The Seventh Annual Gathering Is Moving to the Midwest This Year
By Godwin Kelly
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Luftgekühlt?
Is it a worm in Australia or a town in Europe? Could it be a type of food or beverage or possibly a horned animal you’ve never heard of before? How about an exotic spice?
Short answer: none of the above.
Luftgekühlt is a German word pronounced “Looft-guh-koolt” and means “air-cooled.” It holds a special meaning in Porsche speak.
According to Luftgekühlt.com, in the Porsche vernacular, Luftgekühlt represents all the air-cooled cars in the manufacturer’s history, from the Pre-A 356 (1948) through the 993 model line that ended in 1998.
For the past six years, on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, air-cooled Porsche fanatics have gathered for an event simply called Luftgekühlt. This year’s upcoming event is tagged “Luft 7.”
The event, which features street and race cars, is the brainchild of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and long-time Porsche factory driver Patrick Long and Southern California creative director Howie Idelson.
“One of my first thoughts was ‘This isn’t very easy to pronounce or spell,’ but if you know, if you’re part of it, if you’re passionate, then you get it,” Long said. “I would call it kind of a secret high-five.”
Previous Luftgekühlts were held at different venues in the Los Angeles area, where Long calls home. Long and Idelson moved it this year to the Indianapolis Bottleworks District. The one-day event is scheduled Friday, Sept. 10.
“We thought Indianapolis was an amazing middle ground from a location standpoint,” Long said. “Porsche has its Sportscar Together Fest happening that weekend over at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We found our venue in the arts district of the city.”
Long said when registration opened a few months ago for Luft 7, the 300 or so spaces were snapped up in four hours.
“We never have a problem getting cars,” Long said. “There’s a lot of Porsche passion in this country. We definitely have more demand than supply and that’s an amazing opportunity for a relatively young startup company.”
Passionate Porsche followers who didn’t pre-register have a final chance to attend. A limited number of general admission tickets will be sold beginning at noon ET on event day.
Long has long been a face of Porsche in the United States. Since 2003, the 40-year-old has served as the lone American on Porsche’s roster of factory drivers.
Long has captured victory at the world’s biggest sports car races – winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 12 Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts, Motul Petit Le Mans and the Bathurst 12 Hours. Long has accumulated 28 IMSA top-level series wins and two championships.
His current job is driving the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, which competes the GT Daytona class at WeatherTech Championship races. In fact, on the weekend of Luft 7, Long will be racing in the Hyundai Sports Car Championship race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in his home state, sharing the No. 16 with co-driver Trent Hindman in the two-hour, 40-minute WeatherTech Championship race.
Long said the idea for Luftgekühlt developed after he purchased a 1986 Porsche 911.
“When I started driving it, I wanted to meet with other air-cooled enthusiasts and quickly realized there wasn’t any type of show or offering that really spoke to me,” Long said. “Through passion and a lot of desire, our events have become pretty large. For better or worse, they certainly challenge me as a promoter.”
Long does not consider Luftgekühlt a “car show,” per se, but a distinctive event with unique architecture as a backdrop. The Bottleworks District includes restaurants, shops, a movie theater and a hotel in a repurposed Coca-Cola bottling plant built in the 1920s featuring an art deco design in downtown Indianapolis. In addition to a sea of Porsche vehicles, Luftgekühlt also includes photo galleries, music, vendors, food and beverages.
“We tell a story about our venue and event hosts as much as we talk about Porsches,” Long said. “This allows us to introduce Porsche people to a new experience, and the host city gets to learn about Porsches.”
For more information about Luft 7, visit luftgekühlt.com.