Page 48 - KCRPCA-JanFeb2017R1

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January / February 2017
course and a straight line acceleration and braking area. Patrick said, “We have 90 minutes, have at it, sir “.
I start with the road course. Easy at rst, with Patrick giving me some guidance on the rst few laps. Then I let it all hang out, and Holy Crap! I have lots of experience driving 911 Turbos as fast as I can. I have instructed in newer 911’s and always been impressed with the capabilities of the cars. Porsche has always prided itself in continuous improvement of their cars. The slope of the improvement curve between my 1982 930 and my 2002 996tt is a steep one; the slope between the 2002 996tt and this 2016 991 Turbo is basically a vertical line. The capability of the car is almost unbelievable, as it is nearly impossible to make it unsettled. PDK in Sport Chrono, upshifts coming at the redline, downshifts perfectly timed and throttle matched, all happening so quickly the car is always perfectly at ease. With Patrick guiding me and encouraging me to push harder, we are passing everyone (except Richard and the GT3!) every other lap.
Moving on to the slalom course, we try several passes with all the electronic controls on then a few with the controls off. What a difference, the surprising thing to me is how unobtrusive the electronic controls are when they are in operation. On the acceleration/ braking area Patrick tells me that 1.2g acceleration and 1.3g braking are pretty good numbers. My results, 1.27g and 1.39g are right up there.
Even on the wet skid pad, it is hard to get the car to be unstable. After a couple of rounds, Patrick says to wait until the rear end just starts to go out, then give it full throttle. That seems a bit extreme to me, unleashing 540hp in a low traction situation, but I give it a try. The car kicks out to about 45 degrees, stays there and just goes around and around, water pluming 20 feet in the air. I am grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
Too soon we are getting to the end of our time, so I hit the road course for the last 15 minutes. I am getting the feel for the car now and it just seems to get faster and faster. Go deeper into every corner, hammer the brakes, then full throttle through the apex, this thing is unbelievable. It makes me wonder with real interest what Porsche can do to improve this thing. Wow.
We nish our session and make our way to the 356 Café for a very delicious meal to top off the experience. Richard and Regina start their trip back to KC while Pop Pop and the Track Rat and me head back to South Carolina.
I can’t thank Aristocrat enough for the opportunity to sample the Porsche Experience. It is something that all Porschephiles should consider doing.
~ Bob