SPINNER
Schönesland Region Porsche Club of America ... Celebrating 40 years!
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TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Schonesland Officers
& Board Members..................................3
President’s Apex.................................... 4
Wish I Could Migrate With the
Wildebeests........................................... 5
July’s Loess Hills Drive.......................... 7
Welcome New Members....................... 9
Hoosier & Beckly..................................11
Prevette’s............................................. 13
Calendar of Events.............................. 14
Porsche of Omaha.............................. 15
Membership......................................... 16
NOTICE:
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Carrera, Cayenne, Cayman, Panamera, Tiptronic, VarioCam,
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SCHONESLAND OFFICERS & BOARD MEMBERS
Mary Alice Hill
Jeff Krausman
Lynn Frank
Ron Newman
David Safris
Garry Seemann
Skip Hammerman
Casey Flanagan
Kent Lehr
Tom Rusk
Jeff David
Sue Larson
President
515-229-3339
Secretary
515-986-7377
Webmaster/SPINNER editor
515-991-2772
Membership Chair
515-419-8734
Track Events
515 208-1119
Board Member
515 229-5616
Vice President
515-225-3528
Treasurer
515-965-0964
Safety Chair
515-490-6802
Co-Chair, Track Events
515-865-1422
Historian
515-266-1594
Board Member
ZONE 10
Kim Fritze
Zone 10 Representative
Doug Hillman
Board Member
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President’s Apex
Mary Alice Hill
President
It’s June – what a great month! Remember what it
was like to be a kid recently “released” from the school
year and anticipating a summer of fun? Like kids, we
Schonesland Porsche drivers are looking forward to a
great season of driving and social activities. Pull out
your calendar and let’s review all the opportunities to
enjoy the summer together.
Plan to join the fun on Thurs. evening June 11th as
we showcase our cars from 4:00-8:00 at the Valley
Junction Farmer’s Market in West Des Moines. The
300 block of 5th Street will be barricaded and reserved
for us and you may bring your car as early as 3:00
(entry to our area will be at 5th and Walnut). If you
can’t participate until later in the evening after work
that’s perfectly fine. Organizer Doug Hillman says
we’re halfway to our goal of displaying 20 cars so
stop by and share our love of Porsche with the public!
Sign up for the event in the Calendar section of the
Schonesland website.
Our monthly Cars and Coffee will be held at the Cozy
Café in Johnston at 8:00 on Sat. June 13th. The lowkey event is a great way to reconnect with old friends
and meet new ones, like our eight new members who
have joined Schonesland so far in 2015. See the box
highlighting them in this SPINNER edition. You’ll also
want to attend our monthly Drive and Dine on Tues.
evening June 23rd at 6:30 so watch your email later
this month for the location. (Note that Drive and Dine
is usually the 3rd Tuesday of each month and is being
held on a different date this time).
Jeff David is organizing the first overnight drive of
the season on July 25th and 26th. The Loess Hills
area of Western Iowa is our destination and the
event is a perennial favorite, with great roads, food,
drink and camaraderie. Check out the article in this
newsletter and note that the hotel reservation deadline
is fast approaching. So, first, by June 25th call the
Stoney Creek Inn in Sioux City to reserve your room
(phone number is in the article) and then click on the
calendar section of the Schonesland.com website and
register for the event. Registration information will be
forwarded to Jeff and he’ll do his usual amazing job
of organizing every detail of the weekend to ensure it’s
another quality Schonesland experience.
Stay tuned for details about an upcoming overnight trip
to Omaha Aug. 14th-15th that Skip Hammerman and Jeff
Krausman are organizing. We’ll visit the remodeled and
expanded Porsche of Omaha dealership, check out a car
show, and enjoy the activities the Old Market area has to
offer.
Don’t forget about our club raffle and photo contest that
commemorate our region’s 40th anniversary this year.
You’ll find more info in last month’s SPINNER Apex,
available on the website.
Happy June – whether you’re celebrating Father’s Day,
a graduation, a wedding, or the joy of the beginning of
summer, get out in your car and treasure the experience
of driving one of Germany’s finest creations!
