ERAU Cars & Coffee

ERAU Cars & Coffee

I originally had planned to go to the Central Florida Cars & Coffee on Sunday, March 6, 2022, so I had cleaned and detailed my car the previous day. However, when I saw the Instagram post from the Embry-Riddle Muscle Car Association about their Cars & Coffee happening that Sunday morning, I changed my plans. They had invited anyone to attend, not just students.

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HSR Classic 24 Hour at Daytona 2021

2021 HSR Classic 24 Hour at Daytona Logo

The Historic Sportscar Racing Classic 24 Hour at Daytona for 2021 took place from October 27-31. Instead of one 24-hour race, this event consisted of 24 one-hour (42 minutes of green flag) race sessions. The sessions began on Saturday afternoon, October 30, 2021, and finished the following day.

I had attended this race previously in 2015, its second year.

When HSR announced that Porsche would be the featured marque, I knew I wanted to go back this year. I bought a package of tickets and a Porsche Car Corral parking pass.

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Orlando Cars & Coffee

Orlando Cars & Coffee Event

I enjoyed Lake Mary Cars & Coffee and Daytona Cars & Coffee so much I wanted to attend all of the local events, at least once. So on August 9, 2020, I drove down to Winter Park (where the event is technically located) to attend Orlando Cars & Coffee. I found a space at the end of row and touched up any dirty spots on my Porsche Boxster (981).

Orlando Cars & Coffee Porsche
Orlando Cars & Coffee Porsche
Orlando Cars & Coffee Porsche

After some photos of my car, it was time to browse the lot to see what was there. I walked over to the entrance to start. I would work my way back to my car.

Some interesting cars are shown below.

First was a group of Mazda Miatas, one NB and two NC generation examples.

Orlando Cars & Coffee Mazda Miatas

I saw one MINI Cooper S that looked familiar, although I didn’t find the owner.

Orlando Cars & Coffee MINI Cooper S

Next was a beautiful grey Porsche 911 Turbo Convertible with a creamy white interior.

Orlando Cars & Coffee Porsche 911 Turbo (991)
Orlando Cars & Coffee Porsche 911 Turbo (991)

Also, a bright yellow Porsche 911 Carrera S (997).

Orlando Cars & Coffee Porsche 911 Carrera S (997)
Orlando Cars & Coffee Porsche 911 Carrera S (997)

There was a pair of Honda S2000s.

Orlando Cars & Coffee Honda S2000s

Nearby was a rare BMW i8 hybrid car.

Orlando Cars & Coffee BMW i8

The supercars section included the usual examples by Ferrari, McLaren, Lamborghini, and Porsche.

Orlando Cars & Coffee McLaren
Orlando Cars & Coffee
Orlando Cars & Coffee
Orlando Cars & Coffee
Orlando Cars & Coffee

Although not a first-generation TT, I liked this grey Audi TT RS. One of the best car colors of all-time.

Orlando Cars & Coffee Audi TT RS
Orlando Cars & Coffee Audi TT RS

And finally, another Porsche. This one was a 911 GT3 RS (991).

Orlando Cars & Coffee Porsche 911 GT3 RS (991)

Daytona Cars & Coffee

Daytona Cars & Coffee

After attending an enjoyable Lake Mary Cars & Coffee two weeks prior, I wanted to attend my local Daytona Cars & Coffee. On July 25, 2020, the first Daytona Cars & Coffee at ONE DAYTONA was held. I made plans to meet up with my neighbor, Dan, who was showing his new BMW M4 CS.

I arrived and parked my Porsche Boxster (981) next to a Porsche 911 Carrera S (997). Then I spent a few minutes with last-minute polishing and took some photos.

Daytona Cars & Coffee Porsche
Daytona Cars & Coffee Porsche
Daytona Cars & Coffee Porsche
Daytona Cars & Coffee Porsche
Daytona Cars & Coffee Porsche

I met Dan and we wandered around the parking lot browsing the cars. I took photos of just a few favorites: a Porsche Boxster (986) and a Lotus Elise (Series 2).

Daytona Cars & Coffee Porsche Boxster 986
Daytona Cars & Coffee Lotus
Daytona Cars & Coffee Lotus

The ONE DAYTONA plaza was reserved for cars whose owners had paid an entry fee for charity. Some favorites there were a Porsche 914 and Porsche 911 Carrera (964).

Daytona Cars & Coffee Porsche 914
Daytona Cars & Coffee Porsche 914
Daytona Cars & Coffee Porsche 911 Carrera 964
Daytona Cars & Coffee Porsche 911 Carrera 964
Daytona Cars & Coffee Porsche 911 Carrera 964

Dan had entered his BMW M4 CS, a special edition M4 with lots of carbon fiber bits.

Daytona Cars & Coffee BMW M4 CS
Daytona Cars & Coffee BMW M4 CS
Daytona Cars & Coffee BMW M4 CS

I left Dan there and walked down the main street exploring the cars. The most interesting of them was a 1991 Honda Beat, a Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) car. The Beat is a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-seat convertible.

