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By Val Dodd

In March, 2000, I was involved with a group of 40 people (14 Americans and the rest Europeans) put together by Porsche Travel, to test drive the new Porsche 996 Turbo.  After a private tour of the Porsche plant and museum in Stuttgart the first morning, they flew us down the 1,500 miles from Stuttgart to Jerez, Spain, where Porsche had leased the ex-F1 race track for debut of the new 996 Turbo to the world.  Our group was at the tail-end of a month-long parade of journalists, Porsche dealers, VIP’s, and others in the automotive world who came to review, test, and write about  the new Turbo model. 

The hotel we stayed at was adjacent to the Jerez race track, which made it convenient for access to our track activities which included some 30-996 Turbos along with other competitor models (Ferrari, Mercedes, Dodge Viper).  Half of the Turbos had the Tiptronic transmission while the other half had the manual 6-speed.  The next morning we went to the racetrack where we were separated into two groups.  My group was going to test drive the Turbo on the open highway with a 125km test run.  Out of the 15 Turbo’s sitting there to choose, my driving partner and I chose a Seal Grey with Tiptronic.  The only rule Porsche made was you had to stay single file behind the Porsche instructor (the Germans like to drive fast too!) in the lead car.  Well, needless to say, it was pedal-to-the-medal the whole way driving both high-speed, open highway (I got up to 155 mph); driving narrow, twisting back roads; and going through small little towns and villages with castles, from the days of the Moors, sitting on high bluffs.  The scenery was just fantastic especially being my first time in Spain.

So by the time our group got back to the track, we were all levitating and ready to go racing.  After some technical instructions on the dynamics of the new Turbo, we were then put through some driving drills on the racetrack using the ABS and the new Porsche Stability Management (PSM) system.  The PSM is awesome; it makes a poor driver into a good one.  Just point in the direction you want to go and the car does the rest.  In addition to the other 15 Turbo’s they had at the track, we were able to drive two Vipers, a Ferrari Modena, a ’97 Porsche 993 Turbo, and a couple of Mercedes coupes.  It was a most interesting comparison, but I’ll take the Turbo any day!

On Sunday morning, before flying back to Stuttgart, we went out on another 200km drive, rain and all.  What an awesome experience to see a long convoy of multi-colored Turbo’s driving very fast.  The poor Spaniards couldn’t believe what they were seeing.  

All in all, they had about 30 Turbo’s.  It was like going to a National Car Rental Emerald Aisle lot and picking out what ever car you felt like driving; except each of these cars was about $135,000 a crack, with options (and not counting any premium $$$ the dealers may tack on).  I was able to drive 15 different Turbo’s (both the 6-speed and Tiptonic) counting the open road, test drills, open track lap racing, slalom course, etc.  

This new Turbo is so technically superior to what Porsche has done to date, its Incredible.  This was really a once in a lifetime experience for me at the time.  Porsche has never done this before other than for the Press and VIP’s (which we were not!).  Of 40 drivers, driving all of the 30+ Turbo’s and the other non-Porsche’s, there was not a wreck, crash, fender dented, etc.  After that amazing experience, my ’96 C4S did not look or feel to me the way it did prior to going on this trip (so why did I eventually sell it!?!?!?!?).  What an incredible weekend with such a fantastic car and many thanks to Porsche for creating this opportunity!

Picture of the cars waiting for their turn on the track and doing their track laps.

The top picture is of the 5 Porsche Turbo’s by their generation they had on display.

The bottom picture is of the cars getting ready to go out on the 125km run through the Spain countryside.  

This was the half-way stop on our drive thru the Spain countryside.  The Spaniards could not believe what they were seeing when we drove by!