About 9 miles up from the bottom of Glendora Mountain Road in a Porsche Carrera GTS, it hit me: I'm not working very hard. I'm in second gear at about 5500 rpm, meaning I'm out of the torque curve's sweet spot -- 310 lb-ft at 4200 rpm -- and still on my way to the fressed-over 3.8-liter opposed-six's power peak -- a beefy 408 hp at 7300 rpm. Translation: I'm hauling ass. I'm also having the time of my life with both windows and the sunroof open -- to better to hear the nifty sport exhaust - on one of Southern California's absolute top roads. Here's the interesting part: I've been hacking away at this twisted devil of a back road for a good 30 minutes. Earlier in the day I was standing around in 100-degree heat on a dragstrip for five hours clocking the Porsche's numbers. But amazingly, I'm just not tired. "It's refreshing to not have to work so hard," says our handling sensei Kim Reynolds as he climbs out of the Guards Red GTS. By "work so hard," he's referring to the GT3 RS and GT2 RS we tested a couple of months back. Both of those are little more than thinly veiled race cars. Yes, those manly machines deliver astonishingly astonishing levels of performance und grip, but you have to man up to wring the great and mighty numbers out of 'em. "A 911's supposed to be an everyday car," Kim muses. "Those other two, I'd never even dream about owning either. But this one..." he pauses, presumably for dramatic effect. "I could drive this one every day."However, once on the figure eight, the GTS just comes alive. I had the transmission in Sport Plus, the most aggressive setting, but that didn't matter because I was pulling the paddles myself to change from second to third and back again. There's little like the feel of lightning-fast shifts from one of the world's great dual-clutches -- sharp, quick and brutal. PSM (stability control) is switched "off," but the word off is in quotes because you can't really, actually switch it all the way off. If the nanny-computer senses that you're about to kill yourself (for instance, both front wheels suddenly go into ABS) PSM flickers on. Kim complained of a hint of understeer, and a little bit of testing revealed that PSM popped on for a moment under fairly extreme conditions that typically precurse an accident. But who cares? Look, if you're so hairy-chested that you need the computer always off, buy a GT3.Back to that daydream of a mountain road. There's no traffic. I see one Camry, one Prius, one Malibu, and that's it. I keep asking myself, how could this road be so empty? You know what, who cares? Glendora Mountain is deserted and I'm driving what just might be the perfect weapon. You'll find loads of people willing to say nasty things about the 911's rear-engine-ness. Mostly that it's not as mid-engined as they'd like. But pay them folks no mind, which is exactly what Porsche has been doing for nearly 50 years. There's just something magical about that initial tail-out sensation you get when you toss a 911 into a corner, that little hip-flick. It's more like skiing than driving; the whole car feels involved in the turning process, not just the front wheels. I totally love it. And the GTS represents the best version of "it" I've ever had the privilege and pleasure to experience. Friday, 21 October 2011
First Test: 2011 Porsche Carrera GTS
About 9 miles up from the bottom of Glendora Mountain Road in a Porsche Carrera GTS, it hit me: I'm not working very hard. I'm in second gear at about 5500 rpm, meaning I'm out of the torque curve's sweet spot -- 310 lb-ft at 4200 rpm -- and still on my way to the fressed-over 3.8-liter opposed-six's power peak -- a beefy 408 hp at 7300 rpm. Translation: I'm hauling ass. I'm also having the time of my life with both windows and the sunroof open -- to better to hear the nifty sport exhaust - on one of Southern California's absolute top roads. Here's the interesting part: I've been hacking away at this twisted devil of a back road for a good 30 minutes. Earlier in the day I was standing around in 100-degree heat on a dragstrip for five hours clocking the Porsche's numbers. But amazingly, I'm just not tired. "It's refreshing to not have to work so hard," says our handling sensei Kim Reynolds as he climbs out of the Guards Red GTS. By "work so hard," he's referring to the GT3 RS and GT2 RS we tested a couple of months back. Both of those are little more than thinly veiled race cars. Yes, those manly machines deliver astonishingly astonishing levels of performance und grip, but you have to man up to wring the great and mighty numbers out of 'em. "A 911's supposed to be an everyday car," Kim muses. "Those other two, I'd never even dream about owning either. But this one..." he pauses, presumably for dramatic effect. "I could drive this one every day."However, once on the figure eight, the GTS just comes alive. I had the transmission in Sport Plus, the most aggressive setting, but that didn't matter because I was pulling the paddles myself to change from second to third and back again. There's little like the feel of lightning-fast shifts from one of the world's great dual-clutches -- sharp, quick and brutal. PSM (stability control) is switched "off," but the word off is in quotes because you can't really, actually switch it all the way off. If the nanny-computer senses that you're about to kill yourself (for instance, both front wheels suddenly go into ABS) PSM flickers on. Kim complained of a hint of understeer, and a little bit of testing revealed that PSM popped on for a moment under fairly extreme conditions that typically precurse an accident. But who cares? Look, if you're so hairy-chested that you need the computer always off, buy a GT3.Back to that daydream of a mountain road. There's no traffic. I see one Camry, one Prius, one Malibu, and that's it. I keep asking myself, how could this road be so empty? You know what, who cares? Glendora Mountain is deserted and I'm driving what just might be the perfect weapon. You'll find loads of people willing to say nasty things about the 911's rear-engine-ness. Mostly that it's not as mid-engined as they'd like. But pay them folks no mind, which is exactly what Porsche has been doing for nearly 50 years. There's just something magical about that initial tail-out sensation you get when you toss a 911 into a corner, that little hip-flick. It's more like skiing than driving; the whole car feels involved in the turning process, not just the front wheels. I totally love it. And the GTS represents the best version of "it" I've ever had the privilege and pleasure to experience. 
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