For several years, the Porsche Museum in Germany has hosted “Sound Night,” an event that features the engines of various Porsche road and racing cars being revved. This year, the event held September 18 went digital, livestreamed over the internet to a worldwide audience.
Here’s a 1-minute video of what it was like:
If you missed the livestream, don’t fret. Porsche also has provided a 2-hour video in which you can see and hear the cars and the stars in action:
“The coronavirus pandemic has presented all of us with enormous challenges, but it has also led us to seek out new opportunities,” said Achim Stejskal, head of Porsche Heritage and Museum. “Following numerous requests, we realized that we were not the only ones who were missing the sound of engines.”
Carl Benz going into hall of fame
The National Inventors Hall of Fame has announced its Class of 2022 and it includes Carl Benz as the inventor of the automobile.
Although the museum in Alexandria, Virginia, was created in partnership with the US Patent and Trademark Office as “The Greatest Celebration of American Innovation,” you don’t have to be an American inventor to be included.
The museum notes that “German engineer Carl Benz was the first to design a car around the internal combustion engine rather than adding an engine to an existing wagon or carriage, a critical insight in auto evolution. By integrating the engine, chassis and drive into a single entity, Benz set the standard for all future automotive design and engineering.”
Others in the Class of 2022 include the inventors of voice over internet protocol, the technology used in developing the Covid-19 vaccines, laserphaco cataract surgery and the inventor of the Super Soaker, who also has invented advances in rechargeable battery technology and in the conversion of thermal to electrical energy.
The Class of 2020 also will be inducted at the event scheduled for May 5, 2022, and that class includes the inventors of such things as the automatic surgical tourniquet, bend-insensive optical fiber, the parachute, the hard hat and the sports bra.
AACA Museum mourns ‘founding father’
The AACA Museum has announced the death of one of its primary founders, William H. “Bill” Smith, at the age of 86. The museum also has announced a memorial service in the Smith Rotunda at the museum on September 29 and the establishment of a memorial scholarship fund in his name.
Special events this weekend
The annual Saratoga Motorcar Auction at the Saratoga Automobile Museum in upstate New York is scheduled for September 24-25. The following day, September 26, the museum stages its Fall Auto Show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
In celebration of its new Gallery of Automotive Art, Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, Nebraska, hosts a cars and coffee cruise-in along with book signings, an artist panel discussion, and a vintage drag race car cacklefest September 25 from 8 a.m. until 10:45 a.m.
In conjunction with the new James Bond movie, No Time To Die, the Petersen Automotive Museum stages “the largest official gathering of vehicles from James Bond films in the U.S.,” with the exhibition opening September 25.
Paul Page and his book, Hello, I’m Paul Page. It’s Race Day in Indianapolis, will be at Autobooks-Aerobooks in Burbank, California, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on September 25.
Mark your calendar
With the SCCA Runoffs taking over the track, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum will have altered hours from September 30 through October 3, will close at 1 p.m. on September 30 and will be closed all day October 1 and 2.
Autobooks-Aerobooks in Burbank, California, hosts author Randall Cannon and his book Caesars Palace Grand Prix: Las Vegas, Organized Crime and the Pinnacle of Motorsport from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on October 2.
CruiseFest on Fulton Avenue, an annual event that benefits the California Automobile Museum in Sacramento, is scheduled for October 2, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Special features of the cruise this year are Save Mart’s 12-foot tall, 454cid Chevy V8-powered “mega-motorized shopping cart,” and the 7th of 14 officially licensed replica Batmobiles, this one owned by Bob Goldsand of Meadow View, California.
AutoFest 2021 is scheduled for October 3 at the Newport Car Museum in Rhode Island.
The Saratoga Automobile Museum in upstate New York hosts a private screening of No Time To Die at the Bow Tie Cinema theater at 7 p.m. on October 7.
The Saratoga Automobile Museum in upstate New York is the site October 9 for the 10th Vintage at Saratoga gathering of BMWs produced in the 20th Century.
The Saratoga Automobile Museum in upstate New York hosts a Corvette car show from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on October 13.
The AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, resumes its annual “Night at the Museum” fundraiser on October 6 with a theme of “Cars and Country Music.” Troy Engle and Southern Skies will perform at the event that serves as the kickoff to “Fall Hershey.”
The Newport Car Museum stages its German Car Weekend on October 9-10 with five marque car clubs present and with people showing a German car key gaining free admission.
Herzog Motorsports, the Missouri-based racing team that has won in a variety of events, from off-road racing in Baja to Jimmie Johnson’s transition to stock car racing, will be honored October 15-16 in a special event at the Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California, hosts its 30th anniversary All British Motor Show from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. on October 17.
School half term in the UK means special youth-oriented programs October 23-31 at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon, where Professor Pickle and Doctor Pumpkin will share the science of lights and mirrors.
The British Motor Museum at Gaydon stages the Great British Model Railway Show on October 30 and 31, featuring 30 scale-model railroad layouts in various gauges.
The Tunnels to Towers Foundation’s 9/11 Never Forget mobile exhibit will be at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, November 3-9.
The North East Motor Sports Museum in Loudon, New Hampshire, stages its Legends Day on November 7, this year honoring New England midget racing.
The new Savoy Automobile Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, midway between Chattanooga and Atlanta, has announced December 8 as its opening day for visitors. The museum is on a 35-acre site and includes three buildings with 65,000-square-feet of display space and a cafe. It is part of the Georgia Museums Inc., which includes the Booth Western Art Museum, Bartow History Museum and Tellus Science Museum.
Does your local car museum have special events or exhibitions planned? Let us know. Email larrye@classiccars.com.
