One of my favorite features of the last two RENNSPORT Reunions held at Laguna Seca has been repeatedly visiting the CHOPARD Herige Display tent, and the unique collection of PORSCHE motorsport chronology assembled therein. I like to spend hours & hours looking at the cars gathered under the immense roof, chat with other enthusiasts who take the time to slow down to study the cars, read and learn about them, and more often than not the guy standing next to you quietly reminiscing about past glories could very well be Derek Bell, Brian Reddman, Vic Elford, Jackie Ickxs, Hans Herrman, Mark Webber, or Jürgen Barth or perhaps even the architect of so much of Porsche's racing success, Herr Norbert Singer.
The most memorable moment from RR VI came to me on the third day at the CHOPARD tent. I was hovering around the two 917 Can-Am cars parked next to each other ( photo #10 ) so I could see and study the evolutionary changes between the two cars as a reult of Porsche's and Penske's / Donohue's intense development from 917-10 to the overwhelming 917-30, As I was standing there lost in thought, a figure in a crisp white racing suit walked up to the car and appeared for all the world to be preparing to drive this historic machine. A murmur arose among the others in the immediate area, to the point where I was yanked out of my stupor and started to pay close attention to what was going on around me. The man in the racing Nomex was none other than George Follmer, the original driver of the white #6 917-10 car. I found it surprising that he would be arriving alone, not accompanied by a mechanic or assistant to help him start this monster. He climbed into the driver's seat but had some difficulty with it, since the cardoor wouldn't stay open. A good friend, standing next to me, held the door for George, as there are no hold-open or door stop provisions and when he finally settled into the seat he couldn't find the safety-belt shoulder straps to buckle up since they were laid out on the rear deck. My friend reached for the belts, handed them one at a time to a slightly bewildered and grumpy appearing Follmer, who duly buckled up and then promptly reached for the starter button. Pressing the button produced a whirring sound as the motor turned over, but it gave absolutely no indication that it was going to start. At that precise moment Follmer seemed to finally snap out of it, his face took on an entirely new expression of awareness, total concentration and purpose, his body language changed and you could see with startling clarity that he suddenly remembered clearly & exactly what he needed to do. He calmly, but with practiced precision, initiated the 'starting drill', flipping switches with the deft touch of living with this car for an entire season. The next push of the starter button and the engine exploded into its raucous bellow. After a minute or two of letting the idle settle down, checking the instruments and everything around him, he drove off as smoothly as if the were in the family Truckster for a few demonstration laps...........my friend leaned over and shouted in my ear:" do you know he's 83 years old." - No, I wasn't aware of that.
Yes, it can get awfully crowded dueing the day, but it looks a lot worse than it actually is, because the arrangement of the cars allows one to use the long carpeted main iaisles between the herringbone rows of historic PORSCHE racecars to navigate the hall & walk up and down and sidle up to any car one wishes to check out more closely.
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