker-USA-I.html  Note the last entry.  1971 entry at Donnybrooke with Dick Roe and Jerry Hansen.

This led me give Dick Roe a call.  It was Dick and Jerry Hansen who took Donnybrooke out of bankruptcy   in 1973.  Dick ran the track under he retired in 1999.  Dick mostly remembers Fred running in SCCA with a Renault Alpine that he sold to the Archer Bros from Duluth that we saw raced for many years. Fred also raced a 906 quite a bit.  He apparently did not race after 1969 and moved to Florida.

They did not run the 1971 race.  The DNA in the right column is Did Not Appear.  Dick also did not recall running a race with Freddy Baker in Jerry's Corvette.

Regrettably, Fred passed away just in January of this year:

http://www.startribune.com/obituaries/detail/58867/?fullname=fred-j-baker

There are a bunch of photos here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/48807189@N03/

Craig Alexander Spyder Story

Charter member Craig Alexander sent this email to Bruce Boeder a month or so ago and I am just getting around to posting it now.  The 550 Spyder Craig refers to was sold to Bill Groschen who had it for a couple of years and he sold it to a Japanese collector. 

Bruce, In about 1969 I was  up at Donnybrook for a Porsche event. The guy who had the 550 was trying it out on the track and he mentioned that he wanted to sell it. I could see that the 550 was all original except for the tail lights and VW motor. I had restored several cars and knew the importance of an all original car. The next week I went out to his home where he had a Ferrari and the 550.  He was working on both cars with an actual Crescent wrench. I knew that he would ruin both cars with his horrible mechanical talent. He sold it to me for $1800.00. I used the VW engine until I found a Porsche four cam engine that was just right for the 550. I mailed my $900.00 out to California and low and behold showed up at my door step in a sturdy wooden crate. I had Phil Kalwiet repair the dents and repaint the 550. Phil was an artist with aluminum. He could repair the dent, heat and shrink the aluminum with out using Bondo and give it a flawless paint job. I kept the 550 in the living room of my earth sheltered home in Woodbury for ten years  It was quite a hit for people at parties to see an actual racing car in my home. Most of my friends, including the women thought that it looked just right sitting in the edge of the living room. As I got older my reaction time is slower and it was a difficult car to keep in good tune unless it was used on the track. It had a six volt battery which had to be fully charged to start the engine. I would coast down my driveway and with help from the starter could usually get it started. But if I stalled driving around Lake Harriet I would have to get pedestrians to push me to get me started. 

Another Classic Photo

Another entry in our guess who this is.  I find this one pretty entertaining.  The person on the left is Charlie Lloyd (see post below).  Your challenge is to determine who the person in the right is.  A couple of hints that should make this a “gimme”;  he has a long-running radio show and writes a newspaper column.  Add your comment below.  (I’ve made this way to easy…)

Maybe we should have a caption contest.  He is clearly describing missing his brake point into T10 at BIR.  You can add you own.

Photo is from Larry Skoglund.

New booklet highlights 50th Year

Gordon Maltby has just put the finishing touches on a new booklet that features the highlights of Nord Stern's 50th year.  When you read through this booklet, you will marvel at what a year it was.  The booklet will be available at the Winter Party at Carousel on January 23rd.  Your copy will be signed by David Murry who is featured in the booklet for his part in our history.  The pilot of PCA Club Racing Coaching was at our Club Race and will now be rolled out in 2010 starting at Sebring next month.

Winter Party Silent Auction Items

We will have 4 or 5 great silent auction items benefitting Courage Center at the January 23 Winter Party at Carousel Porsche.  Here is what is planned:

Book:  917X17 by Jeff Zwart  signed by featured driver Vic Elford
Sponsor:  TBD
Sells for $150 without the autograph.  Jeff Zwart set up a studio at Porsche Rennsport Reunion III and created these fabulous photographs of these fabulous cars as well as interviewing their drivers.  Certainly a piece of Porsche history as who knows if anything like this will be assembled again.

Book:  Ferry Porsche 100 years by the Porsche Museum
Sponsor:  TBD
Value: None are for sale currently - $50?  $100?  Hey, it is for the Courage kids!

This book was put together by the Porsche Museum as part of the commemoration of Ferry Porsche's 100th birthday.  It took me 6 months to get it and it is already out of print.  It contains all the great Ferry Porsche photos that are so famous as well as many other great shots you have not seen before.  Complete  record of the great man's life.  Small in size at 5 x 8 and about 150 pages, high in content.

David Murry being interviewed at Road America

last August by Minnesotan Greg Cramer.

