Chris3963

I am 2 days in to a 3 day Camp4 driving course with Porsche in Finland. A rather excellent thread on this event has already been posted on the GT3 Forum by 24Chromium so I won't repeat all the stuff he has already covered other than to say, it is an amazing event in which to participate. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who might be considering going. You can read 24Chromium's thread for details.

The whole Porsche Driving School fleet has been refreshed for 2016. Last year, you had quite a fine grained choice from Cayman's, Boxsters, GT4s, 911 S, Turbos, GT3, etc. For 2016 they have slimmed down the menu to just Cayman S, GT4, 911 Carrera, 911 Turbo, GT3 RS.

For Camp4, you get a 991.2 S. There is no choice. So when we arrived on the first day, we were confronted with a sea of 991.2 S. All with PSE.

After two days of driving, there is not much more to say that I haven't already mentioned in another post of my first test drive. That's mainly because you are never doing anymore than 60-70 kph so everything is happening in slow motion. As has been said, they are certainly quieter, but also, deeper, more throaty....and bizarrely enough, they sound more like my GT3 at low engine revs that a 991.1 S with PSE. Up high is a different story but lower down in the rev range, they sound a bit alike.

With regards to turbo lag, many of the exercises rely upon subtle but quick throttle response and at no time have I noticed any lag at all. Indeed the torque has been very good to help get the car sideways without a large throttle input. So far, I have quite enjoyed the car. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Grunty

Brrrrrr.

CSK 911 C4S

Have you driven a 2wd and a 4wd back to back in those conditions? How did it handle?


I hope you got to do some of this:

Chris3963

No I didn't. They are all 2S cars. We are mostly driving with PSM off but the cars have studded tyres (1.5m studs) so hard to tell how a 4S would go.

Key Left

Hard to say, but from my upstate New York driving upbringing you would not feel throttle lag on slippery surfaces as the natural winter wheel spin tends to soak that time up. I'm guessing it would be most pronounced with slicks (if PCNA permitted such things) on dry payment where the traction bite is positive and immediate.

AdPock

here's a story about the recent Camp4 in Quebec. It sounds incredible...
https://rennlist.com/articles/you-kn...riving-school/

Chris3963

I am now back from Camp4 and thought I would post some additional details for those who are interested.

Camp4 is held at the Porsche Winter facility about 25kms north of a ski village called Levi in Finland which is approx 900kms north of Helsinki. We are actually 170kms inside the Artic Circle just above the 67th parallel. To put that in perspective for the Southern Hemisphere, the 67th parallel is effectively in Antartica.

Porsche pick you up at the airport in Kittila and take you to the hotel which is right on the slopes of Levi. They pretty much book the whole hotel for 3 months from Jan-March. This year they are putting over 1,800 people thru the various courses so it is extremely popular.

Day 1 was an interesting day. Not too cold thank god. Only around -7C so you could stand outside for awhile to chat to the instructors. There were around 50 people on the course. Normally two people share a car and rotate the driving duties but I booked as a sole driver.

For the first day we did 4 exercises - Slalom, Moose Test, Drifting in a Circle and Advance braking. Sunset is a little after 3:30pm so the last exercise was conducted with full headlights in the dark.

It’s all very different to the driving courses at Leipzig where it is all about being hard on the brakes and hard on the accelerator. On ice, it’s all about gentle precise inputs. I had to rewire my brain.

On Day 2, we did another 4 exercises. The Scandinavian flick in the Flick Square, 4wheel drifting in a big Oval, Drifting combined with a Flick in a Figure 8 and the Slalom again. It’s hard work.

The final Day 3 was a long and intense day. We started the morning off with a repeat of the Flick Square and the Figure 8. After a coffee break we went to the handling circuits to try and put it all together. They have 6 different handling circuits of varying shapes, speed and complexity. They are reasonably long and were as icy as hell. If you gas the car just a fraction too much, the car just spins. And that’s with studs.

The first circuit we did was the high speed circuit. What FUN! Holding a drift at 80kph around a long icy sweeper just by brushing the brakes is one of the best thrills I have ever had in a car period. After lunch, we then did two more handling circuits. These were a bit slower and a bit more challenging with some very tight hairpins and some high speed essess where you had to flick one way, then quickly the other thru 3 corners followed by a Scandinavian Flick at the 4th to get around a very tight left hander. Challenging stuff.

Although almost as rewarding is learning how to do a slow motion drift around a very, very slow tight hairpin. You come into the corner of pure ice at no more than maybe 8-10kph max. Lightly touch the brakes, turn into the corner and then wait. (and I emphasise the wait part). It seems like you wait, and you wait, and you wait, then the back end slowly comes around, you apply some opposite lock and gas it to the next corner ever so slightly. If you are too impatient, (i.e. not waiting for the drift or to early on the gas) which most people are to begin with, it just spins. But when you get it right it is like ballet and so, so rewarding.

Without doubt, this is best time I have ever had behind the wheel of a car and that includes fanging it around Leipzig and Spa Francorchamps. It’s that much fun.

if you get a chance do it! Some photos from Porsche's professional photographer.