Should you take your Porsche on track?

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Excellent. Excellent. Welcome everybody to 9works radio. It's your favorite Porsche and car podcast. It's Leon Andy joining you today, but we are going to be joined by a selection of other voices, track side at Thruxton for a track day special.

What a day that was. Blue sky day. Fantastic. It was lovely. We'd like to say, as always, a big thank you to our sponsors. We've got Heritage Park Center, which is your home of Porsche parts.

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So what have you been up to that Andy B this week? Lots on when not track side. Yeah, well track side Monday, but also as a bit of car action on Wednesday as well. You very kindly gifted me a little experience day with Rob Colburn.

So yeah, I had some driver training, which is quite funny because I put it in the calendar. And Mrs B last, I think it was last Friday, spied it in the calendar and sent me a message that said naughty boy.

So you had points immediately thought I was doing a driver. What's they calling driver awareness?

Of course, yeah, she thought I was doing one of those, but no, it wasn't. It was to improve my driving, not to reprimand me on my driving.

It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Learned a lot, had a great day driving. It was a great weather day, so that helped obviously in making it also good. But yeah, Rob's, Rob's instruction was really good, really enjoyed it.

And it's very relaxed. Learned lots, learnt lots about what I wanted to learn. So I went in there wanting to know about steering. And Rob also picked up on sort of the space that I took up on the road and how we could improve that and really took a lot away from that and really enjoyed it.

Excellent, excellent. It's like we've said before on this podcast with driver training, advanced driver training is, you know, the skills that you pick up from that are transfer, transferable to any vehicle.

Yeah.

So it's a great investment in yourself, which is perpetually rewarding thereafter.

Absolutely, yeah, it's great, great to practice it. It's really enjoyable.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, even even on things like a commute, you know, rather than getting obsessed with the brake lights of the car ahead, just having the discipline to engage like you were saying, you know, the space techniques that Rob teaches, you know, you can, you can play that on the M27 and it will make your commute a more interesting experience, for example, you know.

I've never put myself as somebody that is like focused on the car in front, I always looked ahead, so thought I was quite good at that.

But Rob's instruction and his techniques have definitely improved that to a big degree.

Yeah, really interesting.

So yeah, I've always looked ahead and, but yeah, he's really added to that.

Yeah, awesome. It's more tools in the chest, isn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You really recommend it.

You mentioned steering as well, like you were working on that.

Yeah, so, you know, you've got the, what's this?

That's 10 to quarter three quarter three.

Well, more 10 to two, isn't it?

You've got your hands on the steering wheel.

But what are you, what are you actually doing?

What are you pushing?

Are you pulling?

When are you using that?

Do you cross your arms?

All that sort of stuff.

Learning about that and how when to use it in different situations.

Obviously, my car's not got no power steering.

So you need to actually give it a bit of heft around.

So understanding when to which type of steering to use for what action you need and what sort

of type corners or around a 90 degree bend really helps you understand that.

And then when you're more delicate on a country lane that's flowing,

it's to use the push and to, you've got much more control and feel with the push steering on that, in that situation.

So learn lots about which arm to use and how to use it.

Amazing.

And isn't it great how that one kind of small detail and tiny facet of input can alter the driving experience?

Yeah.

Big style.

Yeah, amazing.

Amazing.

Yeah, it's a great day.

Awesome.

Very pleased you had fun.

I feel like myself and others.

You can never have too much tuition.

You never have too much practice.

You know, so maybe Rob Coball might be getting a phone call from Shay Sibb's at some point to hook up again.

So before we talk track days, we'll start with some news.

Pretty big coming out of Ziffin House in this week.

And that is in regards to the 718 line up, which was stopping for ice engines and was going to be EV only at this point forward.

But there has been a major, major, major U-turn as part of a recalibration of the business model at Porsche.

Yeah.

Do you know the more detail?

All I've heard is that there will be combustion engines at the top of the range.

But do you know any detail?

Is it actually a new car or is it the existing car with a facelift rolling over?

Don't know.

There was no further detail on it.

So it was allegedly, I think it was first reported by road and track.

And since kind of, yeah, gone out everywhere else.

But basically in a memo out to investors to say that the company is going to continue with 718 production over the next few years.

And yeah, I can't recall the exact terminology.

But it said, yeah, something fight for its top models.

I think reasonably we could take it this very early stage, that to be Vice-Sat Cars GT product.

So came in GT4 and boxed a spider.

And say boxed a spider because the Porsche museum put a picture up of the 981 on its Instagram page the other day and referred to it as the boxed a spider rather than just a spider.

So yeah, well, well, we're getting pedantic.

But yeah, so I think that's probably the case and then say the regular 718 offering if you like will go EV.

To be honest with you, you know, no shame in the U term.

If anything, it's to be applauded, Andy.

From my point of view, you know, Porsche does listen to its consumers.

Admittedly, at this point, you could argue it's probably been market forces have pushed it into making a decision.

So if you look even in recent history, the none on 1.1 GT3 and pointing a saying all GT products going forward will be PDK.

And then obviously after the the Cayman GT4 success, the 911 R success that gave rise to the 991 touring, which gave stick shift back to GT products.

So Porsche does listen to its customers and it is doing it there.

The reality is people just aren't excited about a mid engine sports car that's powered by electricity.

Yeah, regardless of how good that car is and we've said previously on the podcast that that the EV 718 is crucial not just for Porsche but the entire sports car genre.

