Tony Mcguiness
San Diego, USA @tonymcguinessgt3rs
Model 997.2 GT3 RS Year 2011 Acquired FEB 2011 Model 991.1 GT3 Year 2015 Acquired DEC 2014
I’ve mentioned previously during the pandemic that me and a few of my fellow Porsche GT3 owners were able to take our 911s out every weekend for a spirited drive throughout San Diego County.
It was quite amazing to see what were definitely some of the busiest freeways in the United States before COVID had became almost wide-open after Stayhome directives were implemented. During this seemingly endless pandemic, to fight the boredom of staying home, four of us met every Sunday to drive San Diego roads. We drove roads we knew well and explored ones we had never ventured previously.
As things started to open back up in Southern California, we noticed several Cars and Coffee events surfaced. On a recent Saturday, Porsche of Carlsbad hosted their first Porsche Cars and Coffee at their renovated dealership. Service manager Shaun Puno asked if I would be willing to display my Grey black 2011 997.2 GT3 RS on the showroom floor for the event. Shaun and his team always take excellent care of both my RS and my GT3, so I was happy to oblige.
My good friend and fellow GT3 owner, Ron Mercurio, and I chatted and decided we would meet up at 7:00am Saturday morning and make the short trip to Porsche Carlsbad together.
Our other GT3 and GT2 RS buddies were unavailable as they had treated themselves to a trip to the Formula One United States Grand Prix race in Texas.
Due to being inspired by T911 Editor Lee Sibley’s superb videos, during drives I now always kit out my 911s with Gopro cameras. While this was only a quick trip for us, I still managed to get some excellent action footage of Ron’s beautiful Chalk-coloured 991.2 GT3. I
had positioned a Gopro on the roof of the Rennsport facing forward, another camera at the back of the roof facing back over the rear wing. Additionally, I installed one inside the RS cockpit on the windscreen. I was able to grab some terrific screen shots of the front and rear of Ron’s GT3 as well as some excellent shots of driving my GT3 RS onto the Porsche showroom floor.
As I pulled up to the showroom, two massive glass doors opened making way for the GT3 RS. Slowly moving across the showroom floor, I immediately realised my Rennsport was going to be parked right next to one of its ancestors, an original Porsche 917 Long Tail which a private owner had graciously loaned to Porsche Carlsbad for display. It was obvious my RS was in the company of a true legend.
Towards the end of the morning, I overheard one Porsche 911 owner say, “Today was probably one of the best Porsche-focused days I have experienced since the COVID-19 pandemic.” I certainly agreed with him, as I am sure many others did too. It indeed was a long time since I had experienced such a fantastic experience alongside other Porsche enthusiasts, and I hope to experience more in the future too.