You could argue that A.J. Baime, a writer for Playboy magazine, has a dream job. Part of that position includes deciding if he would buy the Porsche 911 Turbo S if money were no object.
One of Baime’s friends answered that question for himself and was kind enough to lend Baime his $200K+ coupe. During his time with the 991, the lucky scribe was going to wring it out as much as possible “on the streets and highways around Chicago without getting slapped with a set of handcuffs.”
In doing so, he discovered the P-car’s Jekyll and Hyde personality. It was a comfortable commuter vehicle that could also offer performance whose limits only a trained racer could approach. That driver would have to go way out to see those edges, though. The Turbo S produces 560 horsepower from a blown 3.8-liter flat-six, and 60 miles per hour in 2.9 seconds.
Baime’s more realistic driving experience revealed the quickness of the PDK dual-clutch transmission, the responsiveness of the Sport Plus setting and the effectiveness of the Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes. It does not seem as if he got a chance to use his buddy’s trick ticket-foiling radar system, though.
So, what did Baime conclude? Surprise, surprise: if he had unlimited funds, he’d buy the 911 Turbo S. “This Porsche is a stellar engineering achievement. Too bad I had to hand back the keys.”
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
