adamsclubs

Yeah, I signed up but two hours later needed to make a schedule change, saw slots filling up right in front of my eyes. It was a close call.

12iceman

I managed to register for the Sonoma event last month (and even then most of the times were already taken). My appointment is tomorrow afternoon and I'm really looking forward to it!

kitwetzler

Attended on Friday. If you are a track junkie, this is not an event for you. If you have never been on a track before, you might have fun. I probably would have gotten more out of a regular test drive. You do a really slow lead follow session, and, at Sears Point, you don't even get to go through Turn 1, they only allow you 3/4ths of a lap and then you're done.

991Dreamer

Just returned home from the Sonoma event. Great fun! As mentioned by others, it is not a regular track event or DE. Still fun though. Was able to get up to around 80 mph top speed and took a couple of turns fast enough to cause a moment of blurred vision. Guy I was in the car with kept telling me to slow down. Wuss. Would certainly attend again. I arrived a couple of hours before my scheduled time and was bored after about a half hour.

12iceman

Here's a video I took at the Sonoma event (while waiting for it to be my turn to drive):


I agree with 991Dreamer that while the driving style was not that aggressive, it was still quite a bit fun to drive around the track a few times. Since the cars (and the track) were new to most of the participants (with had varying driving skills), I thought the Porsche drivers did a good job of setting a pace that was safe for everyone but still fun.

The autocross portion was not as exciting since the Porsche drivers riding along with you would politely ask you to slow down if you tried to drive too aggressively. This seemed odd to me (as someone who has driven autocross before) since it was a big empty flat of asphalt with only cones to hit, but it was their event and their cars so I toned it down as requested. Perhaps it was related to the fact that they only had us wearing helmets for the track portion or the fact that the Cayenne's had higher centers of gravity than what you would normally find on an autocross.

I would say my biggest take away was that I greatly missed my manual gearbox (all the cars were PDK or Tiptronic). I don't know if I would ever be able to switch without feeling that something is missing. However, the new Cayman S was still quite nice and noticeably more powerful than the base Cayman.

Targa Tim

Well, yes and no.
Attended last year in Ottawa, will go to the Toronto one next weekend.
Driving on track not very fast, no helmets needed for us.
Still it is a very good Porsche event to go to. Well organized, hang out for a day with other Porsche owners. If you get invited, then go.

adamsclubs

I shot several videos with my helmet camera, will post two later. I agree most runs were not that good because cars in front were too slow or weaving all over the track.

systemr

agree, the instructor was driving quite slowly as some people in the group couldn't keep up. and he specifically told people not to use the berms and took a super wide line.

still I brought a friend who wants to buy a porsche and it was his first time on the track, a good event for him

adamsclubs

Oh yeah my buddy had a blast also, I think he had already moved his schedule up getting a 911

Looking at the new Cayman and 991 upclose and side by side, we both thought the 991 was more elegant, the Cayman looked more like a toy.

The two videos below also show the 991 C4S more rev happy. Both the yellow Cayman and Red C4S had sport plus on, only the C4S had PSE also. The 991 was just more fun around the corners and eager to play. Too bad we couldn't really push them both to the limit.

BTW, both videos are 1080p.

fantom

I agree, and thanks for the fine clips. That yellow color makes the Cayman looks more like a toy, IMO.

mile2424

Nice vid's. The instructor my father and I had definitely wasn't talking throughout the run like that which was more pleasant in my opinion. Also seems like those video's you guys were going very cautiously around the corners. I guess it varies group to group, but our group was definitely getting it on it a little more. Still looks like fun!

adamsclubs

Yeah the driver two cars in front of me was really slow, that took some fun out of it. Also videos always make it look slower than you actually feel on the track.

Our instructor had to tell us he was slowing down to wait for the slow car to get back in line, I did not post that clip because it wasn't much fun

adamsclubs

My pleasure.

It is not just the color, but the lines on the new Cayman made it look even more like a playful little brother, but I guess this is exactly what Porsche wanted it to be.

Since you guys liked the vids, I am posting another one in the C4. This I called the "Warm Up Lap", it was the first time on the track, still trying to be familiar with it. As you can see no slow car in front of me, had this line up continued in the Cayman S and 991 C4S, the instructor could have us opening up all the way

On a side note, yes I did notice our instructor was a lot more talkative, that might have distracted one or two drivers. But I was fine with his, and now I am making the video clip, it actually sounded like a nice instructional video with a good pat on the back at the end.

Some of the drivers were actually checking out the stereo sound systems, I had to turn off the radio blast in two cars I got in.