Porsche Rennsport festival attracts 5000

About 5000 enthusiasts attended the second Porsche Rennsport Australia Motor Racing Festival at Sydney Motorsport Park over the weekend.

Porsche fans and competitors from around the country, across the Tasman as well as from Europe and North America flocked to see about 450 Porsches, both on and off track.

They included more than 200 cars that took to the circuit for either competition or demonstration laps, including some very fast laps from two historic Le Mans-winning Porsches and the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Pro-Am endurance races.

Dozens of priceless racing and road-going Porsches of Australian significance lined up in the Porschestrasse, with a further 100 on official display, including everything from a rare and immaculate 1989 Porsche 911 Speedster to a fully-restored single-cylinder bright red Porsche tractor.

Self-proclaimed ‘urban outlaw’ and Porsche cult figure Magnus Walker flew in from Los Angeles to participate after hearing about the inaugural Porsche event Down Under in 2013.

“This is my first time in Australia and I’m not going to forget it in a hurry,” said Walker.

“You guys are real Porsche enthusiasts down here. You love your Porsche racing and Porsche road cars and I’ve been really impressed with the quality of what I’ve seen here.

"Everything from air-cooled to water-cooled, front-engine to mid-engine to rear-engine, from original to decked out … you guys have got all the Porsche bases covered with some outstanding and really cool cars.”

Many of the 5000 participants formed long queues for autographs and photos with the bearded Porsche hero, who happily chatted with fans over the two days.

Setting new benchmarks in its second running, this year's Rennsport festival saw more Porsches on track, more Porsches on display, more Porsche activities and more Porsche fans attending. Other events included the Porsche Kids' Driving School and a static show'n'shine outside the Porsche Centre Rennsport.

“The Porsche Rennsport concept is a great one and we have shown again that it works, especially in an enthusiast market like Australia where the Porsche passion runs deep,” said Porsche Cars Australia (PCA) Managing Director and CEO, Sam Curtis.

“Porsche is a special brand in so far that its appeal extends through the ages. Whether it is modern or historic race cars, road cars from the early air-cooled era, new and fast Porsches like the GT3 RS or gorgeous open top cars like the original 356 Cabriolet, there is always a Porsche to admire.”