Mike M
New member
Only mentioning this as I still have a smile on my face! I was very fortunate to get an invite to a "Driving Experience" held by my local OPC. Now I own and have done for 7 or so years a 1994 993 C2, very nice car and what I thought to be Nippy Enough!
However at getting the offer to attend the "Driving Experience" I snapped up the opportunity and was allocated a 997 C2 during the pre-booking of the event. Upon arrival I was asked "would you like to drive a Turbo as we have a Turbo S here" well it took me a total of no seconds at all to accept the generous offer and I was taken outside by the "Porsche Driver" who would accompany me on my jaunt. Now I expected during this hour excursion for him to drive for 59 minutes and me to tootle back for the last minute not going over 30mph. However upon arriving at the shiny black Turbo he gave me the keys and told me to get in. He went through the basics of the car, the sports modes, driving assists and the options for gear change which appear to be far more than my memory can retain. Then off we went onto some amazing B roads with a range of smart bends and ruler straight drags. Now the ground was wet and I was very apprehensive but hugely excited so I kept everything sensible, especially saying we were on the public highway. There were 3 main highlights to the journey:
1 Emergency stop- now I always thought the 993 brakes were pretty adequate, until he requested an emergency stop to prove the efficiency of the ceramic breaks. My goodness you'd of thought I'd wound the window down and threw out an anchor. Now after I pulled my face out of the dashboard:
2 Drop down- again I've never really been disappointed with the torque on my 993; however that was before I was told at cruising speed in the turbo to plant the accelerator into the carpet lifting back off as quick as I could plant it down which would stimulate the auto box to drop to the lowest available gear and it did, dropping 4 gears instantly, plant the accelerator again and your off. The pick up on this thing was unbelievable. You see all the racing journalists in these things saying how fast they are but it really is something you can't comprehend until you're in it! Then the finale
3 Auto Launch- Now I was asked to pull over, left foot break and ram the accelerator into the carpet again and when told to do so, lift off the break and keep the loud pedal down. Now again considering the damp conditions, traction was virtually instant and this thing went off like a scalded cat, the speed of the thing was immense!
In short I learnt the one thing I always wanted to know in the actual taking part and that was what the difference is between a Sports Car and a Super Car and the two couldn't be more far apart.
I do feel extremely fortunate to have had the chance to drive this thing at a cost of just over £125k, 530bhp, 3.3 seconds to 60 and 194mph top end. I believe it is the fastest road going car Porsche has built to date and if the "Porsche Driver" was factually correct, the only thing to keep up with it to 60mph would be the Veyron! Now I love my 993; however if I had the chance to swap it for one of these monsters, I'd do it in a heart beat!
(I need to point out that obviously National speed limits were never exceeded!)
Thought it rude not to share the experiance!
However at getting the offer to attend the "Driving Experience" I snapped up the opportunity and was allocated a 997 C2 during the pre-booking of the event. Upon arrival I was asked "would you like to drive a Turbo as we have a Turbo S here" well it took me a total of no seconds at all to accept the generous offer and I was taken outside by the "Porsche Driver" who would accompany me on my jaunt. Now I expected during this hour excursion for him to drive for 59 minutes and me to tootle back for the last minute not going over 30mph. However upon arriving at the shiny black Turbo he gave me the keys and told me to get in. He went through the basics of the car, the sports modes, driving assists and the options for gear change which appear to be far more than my memory can retain. Then off we went onto some amazing B roads with a range of smart bends and ruler straight drags. Now the ground was wet and I was very apprehensive but hugely excited so I kept everything sensible, especially saying we were on the public highway. There were 3 main highlights to the journey:
1 Emergency stop- now I always thought the 993 brakes were pretty adequate, until he requested an emergency stop to prove the efficiency of the ceramic breaks. My goodness you'd of thought I'd wound the window down and threw out an anchor. Now after I pulled my face out of the dashboard:
2 Drop down- again I've never really been disappointed with the torque on my 993; however that was before I was told at cruising speed in the turbo to plant the accelerator into the carpet lifting back off as quick as I could plant it down which would stimulate the auto box to drop to the lowest available gear and it did, dropping 4 gears instantly, plant the accelerator again and your off. The pick up on this thing was unbelievable. You see all the racing journalists in these things saying how fast they are but it really is something you can't comprehend until you're in it! Then the finale
3 Auto Launch- Now I was asked to pull over, left foot break and ram the accelerator into the carpet again and when told to do so, lift off the break and keep the loud pedal down. Now again considering the damp conditions, traction was virtually instant and this thing went off like a scalded cat, the speed of the thing was immense!
In short I learnt the one thing I always wanted to know in the actual taking part and that was what the difference is between a Sports Car and a Super Car and the two couldn't be more far apart.
I do feel extremely fortunate to have had the chance to drive this thing at a cost of just over £125k, 530bhp, 3.3 seconds to 60 and 194mph top end. I believe it is the fastest road going car Porsche has built to date and if the "Porsche Driver" was factually correct, the only thing to keep up with it to 60mph would be the Veyron! Now I love my 993; however if I had the chance to swap it for one of these monsters, I'd do it in a heart beat!
(I need to point out that obviously National speed limits were never exceeded!)
Thought it rude not to share the experiance!
]) I share your enthusiasm for the car! We had a register trip over last weekend in N Wales and there were two Turbo S's among the gathering. (see 997 forum -members section) Just stunning on those long and winding roads. And, like you, legal speed limits were never exceeded..........
