Porsche Driving Experience Atlanta
06-20-2019, 09:50 PM
#16
Indeed, the Solis is now owned by Kimpton. It is a fantastic hotel and a one minute walk to PEC. As someone else mentioned, the area around the airport is not great. But if you're sticking to PEC and the hotel, it is fine. I stay at that hotel every time I go to Atlanta. Kimpton fan 😁
i should have mentioned I worked in Marietta and lived in Sminings for two years.
07-08-2019, 02:46 PM
#17
Just came back from PDE-Atlanta and had a great time..
1. Stayed the night before at the Kimpton Overland Hotel (old Solis) - very nice hotel, Porsche themed.. They have a free shuttle to/from the airport every 1/2 hour (as the Porsche HQ is basically adjacent to the end of a runway - though we could not hear planes/noise from our room). Rooms have Porsche related pics, wheel-themed headboards, etc. Definitely play to the audience - the rooftop bar has a great view of the track. We asked for a room with a view of Porsche/track and were able to watch the 9am time slot drivers for a bit before heading over. The walk over to Porsche is a few hundred feet or so. You have to check in at the guard house and then walk in the main entrance and you'll get checked in for your experience. Personally, I would highly recommend this hotel prior to an am slot for your drive..
2. There is a cafe, a full service restaurant (Restaurant 356 - on opentable for reservations), the museum, a showroom on the main floor with the cafe - with several new models (this past friday they had 2 speedsters, 1 British racing green GT3 touring (which I think was the one that had a youtube video I had seen before, highlighting the owners use of a designer and porsche exclusive), a GT2 RS, a 992 Silver S, and a Purple Targa. There's also a lot of paint, leather, and other samples for those wanting a look at what's available from the "Exclusive" arm.. More people might go exclusive, if every dealer had that extensive a display of parts. Kind of cool to see step by step how a PDK shifter is made from a solid aluminum block to the finished products by showing samples of it during each step of the process.
3. Lunch at 356 is really good - and I'd do a late lunch after you are done driving - they cross check the driving experience guest list against the people dining in the restaurant and are proactive on not serving alcohol to drivers who have a later spot. (you'd think this would go without saying, but you know, "people"). Nice touches in the restaurant - like the pads of butter are molded into little 911's - but the food is well above the line as well.
4. I chose to drive a 911 4S (since it's what I own and wanted to understand at the limit with the instructor). They had about everything out there - GT3's were pretty popular - I got a lot out of the course specific to the vehicle I own, but I also see the appeal of a rear wheel drive car with several of the modules on the track - if I was just choosing any of the vehicles and wasnt looking to learn about the dynamics of my 4S, I'd have chosen a RWD car - for some of the drifting, etc.
5. You can pretty much spend as much time or as little with each of the driving modules as you want. The modules are 1. 1 mile handling, 2. Kick Plate 3. Wet low friction circle 4. dynamics area, 5 low friction handling circuit. I spent a lot of time trying to get the kick plate right, and a lot of time on the wet low friction circle, getting the car into a drift for about 1/3 of the circle - it's hard to drift a 4s. We had many runs on the handling circuit and a number of launches and hard braking in the dynamics area, along with a few runs on the slalom cones. Time goes quick, but you also wear out. We didn't have time for the low friction circuit - but given everything, I'll be back. We pulled in with about 5 min to spare, and my instructor gave my wife a couple of hot laps - which was fantastic!
6. We hit lunch soon after and then went and perused the museum. Besides the Martini Racing exhibits, and a 918, there are a lot of gems to look over. After you exit the museum, there's the classic restoration department where you can see some restorations in process.
7. Lastly we hit the gift shop which has a nice selection (but not an exhaustive collection) of Porsche goods.
We will be back again - I can't recommend enough - everything is top notch.
1. Stayed the night before at the Kimpton Overland Hotel (old Solis) - very nice hotel, Porsche themed.. They have a free shuttle to/from the airport every 1/2 hour (as the Porsche HQ is basically adjacent to the end of a runway - though we could not hear planes/noise from our room). Rooms have Porsche related pics, wheel-themed headboards, etc. Definitely play to the audience - the rooftop bar has a great view of the track. We asked for a room with a view of Porsche/track and were able to watch the 9am time slot drivers for a bit before heading over. The walk over to Porsche is a few hundred feet or so. You have to check in at the guard house and then walk in the main entrance and you'll get checked in for your experience. Personally, I would highly recommend this hotel prior to an am slot for your drive..
2. There is a cafe, a full service restaurant (Restaurant 356 - on opentable for reservations), the museum, a showroom on the main floor with the cafe - with several new models (this past friday they had 2 speedsters, 1 British racing green GT3 touring (which I think was the one that had a youtube video I had seen before, highlighting the owners use of a designer and porsche exclusive), a GT2 RS, a 992 Silver S, and a Purple Targa. There's also a lot of paint, leather, and other samples for those wanting a look at what's available from the "Exclusive" arm.. More people might go exclusive, if every dealer had that extensive a display of parts. Kind of cool to see step by step how a PDK shifter is made from a solid aluminum block to the finished products by showing samples of it during each step of the process.
3. Lunch at 356 is really good - and I'd do a late lunch after you are done driving - they cross check the driving experience guest list against the people dining in the restaurant and are proactive on not serving alcohol to drivers who have a later spot. (you'd think this would go without saying, but you know, "people"). Nice touches in the restaurant - like the pads of butter are molded into little 911's - but the food is well above the line as well.
4. I chose to drive a 911 4S (since it's what I own and wanted to understand at the limit with the instructor). They had about everything out there - GT3's were pretty popular - I got a lot out of the course specific to the vehicle I own, but I also see the appeal of a rear wheel drive car with several of the modules on the track - if I was just choosing any of the vehicles and wasnt looking to learn about the dynamics of my 4S, I'd have chosen a RWD car - for some of the drifting, etc.
5. You can pretty much spend as much time or as little with each of the driving modules as you want. The modules are 1. 1 mile handling, 2. Kick Plate 3. Wet low friction circle 4. dynamics area, 5 low friction handling circuit. I spent a lot of time trying to get the kick plate right, and a lot of time on the wet low friction circle, getting the car into a drift for about 1/3 of the circle - it's hard to drift a 4s. We had many runs on the handling circuit and a number of launches and hard braking in the dynamics area, along with a few runs on the slalom cones. Time goes quick, but you also wear out. We didn't have time for the low friction circuit - but given everything, I'll be back. We pulled in with about 5 min to spare, and my instructor gave my wife a couple of hot laps - which was fantastic!
6. We hit lunch soon after and then went and perused the museum. Besides the Martini Racing exhibits, and a 918, there are a lot of gems to look over. After you exit the museum, there's the classic restoration department where you can see some restorations in process.
7. Lastly we hit the gift shop which has a nice selection (but not an exhaustive collection) of Porsche goods.
We will be back again - I can't recommend enough - everything is top notch.
The following 4 users liked this post by MDelaney:
07-09-2019, 09:06 PM
#18
So I booked Saturday 9/21 at 9AM for "Mastering the Manual".
I also reserved a room Fri and Sat night at the Kimpton Overland Hotel next door. We are driving up from Tampa Friday night.
Should be fun.
I also reserved a room Fri and Sat night at the Kimpton Overland Hotel next door. We are driving up from Tampa Friday night.
Should be fun.