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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Wish I could migrate with the
wildebeests
Will MacFarland
Contributing Writer
There’s a problem in the automotive world, and it’s not
that automakers are forsaking the enthusiast driver. In
fact, one could argue that now is as good a time as any
to be an enthusiast—at least on paper.
The problem is that the enthusiast options exist— but
from my perspective, they exist ONLY on paper, and
not in tangible, glistening candy apple red reality.
Dealers don’t stock enthusiast-appeal specs and
trims, because in order to make money, dealers have
to appeal to the mass market and be able to close a
needy, yet skittish customer by sending them home
in a new car TODAY. That means filling their lot with
boring, interchangeable, beige/white/silver/grey-onblack, automatic transmission, all-wheel drive models
with DVD players and oversized twenty-two-inch rims
wrapped in compromised all-season tires.
If an enthusiast is interested in something better,
something interesting, something like, say—an
Ecoboost Mustang coupe with stick, performance pack,
and non-black interior. Or a BMW 320i with stick and
a non-black interior. Or a 6-cylinder front-wheel-drive
Chrysler 200 with a non-black interior, or a 1.4T Jeep
Renegade with steelies, 4x4, and stick, or an absolute
base-model Fiat 500X 1.4T with stick and front-drive…I
could go on, but unless they’re lucky, the enthusiast
will not be able to test-drive any of these examples
(all of which, according to automaker websites, are
obtainable).
Who is going to make the $50k leap on buying a stick
Chevy SS when they’ve never had a chance to drive
one? What about the $40k leap on a BMW 228i coupe
with stick (late edit: most recent R&T says BMW “lost
their way” with the 228i—sounds like it’s not even an
option worth considering anyway)? The point is, it’s a
tough sell to get a consumer to throw all that cash at
something they can’t see or touch before they’re stuck
with it.
This creates a cyclical effect, where STEP 1) makers
produce a performance trim level/option package,
STEP 2) dealers don’t buy it because it doesn’t suit
the mainstream, STEP 3) enthusiast customers can’t
see it and touch it so they don’t buy it, STEP 4) the
maker stops building it, and then STEP 5) enthusiast
consumers cry out that the maker doesn’t build any
exciting cars.
In my mind, this cycle is what led Toyota to become the
world’s top-selling automaker—after making such gems
as the 2000GT and the Supra, the brand eventually
shed all pretense of building anything interesting or
innovative and instead focused on pushing as many
keyfobs for staid, beige vehicles across dealer desks
as possible. Well, what’s wrong with that, you ask?
I’ll tell you. Part of building and selling cars is selling
the consumer on a dream about getting something—
not just anything, but a great BIG something that
is significantly better than what that consumer has
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now. Lately, Toyota is participating in the 24 Hours
of Le Mans, collaborating with Subaru on the FRS/
BRZ, whispering rumors to the press about a liaison
with BMW, and overall trying desperately to inject
themselves with an exciting viability. Why are they
doing this? Because they realized that if they stopped
trying to excite, and innovate, and push the envelope,
and showcase the dream of better-ness (all things
they essentially HAD stopped doing for a while in the
mid-to-late 2000’s), eventually their engineering would
become dull and passé. All of those sales numbers
they took for granted were suddenly in danger of
disappearing because their products were teetering
on the precipice between bland and inoffensive to
downright non-competitive. If that happened, they
would no longer able to offer something better than
what the consumer has now, and even their most
shameless sycophants would begin to question them.
This very thing happened recently to Honda with the
2012 Civic—a great case in point, and perhaps another
indicator that helped spur Toyota to act.
The second reason is the politically connected National
Auto Dealers Association, which ironically lobbies
lawmakers to pass legislation that maintains and
reinforces this flawed status quo. A prime example
is NADA’s recent effort to shut down Tesla’s directsales model. I do not mean to suggest that dealers
are all evil money-grubbing middlemen, but rather that
their incentives are flawed. The clever manufacturer
would provide some additional incentive for dealers to
push enthusiast models. After all, in the long run, the
enthusiast models (and their owners) are what burnish
the brand image.
So, sadly, like Calvin says, “Life is full of precluded
possibilities.” The wildebeests might be out there,
but they might as well be in Africa as close as most
enthusiasts will get to them.