With that stepping to EV and I think people are realizing that doesn't matter if it's very good.

It's still not going to be as good as the emotion delivered by an internal combustion engine.

Yeah, I just came back to what you just said there.

The mid, what did you say in electric mid engine sports car?

Hasn't got an engine anymore.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Where is the engine?

Classic.

Well, yeah, this is it.

It robs it of its identity.

Exactly as you've correctly highlighted there.

And again, with like 911 going forward, it's famous for having its engine in the back.

Nothing drives like a 911.

Nothing goes down the road like 911.

It's why it's so special.

How are you going to keep that going in electric version?

You can't just call, if you have in the future an EV 911 next to an EV Cayman.

You can't, it's not good enough to just say the 911 is slightly bigger or has two seats in the back,

which it's emitting anyway these days, you have to option it back in for none on 2.2.

So it's just not good enough.

So yeah, it's great that Porsche is making that change.

Although admittedly, it's a forced hand because as Dr. Oliver Bloom, the CEO,

a couple of weeks ago quite famously said, you know, the current business model at Porsche isn't working.

So high praise for changing that.

We'll see how it develops.

But certainly, you know, all of these scurried orders for possibly the last combustion engine 718.

It's kind of a bit superfluous.

I'm grimacing at that thought.

Well, someone out there is doing a competition.

You can win a 718.

And it's called the last legend, isn't it?

Because it's got the internal combustion engine in, which is obviously superfluous now.

To say the least, but yeah, you know, I think it just comes down to it as well.

You know, if you like the car by the car, do you need to wait for it to be one of the last?

We appreciate it in 10 years time, probably not.

It'll be interesting to see how it comes forward and how it's implemented,

whether it is taking the existing car and face lifting that and adding to the tech that they needed to add.

That was their big excuse, wasn't it, for running out the current box

so that it didn't have the, was it IT, you could hack it or something like that, wasn't it?

The electronics could be hacked.

But the cost to bring that car in line with the EU mandate, where cars have to have that certain level,

it was just so big.

But evidently, Porsche is looking at that cost now and saying, well, it's the better alternative.

Yeah, Lisa will be selling some cars.

Yeah, be interested to see whether, yeah, it's a facelift of the existing or it's a petrol version of the new EV.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And Porsche has also mentioned as well at the same time about pressing ahead with plans to introduce an electric SUV that sits above the Cayenne.

Yeah, three rows thing, isn't it?

Yeah, which is quite interesting.

I'm interested to see what Porsche does with that and how that can be a Porsche,

in terms of DNA and whatnot.

But also, as I said, I think really interestingly that the Panamera and Cayenne will be made with internal combustion engines.

I think it said past 2030.

So I don't think there is as much intrigue with the Panamera in this country.

The Taycan does a pretty good job, but I think of squeezing the Panamera's use case.

So that could possibly be more of interest for other markets around the world.

But yeah, I've always looked at the Panamera and thought, oh, I think your days might be numbered, but evidently not.

So that's quite interesting just to get a little bit of an inside look into what's kind of going on with Porsche and it's evolving if not expanding model lineup.

Good. Should we talk track days?

Yes, please, please.

Porsche Bourmouth put the day on.

I think there were 50-ish cars in total and it was split down the middle.

They can't invite us to collaborate.

So 25-ish cars from the centre as Porsche centre Bourmouth customers and then 25 driven or hidden collective members.

So it basically gave rise to a really lovely and eclectic mix of cars and people as well.

Yeah, didn't it? Really mixed it up. It was great.

It's lovely. We speak a lot about road trips and whatnot on this podcast.

We probably don't talk as much or enough about track days.

Some people just aren't interested in track days and that's absolutely fine.

I think you're probably in that category, Andy. You're not so fast.

Yeah, I was there for the atmosphere, to be honest.

I had a passenger ride out, which I absolutely enjoyed.

But I could have quite easily not done that.

I mean, I'm just there for the chat and the atmosphere and enjoying the social side of it.

It was more than enough for me.

Yeah, definitely.

As we say time and time again on this podcast, there's a Porsche out there for everybody.

Some people have no interest in track work or even motorsport.

It's kind of why we're always reticent on T911 magazine back in the day to not cover too much motorsport.

Because some people just skip right over it.

Other people, it's their life and their passion.

We kind of cater for everybody.

But yeah, it's not for everybody with track stuff.

But again, some people love it.

And yeah, there was a strong showing from the collective there and all manner of cars.

Right the way.

And I'd like to give a shout out to Martin who came along in his impact bumper, ductailed 9-11.

Oh, yeah.

Very car that is.

First track day.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

Really nice to chat to you at the end, Martin as well.

Great nine works T-shirt as well that you're wearing exquisite clobber.

And yeah, you know, so from that right the way out to like the modern 992 RS is there was a 992.2 touring out there getting the job done.

So I think we counted 15, 16 or 17, 992 GT3 RS is wow that day.

Yeah, in every single color combination.

Yeah, it was quite a sight.

Yeah, it's it's frightening watching the pace of those cars in income comparison to older metal.

And even I mean that, you know, the PDK 9-1 Carrera derivatives, you know,

a 9-on-2 RS is 15 years of visac evolution in that time.

And the pace that they carry through the same corners are frightening.

Yeah, absolutely frightening.

Yeah, mental.

