You may have noticed in this month's PP an event staged by Porsche Experience Centre at Elvington Airfield near York today. It was held in support of the Afghan Heroes charity and all entrants paid £60 for 2 runs down the 2 mile runway.
Mike Dumville, the instructor, had managed to get 60 people enrolled for the day and four of us were from Region 7 (Yorkshire). My run was timed for 10.00 am so I arrived around 9.15 to watch the earlier runs take place.
A 997.2 PDK Turbo cab in white with a blue hood had been brought from Silverstone for the event and was recording max speeds in the region of 180 mph for the first few runs.
PC Leeds had also provided a couple of demos for static display - a Cayman S and a 997.2 PDK Turbo Coupe. I went out to admire the turbo before my run and thought it was simply stunning. In metallic grey (Meteor?) with grey leather and lots of carbon bits it looked fantastic and had only done a little over 700 miles. I remember seeing it at the PC a few weeks before and being told its list price was £120k!
Anyway, a couple of runs before mine, the Turbo cab developed a problem, going off boost for no apparent reason. We all looked pretty glum thinking that we wouldn't get the chance to max the car after all. However, after a few phone calls, Mike persuaded PC Leeds to let us use their Turbo demo for the rest of the event.
Mine was the 3rd or 4th run in it and I knew having seen a couple of other runs that it sounded like a jet aircraft tearing down the runway. Mike set the Sport Plus mode and told me to 'nail it' - the acceleration was like nothing else I had experienced before - absolutely astounding and it kept on going up to 182mph. Two of the other guys from our Region managed 186 mph and one hit 187! We have all owned Porsches for many years and two of us had owned 930 and 993 turbos in the past but we were completely staggered by the accceleration and performance of the new 997 version.
I had to leave around lunchtime so didn't see all of the runs but would just like to thank Mike and Porsche Experience for organising the event and PC Leeds for their generosity in allowing their demo car to be used.
Mike Dumville, the instructor, had managed to get 60 people enrolled for the day and four of us were from Region 7 (Yorkshire). My run was timed for 10.00 am so I arrived around 9.15 to watch the earlier runs take place.
A 997.2 PDK Turbo cab in white with a blue hood had been brought from Silverstone for the event and was recording max speeds in the region of 180 mph for the first few runs.
PC Leeds had also provided a couple of demos for static display - a Cayman S and a 997.2 PDK Turbo Coupe. I went out to admire the turbo before my run and thought it was simply stunning. In metallic grey (Meteor?) with grey leather and lots of carbon bits it looked fantastic and had only done a little over 700 miles. I remember seeing it at the PC a few weeks before and being told its list price was £120k!
Anyway, a couple of runs before mine, the Turbo cab developed a problem, going off boost for no apparent reason. We all looked pretty glum thinking that we wouldn't get the chance to max the car after all. However, after a few phone calls, Mike persuaded PC Leeds to let us use their Turbo demo for the rest of the event.
Mine was the 3rd or 4th run in it and I knew having seen a couple of other runs that it sounded like a jet aircraft tearing down the runway. Mike set the Sport Plus mode and told me to 'nail it' - the acceleration was like nothing else I had experienced before - absolutely astounding and it kept on going up to 182mph. Two of the other guys from our Region managed 186 mph and one hit 187! We have all owned Porsches for many years and two of us had owned 930 and 993 turbos in the past but we were completely staggered by the accceleration and performance of the new 997 version.
I had to leave around lunchtime so didn't see all of the runs but would just like to thank Mike and Porsche Experience for organising the event and PC Leeds for their generosity in allowing their demo car to be used.
