Rasto Ovin, Slovenjia

I have been keen on cars since my very early years – it is interesting here how my taste has slowly developed. It started with Mercedes in my pre-school years and continued with Alfa Romeo in the dreams of a teenager through to BMW as a family man interested more in driving comfort. Since I was born in 1948, I can now say that this journey ended in 1999 when a brand-new red Porsche Boxster took its place in my garage.

As I had grown tired of the smooth BMW ride, I was actually after an English sports car. But before I really started looking, there was an Austrian friend who told me that the Porsche Club scene is unrivalled. At this time, I was also finishing my studies in Germany, and my professor took me for a ride in his 964 once. I liked it but was finally hooked after what happened in an underground car park at the university. He left me with my car parked there and drove away up the ramp. The elegantly shaped car drove up the ramp confidently with its unforgettable sound filling the whole area, my ears and my heart. I was hooked and this has remained so. Needless to say, there is now a beautiful Baltic Blue 964 model in my garage.

After buying my first Boxster, I was told by friends that they have a well-managed and functioning Porsche Club in Graz, Austria. We got into contact and very soon I was invited to their events – they organised classic-style rallies and it was quite fun. After I gained some experience, cups and medals started to fill my shelves. At this time Porsche klub Slovenija already existed, but was a rather small and closed community. I joined this Club as well and I enjoyed socialising with my Slovenian friends. The Club was rather small, and someone came up with the idea that I seemed to be quite enthusiastic and should take over the Club. That happened in 2007. Soon we started close cooperation with my Austrian Porsche Club Steiermark and the events that we organised together attracted more and more Slovenian Porsche friends. Not before too long, the number of our members grew at a really fast pace and so did our events. Overnight, the Club counted Slovenian Porsche legends among its members – from rally champions through to engineers with international Porsche experience. The Club was also filled with sincere and enthusiastic Porsche car lovers, and since then socialising with all of them has become a pure joy. I am happy to see numerous new friendships arising, and the atmosphere at our events is full of camaraderie. Like in other Clubs, there are newer and newer cars entering the Club, and we are doing our best to maintain our community as one of Porsche enthusiasts. New, powerful cars are naturally admired, but there are no criteria for who is more “Porsche” and who less.

Our cooperation has also been strong with the Porsche Club Croatia. So, we started planning a unique Porsche Parade Europe organised by two Clubs from different countries. After test tours between Slovenia and Croatia in 2012 and 2013, we applied for the PPE in 2016 and were successful. We are proud that a large number of European Porsche friends still have good memories of this parade. In the following years, the cooperation, also including Porsche Club Graz and Porsche Club Trentino, came up with the new idea of a regional Porsche parade, the “Alps-Danube-Adria Porsche Clubs Tour”. If it had not been for the pandemic, our first event in 2019 organised by Porsche klub Slovenija would have been followed by the next much earlier. As a result, it was only in this year that the Alps-Danube-Adria Porsche Clubs Tour was successfully organised by the Porsche Club Trentino. The number of participating cars is limited to 90, but the series is attracting more and more Porsche enthusiasts. So, the members of 10 Porsche Clubs from Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy Serbia, Slovenia and Switzerland took part at the 2022 event at Lago di Garda.

As can be imagined, my search for the Porsche that would suit me best did not stop with the Boxster. After the first one, I had two more and was happy with them. I can only say the same about my 997 Turbo. The full-option car is a dream, but it often made me push the limits with its endless performance, and so I now enjoy the 997 4S Cabriolet, which is also often considered to be the last analogue 911. More due to circumstances than any plan, my fleet is now complete with the first modern 911 (964), and last year both were joined by the last classic 911 – a 1986 3.2 Targa.

My Slovenian Porsche friends and I are lucky to live in a country that is very picturesque in spite of its small size. What is more, it is surrounded by beautiful countries like Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. We often share our events and are looking forward for our future socialising. I can say that the future has also entered our Porsche klub Slovenija in the right way. At our March 2022 meeting, three younger members entered the Board and are getting ready to take over the Club. We as the older generation hope that the Porsche community in Slovenia will therefore reap the fruits of the seeds that we have planted in terms of Porsche sport cars enthusiasm.