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50,000 Attend Porsche Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca

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Dubbed “the fastest class reunion in the world”, the Rennsport Reunion is an event held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, showcasing Porsche‘s racing history.

It’s no wonder that over 50,000 people went to the Monterey, CA event this year, with eleven Porsche Le Mans winners attending, including 2015 victors Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy, who were joined by famous names such as Jacky Ickx, Derek Bell and Hans-Joachim Stuck.

For the latter, the best car at the event this year was the Porsche 962 in which he, Bob Akin and Jo Gartner won the 1986 12 Hours of Sebring. “That victory was one of the milestones of my career. The cars you see here are just amazing. They’re all in incredible condition. And the best thing is that I’ve contested races in many of them. 

“I’d received invitations before but somehow it always coincided with a race weekend,” continued Stuck. “If I’d known just how fantastic this event was I would have immediately cancelled all the other commitments and come straight here.”

Porsche’s top tier 2015 cars also took part in Rennsport Reunion, with the 919 Hybrid and 911 RSR both turning demo laps. Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Neel Jani represented the LMP1 contender, and meanwhile, GT drivers Earl Bamber, Jorg Bergmeister, Michael Christensen, Wolf Henzler, Patrick Long, Frederic Makowiecki and Nick Tandy were all present for the 911 RSR, which is currently enjoying success in the FIA World Endurance and Tudor United SportsCar Championships.

Earl Bamber, who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Porsche this year, says the Porsche GT1 of 1998 was his favourite car. “Back then I dreamed of sitting in such a car one day, but I never thought that I would be one of the drivers to secure the next Le Mans victory for Porsche.” 

“It’s always wonderful to be reunited with so many drivers from the early days and talk about old times,” commented Hans Herrmann, who drove the 917K to Porsche’s first Le Mans victory in 1970. “It is important for the future to keep these memories alive. The young drivers need to know how it was back then when the steering wheels were wooden and we had no computers like today.” 

(All photos courtesy of Porsche AG)

 

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Jake covers sportscars for The Checkered Flag, mainly Tudor United SportsCar Championship and World Endurance Championship, along with a variety of other series including World Rally Championship.
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