Porsche Range Experience Day - 6th June 2013
As my brother bought a Porsche Cayenne he was invited by Porsche to their driving centre at Silverstone to enjoy what they call their 'Range Experience Day'. As it's no fun to do these things alone he could take someone with him and thought there would be no one better than his dear old brother. :-)
The Range Experience Day is just that. You get to drive the entire current Porsche range of cars in a number of environments. Some were on the road, some on the track and some on what they call the Kick Plate and Ice Hill.
We had to be at Silverstone by 8:30 so we set of nice and early and actually arrived at about 8am. We were greeted by coffee and a mini full English and then at 9am it was time to begin.
After the obligatory briefing we started of with the Cayenne. This was a road test drive so we all drove the V8 Diesel out to a pre-arranged place then drive the GTS back to Silverstone. These are great cars! The GTS V8 was a monster that made a lovely growling noise.
Next came the Boxster and the Caymen which we would be driving on the 'Kick Plate' and the 'Ice Hill'. This was amazing fun. The kick plate is a piece of slippy, wet tarmac which has a surface like ice. As you drive onto it the kick plate literally kicks the back end of the car out either left or right and you have to keep it driving straight. We did this in the Boxster.
We then swapped to the Caymen (my personal favourite car of the day) and hit the Ice Hill. This was the same surface as the kick plate but on a hill with fountains that you had to drive around. Also great fun.
You can see a video of my brother doing this here. There is a video of me doing the same but his editing abilities are so bad I can't possibly post it. :-)
It was then time for the 3 course lunch that Porsche were treating us too. A fantastic meal that I would happily have paid for in a restaurant. Seriously good food. All it needed really was a cold beer to wash it down but that probably wouldn't have been a good idea looking at where we were. :-)
After lunch it was time to test the Panamera. I've never likes the look of the Panamera before but seeing this little number in the showroom I changed my mind. It looked fantastic!
Like the Cayenne this was a road test drive. We drove the V6 Diesel outwards and the GTS back to Silverstone. To be honest we all thought the Diesel wasn't powerful enough for the size of car and they apparently can't fit the V8 engine under the bonnet. On the other hand the GTS was a beast of a car but costs about £100k!! Both were of course amazing!
After a break it was time for the 911 test drive on the Porsche test track. They essentially sat us in a Carrera and a Carrera 4S and sent us off around the track as fast as we could. The 'standard' Carrera was a manual 2 wheel drive and the 4S was a 4WD auto (well, flappy paddle). To be honest the 4WD didn't make much difference but the auto is something to go for. It was so quick and responsive and who wants to change gears these days?
In spite of the differences both 911's were stunning. So quick and no matter how fast I threw them into the corners they never seemed to even begin to lose grip, although this is probably down to me being scared of pranging them!!
The final part of the day would only involve us as a passenger. We were to be driven round the Porsche off road course in a Cayenne by one of their qualified drivers. This was great fun. I was amazed at how good the Cayenne was off road. Funnily enough so was my brother and he actually owns one!!
All in all it was an amazing day. We were well fed and we were let loose in some amazing cars. Pictures are available here.
Now which child do I have to sell to get myself a Caymen S? :-)
The Range Experience Day is just that. You get to drive the entire current Porsche range of cars in a number of environments. Some were on the road, some on the track and some on what they call the Kick Plate and Ice Hill.
We had to be at Silverstone by 8:30 so we set of nice and early and actually arrived at about 8am. We were greeted by coffee and a mini full English and then at 9am it was time to begin.
After the obligatory briefing we started of with the Cayenne. This was a road test drive so we all drove the V8 Diesel out to a pre-arranged place then drive the GTS back to Silverstone. These are great cars! The GTS V8 was a monster that made a lovely growling noise.
Next came the Boxster and the Caymen which we would be driving on the 'Kick Plate' and the 'Ice Hill'. This was amazing fun. The kick plate is a piece of slippy, wet tarmac which has a surface like ice. As you drive onto it the kick plate literally kicks the back end of the car out either left or right and you have to keep it driving straight. We did this in the Boxster.
We then swapped to the Caymen (my personal favourite car of the day) and hit the Ice Hill. This was the same surface as the kick plate but on a hill with fountains that you had to drive around. Also great fun.
You can see a video of my brother doing this here. There is a video of me doing the same but his editing abilities are so bad I can't possibly post it. :-)
It was then time for the 3 course lunch that Porsche were treating us too. A fantastic meal that I would happily have paid for in a restaurant. Seriously good food. All it needed really was a cold beer to wash it down but that probably wouldn't have been a good idea looking at where we were. :-)
After lunch it was time to test the Panamera. I've never likes the look of the Panamera before but seeing this little number in the showroom I changed my mind. It looked fantastic!
Like the Cayenne this was a road test drive. We drove the V6 Diesel outwards and the GTS back to Silverstone. To be honest we all thought the Diesel wasn't powerful enough for the size of car and they apparently can't fit the V8 engine under the bonnet. On the other hand the GTS was a beast of a car but costs about £100k!! Both were of course amazing!
After a break it was time for the 911 test drive on the Porsche test track. They essentially sat us in a Carrera and a Carrera 4S and sent us off around the track as fast as we could. The 'standard' Carrera was a manual 2 wheel drive and the 4S was a 4WD auto (well, flappy paddle). To be honest the 4WD didn't make much difference but the auto is something to go for. It was so quick and responsive and who wants to change gears these days?
In spite of the differences both 911's were stunning. So quick and no matter how fast I threw them into the corners they never seemed to even begin to lose grip, although this is probably down to me being scared of pranging them!!
The final part of the day would only involve us as a passenger. We were to be driven round the Porsche off road course in a Cayenne by one of their qualified drivers. This was great fun. I was amazed at how good the Cayenne was off road. Funnily enough so was my brother and he actually owns one!!
All in all it was an amazing day. We were well fed and we were let loose in some amazing cars. Pictures are available here.
Now which child do I have to sell to get myself a Caymen S? :-)
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