I was, well, as you said, I got a track, a trip out on the track in the passenger seat.

And I was in amongst all of that lot.

I think there was probably eight or nine of those out there at the time, along with the car that I was in.

Carrera, I was in was quite a bit older, was doing well.

But yeah, you could see those 992s the way they use that downforce and are dancing along the road.

Pretty incredible.

Yeah.

It's track, track days, I think, you know, kind of got super popular in the mid 2000s.

I think in terms of like at the level of popularity they're at now.

And fun enough was watching an old top gear episode the other day.

9-on-6 GT-3 RS versus 360 challenge dredale.

And Clarkson talking about, you know, these cars are made to go to the track

because it's becoming more and more popular.

Yeah, just a great reference, I guess, for the stay-as-quo at the time.

And, you know, they, again, some people love them that it gives such a good buzz.

It can get very addictive.

And big money can be spent.

And that's where your 992 RS comes in because it's a track car.

It's not a cars and coffee.

John, is it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Absolutely.

The money could soon add up kind of in that situation, jeez.

It can, but I also think, you know, members from the collective were great examples of this on the day

that you don't need an expensive car to drive fast.

You know, it's all about the person peddling them.

And also, you know, one person's metric of fast can be different to another.

The whole point is to go and stretch the legs of your Porsche and go home safely.

If you do that, you've won.

You've won the day.

Yeah.

Was there any break?

Oh, there was one breakdown.

That was Justin in his GT3 996 Sansa Barred.

Yeah.

He had a throttle cable went on his second lap.

A poor lad gutted.

Yeah.

It happens, though.

Do you know what I mean?

It does happen.

And, you know, not that we'll kind of go down to a thing of giving tips because I think they're kind of there's already enough out there.

We did a YouTube video on it back in the day on kind of track day tips as well.

But like, it's just all about, you know, some things will happen like that.

But preparation is key.

You know, the six piece prior planning prevents piss poor performance.

So have your car in tip top condition.

Have you in tip top condition?

Good sleep the night before.

Don't be having a bother.

Please, you said that.

Don't everybody's awake.

Excited.

Don't be having a bottle of plonk the night before.

Do you know what I mean?

And tires as well.

That's probably the only thing I think is worthwhile saying is the amount of times I hear people say,

I'm going to do a track day because my tires are on the edge.

So I'm going to finish them off on track.

And we've said it before, you know, the place you need your tires at their optimum condition and performance is a track day.

You know, use nearly new tires on your track day, not old ones.

You know, my God.

But yeah, I mean, Thruxton, what a circuit.

Is that the first time you've been on Thruxton?

Is that you did a actual race, didn't you?

My first race was on Thruxton.

And yeah, I think I told you the funny story of it was a 40 minute race.

I was sharing with another driver in a 986S.

And it was like a mixed championship.

So there was all sorts in there.

And there were lots of classes running in the same race.

From like a 1960s triumph to like an E46 BMW and everything in between, you know.

And I came out the pits driving along first lap, settling in, trying to get in and amongst chaos.

And this BMW came shooting up past me or behind me.

And I thought I'll get out the way.

He's clearly he's in a different class and he's on a different lap.

He's lapping me basically.

So I moved out the way, let the guy through and then I realized no blue flags to be seen.

So the guy was overtaking it.

It was probably the easiest overtaking, the history of mankind.

Talk about a baptism of fire, but it's good fun for Thruxton.

Yeah, it is a really, really, really fast circuit to drive that car first.

You need big stones, big stones.

Is the fastest truck in the UK, isn't it?

Yes, yeah.

So yeah, good.

And to be honest with you, I took a little Irish.

And I was slightly worried on the day about oil starvation on that car, to be honest.

That's a very real threat at that track.

Yeah.

Just that like the sustained Gs going sideways, you know, on a wet, some engine car,

that the engine of which is made of marshmallows anyway, yeah, I was kind of worried.

So it's been into sessions, wasn't it?

I say roughly according to ability, basically, if your car had RS on it,

then it was in one of the top things.

And if it was Carrera, it was a bit later in the day.

Yeah.

So which is kind of fair enough, I think, given the corner entry and exit speeds

that those cars are capable of.

And yeah, there was a couple of like 996s in my category.

Rob, Rob, 996 for example, I know you spoke to him later.

Yes, I did, yeah.

So I think we're all a little bit careful.

And off the 20 minute sessions, I was sort of just doing like, yeah, maybe 10 to 15 minutes

and then coming in.

I did get black flagged at the end of the first session with a lap to go.

And I did think, oh, thank God for that.

He's done me a favour there.

I've got one last lap of jeopardy.

I do know of a few cars that are blowing up on that circuit.

So I think you're, you know, you will wise in what you did.

Yeah.

It's easier.

Yeah.

It's one of them where you're just, you've got to remember.

And it is difficult because we all see red on track, don't we?

But you have to remember, I'd quite like to be sitting at home at the end of the day

having driven home, put the car in the garage and all as well.

That's the champion.

That's the checkered flag.

Yeah, that was a good call because going back to Justin,

I got a message from him around about 10 p.m.

With the picture just got to the garage that he was dropping his car off at.

Oh, what a day.

Oh, Justin.

A long day of waiting.

Yeah, yeah.

And I said, you know, some things happen.

Luckily he was able to soak up a brilliant atmosphere on the day because it did.

It was a lovely atmosphere.

