April Membership Social
by Alex Ching
April 2021
AMR held its first membership social of the year at La Casa Fiesta in April 28. It was a great turnout and for some it was their first club event since the pandemic. President Nate Adams presented a few long overdue 2020 member awards. A big thank you to Stephen Smith of Big Mission Automotive for picking up the bar tab and donating to our door prize raffle! We also want to thank everyone for their generous donations to Tri-Lakes Cares food pantry and resource center. It was good to see familiar faces again and we hope you will join us at Edelweiss on May 19 for the next membership social where we can expand our attendance to 75 people. We will be repeating our socials at certain venues in order to comply with current COVID guidelines and restrictions.
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AMR 45th Anniversary Picnic
by Alex Ching
August 2020
We had a near capacity crowd to help us celebrate the club’s 45th Anniversary at the Bear Creek Park West Pavilion. Rudy’s provided the catering and many members pitched in with facemasks and gloves to help serve the food and drinks. This was by default our first social gathering since March and members were happy to reconnect with fellow members; there were some new faces amongst the crowd.
See Gallery for event photos.
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“Safe Distancing from Cones” Autocross
by Alex Ching
August 2020
AMR rebooted its autocross program and we held our first event in two years. We opened this event to other clubs in the area and a few decided to join us. Twenty-eight drivers in 26 vehicles joined us at PPIR for the “Safe Distancing from Cones” autocross on August 8. We had two run groups and things went smoothly for each for their six runs. AMR member Mark Legg dialed in the lowest time with multiple 80-second runs.
A big shout out to SCCA (Mark Everett and Mike Mai), who provided their awesome timing trailer, equipment, and expertise. Thanks to those who came out and helped us set up the course on Friday evening (Nate, Bob, Kim, Dana, and Dwight) and all the drivers/volunteers on event day that made this autocross a big success. Everyone had a great time and we look forward to next year’s event. See autocross results and photos here.
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High Performance Drivers Education 101
by Alex Ching
March 2020
Forty-five members from Alpine Mountain and Rocky Mountain Regions came together on March 7th for the AMR High Performance Drivers Education (HPDE) 101 event at Porsche Colorado Springs. HPDE Chair Robert Baumgartner began the session with an introduction slide show and a PCA video on HPDE. He then moderated a panel of eight members, with Chief Driving Instructor Robert Yen, Driving Instructors Joe Rothman, Steve & Debbie Keisling, and DE drivers Stephen & Becky Heptig and Robin Dillon; and they related on how they got involved with the HPDE program and their collective personal experiences. Mark Legg, the lead Driving Instructor from Pikes Peak International Raceway, was also on hand to talk about the track and gave his perspective to the group. The session ended with a question and answer forum amongst the participants. About a quarter of the attendees are new members who have never been on the track.
See Gallery for event photos.
The HPDE 101 slides are available for download at the Technical References webpage.
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New Members Social
by Alex Ching
February 2020
AMR changed its New Members Social to an open house format at Porsche Colorado Springs on 22 February. Committee chairs manned stations with brochures, maps, and computers to promote the club and its activities. About 125+ people attended the event, with one new member traveling over 160 miles from Vail to the dealership and then making the return trip afterwards. The new format allowed us to talk to customers who came thru the dealership and many stayed to see what PCA and AMR have to offer. Jim Sorensen, our membership chair, spent a better part of the event talking to and handing out Join PCA pamphlets to potential members. There were great interests in our high performance driver education, autocross, and driving tours amongst many new members. Event chairs Dwight and Dana Kasten did a great job organizing, setting up, and bringing all the food and drinks. This marked the third straight social event of 2020 that was filled to or beyond planned capacity.
See Gallery for event photos.
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January Porsches & Pancakes
by Alex Ching
January 2020
AMR held its first Porsches and Pancakes breakfast of 2020 at Uncle Sam’s Pancake House in historic Manitou Springs on Saturday, 25 Jan. “Pancakes” has evolved from a once-a-year event four years ago when we were expanding our number of tours to a quarterly breakfast. The original inception was to provide a forum for the Touring Chair to present a “Tours 101” to give an overview for upcoming tours for the year and entice member participation. It has since expanded to include other committee chairs to present their planned activities and is an invaluable tool to recruit volunteers. This particular breakfast had 50 attendees, by far its largest crowd, and filled the back dining room to capacity. Joining us were four new AMR members and a few members from the Rocky Mountain Region. Many enthusiastic members stepped up and volunteered for several open positions. We are looking forward to another great year with this great start.
See Gallery for event photos.
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