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SPINNERSchönesland Region Porsche Club of America ... Celebrating 40 years!

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Schonesland Officers & Board Members..................................3President’s Apex ................................... 4Needless Complexity ............................ 5Schonesland Holiday Party .................. 7Hoosier & Beckly .................................. 8Prevette’s .............................................. 9Calendar of Events ............................. 10Porsche of Omaha...............................11Membership ........................................ 12

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NOTICE:The Spinner newsletter name and content herein are copy-right protected and may not be reproduced without SL-PCA’s express written permission. All logos belong to their respec-tive owners. Porsche, the Porsche Crest, Targa, Boxster, Carrera, Cayenne, Cayman, Panamera, Tiptronic, VarioCam, PCM, 911, 4S, are trademarks of Porsche AG. This news-letter is only for our Iowa Subscribers. We do not intend to establish contacts or enter into any contracts outside of the State of Iowa. INFORMATION IN THIS NEWSLETTER IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITH NO WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Inclusion of an advertisement or Internet link in these pages does not imply any endorsement of the services or the site, it’s contents, or it’s sponsoring organiza-tion. The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Spinner, the Porsche Club of America, the Schonesland Region of the Porsche Club of America, its officers, newsletter editors, or web-master. Classified ads are welcome from SL-PCA members. Nonprofessional, non-corporate sale of personal Porsche-related items only. Classified cost is FREE!! Editor reserves right to limit ad size due to space limitations. Please email jeff.t.david@gmail.com for more information.

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SCHONESLAND OFFICERS & BOARD MEMBERS

Mary Alice HillPresident515-229-3339

Lynn FrankSecretary515-986-7377

David SafrisWebmaster/SPINNER editor 515-991-2772

Skip HammermanMembership Chair515-419-8734

Kent LehrTrack Events515 208-1119

Jeff DavidBoard Member515 229-5616

Sue LarsonBoard Member

ZONE 10Kim FritzeZone 10 Representative

Tom RuskClub Historian515-266-1594

Garry SeemannSafety Chair515-490-6802

Doug HillmanTreasurer

Will MacFarlandVice President

Jeff KrausmanBoard Member

Ron NewmanBoard Member

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Welcome to a bright and shiny new year! There’s something special about saying goodbye to the old year and making a fresh start in the new one. What are your resolutions? Hopefully one is enjoying more time in your Porsche and having fun with Schonesland friends.

Our first Cars and Coffee of 2016 will be Saturday morning January 9th at the Cozy Café in Johnston. Stay tuned for info about this month’s local Drive and Dine on Tuesday evening January 19th.

There’s still time to RSVP for the gala January 16th holiday party. We’ll gather at the downtown Embassy Suites at 6:00 for hors d’oeuvres and cocktails with a delicious dinner following at 7:00. See complete details on the invitation you were mailed, in your email inbox and in the Upcoming Events section of the website at Schonesland.com. Special hotel room rates are available, courtesy of hotel General Manager and Schonesland member Skip Hammerman. Send your RSVP by January 11th to Hannah Flanagan at pickar.hannah@gmail.com and also reserve your room by that date through the link found on our website.

Thanks to those of you who voted in the recent board election. I’d first like to thank Casey Flanagan who completed his board service in 2015. Casey and his wife, Hannah, will continue to be active Schonesland members and their contributions are appreciated. The newly elected 2016 board is all set to plan another year of high quality activities for your enjoyment. I will have the privilege of continuing as President, and I’d like to extend a warm welcome to new board member Will MacFarland, an enthusiastic addition to our group and our new Vice President. Continuing board members are Lynn Frank (Secretary), Doug Hillman (Treasurer), Skip Hammerman (Membership Chair), David Safris (Webmaster/SPINNER Editor), Garry Seemann (Safety Chair), Kent Lehr (Track Events), Tom Rusk (Historian), along with Jeff David, Jeff Krausman, Sue Larson and Ron Newman (previous Treasurer).

