Porsche Experience: Tracking Porsche’s Hottest Models & Autocrossing a Base Taycan
Four-Doors on Track
The Autocross was fun and eye-opening. But the racetrack is where I want to be. Next up it was time to drive the Panamera 4S around the Lightning course at NJMP. These were lead follow laps, but the lead car was driven by a professional instructor from the Porsche Track Experience. He was not driving slow parade laps here; he was trying to get us to push the cars as much as we could. The group of cars behind him was a mix of models.
Right behind him was me in the Panamera 4S. Behind me was a Macan S, then another Panamera 4S, and at the back another Macan S. We had radios in the car so the instructor could communicate with us around the track.
The Panamera 4S performed like a sports car on the track, end of story. I have driven a couple thousand laps of this course in many different vehicles, and the big Panamera sedan handled it as well as any. It is not a GT3 of course, but the steering and acceleration, and handling for a car you could easily road trip across the country with your family is amazing.
That dual personality of this car is what hits you. Mild mannered and comfy most of the time. However, you can just roll up to your local track and set competitive lap times all day long. Would the Macan S be as impressive?
After a few laps, I hopped into the Macan S. It does not have quite the same sports car feel of the sedan, but that should not surprise anyone. It leaned a bit more, and the brakes were not as strong. However, we can’t lose sight of the fact that this is an SUV. This is not the Porsche that most people will pick for track days. Yet, the Macan S was more than capable.
If you need more evidence, the instructor leading the group of 911 sports cars was doing so in a Macan S. Most folks will not track this little SUV but seeing what it can do on the track shows you that it can more than handle anything that the average driver will throw at it on the street.
911 4S on Track
What a way to end the day. My final driving station was behind the wheel of a brand new 992 Carrera 4S. When I say brand new, I mean brand spanking new. The 911 I got into had 250 miles on it. This is how you properly break in a sports car. There were four 911 4S models in our group being led by the instructor in the Macan S. I again jumped in the lead car just behind the instructor. Time for some fun.
I can’t write anything here that has not already been said about how the 911 performs on a racetrack. You just have to experience it. There has been complaining about the 992 getting too big and becoming a grand touring car now, and I get that. But drive the car on the track and you will instantly realize that it is still very much a sports car.
Yes, it is larger and more luxurious nowadays, but the acceleration and handling and precision of the car is stellar. The instructor obviously can drive the wheels off the Macan S and is much more talented than I am. But there was no way that even he could stay ahead of me in the 911. I was lifting all over the place to keep from overtaking. The speed this car is capable of is astonishing.
I know the Turbo and GT models get all the press and set the fastest times. That is understandable and those models are amazing. They are also quite a bit more expensive. The performance of the regular S model 911 is astonishing and this little taste of it around the track proved that you don’t need the top rung models to have a good time.
Porsche makes sure that the DNA of what makes a Porsche a Porsche is in everything they make.
Wrap Up
After the driving exercises we were given a little gift bag with a Porsche hat and some other little goodies. We were then provided lunch at the track club house and that was it. The Porsche Experience event was well run, and it was a great chance to sample some of the models in way that would normally result in a visit to the police station.
The only problem now is deciding which new model I should order. The event might have been free to attend but could end up costing me over a hundred grand. Porsche really knows what they are doing.
Photos: Joe Kucinski
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