And a big, big thumbs up to George and the team at Portia Centre Bournemouth.

We're putting on such a great day.

We're going to speak to George a little bit later on.

And Vinny, one of the texts from the centre.

But you know, I think the big takeaway, Andy, from my point of view was how great it was

to see a Portia centre doing something like that.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, it was great, wasn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah, very much so.

I want to read many Portia centres do get involved in track days.

I've not heard of it before.

I've not seen it myself, not in this country, not really.

Yeah, maybe they utilise the experienced centre but don't do their own thing.

Possibly.

Yeah, possibly.

It was really well run.

It was relaxed as well, which was great.

Really nicely marshaled by the team at Thruxton.

The noise limit, so I don't know if Thruxton has changed its outlook or what,

but normally Thruxton is too quiet of a track for Portia.

So it's very rare you'll have a Portia track day there.

And obviously I got Black Flag so I was having to downshift at certain areas of the circuit thereafter.

But it was managed and I think managed well by the team.

But yeah, obviously there was all sorts out on track there, GT product that usually as

said would be too noisy for Thruxton.

Yeah.

So really good.

You could overtake on both sides as well, which was really cool.

Love that.

So yeah, big thumbs up.

Nice to have more variety as well.

You know, we know track days are popular, but it's nice to have somebody else doing a track day

as well at the same time to give us just more options as consumers really.

Yeah.

Did you realise there was a couple of cars that you could go out on the road in?

There was a Carrera S and a Carrera GTS.

Yes.

And you saw this.

Yeah, I went out in the GTS, so I experienced that.

Well, it was funny because I kept seeing you pop up all over the place and it, to be honest.

It was like, where's Wally at times?

Because yeah, obviously I knew you went out on the track, but like all of a sudden I saw you

like with a microphone, Vox popping with some DNHC as like Rob at one stage.

And then Andy next to his 968 CS at one stage.

You were popping up all over the place and I was walking across Park Firm at one stage

and you were driving past in the 90 points in Carrera.

So I'm like, he's everywhere.

He's absolutely everywhere.

Can I keep busy?

Yeah, yeah.

What, what was it like?

Bloody fast.

Yeah.

Very fast.

They are quick, aren't they?

Great sound.

But did feel a, you know, my experience of the 992.1 GTS, that cab.

It was a similar experience as far as connection is concerned to the car.

Which seems bizarre because the tea that we drove just a few weeks ago felt so connected to

me and I felt so part of that car.

How can the same car feel so different?

That it just feels, I guess it feels a bit out to world.

Outworldly?

Is that the phrase?

It just doesn't, it's so quick and so accomplished.

It almost feels like you're not connected to it.

It's not in your world.

It's a different world that you don't understand.

When driving the Carrera T, that still feels kind of old school and something you can understand.

Yeah.

I think that's probably quite a good analogy that I've come up with in the end there.

Yeah.

That's the difference between, you know, these much faster cars that you just, you can't relate

to.

Yeah.

So was that the S or the GTS you drove?

That was the GTS, so the hybrid.

Interesting.

Yeah.

And two wheel drive or four?

Two.

Yeah.

I didn't.

It felt it was a bit too wheel drive when I went for an overtake and a little squibble at

the back.

Yeah.

Honestly, yeah.

I think before I can definitely see a few of those rear wheel drive cars, GTSs, finding

it their way into bushes because they are so quick and can be, you know, in reckless hands.

They can, I think, definitely get out of shape.

Yeah.

So much low down torque.

I think that's the issue, you know, so with a super, you know, a matching the accelerator

pedal and lots of that early power coming in on the wrong surface at the wrong time can

definitely end you up upside down and back to front.

Yeah.

Shall we, yeah, try and like it, present some of the day to listeners.

So, yeah, we were there for the whole thing.

We spoke to George at Portia Centre Bournemouth who organised the day, Vinny, one of the texts,

and you spoke to some DNHC as well, and there was a little bit of feedback from an amazing

passenger ride you had.

It was indeed.

Yes.

Yeah.

Sure.

What should we do?

Should we play those all together or just?

Let's start with, let's start with Georgian Vinny from the centre first, so we?

Yeah.

Let's do that.

George from Portia Centre Bournemouth.

Thanks for grabbing.

Well, thanks for letting us grab you for ten minutes.

It's been a busy day.

You've been really busy today.

Congratulations, first of all, what a fantastic event you've put on.

Thank you.

You know what?

It's only a second one we've done, and it's clear we built some good momentum, so from

my point of view, I just wanted to make sure that we had a really good group here, and

it's been a nice mix of maybe 50% Portia Centre Bournemouth customers and then another 50%

outside of our neck, right, which from my point of view really works.

We've loved being able to come along, as you said, 50% of the drift not hitting collective

people.

Yes.

Yeah, it's kind of contributed to a really good mix of cars out there, but I think what's

really interesting is, as a Portia main dealer, you are really in the spirit of what we're

about in drift and not hidden and really encouraging people to use the cars as intended.

Yeah.

So lucky, I've got to say that we've got a lot of GT customers, which helps that core

group of customers when I get them signed up.

They've been kind of paving the way and encouraging more of our customers to get their cars

out on track.

Yeah.

And yeah, there's a great atmosphere around the place, say, people have been buzzing.

They enjoyed, you know, it's quite a nice drive here.

So even when we got here, they're in good spirits and then getting out on track, seeing

some of the reaction has been awesome.

