How about a visit to South Africa by US forum members?
First some background to what motivated this idea. My old English Porsche buddy, Roger Holliday and his wife Claudia, from Bowling Green in Ohio, will be staying with us in November. Roger and I were the only two English speaking foreigners working for Porsche in the early 1960s and we shared an apartment in Stuttgart. Yeah, some of those pretty German secretaries were excellent cooks! The Germans taught us to plan our lives well!
Roger and I both left Porsche in 1964 to conquer other worlds. I moved to London and he moved to Bowling Green and joined Owens-Corning on the marketing side. Some of the older motor cycle boys out there might be interested in the fact that Roger's father, Bob Holliday, was for many years editor of the London based 'Motor Cycling' magazine.
As an aside, on February 19, 1964 I delivered Stirling Moss's Porsche 904 to his team manager, Ed Rossler. In the following pic Roger can be seen on the right. By a remarkable and unplanned coincidence Ed and his wife Marion stayed with us in February and Ed and I were together on the 19th, the 40th anniversary of the handing over of the 904. By another lucky coincidence The Rossler's visit coincided with David Piper's classic race series and I organised a barbeque at Jimmy's GT40 factory for David and fellow competitors. It was fun having a barbeque in between GT40 monocoques and other bits and pieces. The photo of me showing David a dummy of my book on the history of the Kyalami circuit was taken by Marion. On David's right is Norman Lewis, car builder and former RAF jet aircraft electrician and on David's left, with far away look in the eye no doubt planning some fibreglass design, is Keith Bright.
As usual I digress, so let's get back to the tour idea. As Roger and Claudia are experienced tour operators we could plan a US GT40s forum members tour, that is if there's an interest in the idea.
There are direct flights from Atlanta to Cape Town.
There are nine provinces in South Africa and Cape Town is the capital of the Western Cape province. The Cape region offers many attractions - the Waterfront, the Table Mountain Cableway, historic wine farms, excellent restaurants, great roads and mountains passes, mountain walks, whale watching and much else besides. Due to a weak rand the US dollar goes a long way.
Jimmy Price's Hi-Tech Automotive factory is in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province, 500 miles due east of Cape Town. That would be a must see as part of a tour.
The drive from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth is scenic. Much to see on the way. Riding and ostrich at Oudsthoorn, stopping at the railway museum at George, visiting the quaint town of Knysna famous for its oysters, a steam train ride between George and Knysna, a visit to Monkey Valley and more.
When Roger returns I'll ask him to register on the forum and he will then be able to give an unbiased opinion, as a US resident, of his South African experience. I'm sure that with Roger and Claudia's experience in organising tours and with our help we could put a great package together.
A good time could be February, our last month of summer, when David Piper and friends return again with an even bigger field. That leaves just over three months to plan the tour!
Looking forward to seeing you!
Andre 40
First some background to what motivated this idea. My old English Porsche buddy, Roger Holliday and his wife Claudia, from Bowling Green in Ohio, will be staying with us in November. Roger and I were the only two English speaking foreigners working for Porsche in the early 1960s and we shared an apartment in Stuttgart. Yeah, some of those pretty German secretaries were excellent cooks! The Germans taught us to plan our lives well!
Roger and I both left Porsche in 1964 to conquer other worlds. I moved to London and he moved to Bowling Green and joined Owens-Corning on the marketing side. Some of the older motor cycle boys out there might be interested in the fact that Roger's father, Bob Holliday, was for many years editor of the London based 'Motor Cycling' magazine.
As an aside, on February 19, 1964 I delivered Stirling Moss's Porsche 904 to his team manager, Ed Rossler. In the following pic Roger can be seen on the right. By a remarkable and unplanned coincidence Ed and his wife Marion stayed with us in February and Ed and I were together on the 19th, the 40th anniversary of the handing over of the 904. By another lucky coincidence The Rossler's visit coincided with David Piper's classic race series and I organised a barbeque at Jimmy's GT40 factory for David and fellow competitors. It was fun having a barbeque in between GT40 monocoques and other bits and pieces. The photo of me showing David a dummy of my book on the history of the Kyalami circuit was taken by Marion. On David's right is Norman Lewis, car builder and former RAF jet aircraft electrician and on David's left, with far away look in the eye no doubt planning some fibreglass design, is Keith Bright.
As usual I digress, so let's get back to the tour idea. As Roger and Claudia are experienced tour operators we could plan a US GT40s forum members tour, that is if there's an interest in the idea.
There are direct flights from Atlanta to Cape Town.
There are nine provinces in South Africa and Cape Town is the capital of the Western Cape province. The Cape region offers many attractions - the Waterfront, the Table Mountain Cableway, historic wine farms, excellent restaurants, great roads and mountains passes, mountain walks, whale watching and much else besides. Due to a weak rand the US dollar goes a long way.
Jimmy Price's Hi-Tech Automotive factory is in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province, 500 miles due east of Cape Town. That would be a must see as part of a tour.
The drive from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth is scenic. Much to see on the way. Riding and ostrich at Oudsthoorn, stopping at the railway museum at George, visiting the quaint town of Knysna famous for its oysters, a steam train ride between George and Knysna, a visit to Monkey Valley and more.
When Roger returns I'll ask him to register on the forum and he will then be able to give an unbiased opinion, as a US resident, of his South African experience. I'm sure that with Roger and Claudia's experience in organising tours and with our help we could put a great package together.
A good time could be February, our last month of summer, when David Piper and friends return again with an even bigger field. That leaves just over three months to plan the tour!
Looking forward to seeing you!
Andre 40