Do you have a great idea for an event in 2016? Join the board on Saturday morning January 30th at 8:30

for our annual planning meeting. We’ll meet at Jeff David’s office at RBC Wealth Management, 1250 NW 128th Street in Clive, just north and west of Granite City at University Avenue and 128th Street. The office entrance is on the west side of the building.

Have you ever wondered what a Driver Education event is like and whether you’d enjoy participating in one? Here’s your chance to learn all about one. The Omaha Great Plains region invites Schonesland members to join a DE101 on Saturday, February 20th from 2:00-4:00 pm at Woodhouse Porsche of Omaha. Great Plains Safety Chair Sally Knapp will walk through a day at the track and answer all your questions. Club members who have driven at DEs will be available and the session includes a sample Tech Inspection by the dealership’s technicians. It’s worth a visit just to see the beautiful new showroom and expanded service area. Thanks to Great Plains for welcoming us and if you plan to attend RSVP to Mr. Kim Burger at kmburger37@icloud.com

Here’s to a great new year – see you on the road!

President’s Apex

Mary Alice HillPresident

Does your car have a story to tell?For many of us, the processes of researching, finding, acquiring, and maintaining a dream car is as enjoyable as actually driving the car down the road. If you have a story to tell we would love to hear from you. Write up a quick story about your car and get a few high quality photos ready. Contact David Safris using the website contact page and he will work out the best way to get your story and photo included in a future Spinner newsletter.

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This is the article where I jump the shark and become a grumpy old man, shouting for the Millennials to get off my lawn. Steel yourselves accordingly.

Cars have gotten hilariously over-complex. It used to be that adding electronics to a car made it better, but we’ve gone far overboard. Now, the miles of circuitry and wiring are actively making cars worse.

My 1992 Porsche 968 has an owner’s manual that consists of 123 pages. My 2003 Carrera 4S has a manual with 263 pages (Ah! I wish it were 262—I would henceforth call it the “Schwalbe”). My 2013 Cayenne Diesel? 349 pages. The correlation between advancing year and advancing page count is not coincidental. As the years roll by, cars become ever more computerized, for better and worse—but more for worse of late.

When we add capability to a vehicle (usually a good thing), we also add complexity (usually a bad thing). For example, it used to be that we had one audio-visual option in a vehicle—an AM/FM radio. Now we have AUX, USB, Bluetooth, vehicle-borne solid-state hard drives, DVD players, and on and on. These devices certainly add capability, but they’ve also added complexity, forcing manufacturers to design “infotainment” systems for user management of all these media streams. Unfortunately, said systems have generally frustrated consumers and resulted in a great deal of negative feedback. The January 2016 Consumer Reports remarks about the Mazda CX-3, “give yourself some time for mastering the CX-3’s controls…even the most basic functions require lots of taps, twists, and icon deciphering.” And about the gorgeous new (twincharged!) Volvo XC90, CR says “the large touch-screen console…looks dazzling until you have to operate it. Almost all audio, climate, navigation, phone, and vehicle settings are integrated via swipe-and-tap commands that are frustratingly unintuitive. If you buy an XC90, insist on a tutorial.” These CR folks sound like my kind of people! Seriously, though, I could present more examples, but enough inkwells have already run dry in the act

NEEDLESS COMPLEXITY

Will MacFarlandContributing Writer

of denigrating, say, Cadillac’s CUE or Ford’s MyFord Touch.

In a slightly different vein, a coworker of mine recently related a story about his new third-gen Honda Pilot. The car features an automatic engine stop/start feature. I generally favor this particular technological advancement—the sight of cars sitting still with engines idling drives me crazy after two-plus years of Volt ownership—but it comes with its own brand of confusing complexity. See, when he took his stop/start car to a conveyor-style car wash and put it in neutral, its engine shut off. This was all fine and dandy until he reached the end of the car wash line. He couldn’t start it back up in Neutral, so to drive off the line, he had to put it in Park, which means the conveyor system in the car wash battled against his transmission lock until he could get the thing fired up and into Drive.

