WE HAD OUR TRADITIONAL annual Holiday Social at Pfaff again last month, on Dec. 8, but virtually this time. That did not diminish the enjoyment of a fun event. There were 185 individuals who tuned in at some point which is a very nice turn-out.
Stefan Walther, our new club president, welcomed everyone and, after sharing some news and announcements about the past year and the upcoming year, introduced Marc Ouayoun, president of Porsche Canada. Ouayoun talked about the challenges of the past year, a familiar theme, but felt Porsche did very well. He mentioned new Porsches coming, some extremely exciting. To conclude his talk he showed some scale models he built during the pandemic year, for the many days he was required to quarantine due to his still-active travel schedule. He showed us three of his completions — a red 930 Turbo, a Carrera GT and a Porsche GT1 racecar.
Porsche Canada President Marc Ouayoun wishes special holiday greetings to club members and other Porsche fans who joined Dec. 8’s holiday social on Zoom. 
Porsche Centre Markham manager Dave Sambrook tunes in from Porsche Now, a pop-up store at Markville Mall.
He then passed things along to Chris Pfaff, CEO of Pfaff Automotive Partners, who talked about his dad Hans and the history of the Pfaff Porsche dealership. I should have been more alert for this as the later trivia questions had to do with Pfaff. Chris Pfaff mentioned he had not been an electric car guy until he drove the Taycan, which converted him. He told us about driving the new 935 in Portugal and how awesome that was.
Next up was Laurance Yap, creative director of Pfaff. He toured us around the Pfaff Porsche showroom in Vaughan and lingered over a carbon-fibre 935. It is one of 77 and the only one in Canada. (See Provinz, March 2020, for a photo feature on it.) We also saw a couple of very bright Porsches — a new, loaded and stunning Python Green 911 Turbo and a lovely new Cherry Red Metallic 911.
From there, Steve Bortolotti of Pfaff Motorsports took over the Zoom feed. He discussed the early success of the team with a pole at Daytona 24 Hours. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, the team did not race again until Petit Le Mans where it scored a fifth. Pfaff Motorsports instead concentrated locally with cars, support and training that will continue.
At this point the trivia contest was held with some amazing prizes from our host — three Porsche brake-caliper keychains, three thermal Porsche mugs and, the ultimate and most desirable, three 1:43-scale plaid Pfaff Porsche racecar models. The nine questions and nine prizes represent the Pfaff Motorsports racing number. Results were as follows:
- What year was the Pfaff group founded? 1964. Winner: Weyman Jang
- In what year did Pfaff actually get the Porsche franchise? 1967. Winner: Paul Towsey
- Where was the original Pfaff Porsche dealership located? Newmarket. Winner: Jeffrey Wagman
- Two drivers won the 2015 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada championships with Pfaff in the Gold and Platinum classes. Name them. Chris Green, Orey Fidani. Winner: Shane Rahemtulla
- Where is Pfaff’s newest dealership located? Markham. Winner: Mark Lowrie
- What company is Pfaff Motorsports’ title sponsor? Motul. Winner: Matt Nowak
- A Pfaff Motorsports driver set the production-car lap record at CTMP in 2019. Which driver and what car was he driving? Lars Kern, 911 GT2 RS. Winner: Adam Ivers
- Pfaff collaborated with Porsche Exclusive to build a limited edition of five vehicles for Canada to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary. What Porsche model was this edition based on? 911 Turbo S (991). Winner: Mark Schembri
- Pfaff won the Rothmans Porsche Turbo Cup championship in 1988 with what driver? Scott Goodyear. Winners: Kevin and Lillian Kurnik
Next we went to Porsche Now at Markville Mall, a temporary pop-up store until the full Porsche Centre Markham dealership opens in the new year at the northeast corner of the sprawling site. The manager Dave Sambrook joined us from there and gave us a tour of some of the exciting displays. Trivia prizes were on show there and were available for pick-up from there.
President Walther also welcomed our newest club members joining us on the virtual call — Thom Brott, Olly Browne, Penny Buckner, Scott Eicher, Gareth Gibbins, Al Kidd, David Palmer, Jeff Peterson, Jorge Salazar, Mark Schembri (also a trivia prize winner), Rich Tse, Paul Towsey (also a prize winner) and Gino Zucchiatti.
Although a different kind of seasonal social, it appeared to be a big success. UCR was happy to keep the tradition going. Your editor and author, though, couldn’t resist talking to Marc Ouayoun about scale models and showing off some of his! </>
