My Passion With Carol Jessop

People think having a passion for Porsches costs a fortune, but it really depends which model you have. We bought our 1987 911 Supersport when our son was born, which I guess is an odd time to buy one, but it cost a lot less than a new Ford Focus and is a lot more fun.

Admittedly, it has got more expensive over time as we have recently had it renovated, but it has increased in value too.

We bought our second Porsche, a 1987 944, four years ago for our day to day car. It cost just £1,800 for a high performance sports car which has proved very reliable.

We have now had to buy a VW Golf GTi as the family car because our son has grown a bit big for the back seats in the Porsches.

We have kept the 944 because we love it so much and my husband Mark uses it for track days.

Mark has been the driving force behind the Porsches (excuse the pun). He was a Porsche enthusiast when I met him and can name any model from the shape of a headlight.

But I’ve always been interested in cars. When I was very young my dad had a different car every week, his hobby was repairing cars.

As the oldest of three girls, I spent most of my time in the garage being his mechanic.

We joined Porsche Club GB when we bought the 911 and three years ago the regional organiser stepped down, Mark said ‘we can do that’ so we ended up taking on the role.

We organise monthly meetings, drives out, social events and the annual rally and concourse competition which has now become the Yorkshire Porsche Festival.

Members of the club are a very mixed group of lovely people who we really like socialising with.

Being regional organisers is time consuming but it’s very enjoyable. People might think having a Porsche is a status thing but it isn’t.

They are beautiful cars, it’s all about the fun of driving them. We love going out, and people admiring the cars but unlike driving say a Lamborghini or Ferrari, it’s more low key. However, given half a chance Mark would have both of those too!

Being a Porsche fan isn’t exclusive; there are mid-priced cars as well as the more expensive new and vintage models. The Festival saw 400 cars turn up this year in the most beautiful setting – Lotherton Hall near Leeds.

It’s growing more popular each year and draws a whole spectrum of people of all ages, some with children and some who are retired and do what we plan to do in the future and spend their time driving around Europe.

We’re clearly passing on our petrol head passions to the next generation, and what a great heirloom a classic Porsche will be, although Mark says he can’t be parted from the 911 and wants to be buried in it.