I think it should be known on the podcast that at 6.30 this morning when I turned up to

the dealership for the drive here to Pakistan, George was already firmly positioned behind

the coffee bar, finishing out the coffee to everyone.

So I've no idea what time you turned up today, I know it was early.

So again, it's kind of indicative of the great effort that you've done to put this on.

You know, last week at the centre, there was like a fashion event as well that you've

done.

And the diversity of Paul is nuts that I can go from, you know, we got, we're surrounded

by proper petrol heads today, which is cool and they love driving their cars as fast

as they can.

Or, you know, within reason.

And they're typically, you know, of course, our GT owners.

And then, yeah, last Thursday, we had more of a luxury lifestyle event, should we say.

And it was a fashion show and we transformed the first floor of the showroom.

We had a catwalk, we had the poor sex, didn't know what to do with themselves then.

You know, be good to know.

So is that there's a wider context, you know, Porsche, very keen to push like the destination

Porsche thing.

But obviously, like, we know in the centre today, it's something out in the field, if you

like.

So, you know, is that something that's kind of a message that's come down from Porsche

GB or a you as a centre, you just have a little bit more kind of carte blanche to deal

with.

Yeah, I would say we do a load of our events are off site, just the nature of them.

And we should do more to showcase our showroom, because from that evening on Thursday, they're

all local residents, but so many didn't know there was a poor centre born with, which to

us is crazy because we're so familiar with it.

Yeah, if it's not on your route or, you know, and it followers on socials, people don't

know that the poor centre exists, and that's an important factor for a lot of people to

know that they've got a local centre to give them the confidence to, oh, okay, yeah,

I'll go and check out a car and have a test drive and go down that route.

So hosting events like that is so important to get some new people through the showroom

and yeah, create a bit of bit more awareness for the centre.

Now, usually when we do off site, this is exceptional, we've got 100 guests here today, but we'll

entertain groups of 20 to 30 customers, so quite small, whereas we can go up to 200

at the centre, and at the same time, yeah, showcase the brand and through the doors, which

is cool.

So, yeah.

Certainly having known the centre for years, it definitely appears to me that you guys

are doing far more of that these days, far more than ever before, so again, that's clearly

a deliberate thing to encourage people to really use these cars as kind of a key part

of their lifestyle.

It was a Porsche lifestyle, really.

Yeah, yeah, and that's, honestly, a bit of a personal thing as well.

Okay.

I'm lucky that I've got this, I've got a great gig, you know, I get to do loads of events.

So yeah, do I want to be in the showroom Monday to Friday?

Not really.

But I get to go out and about, so yeah, as much as possible, I try to set up some partnerships

as, you know, as we built.

And yeah, utilising the cars as well, so it's not always about, you know, taking them out

for lunch.

We've done some great stuff, we did some boat trips, but sometimes we just utilise the customer

cars, coordinate a nice drive-out route, we did one to py-wall part where we did a, yeah,

had a spot of brunch and drove back, and it worked perfectly because, yeah, my job showcased

the area that we come from as well, so we're so lucky, I think, to have the new forest on

our doorstep on a beautiful coastline, and that differentiates us from maybe some of the

other centres to say, okay, come on, you know, if we buy our car from Porsche centre Bournemouth,

we can, we can do it.

Yeah, I like to think it's a really cool stuff, yeah, 100%.

So these are all extensions of your personal hobbies, then, what a gig it is, I'm like,

what a gig it is, I'm like, what a gig it is, I'm like, what a gig it is.

So we do like a, a cars and kayaking, to be fair in the peninsula, we could, you know,

showcase the equipment, we could have a grand day out on the kayaks, we'll be nice.

So, what's kind of coming up between now and the rest of the year, then, from an events

point of view, then?

So next up, you know what, I mentioned about, yeah, utilising our coastline, so we are,

one of our partners is the new wave club, and they've got a fleet of boats and jet skis

and they do some cool stuff, like, yeah, jet ski safaris, and we're picking up some boats

from Paul Harbour, going up where River, we're going to have lunch at the Priory, again,

we've used a couple of tyres because they're in the Pervex, they're lovely, you know,

put a door sit and then come back, so we'll do a drive out from the centre, so there we,

I think I titled the email drive sale and dine, so yeah, for Porsche, that ticks a lot

of boxes, so.

Yeah, looking forward to that one.

That's really good.

That's cool.

And is that all like new car customers, or how does that work from your point of view?

So, for that particular one, the clever people behind the scenes have an algorithm, and

really, that one is a brand loyalty event, so it's customers are more likely to leave

the brand, so typically four door owners are sports car owners are very loyal because

they, you know, better than me, they just love buying sports cars, but yeah, you've got

your four door owners that hop between the brands, or you know, Porsche BMW, and so yeah,

it's to re-engage with them, okay, and we might have, yes, some prospects in there as

well.

Okay, yeah, that's a really good proactive move, yeah, absolutely, yeah, Porsche are very

good.

I'm selling my four door car, how do I get on the trip?

Yeah, but it's nice that, yeah, we have a huge database, so that's a challenge I often

get where we've got 11,500 people on our database, and I get, you know, I'm taking for that

particular event, 20 people, so it's like, right, it's tricky, we're getting the balance

of reaching out to enough people that obviously the events filled, but I don't want to reach

out to too many people because then after let people down, yeah, and that's where we have

to real dive into the data, and as much as possible, if that makes sense, yeah, yeah,

I don't want to, yeah, cause myself more issues, and yeah, trying to think about it.

