Thought you'd be interested, includes GT2 drive...

Earlier today I attended the 911 Invitation to Drive Event, at the Chobham facility in Surrey.

The day started at Foxhills country club nearby, which was about as obvious a display of wealth as I have ever seen; a beautiful old manor house with 4 golf courses and full leisure and restaurant facilities; Porsche picked well, although a tiny bit stuffy for my liking. The Porsche driving guys themselves though are completely grounded and soon get things back on an even keel with some coffee and bacon rolls before we head out.

I drove to the test facility in a C4S and we headed for the brake test area. I did numerous emergency style stops from 30 and 70 mph; without hands and including a lane change. Later in the day I was to take a C2S with ceramic brakes through a similar exercise for comparison. My opinion was the steel and ceramic seemed to stop you in the same time but that the ceramic was much more present (really hard to describe) and felt closer to the driver. I’d have it if it was free but I personally would not run to £5K for it.

We then did a little work on balance and control before heads around the track for a couple of sighting laps before what was to follow….Here the instructor did one lap showing the turning and braking points before a did a couple and gained the feel of the track. The track was actually quite tough; for those that don’t know Chobham it is an old military facility, so the track is by no means smooth and there is none; and I mean zero run off – the edge of the track is literally 2 feet from the tree line – this has the effect of making you very wary on the track and also dumping leaves on an already damp and greasy track.

Q the GT2 – OMG – and here I really do mean Oh My God….I am still on a high – this car is nothing short of magnificent. The first thing that hits you is the bucket seats which hold you perfectly in place; the next thing the gearbox which seemed heavy at low speed but which later proved itself to be perfectly weighted at high speed. Then, it is just all about the power and endless amouts of grip. One lap from the instructor then my turn. It accelerated quickly; second gear took me to 70 mph and I was quickly over 100mph where I seemed to stay. The circuit is quite sweeping with only a couple of real corners, which are taken around 70 / 80mph. The rest is a case of keeping speed high by maintaining the correct line….the run into the straight allows two sweeping corners beforehand and entry from the last apex onto the straight at about 105mph – on my first lap (when it was really wet) I floored it at the apex, 4th gear, just over 100mph and got wheel spin; unbelievable. I don’t know how fast I got to be the end of the straight as with the tree line a couple of feet away I was just handing on for dear life and trying to avoid a payout on my life assurance policy! I was at the top end of 5th gear though so maybe approaching 160mph. I did about 6 quick laps before we had to take her in to allow the brakes and tyres to cool down…apparently I had been very aggressive with the car.

Next it was onto a C2S with ceramic brakes. Following the brake runs, see above we drove round in circles so I could learn about the over steer and under steer on the 911. This is definitely different to the Cayman, basically it you don’t throttle balance correctly the back end spins wildly when you remove power, OK with PSM on but with PSM off I spun 540°!!

Then it was back to the track for a few more quick laps. The C2S was very quick and I seemed able to maintain similar speed as with the GT2 through the bends – it just didn’t respond as well when you floored it but still very fast, very balanced and very assured. I ran to about 140mph on the straight and never once thought I was going to die!

The instructors were great and gave me some really good feedback on my driving; apparently I now need to move beyond power – brake – gear shift – turn – power and fade the brake off more and balance the power in more…..that makes sense then!!! They advised some books.

I then drove the C2S back to Foxhills for some posh lunch before heading home…where I am still smiling!!

I really enjoyed reading your post. Thanks....!

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Ah, you are not alone, as I did this same 911 Experience just a week or two back. Same drill, posh hotel (Rufflets in St Andrews) bacon rolls and coffee, then three 911's to play with for the morning at Crail Airfield, and old military site which I am familiar with. Lots of run off, but rather too bumpy.

Three slightly different cars; a C4S Targa Tiptronic, a C2S Sportkit, and a Turbo Cabrio. The Targa was not my cup of tea, the Turbo was staggeringly fast, but a bit unweildy, but best of all was the Guards Red C2S Powerkit, with all the trimmings, ceramic brakes, sport zorst, aerokit, etc. It was utterly fantastic, by a country mile the best 911 I've ever driven, and very possibly the best car I've ever driven too. Like a scalpel on the track, yet comfy and fast on the road too. I want one! The first car in fact I have driven since I bought the Cayman which I might consider owning in preference.


Picture is the three cars at Rufflets Hotel

Attached Thumbnails

 

What is a bacon roll?

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2007 Speed Yellow Cayman GT 2.7 (retired)
2008 Guards Red Cayman GT 3.4
"Carpe Cayman"

Oi.............

Don't malign the club where I play my Golf and Tennis......... I pay good fees to be a member there..........

Foxhills is not a Posh & Stuffy club for the area.... (the 'Golden Triangle') it is (compared to the majority locally), a cheap and cheerful club, for yobs like me......... By the way, did you show your Passport to come into Leafy Surrey?

And the Chobham High speed track you drove on is the old MOD - MVEE (Ministry of Defence - Motor Vehicle Engineering Establishment) where I learned high speed tank driving, in a Challenger tank - And have also taken my Daimler Ferret there too. Next time you should try the 'Knife Edge'.

Much more satisfying a driving experience, than any Porsche.......!

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Cheers Karel
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'Power is Nothing without Control..........'

I was thinking the same thing! With our love of all things pork here in the South, my guess is I need to look into these.

Perhaps it's a bit of England which will translate nicely to North Carolina.

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'08 CS - Meteor Gray, Cocoa, PASM, Sport Seats, Sport Steering Wheel, Bi-Xenon, and a few other goodies.

It's all I was hoping for and more!!!

Sounds like a lot of fun, I did a day there with Honda last year on S2000's Civic Type R's, but they told me there was a 70mph limit and started to twitch at much over 100.....

SS7
PS That's the say, the instructors twitched, not the cars (which were very nice, thanks)

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Carrara white pauper's 2.7
Snickers wrapper in the door bin
Flies on the number plate
Church's scuffs on the kickplate
'Goodwood' umbrella in the back

OK, in England for a Quick Breakfast, we have a Round Bread Roll

(Like a Macdonalds or Burger King Bun - But with better quality bread)

split in Two halves, Some strips of Bacon in between (Soft Cooked - not Crispy) perhaps butter on the bread, and some Tomato or Brown Spicy sauce..........

Breakfast to go - in American Parlance.....

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Cheers Karel
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'Power is Nothing without Control..........'

Cool story. And now I am going to the store to get ingredients for my very own bacon roll in the morning.

But what is "the 911 Invitation to Drive Event". I assume this is an invitation only event. Are you invited by Porsche? your dealer? How many people attend? How often is this? Do we have something similar in the states?

Thanks Mex, nice write up, sounds like you had a brilliant time.

Mmmm...Tasty.

I never understood the criticism of English food. I prefer it to French chemistry experiments any day.

But what is brown spicy sauce?

Sauce, brown in color, and spicy?

LOL.

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2007 Speed Yellow Cayman GT 2.7 (retired)
2008 Guards Red Cayman GT 3.4
"Carpe Cayman"

The definitive brown sauce is called HP

HP Sauce Weekend Freedom

Nuff said!