PSDS at Laguna
08-23-2010, 07:13 PM
#16
I got an email invitation for the event just a few days before it took place. The actual email didn't make it clear if one had to make specific time reservations or appointments for a particular day of the event (in reality it was first come, first serve). Bay Area Porsche dealers were the 'sponsors', although the email came from PCNA. I don't think Porsche did a very good job advertising/promoting this event at all since it was not that well attended at Laguna Seca. I think half the 'test drivers' were POC track event attendees that were there anyway. I am certain that any large metro area Porsche dealers can sponsor a similar event and PCNA will supply cars & instructors under their advertising/marketing program budget (for a price). Most instructors were pretty content with just letting you flog the car in the mini autocross. Cass Whitehead was one of the few (the other being the Brit) that actually took the time to give me real practical suggestions as to how to take the turns faster (e.g. via allowing light braking to shift weight to the front wheels for better turn-in). There were some guys out there bumping cones all over the place and racing the cars in front of them. They would have also been better served by having a large tv monitor on the waiting tent promoting the Porsche Sport Driving School two day program in Alabama, having Cass and the others give a short speech about it and explaining how that could really help them get the most out of the Porsches they own or may buy. Missed opportunities were the order of the day. z356
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...wP5vzXPQ&pli=1
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...wP5vzXPQ&pli=1
The few times I stood around to watch the autocross thing, they had all cars and drivers moving, so I think they were pretty much fully booked but they did take on additional "walk-ins" when the registered ranks were thinned out. I was surprised they had so many cars there (and somehow coordinated having four cars on a course that was no bigger than the line to get an iPhone on the first day ...)
As you point out -- the marketing side was lax or at least low key to say the very least. I think they were offering literature, but the other side of the coin is PSDS is always sold out months in advance and they're expanding that business to accommodate demand. (Anyone with a Koenigsegg and a GT2 who drives flat out should do all three PSDS levels.)
As for "practical" advice, I've driven under instruction with several of the PSDS instructors there over the weekend (on real tracks at flanking speed) and they're all keen to impart whatever advice is appropriate to the customer. In the context of an autocross playground in the paddock, they were mostly selling the features and performance of the street cars to an audience of customers that were not necessarily even aware of the notion of weight transfer. I might be oversimplifying their job at those promotion events, but it seems to me they are there to a) "pitch" the car in the sales sense and then 2) "pitch" the car in the "pitch and yaw" sense. While I was there, I heard conversations ranging from rear seat leg room, hybrid drive technology, future designs, headlights, you name it, to details of how PTV intervenes or how PSM responds to aggressive driving -- those PSDS guys have been there for years and they've become "jack of all trades" and master of those trades, too.
08-23-2010, 07:36 PM
#17
Nordschleife Master
This event was labelled PDE - Porsche Driving Experience - and I thought they performed that quite well. I think (I may be wrong) that this program was not so much a marketing tool to sell cars, as it was a venue to educate customers - existing and prospective - on car control.
I did the 4-car free program too, and on each run the instructor commented and advised. I am sure that they gauge the customer and adapt... The course was small and bumpy but it offered lots of opportunities to finesse car control. Some people, I am sure, enjoyed it and benefited from it (I did). I saw other people driving very slow and for them that course may have been too much.
I would like to see PSDS do this more often and offer fee-based events, outside their Birmingham base. It would be great if they could have partnered with POC and offer track sessions.
I did the 4-car free program too, and on each run the instructor commented and advised. I am sure that they gauge the customer and adapt... The course was small and bumpy but it offered lots of opportunities to finesse car control. Some people, I am sure, enjoyed it and benefited from it (I did). I saw other people driving very slow and for them that course may have been too much.
I would like to see PSDS do this more often and offer fee-based events, outside their Birmingham base. It would be great if they could have partnered with POC and offer track sessions.