Enthusiast consumers are stuck with this vicious cycle,
though, for two reasons. First is the flawed, mass
perception about car-buying—that it must be as fast
a process as possible. This forces a dealer to stock
exactly what the lowest common denominator would
want to act on and go home with that same day. This
is a doubly destructive practice, as it often saddles
that customer with something other than exactly what
they want, which leads to regret or anger about the
purchase, which leads to a widespread culture of
consumer distrust regarding dealers.
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July’s Loess Hilss Drive
returns to Sioux City
Jeff David
Board Member
Since 2009 the Schonesland Region has enjoyed many
touring events that exploit the best driving roads in Iowa
and surrounding states. One of the first was the Loess
Hills Drive to Sioux City. In 2015 this event returns to
the Schonesland Calendar on July 25th and 26th.
The Loess Hills, one of the most unique geological
formations in the world, are located along Iowa’s
western border, where they overlook the vast Missouri
River Basin. The well-maintained county roads and
state highways that traverse this area offer some of
the most exciting driving that a Porsche owner can
enjoy. With her scenic vistas, wooded hills and curvy
roads, the Loess Hills Scenic Byway, included in the
National Register of Scenic Byways, is a drive that you’ll
want to do more than once. And this trip gives you the
opportunity to drive it twice in one weekend.
The trip will commence with a short drivers’ meeting
on Saturday at 9 AM at the Cozy Café in Johnston, our
usual Cars and Coffee retreat, with departure at 9:15.
Some members choose to meet there early to have
breakfast before the meeting. The group will drive
through Waukee, Adel and Redfield on some curvy
central Iowa roads that take us to Panora for a brief pit
stop.
Leaving Panora, we will travel along scenic Highway
44 to our first Loess Hills destination in Logan, IA. In
Logan, we’ll be parking our cars together in front of
the Fourth Street Café, where owners Becky and Bill
and their friendly crew will serve us lunch. After lunch
we’ll blaze our way up the Loess Hills Scenic Byway to
arrive in Sioux City by about 4:30 PM. Schonesland
has a block of rooms at the excellent Stoney Creek Inn
in downtown Sioux City for a special rate of $112 per
night. More on that later.
After checking in, you could wander across the street
to the brand new Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, enjoy
a drink in the Stoney Creek Inn’s cocktail lounge
or wander over to the Historic 4th Street District,
enjoying a libation at one of many interesting bars
and shops. But what ever you do, you won’t want to
miss our return to Luciano’s Italian Bistro in the 4th
Street District. Owner Ray Hoffman will be awaiting
our return at 7 PM for what promises to be yet another
great evening in his subterranean wine cellar. If you
love great Italian food and enjoy great wines, you will
love the party at Luciano’s where you can choose any
bottle of wine off the shelf, pay the rack price and enjoy
it for dinner with no corking fee. It’s still a debate as to
whether Schoneslanders re-up for this trip because of
the the driving or this memorable evening at Luciano’s.
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This is one of our signature drives which we alternate
annually with the Loess Hills drive south to Historic
Weston, MO. This year it’s back to Sioux City.
If you haven’t done this drive before, you’ll LOVE it!
Just ask any of us that have done this one. Great roads,
great party, great friends!
Want to join us? You only need to do two things:
After dinner, it’s a short walk back to the hotel where
bedtime may await some and the casino’s gaming
tables and slots may attract others.
Call the Stoney Creek Inn at 712-234-1100 and reserve
your room under the “Schonesland Region PCA” room
block. We have 12 rooms remaining at this special
price, which expires on JUNE 25th. That’s only four
weeks from now!!
Go to the website at www.schonesland .com and click
on the calendar where you’ll see a link to this event in
the month of July. Please click on that link and then
click on the link that invites you to register for the event,
which comes to me so that I can get a headcount for the
restaurants that we’ll be visiting.
