PACK YOUR BAGS!

The early bird catches the road tripping worm

2018 is but a teetering toddler but it's worth booking up a few slots in your diary if you don't want to be disappointed. How about the annual trek to Dinslaken in Germany for the Porsche Freunde get together on the 1st of May?

Over 2000 Porsches from all over Europe descend on the Dinslaken Trabrennbahn Showground, making it one of the largest Porsche shows in the world. To help ease the pain of organising the trip, Fasttracktours.co.uk can help with logistics and 911uk.com is a good forum to head for to find out more. Tickets are 25 euros a pop for a car with two occupants. Dinslaken also just so happens to be a two-hour jaunt from a certain 14.2-mile circuit. The place to go for more info is porschefreunde-1mai.de.

Back in Blighty, the local equivalent is Simply Porsche at Beaulieu in the New Forest on the 31st May. Upwards of 800 Porsches attend and awards in several categories are contested. Tickets are £10 in advance or £12 on the day for adults and £5 and £6 for kids. Find out more from beaulieu.co.uk/events/simply-porsche.

The Porsche RS Day at Oulton Park circuit on March 9th is another annual stalwart and now in its 18th season. It's popular enough that track slots are sold out for this year, but you can still pop along and see what the fuss is about, observe some track action and maybe even hitch a ride. If you're interested in taking part next year, booking should be available in September or October on msvtrackdays.com. Of course, the real highlight of the Porsche social season is the 911&PW Picnic, traditionally held in late September at Mapledurham House in Oxfordshire. May we suggest you keep your late September weekends free and your scanners peeled later this summer for further details.