It's nice, again, my own personal observation is kind of centrally with Porsche, GB and Germany,

the marketing directive initiative, as I kind of indicated earlier on, is yeah, it's creating

this Porsche way of life, and it's a lifestyle, they're promoting a lifestyle rather than

just a purely a product, I think what's different on the local level, particularly from what

I'm seeing with you guys at the centre is, you know, like the vehicles are a part of it,

it's just using it in different ways while getting to know the area you live in, while

meeting new people, it's a really lovely harmonious, holistic approach to it, yeah, and that's

what I didn't, you know, come from the automotive industry, and I didn't realise what a community

Porsche had, and it was one of the first things that I've been in the role a few months

I was like, oh wow, okay, it's not just about the cars, and the customers really value

the opportunity to get together, which, yeah, makes my job, yeah, so much easier, but it's

something that I really have to factor in as well, you know, just give them an excuse

to kind of get together and be social, and they'll support the event, which makes life

a lot easier.

Oh, great job he's got, yeah, yeah, absolutely amazing, definitely, so it's, again, you know,

the amount of events that you guys are doing is fantastic, we're invited or whether we

sit on socials or whatever it is, so like, Qdos to you George, because I know since you've

come in, you know, you've been a big part of that, you know, you and the rest of the team

at the centre, it's so lovely to just see all of that, and you know, not just sell the car,

but actually saying, well, actually, now you've got it, we're doing this event, why don't

you come along, come and meet some locals, and get stuck in, I'm certain in future years

we'll look back on all of this, it's like the golden years where everyone's so welcome

and interactive with the product.

Yeah, I mean, the amount of people that are here today is just crazy isn't it, really?

It is, yeah, yeah, a lot of people and a lot of cars is about, I can't believe, is it

17 or 18? GT3 RS is here today, so yeah, that's a record for us, 15 GT3s, there was nine

different variations of GT4s, and then still the rest was made up of, you know, GTSs, turbo

Ss, so yeah, we've got a good calibre of car here, yeah, I've got a great picture of

a traffic jam that was going into the holding areas, I think it's re-creating itself

right now, actually, there's probably all of the RS GT, sorry, the GT3 RS is, very

different colour, yeah, colours there, yeah, we'll try in between sessions, I would love

to line them all up, and I know we've got a good team of photographers here, and it's

just with the sun out, it's the best photo opportunity, and it's quite unique, you know,

this is the only event I'll get this level of RS is in particular, yeah, you should do

that today, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, again, yeah, George, Kudos to you, unaware of any

other centres that are kind of putting on track days, and again, as you said at the top

of the conversation, this one's not your first rodeo, you know, so yeah, Kudos to you, very

much driven, not hidden, encouraging people to get out and use these cars as intended,

and thanks for having us along, no problem, yeah, we'll be back so long as, yeah, people

are keen to come and take our horses out, which I know they are, we'll keep doing them,

thank you, George, thank you, thank you, thanks for joining us, it's from Porsche Centre

Warmer, thanks for having us, heading up the tech team, yeah, so when you introduce

yourself for the soundcheck just now, you mentioned Mantai, yeah indeed, so Vince Barrow

here from Porsche Centre Warmer, so I'm a gold accredited technician and also a Mantai racing

accredited technician, so I'm quite fortunate to have that accolade, it means I do get the

deal with all the GT customers that sort of want to bring their cars on track at Porsche

Centre Warmer, quite lucky, we've built a few of the Mantai racing cars, we've done

292 so far, a 902 RS and a 902 GT4 RS as well, that's all of our customers, thankfully

are here today, and their Mantai cars as well, so that's pretty exciting, but also with

that, we are Mantai racing accredited, so we have the wheel alignment system as well,

so if it's case if you don't want the full kit, so when we're talking about full kits,

we're talking about suspension and arrow kits for the Mantai cars, so none on one generation,

none on two generation, night two, we can just start with a basic, sort of just a fast

road alignment setting, so it's more of a progression we're sometimes seeing through

the Mantai racing sort of equipment, and with it being equipment, it's all Porsche approved,

so it doesn't affect your warranty or anything like that, and we're seeing this progression

of look, we're going to talk to your customers, what do you do, okay, it's my first track

day, okay, let's build you down this route, so if it's your first track day, it's silly

for us to try and sell you a kit, but let's do your fast road alignment, it will make your

car easier to drive, it will give you much better tyre performance and longevity, and

eventually, look, we're going to get you to know each other, days like today, we're

going to get to know each other, I can talk to you, how you getting on, okay, yeah, I found

the limits of my car, okay, let's take it a step forward, so from there, we can then

go down the accessories routes of brake lines, so stainless steel brake lines get that

bit of brake feeling performance, fluid changes, all stuff like this, so all basic changes,

and then eventually, they're thinking, okay, let's take this a step further, and we can

go down the old Mantai racing full kits, and this is where it gets a little bit more

closer to a fully fledged track car, so we take it away from that road, not seeing road

ability, it can still drive on the road, but it's more focus in it to the track side of

the aspect, so more GT customers are getting involved with this, because they're trying

to use their vehicles to limit a track, and they're finding the limits of the track, and

they want to progress it, so we're trying to say, look, okay, we can help you get to that

