last night, I was recuperating, full-bellied, in a comfortable Fairplay Golf Hotel & Spa bed, after a tiring journey from Beirut via Rome, Madrid, and Jerez de la Frontera to the white-painted town of Benalup in the tranquil southern Spanish province of Cadiz – venue for the press launch of the new 911 Turbo. This morning, travel-induced fatigue has been replaced by boyish excitement: I’m at the wheel.
We’ve been briefed at a pre-start press conference, but nothing could have prepared me for this. You’d think a motorized vehicle would shatter the poetic tranquility of the sleepy Andalusian countryside. The Porsche 911 Turbo doesn’t. It fits right in. Its athletic, panther-like chiseled form is poetry in motion. The fluid, lightweight, aerodynamically-sculpted body is an uncomplicated extension of rolling hills. The aluminium hood and doors shimmer in the early morning light. The flawless, smooth thrum of the car’s 3.6-litre engine is at one with nature. Even the suppressed growl as I rev is sublimely natural, more tiger- than car-like.
Stepping on the gas
Sleepy Andalusian idyll aside, I really step on the gas – and surge into another world. The question ‘car or fighter jet?’ flashes across my mind, as the car’s two exhaust gas turbochargers with variable turbine geometry in the gasoline engine – a milestone in drivetrain technology – propel me forward with an astounding roar. The turbochargers give the six-cylinder boxer power unit an awe-inspiring 133 horsepower per litre output, translating into 480 BHP engine output and 620 Newton-metres, or 457 pounds-feet, maximum torque. The effect is breathtaking. Top speed is a shattering 310 km/h. It takes a trifling 3.7 seconds to accelerate from zero to 100 km/h, and 12.2 to reach 200 km/h, with the new five-speed Tiptronic S transmission system.
I’m a real man. I like stick shift. But in the 911 Turbo, accelerating from zero to 100 km/h in under four seconds, there’s no time for it. With that kind of thrust, you want the gears quite literally at the tips of your fingers. Tiptronic has to be the name of the game. Speaking of fingertips, if you want to shave 0.3 seconds off the 3.8 second 80 km/h to 120 km/h run, make sure your 911 Turbo is equipped with the optional Sports Chrono Package Turbo, now available for the first time. When accelerating all-out, all you need to do is press the Sports Button next to the gearshift lever for instantaneous Overboost, to raise charge pressure. Remember super-car KITT, in the TV series Knight Rider? No wonder the 911 Turbo uses special extreme-heat resistant materials carried over from aerospace applications; with its 1,000ºC exhaust gas temperatures. I feel like I’m in an F-16.
Endow any car with a 480 HP engine, and it’ll fly. But throw the 911 Turbo into a tight curve at 240km/h, and it turns. Its grip is stunning, thanks to the new Cayenne-style all-wheel-drive Traction Management system, with its electronically-controlled multiple-plate clutch. Traction is managed through the PTM control unit in accordance with steering angle, wheel speed, and dynamic driving signals such as over- and under-steer, translating into optimum distribution of power tailored to current driving conditions. This explains the 911 Turbo’s stunning agility, driving dynamics, high-speed driving stability, and increased traction on slippery surfaces.
On the suspension front, drivers of the new 911 Turbo can choose between Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) Normal, which enhances motoring comfort, and PASM Sports, which is for speed-freaks like me. This morning, on a blissfully congestion-free road (traffic in Beirut is apoplexy-inducing), I am needless to say in a sporting frame of mind. Of course, if I did need to come to a fairly forceful halt, I’d be able to rely on the car’s upgraded brake system – front wheels come with six-piston fixed calliper brakes (effective swept area up 42%), and four-piston fixed calliper back wheel brakes which are also more powerful than their predecessors.
Today, the sixth-generation 911 Turbo epitomizes the all-purpose, high-performance sports car. Small wonder that over 50,000 top-end Turbos have been sold since 1974, 22,000 of them the latest Turbo’s predecessor, which contributed significantly to Porsche’s 12-year-long upward trend, after a period in the doldrums.
The sixteen men – myself included – who have been invited to this launch spend the morning in blissful Porsche abandonment, our macho rivalry occasionally bubbling over into gut-wrenching automotive antics. Occasionally, my driving partner, cigar-loving Mohamad Zein of Dubai, and I attribute Arabic origins to village names as they fly by. After all, southern Spain was ruled by Arabs for hundreds of years. Indeed, much of the soothingly scenic Andalusian countryside reminds me of the verdant Bekaa valley in Lebanon. All that’s missing is some traditional Arabic music on the car’s 13-speaker, seven-channel digital amplifier.
No wonder the 911 Turbo uses special extreme heat-resistant materials carried over from
aerospace applications. I feel like I’m in an f-16.
The professional takes over
After a buffet lunch at the delightful Dehesa Montenmedio restaurant, and another hour and a half’s riotous test-driving, we are treated to five pulse-racing minutes each, along a closed-off stretch of road, with famous former German rally and racing driver and current Porsche test-driver Walter Röhrl, who, at breakneck speed and with a limits-pushing style born of decades’ top-level racing experience, unveils the 911 Turbo’s secret inner sanctum, and shows me that, simply put, I don’t know how to drive. Oh, by the way, in the new 911 Turbo Röhrl laps the Nordschleife of the Nurbürgring in 7 minutes 49 seconds, leaving the car’s predecessor – and more powerful competition – far behind.
Back to reality
We’d harbored grandiose plans for the evening. But reduced to languid contentedness by the day’s driving, after a post-exertion massage and sauna at the hotel spa and a satisfying meal and drinks, we fell into bed. The next morning, after an early-bird breakfast, it was off to the airport for my flight back to Beirut. Shaking me from my leather upholstery-scented, turbocharger Porsche reverie, the plane accelerated along the runway. No comparison, I grinned.
The Turbo will retail in Germany at Euro 133,603, and at $122,900. In Lebanon, it will cost considerably more, thanks to high customs taxes.
