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Wine tours, scenic roads, vintage motor sports — you choose at this laid back social weekend in the Finger Lakes area of New York State, September 7-10, 2006. Can’t get away for a week for Parade this year, Oregon too far? You can still get your major PCA event fix. The ultimate in Porsche Club relaxation and camaraderie, the PCA Escapes weekends are intended to be within a closer driving distance and shorter duration than Parade and structured purely as a relaxed, social weekend. This year Zone 1 offers Escape to the Finger Lakes. Headquartered in Geneva, NY the weekend has it all: beautiful lush landscapes, exciting roads, great wineries, great food, historic landmarks, vintage motor sports at nearby legendary Watkins Glen and great people – your friends (new and old) from around PCA. The area boasts over 70 wineries and is both a historic and cultural center for central New York. Only forty minutes to the south is famed Watkins Glen and Watkins Glen International raceway. Watkins Glen was home to the US Grand Prix following WWII. Its famed 6.6 mile circuit through the city streets and county roads is still marked and drivable and is on the National List of Historic Places. Watkins Glen is also home to the International Motor Racing Research Center. We’ll be at The Glen on Sunday, complete with hospitality tent, car show and parking corral courtesy of our main sponsor, Ray Catena Porsche. The schedule coincides with both the Grand Prix Festival in the village of Watkins Glen, Sep 8 (www.grandprixfestival.com) and the Zippo US Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International, Sep 8-10 (www.theglen.com). Porsche is the featured marque for both of these events this year. The Escapes event schedule is designed to compliment the existing Vintage Festival and Zippo activities. You’ll be able to buy tickets through us at group rates to the Zippo Vintage Grand Prix. Thursday, Sep 7: Registration at the host hotel, Ramada Inn Geneva Lakefront, and Welcome Reception at the Belhurst Castle overlooking Seneca Lake. Friday, Sep 8: Open day and night so you can partake of the many events at the Grand Prix Festival down in Watkins Glen (the south end of Seneca Lake, just 40 minutes away). The Gran Prix Festival includes a reenactment of the 1948-1952 era race, various rallies, Concours d’Elegance and GlenKhana (parking lot antics for small sports cars). You’ll also be able to drive the original Watkins Glen street circuit and enjoy a night time fireworks display. Friday Grand Prix Festival activities need to be arranged directly with them (www.grandprixfestival.com). Saturday, Sep 9: Choose from various tours appealing to a variety of tastes and destinations. There will be wine tours around Seneca Lake (Wagner and others) and Keuka Lake (Dr. Constantine Frank, Hunt Country, Bully Hill and Great Western). Driving tours will take you to the Syracuse area and the Bristol Omnitheater (a domed IMAX theater – www.most.org), the Corning Glass Museum (www.cmog.org), and Letchworth State Park (Grand Canyon of the East) (http://nysparks.com/parks/info.asp?parkID=12). There will also be bus tours to the NY State Wine and Culinary Center (www.newyorkwineandculinarycenter.com) and Sonnenberg Gardens (www.sonnenberg.org) and to the MacKenzie-Childs majolica pottery company (www.mackenzie-childs.com) with lunch at the Aurora Inn on Cayuga Lake and shopping at the Waterloo Outlet Mall and there’s plenty of antique shops to temp you along the way. You can even cruise Seneca Lake on the Malabar – a 3 masted schooner. Specific tours and prices will be on the final registration form. Of course, you can also go down to The Glen for Vintage Race practice and qualifying sessions. The Hospitality Tent and parking area will be available. Saturday evening will be a BBQ lakeside (Seneca Lake) adjacent to the Ramada Inn Geneva Lakefront. Sunday, Sep 10: Activities will be at Watkins Glen International and will include a hospitality suite complete with famous driver autograph session, a People’s Choice Car Show, Porsche Parking Corral to include significant/historic Porsches, lunchtime touring laps for Charity and watching the many vintage car race groups. There will also be some significant historic Porsches on display. Overflow accommodations are at the nearby Geneva Hampton Inn. There are also many Bed & Breakfast options nearby, including Belhurst Castle. A more extensive list of hotels will be on the Escapes website. Basic event registration fee is $20 per person with everything else a la carte pricing. Tickets for entry to the Zippo US Vintage Grand Prix can be bought at Group Rates through your PCA Escapes Registration or arranged directly with Watkins Glen International (www.theglen.com). Arrange Friday Grand Prix Festival activities directly with them (www.granspirxfestival.com). With everything that’s going on in the
area, this is sure to be a wonderful weekend with lots of variety and plenty of
time to relax and no stressful competition. Won’t you join us? Registration
opens June 15, 2006. For more details and the registration form go to
http://zone1.pca.org . Questions: Event Chair,
Henry Hoeh, 631/582-3226, 1gplus@optonline.net; Registrar: Don Wolcott,
781/631-4157, Zone1escapes@comcast.net |
Escape to the
Finger Lakes