Is it Porsch or is it Porsch-ah? Either way, Rennsport Reunion is the best place to find them. All of them. I was lucky enough to attend the 7th Rennsport Reunion hosted at Laguna Seca raceway, one of my personal favorite places on earth. Rennsport is a massive gathering of all things Porsche. The weekend event is filled with wheel-to-wheel racing, concept car launches, celebrity appearances and even a tractor race. Pretty much everything you need. Held every 3-4 years since 2001, the event started on the east coast at Lime Rock Park and Daytona International Speedway. The last 4 events have been at Laguna Seca making it a west coast venture; And considering the attendance figures, it appears to be staying in the Monterey area. Rennsport Reunion 7 saw over 91,000 attendees, so whatever the operating team is doing, its working.

So what exactly is Rennsport Reunion? It’s basically a massive cars and coffee with a race track in the center. There were multiple car corrals with thousands of Porsches set up by era and/or model. 911s, Cayennes, 930 Turbos, Carrera GTs, you think of a Porsche and its there somewhere. An endless sea of Porsches and quite fittingly being that close to the Monterey Bay. If you happen to get bored of all of the parked cars, there were a multitude of racing categories set up for track time all weekend, from classic pro-am 911s and historic lemans prototypes up to the modern Porsche Carrera Cup cars. It’s a culmination of private owned enthusiast and full fledged race teams, with Porsche North America filling any gaps with their coolest cars. Even though it is a single brand event, there was so much diversity in the cars on display. 

With an open paddock, one of the best parts was strolling through and drooling over the the sea of priceless race cars. Very similar to my experience at Luft 9, there were dream cars left and right. The main difference here was these were not just on display for photos, these cars were waiting for their change to go full tilt on track. Most of the cars in the paddock were there for the racing. Hundreds of cars including some I never thought I’d ever see even in a museum were ready to go wheel to wheel, including some 917Ks in Gulf Livery and a Singer 911. The garages in the paddock were made to look like old time mechanic shops and were housing some Porsche royalty. I had to pace myself walking through as there was so much to look at. There was a 919 evo tribute, a 959, 918 spyder, and even the all electric Cayman GT4 e-Performance. Despite there being multiple 7-figure cars around, my favorite was the brand new 2023 911 GT3 RS. One of the Porsche reps saw me trying to wrap my head around the DRS system it comes with and asked if I wanted to see it in action. I was so excited the only thing I could muster was “F*** yes”. He proceeded to start the car and get the actuators moving the wing flaps on the rear spoiler. I’ve never seen anything like that before. 

Genuinely getting burned out with Porsche overload, I decided to make my way over the Michelin bridge to the merch booths. It was like a farmers market, but instead of old chachkies, it was titanium exhausts and clubsport coilover kits. I was astonished by all of the vendors. Hundreds of them all super non-chalant about the potential value of their project cars. There was a plethora of ultra niche brand and builds with the CSF Radiator 911 being one of my favorites. I coincidentally had watched a video about it on Larry Chen’s channel previous so it was a treat to see it in real life and meet the owner Ravi. Anyone that uses Goyard bags for their interior is worth saying hello to at a minimum. Even though felt I was already at Porsche overload and nothing else could surprise me, I ran into the Hoonigan booth. Right out front was the Hoonipigisus! Having already seen it at Luft 9 meant nothing. I immediately turned into my 10 year old self, overly excited and not ready to calm down from my visual pixie-stick high. I loved every second of it, even though a small part of me was a bit sad knowing that Ken Block was not able to see how happy this built made everyone. Person after person, grown man after grown man immediately smiling ear-to-ear the second they saw this thing. Only Ken and the team at BBI Autosport could build something with that kind of response. 

I decided I against staying at the Hoonigan booth all day and made my way to the top of the Corkscrew, obviously stopping for my obligatory Corkscrew sign photo. With the races starting shortly, I wanted to at least get a decent view of the turn 8. When I finally made it to the top, I was greeting by, queue the Jeremy Clarkson Voiceover, “The Greatest Biergarten… in the World”. Set atop the main hill looking over the entire track was the biergarten it was worth wait. But the best part, FREE BEER! Porsche was giving out a free beer and brat if you signed up for their mailing list. Without thinking, I got myself and plopped down at one of the benches.  With a view of about 60% of the track, a clear shot at the corkscrew, and stones through from the absolutely stunning 911 S/T,  I thought to myself, “I may never leave this place”. Eventually reality set in and I decided I may actually have to leave. I made my way closer to the Corkscrew for some perfect views of the track for the next couple of races.

The Corkscrew is such a tricky corner. It starts blind under heavy braking then tight lateral Gs followed by a huge drop. Its a feat of driving precision to complete the corner let alone do it wheel to wheel with priceless historic cars. Maybe it was the potential for danger or the value of the cars, but I have never been more excited to watch a car go around a corner. I snagged normerous shots hoping to get one without someone’s head in the shot. The place was packed with everyoen clamaring for the best photo. I am in no means a photographer, but I do enjoy a good photo. I did my best with just an iPhone for The Late Brake. I hope I did you proud. 

I followed similarly to last time I was at Laguna Seca and descended the hill via turns 5 and 6. I love it as there is rarely anyone over there. With a great high elevation vantage point and plenty of speakers to keep you updated on the happenings of the race, there is no better place. I highly recommend it for a good place to chill out and enjoy the scenery and spectacle. After a short time we headed out as it is a few mile walk back through the paddock and to the parking lots. 7 hours of Porsches in the sun and I was ready for my hotel room bed. 

 I only went to 1 day of the 4 that makes up Rennsport Reunion 7 and arguable missed probably 20-30% of the days activities. Having said that, it was one of the best car events I have been to. The sheer amount of passion in the paddock alone is enough to make you want to go back. Some of these attendees are arriving in million dollar cars and they are getting excited about a $20K 911 in the parking lot. It’s an event of true fans and people that are willing to spend  thousands of dollars just to drive their cars with like-minded owners. Porsche enthusiast or not, if you find yourself able to attend the next Rennsport, don’t miss it. Now, I only have about 3-4 years to figure out how to get the organizers to believe my VW Tiguan is actually a Porsche.