Was invited to this event this past weekend which was a blast. I’ve had 3 Porsche’s so it’s nice to see that they “give back” to their customers every so often, maybe trying to get me back to the brand?! LOL. I’ve attended a similar event for BMW (twice) and anytime you get to beat on cars that aren’t yours, on a track – with specialists, it’s bound to be a good time.
Once again all pics were taken via iPhone other than the “official” ones taken by Porsche for the media portion of the site. There was also a section where they gave us a camera and asked us to take pics which were automatically uploaded which was pretty cool.
Welcome tent, a bunch of the latest models outside (no 918- boo LOL) – A/C blasting inside which was helpful as it was pushing 100 deg outside plus incoming showers LOL. Yellow 991 was a Porsche Exclusive build.
Nice lineup – aside from the Cayman R, we drove each of these models.
Got my badge and grabbed a snack inside.
They had a few #forza4 setups for entertainment – John P and the boys would be happy with the Forza love.
They had a Panamera GTS setup inside along with a mini Porsche Design store.
Track Talk seating area.
Discussion area – they joked about a timeshare presentation which made a bunch of us laugh…
The day consisted of three events. One on the track, one on the autocross and a technology event that you could test acceleration between a hybrid and “normal” Porsche. All of the pics I took were from the track event, which was the most fun (although all three were exciting in their own way)
Walking out to the track and you see a rack full of helmets – definitely a good sign haha.
Pic courtesy of Porsche North America – that’s me in the drivers seat of the Panamera GTS. For this event, you drive the GTS, the 991 Carrera and the 991 Carrera S around the track back to back, following an instructor. The faster your group goes, the faster the instructor will drive. 🙂
I was directly behind the instructor – fun for me, fun for my passenger, not so good for the people behind LOL.
Joking around in the 991 C2S LOL.
Apparently I was a bit “too fast” on the track, the instructor car and I had to actually stop about halfway thru the track (118MPH on the straight if I remember correctly) – I was fastest in the Carrera S (even got a little squirrely towards the end), but the GTS felt the most planted to me. Regardless, the PDK was amazing in all the cars – faster than the DCT (BMW), much sportier but would be a challenge to see if it was as “smooth” in city driving.
Next up was the autocross in the new 2013 Boxster S.
A very fun car, has the PDK – mini CGT looks. I don’t think this will be looked at as the “can’t afford a 911” or “girlie” version of Porsche anymore. We had the opportunity to drive a full autocross (2 laps) for this event – my instructor felt uber-comfortable since he let me take a 3rd lap LOL! Fastest I’ve driven on a autocross course for sure.
No pics of the last “technology” event where we drove a hybrid next to a standard motor back to back. I was really surprised of the acceleration “feel” and would def. consider a hybrid Porsche (esp since we have a Prius daily beater) in the future. Hybrid economy with the same Porsche Performance – not bad. They also had Wired magazine onsite loaning us DSLR’s to take our own pics that automatically upload pics, here’s the one I took.
If you happen to get an invitation to the Porsche World Roadshow I would definitely suggest you attend, great opportunity to test cars in an environment that you wouldn’t be able to normally. The event is designed to bring people either back/to the Porsche brand and I’d have to say that it is has definitely put some extra insight into my next vehicle.