Yesterday I attended an autocross type event organized by Porshe USA & Pacific Porsche of Torrance, California. It's related to the introduction of the new Boxster and Cayman so participants got to drive the course 6 times with the pro drivers from the Porsche North America Driving School riding along as passengers, and then as a bonus, the last round the positions reversed: we sat on passenger seat while the instructors drove.

All I could say is I am still in a state of absolute shock as to how good these guys are. Imagine yourself in a one lane course set by cones, now imagine going all out, and I mean all-all-out in this small course without hitting a cone and making it look like a walk in the park! Even though I had known about and anticipated the late braking into corners, when you are in the car you could feel the way they do it & how "violent" it is, and most importantly how smooth the transitiion is to accelerating out of corners, and it is just plainly amazing. There was not a single second where the car was not either braking or accelarating at neck-breaking pace, in this very narrow lane course, and that in itself was bewildering to me. I was bewildered how a drive could be at once so smooth (transitions) yet so violent (breaking and accelerating force).

I used to think on an absolute scale the pro drivers would be a 10, while amateurs 4 to 5, now I actually think I am at most a 0.5. I walked away from the class with profound respect for these guys. I simple can't fathom what a ride around the ring at 7:52 would be like & do not think amateurs are any where near the limits of capibility of these cars.

Oh, the Cayman S with PDK:

1. My opinion remains that an automatic type transmission lessens the pain of the inadequate power and torque of Porsche's flat 6 NA engines -- relative to the weight of these cars. So yes, the PDK makes the car feel very fast and I would highly encourage 997 & GT3 owners to give this a test drive.
Unfortunately, while the PDK Cayman S is very fast, it's still not remotely close to the Turbo's sense of endless power.

2. PDK buttons: I have no problem with those buttons, and neither did the instructors obviously, but have little doubt eventually they will be replaced by column mounted paddles. I've driven Gallardo with column paddles, versus Cayman with steering wheel buttons, and there is no doubt about the superiority of the paddles. The first after-market guy with column mounted paddles conversion *will* strike gold. Just my opinion and YMMV.

 

Yes, it is very humbling to be driven by some of these guys. I got hot laps at PSDS as well as some other pros at other schools and I agree with you about the 0.5 rating LOL!

the thing that also struck me with the pros was, as you said, the braking

 

Now imagine that on a full road course at speed, shows you the awesomeness of the drivers and the cars in pure stock form.

 

Who was the driver?

 

Sounds like you had a lot of fun Can. I used to think I knew how to drive until I went through Bragg Smith's driving school in Vegas. That really humbled me and made me a much better driver when I was done. The instructors were insanely good drivers and really showed us what the limits of their cars were (Corvette Z06). What I thought was the limit on those cars wasn't even close in the hands of an instructor .

Here is the really scary thought. Most of us could probably rank ourselves a 1 or 2 in a scale of 1-10 in driving skills (including pro drivers). Those instructors, as good as they are only really rank about a 6-7 in the overall scheme of things. Can you imagine what it would feel like to be sitting in a hot lap with Lewis Hamilton?

 

Hot lap with Lewis...... droooollllll.

 

Now you know how both Larry aka HUMMM3 and I felt after we got a hot lap ride in a GT3 from Hurley Haywood. That guy is a legend for a reason. Really shows how "slow" we drive in comparison. I have a video clip of myself driving around the track and compared to Hurley, I drove like a grandma.



Larry looked like this


I can only imagine what I looked like after my ride but I did manage to take a video
http://www.vimeo.com/2289811

 

hahahahahaahahahahahahha



Priceless!!!!!!!!!!!

 

can u explain the "violent" braking a bit more? thanks

 

As in hard enough to violently jerk the passenger/driver forward where each is acutely made aware of the seatbelt holding him/her in place.

 

That is priceless!!!!

 

When I go around the course like a grandma (LOL -- but Atomic is absolutely right), I would be at say 50 mph approaching a corner then brake down to say 10 mph into the corner; when these extremely talented drivers do it, it seems like the range is 90 to 30, a drop of 60 mph versus 40 by me.

But... that's not the only thing. Not only is the drop bigger, by sheer talent and better judgement, they brake much later and do it in a much shorter time and distance. In other words, their 60 drop happens in a much shorter time than my 40. And therefore the G change is quite violent.
It does seem to my amateur eyes that racing is a lot about who could brake later approaching and into corners. I think this is why there are more accidents in corners at race -- when driver's ***** are larger than his brain so to speak. Anyway, late braking certainly seems to be the difference here. They brake very late; about the time when my heart is in the back of my throat is when they do it.

I should also point out again that the transition is bewildering smooth. My car would be fast, then very slow, then fast again. Theirs would just propell through the course at an alarming pace, with extremely short transition point between decel and accel. The car never seemed to slow down. Or maybe I was too scared to notice.

 

That photo is awesome!
I did a skip barber week long event years ago and our welcome wagon was a 15 pax econo Van. The school gathered us, put us inside it and we went for a ride around Road America with one of the schools head instructors. He had coffee in his right hand, was doing about 95 mph and had his head turned to the back the entire time. We were all speechless!

Turns out he was a Nascar reject or something, too many good drivers out there.

 

Instructors are only a 6, not 10!!?? so you mean *I* got reduced further to a 0.1? Thanks a lot Mike.
LOL, I know what you mean and agree.

Mike/AWE,
Driver's name? Not anyone famous, "just" instructors from the driving school. I don't remember all the names, but the instructor in charge was Cass Whitehead.

 

Cass Whitehead is AWESOME! He teaches at the PSDS too!