next step by telling you this full kit, and what that entails is the small aerodynamic

changes, so which gives you better downforce, better grip, and also a suspension change,

and it's all, like I said, it's all Porsche proof, it doesn't affect your warranty, and

then we can set it up all in-house, and we still have this rapport with the customer and

say, look, okay, how are you getting on with the kit, because again, it just improves

that window of adjustability, so we can change a lot of the settings on the coilover system,

because it is taking it to basically a coilover system, so rather than like a PASM setup,

we have the button to make it stiffer, we have nearly, I think it's 21 clicks of adjustment,

so we can really dial it in to each customer's nuances, so look, okay, you're experiencing

the understeer here, oversteer here, we can adjust this, we can adjust this, so there's

two sort of base settings that Mantai would recommend, so you have sort of a performance

setting and a track setting, well, we start out on performance setting and go from there

and to be fair, most of our customers are well happy with them, so Richard, not Richard,

sorry, I can't think of the name, Martin, so Martin's here today and he's 992RS, he's

had it from new, so he's not ever experienced it as a road car, he knows what his generation

991 was like, compared to his 992, and his 992, he's saying, the broken performance,

the longevity of the tyres, he can see the worthwhileness of the kit without even driving

the standard car, so to say he's happy is an understatement, but yeah, so today's gone

pretty damn good to say the least, it's nice to talk to our customers that we see every

day at the dealership and say, look, how are you getting that track, and then to actually

see them at a track, sometimes we're on site, we're on site, so we don't get to see

him every day, and yeah, just doing basic maintenance today, so sort of tyre pressures,

we've done a puncture apparel, I think one of your traps, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah, so he got really unfortunate, because usually tracks are usually pretty

clean for punctures, so he's got super unlucky there, but we've managed to plug it, I think

he's, I guess he's managed to limp it home, okay, tyre pressures, oil levels, just basic

consumable checks, but when you imagine, if a customer goes to a track day, they would

need to learn all that by themselves, so they're, they like that sort of piece of mind

of security, come to our sort of track events, we've got train technicians like myself and

Bailey, so both man's eye accredited, and there's also a few people kicking about that all

being on track sort of throughout the year, and those sort of the basic checks, so we

can recommend that tyre pressures, oil levels, just basic stuff that they might not know,

it's not off with, so yeah, to say it's a good day, it's an understatement, I'm having

the best day ever, yeah, you can tell it's great, it's great to see such enthusiasm

Vince, you know, and is you to use your terminology with your accolades at the top of the conversation,

that really puts you in quite an enviable place, because you're, you're right in the thick

of it for GT product, and those products being used in the environment for which they were

made, just super interesting, where you were talking about like the man tyre thing there,

be good to know, do you feel there is like a growing demand for that?

Absolutely, so we've seen with the advent of sort of man tyre racing become to equipment

accredited, or to equipment approved, so it's not affecting the warranty, we're seeing

more and more customers come to us and seeing us as a destination for sort of track work,

whereas historically they'd be using independent garages, and that's nothing against independent

garages, but there's more, the independence become approved before the Porsche ends

work, so basically RPM technique, fantastic place, but they were man tyre certified before

most Porsche ends work, so but now we're sort of, we're seeing the benefits, because

customers are coming to us, they're using us as basically a one-stop shop, so rather

than getting all the service done at the Porsche end of both, and then going to RPM

technique for their sort of track work and track prep, they can just come to us as a one-stop

shop, and we're fortunate where we are on South Coast, we've got Thruxton quite local

to us, so that's why we're running our sort of track, the at Thruxton, our local circuit.

But yeah, I mean we've definitely seen the benefits in how Porsche and the Porsche are

important.

Interesting, it's great, like yeah you mentioned RPM, and in the interest of being fairness

I guess, you know, there are great representatives within the network, handling the specialist

sphere, which ultimately gives a lot of variety in options for enthusiasts and for consumers,

which is a great, great thing, and I was lucky enough to drive Darren's NON-N1 RS-R.

The man tyre car, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Video, and what absolutely astounded me on that is, but in my next, you know, it's not

new new products right in the like NON-N2 generation stuff, it obviously from a so it was on

the road, and I expected it therefore to not drive very well, because it's so kind of performance

oriented with the thesis and the concept of man-tie, you know. So you're just, yeah, like,

you know, on your DJ set, you're nudging the equalizer, I can't, you should mean at

the other end, it's not quite compliant as an example. I was astounded at how that card

went from the road. And even like pedal feel, the feel through the pedal, because that had

had the lines as well, that was an improvement in pedal feel over, like, ceramics even. And

that's a tangible feel on the road. It made me more intrigued to try the products on track.

Yeah, so it's funny you mentioned him. So it was only last week at, I think it was Monday,

we were at Anglesy. Yes. And Darren and his team RPM Technic were up there, because they were

sort of running their track days. Our RPM Technic were running the day with a Porsche

Motor Club or Porsche Club track day. Yeah. And I was lucky enough to go out as a passionate ride

at the end of the day with Darren on Cup 2 R's, to say they were good tyres, just incredible.