Call Jeff David at 515 229-5616 if you have any
questions or you can email me at [email protected]
Sunday morning comes with complimentary breakfast
in the Stoney Creek Inn or you can walk across the
street to the casino to buy breakfast. After breakfast
our sojourners are on their own to choose their return
routes back to Central Iowa. For those who didn’t get
enough of the Loess Hills Trail, (that’s me) it’s easy
to drive the trail back to Logan and then due east
on 44, or for a faster return, some choose to drop
straight south out of Logan and pick up I-680 at the
Beebeetown exit. And if you really need to get home
early on Sunday, it’s a 2 hr and 40 minute drive down
I-29 to I-680 and home.
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Welcome New Schonesland
Members!
Schonesland extends a warm welcome to the new members who have joined our region so
far this year:
Marc Acito - 1990 928 s4
David Archer - 1985 911 Carrera
Greg Hapgood - 1968 912
Mark Harmon - 1970 911 S
Brent Highfill - 1999 Boxster
Mike LeVere - 2006 Cayman S
David Mercer - 2006 Boxster S
Dave Olson - 1999 911 Carrera Cabriolet
Thanks for joining and we look forward to getting to know you!
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40th anniversary photo
contest!
What’s your favorite Iowa landmark? Schonesland is having a photo contest to highlight our
cars and celebrate our 40th anniversary. Here are the details -- have fun and be creative!
•
•
•
•
•
•
Take a picture of your Porsche with an Iowa landmark or your definition of an
Iowa “beautiful land” in the background
Photos should be of cars and background only (no people)
Caveats: No photoshopping or artificially creating the car or background.
Please take your photo in a responsible manner and don’t disrupt traffic, damage property or put anyone in harm’s way. Schonesland is not responsible for
any incidents.
Submit your photo in a JPEG format to [email protected] by
October 31, 2015
To defray the cost of prizes please submit a $5 processing fee for every 10
photo submissions. You may give the fee to board members Sue Larson, Ron
Newman, Doug Hillman or Mary Alice Hill.
Photos will be judged by a panel and the following prizes will be awarded:
Prizes:
•
Three finalists will receive a canvas print of their
photo, with one being chosen the grand prize winner
•
Ten additional photos will receive honorable mention
•
A 2016 calendar will be created with the grand
prize winning photo featured on the cover and the
remaining twelve photos featured throughout the
months. Calendars will be available for purchase.
The grand prize photo will also be featured on the
cover of the January SPINNER. Will it be yours?
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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
Choosing A Wax Or Sealant
As you prepare to enhance and protect the finish on your
Porsche with a high quality wax or sealant, it is
important to choose the product that will give you the
results that you desire. Let’s take a look at some of the
questions we need to answer for ourselves to help guide us to the best decision.
What are my main goals? Some questions to answer would include:
 Do I want the most protection for the longest period of time?
 Is my desired outcome to have the highest shine possible?
 Do I have an imperfect finish where a product that would help to hide minor imperfections would be a plus?
 How much effort do I want to expend on applying it?
The answers that you come up with will probably be a combination of the above. Let’s lay out some of the major
differences here in order to make it easier for you to choose.
A One Step Cleaner & Wax – A combination product that has the main focus of combining the cleaning and waxing in
one step to save time and effort. These formulas typically contain a mild paint finish cleaner and carnauba wax. By
adding cleaners you dilute the amount of available protective wax. This combination can be reasonably effective in
cleaning up and protecting your ride’s paint but it will never match the results of a pure wax or sealant only product.
Carnauba Wax – Usually a blend of Carnauba wax along with some synthetic add-ins for higher durability. Typically
available in a paste or a liquid form. Note that any wax advertised as 100% Carnauba is not just a container of Carnauba
wax with nothing else added. All Carnauba formulas have some type of carrier added in as 100% Carnauba would be as
hard as a brick and you would be unable to apply it to your ride. Typically the maximum amount of Carnauba that can
be used in a product is around 35%. Some formulas also add in resins to increase durability. In addition, there are
multiple grades of Carnauba. You will want to use the highest grade often referred to as number one grade Carnauba.
