Just had this photo (below) from Jeff Gamroth at Rothsport Racing in Sherwood, Oregon. Jeff is the US distributor for EB Motorsport Porsche parts and the pic shows a package of EB Porsche body panels arriving at the Rothsport workshop in time for trailering to Rennsport Reunion V, which takes place next weekend at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California.

Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway bills Rennsport Reunion V as “the world’s greatest gathering of Porsche race cars and the drivers who drove them to victory. Hosted by Porsche Cars North America, Rennsport assembles the widest variety of Porsche’s historic racing models from the nimble 550 Spyder of the mid-’50s through the mighty 917 and 956/962 of the ’70s and ’80s to the highly successful RS Spyder of the last decade. There are seven groups in which to enjoy the racing action as they navigate the technically demanding 2.238-mile road course and The Corkscrew.”

The previous Rennsport Reunion was held at Laguna in 2011, to coincide with the launch of the 911. I enjoyed the plentiful supply of great cars and catching up with Porsche friends from all across the USA, but the erstwhile presence of Porsche Cars North America’s marketing department and a few heavy-handed security guards was perhaps more pronounced than necessary, and there wasn’t much actual racing across the three days.

Consequently, I’m not feeling urgently in need of returning for this one, but Jeff will be there, ably assisted by EB Motorsport boss, Mark Bates, fresh from his top twelve finish in the team’s ’65 911 SWB at this weekend’s Spa 6 Hours. Make sure to say hello to Yorkshire’s finest Porsche pilot if you’re at Laguna: no doubt he’d love to say hello to classic Porsche fans from that side of the pond. 911 owner and race artist Nicolas Hunziker will also be at the festival: big boss Heather has organised a ton of merchandise to bring to Rennsport, so say hello to those guys also.

Rennsport Reunion V 2015 Schedule

Trucks will start arriving for Rennsport Reunion weekend on Thursday morning, but the event kicks off properly on Friday, with cars on track from 8am to noon as the seven race groups get their first practice sessions in. There’s a lunchbreak for track workers and plenty of VIP demo laps before practice starts again from 13:20-17:20.

Saturday starts with qualifying for all groups from 08:00-11:50. Everything on track is worth watching, but the groups most fans will aim for is Group 2 (the Gmünd Cup) for Spyders and 4-cam 904s, Group 4 (the Weissach Cup) for 906, 908 and 917 and Group 6 (the Stuttgart Cup) for 956, 962, GT1 and the hot works 911 racecars.

The first three races take place after lunch on Saturday, with Group 2 on track from 13:05. That’s followed by the classic 911s and then the first race for the GT3 Cup Challenge. Racing wraps up at 15:10, so there’s less than two hours of racing on Saturday. The day ends with a pit lane concours that goes on for two hours. This is longer than the racing, so make of that what you will.

On Sunday, the first of two races starts at 10:45 and the second is finished by 12:15. Lunch break follows, with the first afternoon race for the Weissach Cup group at 14:00-14:30. Then comes the Group 5 race from 14:45-15:15 and finally the Stuttgart Cup event from 16.05-16:35. When that final flag drops, the event is over, so it’s a long way to go for just four and a half hours of racing.

Everyone will have a great weekend and I’ll likely regret my decision not to attend this Rennsport Reunion, but such is life. Too much going on here with the builders on site and lot of work stuff happening. I note that I’m not alone in my decision, with R Gruppe friends living much closer than me also deciding not to attend. I’m heading out to Cali next spring, so I’ll catch up with all the post-event news at whatever EASY meet coincides with my visit!