Ken P

I got a chance to go to a Porsche Performance Drives event at Pike Peak International Raceway.
A friend of mine got a couple of slots for the drive sent to him. Luckily, he chose me to be his guest.
I have been to PPIR for local PCA Drivers Ed events and was familiar with the track. We got to drive on the track, Lead / Follow, in a Boxster GTS, a 911 Carrera T, a 911 Carrera GTS and a Cayman S.


We got 2 laps each, then switch driver and passenger, then 2 more laps. Then into the pit lane and move the the next car. The last car in line was the 911 Carrera GTS and had cameras in it that they saved a file for each driver.
During the orientation, the presenter said the usually it is 50/50 when he asks which car is better, the Boxster or the 911. Yes, I own a '89 928 GT. The 928 has a nice deep rumble for an exhaust note, and very nice! The 718, Boxster / Cayman had a muted rumble for an exhaust note. I was surprised by this, I thought with the engine being so close (mid engine) that the engine sound would be louder. The 911 had a more raspy, aggressive exhaust sound that made me smile! I mentioned after the drive, in a group, that I really liked the sound of the exhaust on the 911 and another participant said he did not even hear it. I responded that it added to the experience for me. I always like to here the 928, and I have stock exhaust, just turn the radio down. The opposite of when I was much younger, turn the radio up to not hear the bad sounds (squeaks and rattles).

Then we went to a street drive in a Panamera 4 E-Hybrid and a Macan GTS. Our street drive was just down to Pueblo and back, about 30 min each way, with stops along the way to switch driver and passenger and then to the other vehicle. I was impressed with the Panamera power under acceleration, in sport mode. The electric only mode, only provided about 25 mile range and left me feeling I needed more power. I thought the seats were plain, standard high end seats, but like a bench seat. The Macan GTS, had great seats, but the power felt like it was lacking for a Porsche, even though it was a turbo.

Then we went to do an Autocross in the Cayman GTS. I have never driven an autocross event. We did these one at a time in 3 Macan GTS's, with a race car driver as passenger giving us tips along the way. We only got 2 laps, barely enough to even try to figure out braking points.
Then they did a competition to see who could complete the Autocross in the fastest time. One lap, again with a race drive in the passenger seat to give tips. The prize a Bose bluetooth speaker. During my first two laps, the race driver said I could be in the running for the prize. And during the timed lap that passenger race driver also said I could be in the running for the top couple of spots! I blew the last two corners and pushed pretty hard, I could feel the front tires pushing and sort of rolling over. I figured they said that to everybody to make them feel good, they were trying to sell us cars after all.

Then we went back to the track to do a ride along in a Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo, Something like 650hp, 0-60 in 3.2 seconds, with Launch Control. One quick lap around the track. It was fun, got to about 120mph, then it was over.
Then they announced the winner of the Autocross, It was me!
I had the best time of 20.1 seconds, only 5 of us were in the 20's. The closest 2 were .4 and .6 seconds behind me.

There were 54 drivers that put in a timed lap, I guess not to bad for blowing the last 2 corners, or maybe that was the right way to drive it.
I was pretty impressed that the 2 different race car drivers could tell that I was one of the fastest on the course, but probably not really the fastest ever......

All in all, a pretty good day playing with Porsches.

I would have like more competitive laps on the track and could have done without the street drive. But they were trying to sell new Porsche's!

TikiLou

Very cool...and that's a lot of drivers for an event like that. How long did it last from start to finish? Congrats on your win

Ken P

I think they did 3 days and 6 sessions, am and pm. We were there from about 1:30 to 5:30. So 4 to 5 hours.
They said they had 50 new cars there.

DR

Hi Ken,

Wow cool is that! You are a lucky son of a gun, oh and you have a DARN GREAT FRIEND! We should all be so lucky!!

Oh, nice driving skills, kudos to you!

Cheers,

Dave