Page 29 - Sep 2022

as the car arrived I joined the Porsche Club of France grass fire.
and registered for my first European track day at
Zolder in Holland.
Over the following three years I got to experience
quite a few European race tracks, under non-race
conditions. Paul Ricard, Valeo-Senlis, LeMans-Bugatti,
Lurcy-Levy, Monthlery, Mas du Clos, Hockenheim,
Nurburgring, Magny Cours, even Porsche?s test track
at Weissach, all come to mind. Some years later I got
to drive at Spa-Francorchamps, but that?s another
story.
While in France I also acquired a new
custom-ordered European Delivery, Paint- to- Sample
Maritime Blue 911 RS America.
After three years in France I moved on to a posting in
Malaysia. The black 911 was shipped back to the US
and sold and the blue RSA was shipped to Malaysia.
While in Malaysia (1993-1996) I helped re-start the
moribund Porsche club there and also helped coerce
some Porsche-owning locals into driving track days
with me and joined the Hong Kong Porsche Club so I
could participate in their high-performance driving
clinic held at the erstwhile Shah Alam circuit outside
of Kuala Lumpur.
Porsche AG sent a pro training crew from Germany to
run these clinics (with race weekends) and I
participated for a couple of years. The crew included
LeMans winner Jurgen Barth, racer Gunter Steckkonig,
and public relations/trainer Jeff Salut.
I also drove the Malaysian track down by Singapore
known as Pasig-Gudang. Jurgen Barth drove my blue
RSA at Shah Alam and the well-known British Porsche
racer Mike Pickup drove my car at Pasig-Gudang.
After Malaysia it was off to the Phillippines but I
didn? send my car there. I did make contact with the
t
local Porsche community and in 1998 was invited to
a special Porsche clinic being put on at Subic Bay by a
pro crew from Porsche AG.
Imagine our mutual surprise when I once again ran
into Jeff Salut from Porsche at the event. We did have
one interesting incident where a 911 ran off course,
got stuck in some big grass, and started a bit of a
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Nobody was hurt, no Porsches were
damaged, but fire engines were called.
Meanwhile the adjacent air strip was shut down by
the air control because smoke was obscuring the
flight line. Later we found out that US
Congressmenwaiting to depart in their plane were
delayed because the smoke was so bad. They
would not have been amused had they known that
a US Embassy employee was one of the people
running the program that caused the fire.
After the Philippines I moved to Northern CA in
1999 and joined the Diablo Region of PCA. I had
my blue RS America with me and went to register
for a track day with Golden Gate Region. Despite
my extensive track experience they were going to
make me jump through hoops and modify my car
just to drive in a simple Driver?s Education event.
That didn? sit well with me so I decided to ask
t
Diablo Region whether they were interested in
having their own program for DE if I would get it
organized. In 2006 I started the Driver?s
Education program for Diablo Region which
operates successfully to this day. While living in
California I drove the following tracks:
Thunderhill, Infineon Raceway (formerly Sears
Point, now Sonoma Raceway), and Laguna Seca.
I also became a qualified Certified Porsche
Driver?s Education Instructor and have instructed,
perhaps, 50 different students over the years."
With Warren having driven around the world, the
Gardners have decided that Arrington, Tennessee
will be their forever home. They have
enthusiastically joined the local car club culture.
Where will they motor next? While it won't be the
romantic byways of France there will be romance
of a sort. The Gardners joined the club on its
drive to the Old Delina Country Store, a relic of
Tennessee's rural past, aptly named Somewhere
in the Middle of Nowhere.
Drive the roads where you find yourself and with
luck you'll find new things around every corner.