Fun weekend

For the last 2 years, i have been autocrossing our Porsche 993 with the local P-club. It's a fun time, and a great group of people. Now, we have had our 348ts for about 4 months, and I wanted to see how it handles at (and over) the edge. So, I took it down this weekend to the Porsche autocross (AX) and had a blast.

Let me start by saying that I was very nervous. I woke up at 5 am, and started packing and checking over the car. My friends in the P club know about the 348, but I wasn't sure how everyone would react if I brought it down. I was also worried about Italian reliablilty and being surrounded by German cars. It was time to leave, and a drove on down to the AX. I pulled in, parked, and went to sign in. The reception from everyone was great! They were surprised that I was going to AX the 348, but excited to see it run.

Before my 1st run, I was in the grid, warming up the engine. I was soo nervous! Bob came over to my car and joked, "You know, we have to give you an automatic 2 second penalty for bringing a better looking car." I made my runs and had a BLAST! The tight course and the non-power steering was a good workout. I munched a fair number of cones, I think the corner workers were starting to hate me. I learned a lot about the handling of the car. I did spin it once, that was fun! It feels a good bit more neutral than my 993. Torquier too. Coming out of turns, the rear would swing around a lot easier by squeezing the gas. It rides a lot stiffer & flatter than my 993.

By the end of the day, I was a lot more comfortable with my car. I had a lot better idea of how it would handle in a 'situation' on the streets. I had no mechanical problems at all. The Pclub members were totally cool with me bringing the car, probably because I did NOT win. One of the member's son was there. He is an 11 year old car nut. He and I talked about the car for a long time. I gave him the full tour of the car. At the end of the day, his Dad pulled out their camera and we took pictures of his son sitting in the car. He was thrilled! When he got out of the car, he looked at his Dad with a big grin and said."I know what I want for Christmas!" His Dad said, "Yeah, me too."

Sorry for rambling on. I just wanted to share how much fun I am having with this F car. This thing is a blast!

-John

 

The local P-Club is definitly a group of "car lovers."

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. Normally, my wife & I autocross together, but she didn't make it. If she had been there, it would have made taking pictures possible. There was a guy there taking pictures, I am going to see if he happened to get any good shots.

-John