Who was running these events

The videos show only cars, but it was the organisers who made the day happen. Who booked the venue, who sold the slots, who ran the meeting before the session. Looking again, that turns out to be the information that disappears first.

Europe

Porsche Zentrum Inntal (PZ INNTAL)

Mugello, Misano, A1-Ring, the snow in Finland — the organiser I took part with most often. It ran the PSCDS (Porsche Sport Driving School) and was a dealer very keen on racing. It sent large numbers of cars to the GTP weekends as well.

It was not merely an event organiser. It was also where the 993 GT2 M003 was supplied from. The car was collected at the Zuffenhausen factory and shipped to this dealer. Taking part in the Misano driving school in May 1996 (just after delivery, still running in) followed on from that purchase.

GTP races

FIA-sanctioned races in four strands: endurance, sprint, regularity (placed on the gap to a self-declared time) and the 356 CUP. Each Porsche club organised them, divided between Schwaben (Stuttgart), the Nürburgring and others. The endurance races had cars that would not have looked out of place at Le Mans.

Their existence is confirmed formally as the “GTP-Weekend” within the Porsche Club Deutschland orbit (a joint organising body of several clubs, held 10–12 times a year). Where the abbreviation GTP comes from is not known.

Organised by Porsche centres and Porsche clubs

Essen (training at the Nürburgring plus paid free running), Lennetal (the PSCDS on 3 May 2000), Porsche Club Essen (the driving school on the Nordschleife), and the driving school run by Porsche AG itself (Hockenheimring short).

CLUB EUROPA

Practice running and racing at Paul Ricard. A 15-lap race in the south of France in over 35 degrees. As I remembered it, they were “the strays of the Porsche Club France track day scene”.

Looking into it again, that description matched the facts precisely.

The organisers describe it as founded “to realise the dream of Porsche enthusiasts of driving the most beautiful circuits in France and abroad, at a time when circuit activity was not yet developed”. The format was a private championship, practice running, and two days of track days open to non-members as well.

And it is not an official club of Porsche AG. It appears neither in AG’s list of official clubs nor among the 29 clubs of the Porsche Clubs France federation. In France the “club racing” framework with the FFSA was formally established only in 2008, and as of 1998 no official club race framework existed on the Porsche club side. An independent club holding its own races outside the official structure — that was what it turned out to be.

Its operating base was a Porsche specialist workshop at the same address. Founded in 1985, it is still trading. The “German element” lies with the people rather than the organisation: a French association run by a family of German origin based in Burgundy. That fits with Japanese residents of Germany taking part.

A photographic record of a CLUB EUROPA event at Circuit du Vigeant on 15 March 1998 survives on a private site. In the pictures are a 993 GT2, a 964 Carrera RS, a 993 Carrera RS, a Ferrari Testarossa 512TR, and three of the seven surviving Venturi 500 LM. The mix of cars matched my memory that serious machinery turned up back then exactly.

Hockenheimring drift event (2000)

An open event including an amateur class. Mercedes 190E 2.5-16V, BMW 318, Lotus Elan, Mercedes E-Class, Alfa Giulia, Porsche 993, Mercedes SL, Jaguar XJR, Impreza, BMW 02, Viper, 993 Turbo, Lancer Evo 4/5, Corvette, Boxster, Opel Manta — the range of cars was simply wide.

Japan

The ADVANCE track days

Run by a tuning shop in Yokohama. The shop is known for tuning NSXs, which is why so many NSXs took part in the track days. From the old Fuji Speedway era through to the new one, this was the track day I attended most often in Japan. There was a message-board community, and a post made after a seven-year gap still drew replies.

The records left on the current site only go back to 2016, though, and for the 1990s there is no route other than asking the people involved.

RUSH CUP

A race-format event and track day out of Kansai. It started in race format around May 2002, and in 2003 held a time-attack event at Suzuka. It later grew into track days at Okayama and an endurance series at Suzuka, leading on to a one-make Porsche endurance series.

Others

• Suzuki Juku (Suzuka, September 2004) — running to get to grips with the rebuilt circuit
• Omoikkiri track day (SUGO) — from the 1:37s to the 1:36s
• PCJ Cup (SUGO) — I used the results of Round 3, N class, on 10 July 2005 as the reference for my own times
• Porsche Parade (Suzuka) — two-up passenger running, with the organiser’s permission

* Contact details and personal names of existing organisations and private individuals are not published on this site.