Porsche Driving Experiences with Ray Shaffer and Cam Ingram
Part 1 of Fresh Brewed & Air Cooled with Cam Ingram of Road Scholars and Ray Shaffer of Porsche Classic
Air-Cooled Porsche fans enjoyed an Instagram Live session titled Fresh Brewed & Air Cooled on Saturday, April 11, 2020 with Cam Ingram of Road Scholars (@Porsche_Malone )and Ray Shaffer of Porsche Classic (@Ray.Shaffer).
It was designed as a talk over coffee where viewers were joining Cam and Ray for coffee and a chat about Porsches and their experiences with them. Both gentlemen live a fantasy life for Porsche enthusiasts so it was fun to peek into their lives while joining them for coffee.
The format started with Cam and Ray planning to answer questions submitted but it quickly evolved after the first question about future values of Porsches that they both opted not to address to a discussion about the new generation Porsche owner driving and experiencing their Porsche as opposed to their Porsches being “Garage Queens”.
Examples of how the new Porsche owners are using their cars is the explosion in participation in Rennsport Reunions and the popularity of the Luftgekühlt air-cooled Porsche gathering that is coming to Roads Scholars' hometown of Durham, North Carolina this fall.
Cam reminisced how he started in the Porsche hobby with the focus on Concours, or as he called them “Grass Races”, but that his participation has now evolved to more driving and enjoying the Porsches; not necessarily racing them but driving them.
Ray made an excellent point with the analogy that “Cars are like bodies; we need to use them.” Cars that are not used end up having many more service issues over time than the ones that are exercised regularly.
Ray transitioned to an interesting question of Cam: “What is your most memorable driving experience?” I found the answer surprising because it had as much to do with sharing the driving experience as the experience itself.
The Ingram’s had been selected to show their 1960 Porsche Carrera Abarth in the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. On the Thursday before the show there is an optional 72-mile drive for the entrants. Participation becomes the show field tiebreaker so Cam was driving the route with his mother in the passenger seat. It is quite a sight and experience to participate in this drive as you weave, follow and lead among the 70-100 other show cars with the varying speeds and mechanical reliability.
Finally Cam reached the famous Highway 1 with open road ahead and was able to open up the little Carrera Abarth with his mother beside him providing them both with one of their most memorable drives ever. Cam has an garage full of the best Porsches in the world but this was the most memorable not because it was the fastest, or most exciting but because he shared the experience of driving a rare one-of-a-king Porsche we his mother beaming ear-to-ear.
Ray’s most memorable driving experience was all about speed and the experience of racing a famous Porsche against famous Porsche racecar drivers on the banks of Daytona. Courtesy of Gunnar Jeanette, Ray had the chance to drive the Daytona Winning1975 Brumos RSR in the Daytona Classic held on the banks of Daytona. He recounted the experience of seeing the Lowenbrau 962 quickly approaching him at the bus stop chicane and seeing the deft handling and maneuvering of the much faster 962 by Derek Bell to swallow up and pass the slower Porsche Production racers.
Both Cam and Ray agreed that Porsches are “Tools that are meant to do a job and should be driven.”
The final comment about experiencing a Porsche is the number of times these two have put a modern Porsche owner into an air-cooled Porsche for the first time. It is a true awakening for the owner of a modern Porsche to have this first analog driving experience of an air-cooled Porsche that allows the driver to really understand the original Porsche driving experience.
It was a fun hour on a Saturday listening to these two especially with us all self-isolating and needing a “car fix” from our days of staring at Netflix or hopefully for the handy among us, to come out the garage from working on our Classic Porsche.
Part Two of the report will appear later in the week where Ray and Cam discuss the value of YouTube, Books and other memorable experiences.
Tags: Road Scholars, Cam Ingram, Classic Porsche, Ray Shaffer
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