Photos and text: Ross Delaney / @rossdelaneymedia
I’d be lying if I said I understood how significant Rennsport Reunion is when I booked tickets last March. I’d been planning a west coast road-trip from LA to San Francisco, stopping along the way at the Grand Canyon and Yosemite, and knowing I’d be close to Laguna Seca, I checked the calendar to see what was on. “Rennsport Reunion 7 – The World’s Largest Gathering of Porsche”. Sounds like a big deal. And it was.
We rocked up to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca at 8AM and the paddock was already alive. I doubt I will ever see as many 911s in one location ever again, the extent of the Porsche only parking corrals was as far as the eye could see. Spotting not one or two but nine 959s really shows how incredible this event is.
But it was the racing cars that took pride of place throughout the paddock, and we quickly dived into the aisles of pit setups, ordered by vehicle class. Cars competing in the Weissach Cup of type 2.5 911, 911 RSR, 934, 935 and 936 were warming up and the low, rumbling tones of turbo-charged flat six filled the morning air. Seeing multiple Kremer 935K3 preparing for their first practice session of the weekend was special.
It was also super cool to see Laguna Seca, a track I’ve driven countless times in the virtual world of PC games. With limited equipment, I knew this event was going to be tricky to shoot as I would like, and high catch fencing and distant vantage points didn’t help. Still, the corkscrew was every bit as daunting to spectate in person, never mind what it must be like at the wheel of a 962C.
Porsche, celebrating its 75th anniversary and 60th anniversary of the 911, had pulled out all the stops to display its finest vehicles and achievements. Some notable mentions on display include the first Porsche ever built, the humble Type 64, one of twenty one road-going 911 GT1 and the only 935K to win Le Mans outright.
To properly soak up an event of this magnitude, the full four days are required and our brief attendance on Thursday simply wasn’t enough. Annoyingly, I’ll have to wait four years for the next one.