The Honda engineers had foreseen this, of course, and had devised a “car wash mode” for the Pilot. To engage it, you simply 1) press and hold the brake pedal, 2) press and release the (N) button (the car has push-button transmission mode selection), and then 3) press and hold (N) again for two seconds. Now the engine will continue to run in Neutral for 15 minutes. If the 15-minute timer runs out, the car auto-selects “Park” mode and shuts off.

Got all that?

Cars could still be fast, comfortable, and fuel-efficient without all this unnecessary additional complexity. Hop on YouTube and watch Chris Harris drive a Ferrari F40, then watch him drive the three new hybrid supercars (P1, 918, LaFerrari). In which video is he having more fun? Spoiler alert: it’s the F40. Doesn’t seem like the lack of Bluetooth in that winged red Ferrari bothers him. I’ve no cup holders, no cruise control, and naught but a radio in the 968, but the day I took ownership, I drove it cross-country and it was fantastic.

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It’s been said that the modern automobile is the most complex, highly engineered machine ever handed over to an almost completely untrained operator. That’s undoubtedly true. It’s also true that “driver distraction” is a leading cause of vehicle collisions. Blame the smartphone, but also blame the clunky interface between vehicle and smartphone. Blame the cup holders. Blame the massive storage bins. Blame satellite radio. All of these are ample wells from whence distraction springs. Thoreau said “simplify,” and Frank Lloyd Wright deplored excess storage space. Auto manufacturers should take note. Our vehicles can be engineered to do incredible and complex things, but none of those incredible and complex things should come between the driver and the act of driving.

My children will drive a manual-transmission 2012-2013 Volvo C30 T5 R-Design. Why? Legendary Swedish construction. Hatchback practicality. Three pedals and a lever to keep feet and hands occupied. And no video screens, forcing eyes to the road. I’ll just shove gum or something into the AUX and USB ports.

Yeah, STAY off my lawn.

To quote 007: “It’s the newest thing from Q Branch-it’s called a radio!”

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When: Sat. January 16, 2016

Where: Embassy Suites Hotel, Des Moines, IA

Time: Social hour with heavy hordourves begins at 6PM with dinner to follow

Cost: $70 per person

Enjoy more socializing at the After-Party.

Invitation will arrive in the mail soon.

Schonesland members can book a room at the Embassy Suites Hotel for a bargain $79.00 for the evening. Don’t risk a drive home. Use this link to make reservations: http://bit.ly/216Fk92

Schonesland Holiday Party

This is the must attend event of the season to connect with the Schonesland members. We are expecting some attendees from Wood House Porsche Omaha again this year as well as regional PCA representatives. Please plan to attend and support the club and get us started on another great year in 2016.

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Have a great picture of your car and want to share it?The club website, www.schonesland.com, has a special photo gallery titled “Club Member Cars” and we would like to add your car to the list. Send us your best photo and we will add you to the website photo gallery.

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The Joys of Detailing

Leather Care The look and smell of leather adds a great deal to your Porsche’s overall appearance and feel. Taking good care of it properly is a must as it is often the most delicate surface in your Porsche. Most leathers are made from cowhide, although other animals are used as well. Due to its nature of

