Porsche Experience Center Atlanta: the Oppo Review

"yitznewton" (yitznewton)
07/29/2016 at 18:23 • Filed to: porsche experience center

In a few choice locations around the world, Porsche has built pilgrimage hubs for enthusiasts and Porsche ones in particular: the Porsche Experience Center. After making plans for a conference in Atlanta this week, I learned about the existence of one right next to the airport; how could I say no?

Delivery

Folks ordering a new Porsche can have it delivered here, complete with track time.

Classic Center Workshop

If your wallet is a glutton for punishment, you can bring your classic Porsche to Atlanta, and they will restore it to OEM goodness. Visitors can take a peek at the action.

Heritage Center and Classic Gallery

In this section, you can see actual customers’ new Porsches awaiting delivery and old Porsches in line for restoration, as well as museum pieces from Porsche’s racing and street lines.

The other stuff

There’s also a gift shop with books, models, keychains, clothing, luggage, and the other stuff you would expect to find here. A Driving Simulator Center and mini-gym are also available.

WTF

The Track

But who cares about all that crap? You came for the track! And here it is.

I purchased a 90-minute session in a base Cayman. I didn’t really care about transmission; it ended up being manual. This ran $300 plus $50 to bring my liability from $10k to $2k in case of a wreck. (I didn’t wreck.) Session price goes up into the $800+ range for the more expensive cars.

https://www.porschedriving.com/experiences/dr…

Was this all worth $350? Hell yes, I say.

I asked, but my instructor did not allow me to record the session on video, so no Oppo love there and no going back to review. I’m going to suggest that they mount permanent cameras on their cars and offer it to guests; I would have paid maybe at least $100 more for good video of the session.

Road course

Around the perimeter is a narrow track with guardrails, including two long straights and a winding section, with a nice fast kink right before the big straight.

Kick plate

Hoses spray down this area, where a sliding section of road throws your back wheels to one side as you drive over.

Low-friction course

Polished concrete and tight curves offer the chance to experiment with power oversteer and handling at the limit.

Off-road circuit

For all your classic 911's, and Cayennes.

Launch and threshold braking

Yeah.

Slalom

One of the coolest things was turning on the accelerometer in the car and seeing my turning bias in the slalom: I was generating 0.1g more on left turns, because that side was closer to me. I was able to bring the delta down to 0.06g; max cornering on the slalom was somewhere around 1.1g

The Cayman

I picked the Cayman because it’s not a roadster (as my S2000), has similar weight but not hugely more power, and is mid-engine. If I were to get a Porsche and 993's never come down, it would probably be a Cayman. This was an outgoing 6-cylinder model; they had 718 Boxsters already, but the new Caymans had not been delivered yet. I test-drove a 2006 Cayman once on the street last year, for what that’s worth.

This car felt bigger than the S2000, and more isolated from the driver.

The clutch was easy to use but very light, and the shifter throws were precise, long, and a bit remote-feeling. Throttle also felt far away. I didn’t notice the steering at all, which makes me believe it’s very good, because poor steering feel usually bothers me - but I was distracted with everything else.

I took a number of laps learning the track, getting used to my instructor’s recommended line. Finally I started to get the flow of the car around the track, and it started to feel like flying instead of driving. I was able to push the car much harder in fast sections than I push my S2000, firstly because of the P-Zero tires as opposed to my all-seasons, and also because the Cayman has good stability control, while I have none. I really appreciated the opportunity to push the car hard in fast corners, which is quite a lot of the reason I invested all this money in the experience.

Back to the S2000

Walking down the block back from the airport, I saw my S2000 waiting for me. First impression: WOW it’s so shiny! I just washed it before leaving, and it looked really great. I ran an errand right away, and I must say: I have the right car. The S is more direct, more in your face, just more fun around town, not that this is news to anyone. If ever I do end up with a Porsche, I would want to get one that tilts toward that rawness, like a 911R (ha), or a GT4. It was so affirming to take that drive and love my car all over again.

Now I just gotta get some decent frickin’ tires.

Some other people’s videos

DISCUSSION (5)

Rainbow > yitznewton
07/29/2016 at 18:46

Someone I knew in high school works there and she doesn’t even like cars. It breaks my heart.

yitznewton > yitznewton
07/31/2016 at 14:13

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

In my rush to publish this before Shabbat, I forgot about a couple things.

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Water sprays on a concrete circle, you drive around it until you’re losing grip, and then attempt to let the back hang out and drift in a circle. My instructor claimed that about 10% of participants manage to do it. I must have had about 25 attempts; I was able to successfully drift on one of them for about a quarter of the circle before I spun.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

As with any event, come with a goal in mind. I wanted to get a better sense of general car behavior at the limits, particularly oversteer. This was a large part of why this place was so attractive: they have a car that loosely resembles mine in terms of power and weight distribution, and a lot of trick facilities to safely explore those limits. The kick plate was the perfect exercise for responding to sudden oversteer events.

I would have benefitted even more if my instructor had done a more in-depth interview and come up with a mini-program of specific goals for the session. Toward the end of the 90 minutes, I tried increasing pace on the track, guided by what I learned about the car and tire response in the slalom in particular. That turned out to be a mistake: I did get more sensory data by pushing the car harder on track, but I also sacrificed the line I learned earlier, and ended up going slower. It would have been better to dial in consistency in my line and braking zones.

However, it was just a 90-minute session, so all in all, it was well worth the $350.

Would it be worth $800 for a 911 Turbo, or “Call to Book” for a GT4? I don’t know. I think it would totally be worth it if you’re seriously considering buying one of those cars — this is the perfect opportunity to drive them hard before pulling the trigger. Otherwise, unless you’re swimming in money, it’s probably not worth the upgrade over the Cayman or Carrera S ($500), depending on where you want your engine.

valsidalv, reminding you that infiniti is an option > yitznewton
08/01/2016 at 11:47

So you don’t have to be taking delivery of a new Porsche to do this - anyone can sign up?

But if you did order a new one... you don’t take that one onto the track do you? What about break-in period?

yitznewton > valsidalv, reminding you that infiniti is an option
08/01/2016 at 11:56

Yes, anyone can sign up. Break-in, what break-in? I also wondered about that. I figure one of a few possibilities:

the owner is not going to go all that hard, just wants to get his 911 Turbo S up to 999 mph without getting pulled over

lease

YOLO

valsidalv, reminding you that infiniti is an option > yitznewton
08/01/2016 at 12:07

Or, tick the option box on the order form.

“Wunderbar Performance Tuning Package: a qualified Porsche technician will properly break-in your new Porsche’s engine on superior German roads while stopping for sauerkraut and listening to Rammstein or Scooter CDs during the entire drive. €6,799. ”