The Porsche Rennsport Reunion 2018 was held September 27-30 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, California. The third West Coast appearance of Rennsport Reunion saw 350 Porsche race cars battle on the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course on the Monterey Peninsula.
More than 81,000 attended Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI, the highest attendance at Laguna Seca in five years and easily broke the Rennsport Reunion V record of more than 60,000 at the previous event in 2015, which was also held at Laguna Seca. Beyond the numbers, there was seven decades of Porsche models — from the blistering-fast 919 Hybrid Evo to bright-red Porsche tractors from the brand’s early days.
Rennsport Reunion VI was the culmination of this year’s global celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the first Porsche sports car. The original 356 No. 1 Roadster was on display at Rennsport and even took to the track, piloted by none other than Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Porsche AG and son of Ferdinand “Ferry” Porsche, who built the first Porsche sports car.
“Every Porsche car has a soul, and Rennsport has its own soul thanks to the emotional response of enthusiasts who come from around the world,” said Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO of Porsche Cars North America. “We are deeply grateful to the champion drivers and brilliant engineers behind more than 30,000 Porsche motorsports victories so far – who help us develop on the track what we bring to the street. Celebrating this heritage together with the extended Porsche family of fans made Rennsport Reunion VI the biggest and best yet, and the most thrilling.”
Approximately 50 legendary drivers, 500 historic and customer cars, including 350 cars in competition, and the full Porsche Factory Team were in attendance at Porsche Rennsport Reunion 2018. In addition, 1,600 Porsche cars were on display in the Porsche Club of America corral.
Similar to the 2011 and 2015 events, Sports Car Digest also documented Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI, with Victor Varela producing the following images from this year’s Porsche-focused event.
Porsche Rennsport Reunion 2018 – Photo Gallery (photos: Victor Varela)
1998 Porsche GT1
718 RSK Spyders
Q&A with Jeff Zwart Hurley Haywood and Bobby Rahal
Niki Lauda\’s F1 McLaren MP4/2 TAG Porsche
Rally lights
Pretty 911s all in a row
Porsche tails on display
Gunnar Jeannette – 2007 Porsche RS Spyder
David Lockwood – 2007 Porsche RS Spyder
1998 Porsche GT1
March-Porsche CART/Indy Car V8
Erich Joiner – 1972 Porsche 911 RSR
Andrew Eagan – 1980 Porsche 924
Jim Bouzaglou – 1973 Porsche 911 RSR
Josh Simpson – 2012 Porsche RSR
Ricardo Stewart-Smith Milne – 2009 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
North Amercan P-51H Mustang flies over Laguna Seca
Dan Curry – 1985 Porsche 962
Bruce Canepa – 1989 Porsche 962C
David Lockwood – 2007 Porsche RS Spyder
Gunnar Jeannette – 2007 Porsche RS Spyder
Group 5 races towards turn 10
Richard Griot – 1969 Porsche 908/02 Spyder
Robert Van Zelst – 1955 Porsche 356 Speedster
Wayne Baker – 1954 Porsche 356 Pre-A Coupe
Dener Pires – 1969 Porsche 908/02
Richard Griot – 1969 Porsche 908/02 Spyder
Gunnar Jeannette – 1969 Porsche 908/02
Chris MacAllister – 1969 Porsche 917K
Cameron Healy – 1970 Porsche 908/3
1969 Porsche 917 K Coupe
1960 718 RS 60 Spyders
718 RSK Spyders
Porsche 907s on display
Porsche Diesel Tractor
Bruce Boeder – 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS
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Great collection of images, Victor. You must have been a busy man at Rennsport, as you left no stone unturned. Congrats on the best gallery I’ve seen online.
Thank you, Ross. I appreciate the kind compliment on my Rennsport images.
Super job Victor, love the image of the 917 on pit row.
Thanks, Mike! This is one of my favorite captures from the Rennsport weekend. It was great seeing you, my friend!
You Porsche Rennsport Reunion images were great. They captured the spirit of the event. Thanks!
You humble me with your kind words. Thank you.
Having some difficulty with the picture descriptions of ” 1969 Porsche 917K “…… unless (somehow) it is based on original chassis numbers that were maybe re-configured to “K” specifications, which were only around in 1970 and 1971.
You could be correct on the “K” specs for this car, but from all the entry description and several online sources, this car is described as a 917K.
Thanks for your info on this.
All of the original Porsche 917’s were built in 1969. They came with long tails which could be removed -so either K or LH – although the’ Kurz’ designation was not adopted until the ‘final’ short tail design was completed – which was still in 1969 (following October tests in Austria) and fitted to cars prior to the January tests (early 70) in Daytona — so this is probably a 1969 Chassis (one of the original 25) fitted with the Kurz tail at some point (probably 1970).
Also this….on pg 11 of this incredible photo log…… Porsche # 46 is NOT the 1939 Rome-Berlin race car type 64/60K10…..but instead 1951 type 356SL as entered in LeMans.
Good catch on this description error. Will be corrected soon. Thanks!
The caption on Page 13 of the Coca Cola 962 is incorrect; it should be Lee Giannone, 962C
You are correct! Will be corrected soon. Thanks!
Does anyone know about the driver who crashed in Turn 1, immediately after the start/finish line in his blue devin bodied Porsche? I think it happened on Friday. It was a fairly serious shunt, but the driver seemed OK given that he had flipped his car.