being made from natural skin, it is breathable, soft and very comfortable. Leather requires periodic proper cleaning and replacement of natural oils or it will dry out and crack. Conditioning helps to restore these natural oils and keeps the leather soft and supple. You will also find that the better products also restore the original smell of the leather. The most damaging effects come from dirt, the sun’s rays and the oil from your skin. Out of these three, your skin oil can be the most damaging to your fine leather. Whenever you sit on a leather seat wearing shorts or a short sleeve shirt, your exposed skin will transfer its oil to the leather. Also, as your head rests on the seat headrests, oils are transferred from your hair to the leather. All of these have a damaging effect. When discussing leather, we generally think of the smooth leathers that are commonly used. However, many of the car manufacturers have also been using brushed or napped leathers, such as buckskin, Nappa, new buck and suede. Here we will be referring to the smooth leathers. Wiping the leather with a damp (not wet) cloth will pick up any loose dirt particles on the surface. Fine dirt that is between you on the seat and the leather will begin to work its way into the surface of the leather. Over time, this process will begin to polish the leather causing it to become shiny and thinner. Wiping down the leather with a lightly damp towel every time you wash your car will go a long way in keeping your leather looking great. Generally, leather should be properly cleaned and conditioned about 2 to 3 times per year with an emphasis on spring and summer to protect it against the sun’s heat and ultraviolet rays. You do not want to over condition your leather. Conditioning too often will do more harm than you think. Too many chemicals on leather will remove surfactants applied at the tannery. This will dramatically decrease the life of your leather. To clean the leather, first be sure to vacuum it thoroughly using a crevice tool to reach in and remove dirt particles from the seams and around the stitching. Use a cleaner that is specifically formulated to clean leather as many cleaners would be too harsh and would dry out the leather during the cleaning process. Apply the cleaner to a folded microfiber towel or a soft brush and work in one area (such as one panel) at a time. Never use course brushes or pads to scrub leather. Pay special attention to high-wear areas like steering wheels or knee bolsters. When conditioning, it is best done when the leather is warm as the pores will open and the leather will better absorb the conditioner. If it is too cold, the leather will not properly absorb the protecting oils. Use conditioner products that contain natural leather essence oils. Stay away from conditioners that contain any type of wax as they have a tendency to plug up the leather’s pores. Apply the conditioner in small circles. Press softly, but press firm enough to work the product into the leather. When you have fully applied it, the panel should look a little wet but not soaked. Wait about 15 minutes to allow time for the conditioner to soak in and then lightly buff. You should not have to buff much, if any - provided you did not apply too much of the product to begin with. Continue this process on a regular basis and your Porsche’s leather will give you many years of satisfaction. As always, enjoy your Porsche . . .

Rick Prevette Prevette’s, Ltd. www.prevettes.com

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On Facebook? So are we.

Join the Schonesland Facebook page by searching Schonesland Region of the PCA and hitting the Join button,then share your favorite Porsche photos or car related items.

Events Calendar

January 2016Sat 1/16 -- Schonesland Holiday Party at Embassy Suites; 6-11:45 PMThu 1/28 -- Rolex 24 Hours at DaytonaSat 1/30 -- Schonesland Annual Planning Meeting at RBC Wealth Management in Clive; 8:30 AM -12:00 PM

February 2016Sat 2/13 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10 AMSat 2/20 -- Great Plains Region - DE 101; 2-4 PM

March 2016Sat 3/12 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10 AM

April 2016Sat 4/09 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10 AM

May 2016Sat 5/14 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10 AM

June 2016Sat 6/11 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10 AM

July 2016Sat 7/09 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10 AM

August 2016Sat 8/13 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10 AM

September 2016Sat 9/10 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10 AM

October 2016Sat 10/08 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10 AM

November 2016Sat 11/12 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10 AM

December 2016Sat 12/10 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10 AM

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“We know

the joy that Porsche ow

nership can provide, and we've

built a comm

unity around that”

Your local PCA

Region contact:

For over 55

years, the PCA

has beendedicated to enhancing the Porsche

ownership experience.

Social, technical orcom

petitive - no m

atter your interest,the P

CA

has som

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orsche owner.

With over 1

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HIS

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The Porsche C

lub of Am

erica was founded in

1955 w

ith the following objectives in m

ind: to

promote the highest standards of courtesy and

safety of the roads; to enjoy and share the good

will and fellow

shipof ow

ning a Porsche; to m

ain-

tain the

highest standards

of operation

and

performance

of the

marque;

to esta

blis

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mutually beneficial relationship w

ith the Porsche

factory, dealers and other service sources; to

exchange ideas

with

other Porsche

clubs

throughout the world; and to establish m

utually

cooperative relationships with other sports car

clubs. Mem

bership in the PCA w

ill add to your

enjoyment of ow

ning one of the finest automo-

biles in the world.

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