Black Magic
The problem with devouring every printed road test and internet report on the latest supercars is that when you do
get to drive the cars in question there is undoubtedly a set of
preconceptions as the what it will be like based upon the opinions of
various hacks. So the Porsche 997 Turbo is going to be blindingly quick,
slightly uninvolving and have more grip than should be legal on the
public highway, isn’t it? Better borrow one from ecurie25 to find out then!
If you’re short for time then you can stop reading now: the answer is
pretty much “yes”. This is an unfeasibly fast vehicle, especially in A
to B driving on the road: the power delivery is effortless and almost
entirely without lag, and the acceleration unrelenting. It is very, very
easy to suddenly be travelling very, very quickly - good job that the
brakes are up to Porsche’s usual high standard and deliver excellent
retardation with great feel, and that the chassis always feels composed,
whatever it is thrown at. Grip levels are scarily high, with the
suspension setup being very much on the stiff side - teeth rattlingly so
with ‘Sport’ mode engaged. It is obvious though that the Turbo carries
more weight than the GT3 (for example) and this, together with the need
to transmit power to the steered wheels, dulls the responses and robs
some of the feedback to the helm.
Those guys in Zuffenhausen have been very clever with the Variable
Turbine Geometry turbos - the power delivery is quite different to other
turbo’d engines, with the boost building slowly (and imperceptibly)
from lowish revs when accelerating but bleeding off on constant
throttle; add throttle angle again and another slug of boost is
provided. Mind you, the only way to tell is by watching the boost gauge
(there is a danger you will become transfixed by it - beware!) because
your seat-of-the-pants-ometer will tell you that it is more like a
normally aspirated power delivery. The ‘Sport’ button also allows an
additional overboost facility (encouragingly the upper graduation on the
boost gauge is relabelled with a bigger number when selected) and
sharper throttle mapping to provide even more opportunities to deploy in
excess of 500 ftlb of twist in inducing lateral and longitudinal G
forces that render passengers nauseous.
Aside from the oily bits, the 997 Turbo certainly looks good in black
(albeit with a bit too much bling in the wheel department for my taste)
sitting very purposefully on the road with those broad hips hinting at
the firepower beneath. I think the only element that I would change had I
been given a stint at the drawing board are those exhausts - they
somehow just don’t look right. Inside is an nice enough place - pretty
standard 997 fare - with the driving (and passengering) positions being
much better once the seat height adjusters were ratcheted all the way
down so as to be sitting as near to the floor as possible. There are
plenty of toys to keep the gadget-freak happy as well, my favourites
being the turbo boost gauge option in the dash, the tyre pressure
monitor (also an optional dashboard display) and yes, that chrono.
It seems that this is just about the ultimate road GT supercar;
it is comfortable and quiet enough to encourage long stretches of
motorway driving, yet when the backroads beckon it delivers great
handling and performance. Sacrilegious though it may seem, I do wonder
if it delivers just too much of everything to be sensible proposition:
there is arguable no way all of its reserves will be dredged in driving
on public roads, and that which is used is delivered with a slightly
dulled experience. Perhaps I’m just perverse, but I’d take the noisy,
lighter weight tactility of the 997 GT3 anyday.