The advantages are:
The disadvantages are:
 Hardest, purest and most transparent natural wax available
 Not as durable as a sealant. Carnauba
wax lasts 3 to 6 months, depending
 Produces a rich, three-dimensional wet look gloss for depth
upon care
 Easily layered with multiple coats

More affected by heat, melts at 182° F
 Hides minor swirl marks
 Beads water nicely & absorbs acid rain content
Sealant – Often is made up of modern polymers, acrylic resins and synthetic compounds. Unlike a wax which is an air
dried surface coating, a sealant will cure and perform what is known as ‘cross linking’ to tightly bond to the surface to
create a stronger, long lasting protective coating. Typically, the sealant is applied much like a wax. Best results are
obtained if allowed to cure on the surface for up to 24 hours before buffing it off. The use of a paint pre-cleaning
product before applying the sealant is strongly encouraged for the best results.
The advantages are:
 Durability! Lasts 6 to 12 months or more, depending upon care
 Very high gloss
 Rarely will cloud or streak
 Can be layered for added protection
The disadvantages are:
 May lack depth and richness
 Tendency to highlight paint flaws
Whichever one you choose, your best results will be obtained by properly preparing your Porsche’s paint for waxing or
sealing. Removing surface contaminants and old wax is important to achieving the look and protection that you expect.
Enjoy your ride . . .
Rick Prevette
Prevette’s, Ltd.
www.prevettes.com
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April 2015
Events Calendar
July 2015
Fri 4/10 -- Fast Friday at Raceway Park of the
Midlands (RPM); 12- 5PM
Sat 4/11 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8 AM Mad Warren Drive; 9:15 AM
Sat 4/18 -- Porsche DIY Saturday; 10 AM
-12PM
Tues 4/21 -- Schonesland Drive & Dine; 6:308:30 PM
Sat 4/25 -- Spring Fling DE at Mid-America
Motorplex
May 2015
Sat 5/2 -- 40th Year Party at Tewfiks; 11- 2 PM
Sat 5/9 -- Tire Rack Street Survival Teen
Driving School at Newton Speedway; 8-5 PM
Sat 5/9 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10
AM
Tues 5/19 -- Schonesland Drive & Dine; 6:308:30 PM
Sat 5/29 -- Porsche Club Race & Advanced
DE at Motorsport Park Hastings
June 2015
Thurs 6/11 -- 40th anniversary car show in
Valley Junction; 5- 9 PM
Sat 6/13 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10
AM
Sun 6/21 -- 2015 Porsche Parade: French
Lick, Indiana
Tues 6/23 -- Schonesland Drive & Dine; 6:308:30 PM
Sat 7/11 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10
AM
Tues 7/21 -- Schonesland Drive & Dine; 6:308:30 PM
Tues 7/25 - 7/26 -- Schonesland Loess Hills
Drive
August 2015
Sat 8/8 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10
AM
Tues 8/18 -- Schonesland Drive & Dine; 6:308:30 PM
September 2015
Sat 9/12 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10
AM
Sun 9/13 -- Des Moines Concours d’Elegance;
10-5 PM
Tues 9/15 -- Schonesland Drive & Dine; 6:308:30 PM
Wed 9/30 -- Porsche Escape to Black Hills
October 2015
Sat 10/10 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10
AM
Tues 10/20 -- Schonesland Drive & Dine; 6:308:30 PM
November 2015
Sat 11/14 -- Schonesland Cars & Coffee; 8-10
AM
Tues 11/17 -- Schonesland Drive & Dine; 6:308:30 PM
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.
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HISTORY
The Porsche Club of America was founded in
1955 with the following objectives in mind: to
promote the highest standards of courtesy and
safety of the roads; to enjoy and share the good
will and fellowship of owning a Porsche; to maintain the highest standards of operation and
performance of the marque; to establish a
mutually beneficial relationship with the Porsche
factory, dealers and other service sources; to
exchange ideas with other Porsche clubs
throughout the world; and to establish mutually
cooperative relationships with other sports car
clubs. Membership in the PCA will add to your
enjoyment of owning one of the finest automobiles in the world.
“We know the joy that Porsche
ownership can provide, and we've
built a community around that”
Your local PCA Region contact:
With over 100,000
members, PCA is the
largest single marque
car club in the world.
Social, technical or
competitive - no
matter your interest,
the PCA has
something to offer
every Porsche owner.
For over 55 years, the PCA has been
dedicated to enhancing the Porsche
ownership experience.
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