… for a day off work. Especially if it involves driving Porsches.
The local Ann Arbor Porsche dealership, Howard Cooper Porsche, sponsored one of the half days for a Porsche Sports Day at the Palace of Auburn Hills. We got to drive pretty much all of the different models that Porsche makes: the 911, Cayenne, Cayman, and Panamera.
(I really want to like the Panamera. It does amazing performance things for a big car. It’s just that back end… woof. But then again, I drive an STI.)
“Who’s the U-boat commander?”
–Joel Goodson’s service manager
We took turns with different cars at three activities: ABS braking, emergency lane change, and autocrossing. The general procedure we were given was: mash on the gas, then mash on the brakes, and if something gets in your way, turn. (Well, not exactly. There were words about “smoothness” and “weight transfer” and stuff, but I’m pretty sure that was code for “mash on the gas.”)
We basically hammered these cars for a few hours. One of the Cayennes was a (company) daily driver for someone, which they also used to pull one of the trailers for the event.
I think it speaks highly of the ruggedness and dependability of Porsches to allow regular schmoes like ourselves flog their cars all day (another group did the same thing in the morning).
Let’s check my mood chart after a sunny afternoon’s worth of brakes and tires smell, and not sitting under florescent lighting staring at a computer screen:
Mood: Not cranky!
Camera? Who needs to bring one of the four cameras sitting around the house that are better than this phone camera to a Porsche driving event?
Hot laps with the instructors = E Ticket
