Happy New Year:
Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year and looking forward to a New Year that I hope we all get through safely. With most of us vaccinated and boosted, and our children and grandchildren ages 5 to 12 years old fully vaccinated we will still all have to be on our best behavior and to continue to practice social distancing and the wearing of face masks for the foreseeable future.
Each of your region’s board of directors should be working on a calendar of events for the year and have probably done so with the assumption that the pandemic would have been behind us. This has proven not to be the case and there could be some shuffling of region activities. For those events that are generally held outdoors like DE’s, autocross, tours and rallies, these events are more than likely to go as planned. However, indoor event like club dinners, tech sessions, rally or autocross schools may be subject to cancellations or rescheduling. Let’s hope that these events can happen as planned.
Region Leadership Changes:
All regions in Zone 7 have probably completed their annual board of director elections and based up what I know, we will be welcoming 2 new club presidents to Zone 7. For Yosemite Region, David Boyd will be taking over the leadership of the region while Ed Suarez will be leading Sequoia Region. Thank you both for stepping up to lead your regions!
Continuing to serve for the 2022 year will be Ed Hunter, Golden Gate Region, Terry Topolski, Shasta Region. Peter Ridgway, Loma Prieta Region, Brian Adkins, Diablo Region, Natasha Zelig, Monterey Bay Region, Rik Larson, Sacramento Valley Region, Millie Smith, Sierra Nevada Region, and Ben Davoren, Redwood Region
The Zone 7 annual Presidents meeting will be held on March 5,2022 in Roseville. At this event all the region presidents will have a chance to hear the latest updates from one of PCA National’s Executive Council members as well as several PCA National chairs. In addition, we will review updates to the national Region Procedures Manual as well as hear updates on PCA National events and the Zone 7 concours and autocross programs.
Zone 7 Leadership Updates:
I would like to announce the appointment of Brant Ballantyne as the new Zone 7 autocross chair for 2022. Brant will be following in the footsteps of Grady Carter who after serving for the last 3 years has decided to step down. I thank Grady for his years of dedicated service to the Zone autocross series and for building the program over the last several years.
Brant has been autocrossing with a variety of clubs since 2009, including the Boston and Northern New Jersey Chapters of BMWCCA and Renegade Miata Club driving his father-in-law’s 2002 Miata and his 2004 BMW 330i ZHP. In 2014, his family relocated to Orinda, CA where he joined PCA Golden Gate Region. as an owner of a 2010 Cayenne. After joining the Golden Gate Region, Ed purchased 2001 base Boxster which he has been competing in for the last 6 or 7 years. Brant is a GGR autocross instructor and an Autocross Rules Committee member. He has owned and autocrossed several Porsches including his 986 Boxster, 981 Cayman S, and 996 Carrera; all while becoming good friends with lots of competitors along the way.
Brent is currently working with the Zone 7 Region autocross chairs on coming up with the dates for the 2022 AX Series and hopes to be able to publish the schedule in the coming months. Also, if you have any comments or suggestions for the 2022 rules update, you can email Brant at: flat6axr@gmail.com
Continuing to serve Zone 7 as volunteers are the following:
| Howard Thomas | Treasurer |
| Rik Larson | Secretary |
| David Bunch | Social Media |
| Roy Schauben | Concours Co-Chair |
| Simone Kopitzki | Concours Co-Chair |
| Richard Chew | Webmaster |
Brant Ballantyne
Brant and his wife, Lisa, are both from Massachusetts and met in college at Tulane University. Brant completed his Master of Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has a MBA from Boston University. Brant was a professional structural engineer and a partner in an engineering consulting firm until he decided to become a stay-at-home-dad when his boys were younger. His wife’s job gave the family the opportunity to relocate to the Bay Area. Besides autocrossing, Brant enjoys snowboarding, golfing, travel, and being a super fan at remote and local venues on the West Coast in support of his two sons’ competitive soccer careers.
Brant’s primary duties as the Zone 7 Autocross chair will be to head-up the review of the autocross competition rules as well as to be the primary contact point for region autocross chairs regarding safety, compiling results for year end awards, and will be attending most if not all of the Zone 7 events for the season.
Welcome on board, Brant, and thank you again for stepping up!
PCA West Coast Race Series Announces Schedule for 2022:
The West Coast Series is a PCA club racing points competition comprised of the all the PCA club races that occur on the west coast of the USA. Historically, club racing in the PCA has been most popular on the east coast, and this series was created (starting with the 2014 season) to encourage west coast club members to take up club racing by providing them with the increased competition and sense of camaraderie that comes with having one’s own competitive series. All PCA club racers are eligible to participate and all entrants to the below-listed events are automatically entered into the series.
| Dates | Event | Registration Opens |
|---|---|---|
| April 2-3 | Thunderhill | February 21 |
| May 14-15 | Buttonwillow | March 28 |
| May 28-29 | Laguna Seca | Pending |
| August 27-28 | Sonoma | July 11 |
| September 24-25 | Thunderhill | August 8 |
| October 8-9 | Sonoma | August 22 |
2021 Zone 7 Concours Series Results, Correction:
In last month’s column, I missed reporting the results for several of the class award winners. The following updates the list to reflect all the award winners. A special shout out goes to the Concours Rookie of the Year, Alan Wong!
Events of Interest:
The 2022 concours schedule is currently being developed and should be completed in the next month or two.
Events of Interest:
1) Zone 7 Rally School, February 12th, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, Ca.
2) Zone 7 Presidents Meeting, March 5, Madiu Community Center, Roseville, Ca.
3) Zone 7 Awards Banquet, March 5, Cattleman’s Restaurant, Roseville, Ca.
4) PCA Spring Treffen, April 27-May 1, 2022, the Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colorado
5) Zone 7 Shasta Tour, June 9-13th, sold out
6) Porsche Parade at the Kalahari Resort, Pennsylvania, June 12-18
7) PCA Werks Reunion, August 19, Monterey
8) PCA Fall Treffen, September 14-18, Sunriver Resort, Bend, Oregon
