I'll be the first to admit that I sometimes, often, usually, miss most of the Rally Sport Region PCA member events. Single parenthood and the decision several years ago to become an engineering consultant have ensured that most of my personal interests and outside activities have, at least for the near term, been relegated to the "if I don’t have a schedule conflict" portion of my life.

December of last year was no different, as I was in China on business for two weeks when the RSR was having its annual Christmas party.

While this was my third trip to Asia this year, it was also the longest and most atypical. I had been invited to attend the local technical university as a guest lecturer in the vehicle engineering school. Consequently, there were no client meetings, site inspections, or impossibly busy dawn-to-dusk client itineraries at all. In fact, the majority of my time was spent in the hotel room preparing lesson plans for the next day’s lecture.

Being somewhat housebound in my hotel room also made me even more cognizant of one of the realities of international business travel.

Staying in a hotel that may have television programming that is interesting, not local, not in English and extremely limited in choices. Not being one to waste an opportunity, I took advantage of my sequestration, and I can now state that while I did not learn any Chinese past "hello" and "thank you," I did watch the first six installments of the "Fast and the Furious" franchise at least three times each. I confirmed that the only Porsche to be prominently featured in the first six films was a 996 GT3 RS in the fifth installment. I don’t consider this a particularly noteworthy accomplishment as these things go but it did get me thinking.

As no one knows, since I’m rarely in attendance at Rally Sport Region events, I really enjoy researching and collecting videos and books documenting racing and race cars as they were in the 1960’s through 1980’s with occasional forays into the 1950’s and other more eclectic topics. Not too far into the second viewing of "2 Fast 2 Furious" (it was that or the Chinese version of "American Idol") I got to thinking about the necessity for developing an emergency entertainment plan for when I'm traveling, stranded on a desert isle with solar-powered video equipment, or just plain procrastinating about working on the garage queen because it's too cold in the garage, I don’t have just the right part, or I’m tired.

Here is a very short list of video thrills for all of those couch potato moments during Michigan’s dull gray winter season. Most of these are available on DVD somewhere.

Documentary

• The Speed Merchants
  Michael Keyser's documentary of the 1972 sports car championship. Narration by Porsche legend Vic Elford and Mario Andretti, with on-board footage at the Targa Florio, including dodging sheep in the road! Excellent.
• Can-Am the Speed Odyssey
  The Can Am series from 1966-73. I believe the Peter Revson quote in the film "you’ve got to aim it and you’ve got to be very delicate on the throttle" says it all.
• 1
  A well-done look at Formula 1 through the "golden years" and changes made going into the more modern era. Lots of driver interviews.

"Le Mans" is widely regarded as one of the best and most authentic racing movies of all-time.

Drama

• Le Mans
  Do I really need to describe this one for you?
• Grand Prix
  The quintessential ABC Sunday Night Movie for any of us who were kids growing up as motor racing geeks. Includes an official intermission built in for snacks!
• 2 Lane Blacktop
  Weird and eclectic 1970's version of "The Fast and the Furious" with James Taylor as "The Driver." This one has the "cult classic" title.

Super Racing Nerd

• Grand Prix: The Killer Years
  Well-done BBC documentary and a good compliment to the Robert Daley books "Cars at Speed" and "The Cruel Sport." The title sets the tone.
• Champions Forever: The Formula One Drivers (Alternate title: "The Quick and the Dead, One by One" by Claude Duboc)
  Formula 1 as it was in the 1970s with Jackie Stewart wheeling a Rolls drop-top around the Nordschleife as he describes the correct way to drive a fast lap. Cool stuff despite the grim narrative.
• Truth in 24
  Not vintage, focusing on the Audi run at Le Mans in 2008, but it’s well-done and interesting to watch.

A poster from Eric Bana’s 2009 documentary.

Off the Beaten Track

• Love the Beast
  Actor Eric Bana and his personal love affair with his first car, as he also decides to modify and prepare it for a run in the Targa Tasmania Rally. Jeremy Clarkson and Dr. Phil also make appearances.

Each of these films or portions of them can be found on YouTube or some other gearhead-oriented website. If you like what you see, go search, locate, buy and enjoy.

My only warning is that price varies by popularity and "cult" status, so you may have to pay accordingly. I actually own copies of all of the ones I have listed because unlike my children, I actually enjoy putting a real live disc into a little machine that communicates with a projector, which puts an 8-foot-wide image up on a movie screen as opposed to staring at my smartphone all afternoon with a set of headphones on.

Of course, if you really want to lose an entire winter’s afternoon in Porsche video heaven, try going to YouTube and typing in Porsche 917.