Breakfast for 4 with former Porsche Factory Driver David Murry
Sunday morning January 24th at Hell's Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis 8 am - 9:30 am
Sponsor: Roger Johnson
Value: $1500

Here is a great opportunity to get your racing and driving questions answered by someone who has been there.  David has raced professionally for close to 30 years in everything from Formula Fords to a prototype Porsche at LeMans to NASCAR.  He has championships driving some great Porsches like the 968 and the GT2 turbo (one of my favorite Porsche race cars).   He currently is driving the Robertson Ford GT in the ALMS and recently put car on the pole at the latest Petit Le Mans against huge competition from Flying Lizards, Corvette, Rahal BMW, and Risi Ferrari.  Guaranteed to be a delightful and memorable time.  He will give you his email address so you can ask him the questions you will certainly run out of time to ask at the breakfast.  (I didn't ask him to do this but I know he will.)

Porsche GT3 chronograph watch (We didn't get it for this event.  Look for it at the Club Race.)
Value: $695
Sponsor: TBD

More to come on this item.  They are no longer available from Porsche in the US, but we hope to get one from Germany.

Of course, all proceeds benefit Courage Center and are tax deductible.  Bidding at the Winter Party or contact me or Keith Jones if you want us to bid for you.

Drivers Visiting Nord Stern

Nord Stern has had some great (actually some of the greatest) drivers come and speak over the years. Here are a few:

Derek Bell and Bob Johnson

Dave Weisel and Phil Hill

Leighton Reese, Mark Skweres, Vic Elford

Mike Jekot, David Hobbs

Of course, Jackie Ickx, fresh from winning LeMans in 1976 with a 936 came to Brainerd with the winning car.

And as long as we are name dropping, let's not forget Mark Donahue. The pit lane at BIR (then Donnybrooke) looks al little funny without the wall.

Who is this Nord Sterner?

Can you guess who the Nord Sterner is on the left? This would be from the early 1970's. The race car is Larry Skoglund's. When it was a street car, it belonged to Peter Kitchak.

Thanks to Larry Skoglund for the photo and several others I'm using here. Add you guess to the comments below.

A little history from Charlie Lloyd

Charlie in his 912 which by this time was a 911!

At Sebring with Dudley Davis' 911 and a bunch of Nord Sterners.

Last year about this time, 1970 Nord Stern President Charlie Lloyd emailed me regarding the Winter Party. That email is excerpted below. I had set it aside until recently and thought I would share it here.

I had a 1968 912 Targa which I bought new in Geneva Switzerland. After shipping it to the US, I drove it from NJ to Mpls in April 1969, making it from Chicago to our house here in 4 hours and 45 minutes!
I started racing a Speedster which I acquired from my brother-in-law that year and rolled it up in a ball at Road America in 1971, so I gradually converted the 912 to a race car. I always thought I might put it back on the street some day, but the deciding factor was in about 1975 when I sawed the wind screen off to gain some aerodynamics! My best season was in 1976 when I came in 10th in EP at Road Atlanta in the SCCA Runoffs. The 912 was always at a disadvantage because while it ran the same engine as the Speedster it was penalized about 300#, presumably because of better aerodynamics, but with the extra weight it could never accelerate with them. After 1976, I got tired of rebuilding the 4 cly, as it continued to break from trying to get upwards of 175 HP out of it. I converted the car to a 911 and raced that until 1980, finishing in the top 15 in DP in 1979. The car went to a buyer in Denver in about 1982, and I never saw it or any results with it after that.
Dudley Davis, Hank Godfredson and I drove Dudley's 911 to a 5th in GTU in the 12 hour race at Sebring in 1981, and one of the pictures you published in the Nord Stern this past year was of the three of us with that car. We also ran it in the IMSA races at Road America and Brainerd that year, finishing in 4th or 5th as I recall at RA, and DNF'd at Brainerd due to 2 bad rod bolts that let go (would you believe?; must have been from the same bad batch), one in practice and one in warm-up for the race.
I acquired a 1956 Speedster from by brother's estate in 1987, and bought Frank Hunt's 1959 Cabriolet about the same time. They were both fun, but as some will attest, required continuous maintenance. So in 2000 I sold both for enough to buy a 2001 Boxster. I enjoy being able to just go turn the key and go, without all the maintenance hassle.

Winter Party Set for January 23rd

Nord Stern is wrapping up it's 50th year with a Garage Party! What would be a better place for a Garage Party than a Porsche dealership? Carousel Porsche is graciously hosting Nord Stern. There will be a cash bar set up in the showroom for socializing and then we will have very nice sit-down dinner in the service writing area catered by D'Amico. Former Porsche Factory Driver David Murry is confirmed as the guest speaker. We will also celebrate more of Nord Stern's 50 years of history. A new booklet, autographed be David Murry, will be given to each attendee.
We will have a small number of very nice silent auction items benefitting Courage Center. One item will be breakfast for four the morning after the party with David Murry. Additional items will be announced by email in the coming weeks.
Sign up info is available on Nord Stern.org by clicking on the picture below.

By popular demand, the dress for this gala is now "dressy". Don't worry, at this garage party you won't be asked to rebuild a carburetor.

Watch for additional emails in the coming weeks!