Daytona Cars & Coffee Honda Beat
Daytona Cars & Coffee Honda Beat

Lake Mary Cars & Coffee

Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Event Announcement

On July 11, 2020, Lake Mary Cars & Coffee held their inaugural event. Lake Mary is less than an hour’s drive from Daytona Beach so I decided to enter my car in the show. I woke up early and enjoyed the morning drive, arriving at the shopping center location just before 8:00 am. I drove in and parked at the end of the Porsche row. I took a few minutes to clean up my car before having a look around and photographing the cars. I started with my Porsche Boxster (981) and the Porsche row.

Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Porsche 981
Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Porsche Row
Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Porsche Row Rear
Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Porsche Row More

At the other end of the Porsche row was a beautiful white Porsche Boxster Spyder (981).

Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Porsche Boxster Spyder 981

Behind us was a row of Subarus.

Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Subaru Row

Next, I wandered through the exotics and supercars section. The show included an assortment of cars from Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Porsche, Audi, Mercedes, and several others.

Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Ferrari F430 Spider
Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Ferraris
Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Exotics Row
Lake Mary Cars & Coffee McLaren
Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Lamborghinis
Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Porsche GT3 RS
Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Porsche GT3

BMW had its own row with a great turnout.

Lake Mary Cars & Coffee BMW Row

Lake Mary Cars & Coffee BMW Row

The event was to support a charity, so I made a donation and received a souvenir car towel with the event name stitched on it.

Finally, I walked back to the Porsche row, which had a few different cars parked next to mine. We made a group of three convertibles.

Lake Mary Cars & Coffee Porsches

Although the show hours were from 8:00 am to 11:00 am, most cars began to leave around 10:30 am. So, when most of the other cars in my row left, I headed for home—a morning well-spent enjoying some great cars.

Cars, Beers, and Books

When I last saw Steve Berry at The BookMark in January, he announced that he would be back on March 6, 2020 for his new book The Warsaw Protocol. Last time, I left work at 5:00 pm and arrived at the bookstore just in time for the talk. This time I decided to leave work at noon and spend the afternoon in Jacksonville beforehand.

My car was originally sold by Porsche Jacksonville. I didn’t get any service history when I bought the car and I hoped that the Jacksonville dealership would have it. So my first stop was to visit the Service department. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any records after the initial sales preparation. I did buy a shirt in the shop, so I didn’t leave empty-handed.

Porsche Jacksonville

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Best of Chris Harris 1

If you are a car enthusiast, you know about Chris Harris. If not, I’ll give you a brief biography. Harris is a race driver, automotive writer, and reviewer of cars. He has written for sites including Autocar, evo, and Jalopnik. He’s better known for his video reviews from THE DRIVE and then his own channel Chris Harris on Cars. He’s currently a presenter on the UK Top Gear, but still produces extra videos in his Chris Harris Drives series.

First, Harris is a great driver. He’s known for his drifting ability—which the kids love but I find a bit ridiculous—seen in all of his videos. But he can apex, as well. He’s a Porsche enthusiast and the car of his he talks about most is his 911 GT3.

He’s also a good writer. He’s knowledgeable and witty, using his cracking good British vocabulary and sense of humor. Once you’ve watched a few of his videos, you’ll begin to read his articles in his distinctive style. Am I enjoying it? Yes, I am.

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My First Porsche Service

Porsche South Orlando

Since last December, my Porsche has been warning me to get an “Interm. Service Now” every time turned the key. I wanted to have its first service done at the dealership, Porsche South Orlando, where I bought the car. It took several weeks before I found time to make the trip to Orlando.

The dealership makes it very easy to schedule a service appointment. Earlier in the week, I simply went to their website, entered my car information, and picked a day and exact time for my appointment. I didn’t need to speak to anyone.

Never certain what the highway construction and traffic will be like in Orlando, I left home early. The day was sunny and cool and there were no major delays, so I arrived about an hour early for my one o’clock appointment. No problem, they took me right away. Tony in Service was very friendly and helpful, answering several questions I had saved up since I bought the Boxster last June (2019).

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2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona

Porsche competes in the GTLM and GTD classes of the Rolex 24 at Daytona so I joined my fellow Porsche Club of America members to cheer them on. Unfortunately, I signed up too late to park in the Porsche car corral inside the track, so I found a fellow Porsche to park with in Lot 4. The day was sunny and cool, prefect for racing.

My Porsche at the 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona

I entered through the tunnel under Turn 4. Immediately upon emerging I saw the Corvette car corral, the only other brand besides Porsche that had one. The new Corvette C8 would compete against Porsche in the GTLM class.

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A Day with the Porsche

Porsche Boxster by the Ocean

The time has flown since I purchased my Porsche Boxster on June 26, 2019. In the two months since then, I have greatly enjoyed driving and also just looking at the thing, to be honest. I drive it to work on sunny days and have taken the Boxster on a few short trips.

But in that period I haven’t taken the time to do some of the basic things you’d do with a new car. I added only one radio station to the ones preset by the dealership and didn’t activate the satellite radio. I hadn’t paired my mobile phone with the car. I hadn’t changed any of the default settings on the displays or configured its optional features. I hadn’t even taken the Porsche on an extended drive just because. I barely tested the Sport mode. Although I actually did RTFM.

So on August 26, exactly two months after bringing the Porsche Boxster home, I decided to devote the day to getting to know my car.

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