But to experience that car as an older car, so throughout the day I'd be then 9-1, 9-2G3 versus

9-2R S's, brilliant cars, but a 9-1 which you think is an older generation car, the capability of it

with that man tyre kit and the tyres and the full setup that they had done to it, it was like a race

car. I've been fortunate enough that I've been in the car today and it was close to that sort

of operating window that it was so fast and he was the fastest thing on track. But that is all

gained by that man tyre suspension kit and the arrow kit they built bolted to it because it gets

you that operating window a little bit closer, like you say, because you think it's getting that

operating window closer to track work, you think it's going to be uncompliant on the road, but with

the suspension it's such a premium high-quality suspension, there's no cut like cost cut in at

all and it rides beautifully and you do still have that adjustability, it's more manual, it's more

analogue but you can slacken all the way off if you're going along road trip and it'll ride beautifully,

if anything it might ride softer than a standard pasm system but the valve in and the way it works

it's a quality bit of kit, excellent, excellent, and like through the workshops at Portia Centre

Bournemouth obviously like you know the flipper market is dead and buried now it was a long time ago

but you know are you seeing evidence in terms of like servicing and whatnot of people that are

used in the GT products like more on on track? Yeah exactly that so like you say the market has

sort of declined for them so the flipper market and the way or the hands of the cars sorry the cars

fell into hands of people that weren't ever going to use them on track and it just kind of become

a bit of a statement piece the 902RS and now if you look today seeing how many 902RSs are out on

track so they've obviously fell into the right hands and the market is it's not saying it's plummeted

but it's got to a place where people are now using them but the only offset that does cause is

I'm hearing a lot of insurance not say problems but the impremiums are going up because more

of them are using on track more of them might be crashing so the insurance premiums are going up

so they might eventually get to a point where they're going to struggle to ensure it for a

reasonable price because the cost of repairs on most 902RSs as soon as you have like a cornering

you're talking like upwards of 50,000 for parts and everything so they're expensive cars to run

but a product that gets you close to that race experience but something you can use on the road

every day as well so it's to have that balance of yes it's a lot of money but if you take it to

the next step you'd need to then have a whole race team follow you around whereas today you can

just drive a car to us do a few laps and drive home after there's a chap here with his cup car

the same can't be said with him so if we look at the window we can see an Arctic truck with about two

mechanics which yes he's going around there faster but you do need a team with a cup car

you don't I don't see any teams kicking around for a 992RS yeah that's the beauty the modern

product isn't it really it's given you something that's kind of vaguely in a similar

stratosphere as it has a cup car but yeah with an engine that's not necessarily life right so yeah

exactly yeah funny enough so speaking of angle C we were up there this is last money I went up

there with friends none of one g3 so gem one gt3 none and one yeah seven hour drive it was for us

from south coast of Bournemouth flawless all the way up through the mountains through snow don't

yeah pull him down rain lovely road trip and then we got to the track done our run in done our

sight and laps three laps later engine like ping and it was just like we've read the faults

misfire scene number six done a bit of diagnosis work up there and basically diagnosed it it was

sort of it was wearing a component within the engine not really fixable there and then but

the brilliant thing about Porsche is a brand they warrant their cars on track as well so we had

absolutely no concern throughout the day yes okay it was it was inconvenient for us we really

done three laps but it was all covered by Porsche warranty that car is back at the center we've

diagnosed it within the same week we've ripped apart seen it news a new engine got in contact with

Porsche UK they said yes go ahead and replace the complete engine that customer now gets an upgraded

a laser series so I believe it's going from F to like a G or a H series so better engine full stop

it's better components internally and it's all covered by warranty and it looks like the engine

is going to come in next week as well so within a two week turnaround he's had an engine failure

which sounds pretty catastrophic for most other brands within two weeks it'd be back on the road

again and then you can take it to a track after it's run in and yeah it's a brilliant brand to get

involved with if you're into track driving so myself I'm do a lot of track driving this year I'm

fortunate enough to do my art so I've done a bit of race driving as well if you're into track driving

that sort of scene Porsche the product as a brand you just feel safe it's not the stories I

hear from other brands like your Lamborghini's look you've been on track I can't force you not

warranty this isn't covered but Porsche is a brand you're looked after especially if you're

carzing in warranty you're looked after there's no concerns whatsoever well this is the brand back

in the product yeah exactly and even you know it's not necessarily a new product there as well

like you said as long as it's in warranty yeah which is the main thing you said off the mic as well

like with the the later engines we're gonna be on G series now for that generation you said they

even sound different yeah so the comments we've had in the past I believe they've changed some

components in the valve train so the way that sort of gives it a different harmonics nearly they sound

I'm not gonna say they sound less rattly they just sound completely different and the way

I believe the power delivery the comments I've heard from other customers because I'm not going to

say look they're unreliable cars but we do see the broken ones so it was last year middle last

year we had a none-on-one RS recovered from nerve-earing that had unfortunately dropped the valve so

caused completely catastrophic failure same sort of failure just too far gone so it needed a complete

engine full stop because it was destroyed but with that he had a complete new engine unfortunately

that was a quite a long way so right six to eight months for that because there was back all the parts

because these engines are coming complete from Porsche so literally bolt on with a

loom everything ready to go you imagine same because it's a motorsport derived engine yeah the same

as if the motorsport department had an engine on shelf they could just chuck one on ready to go they're

not wanting to swap components and we're looking to have the same thing with a friend's car so in

a week's time that engine will come in a crate from Porsche UK all boxed up and to be honest with

us it will be probably turned around within within a day it's that it's a nice complete easy repair

all and silleries already on the engine you get to do that so air conquer presses all the lines

all the loom it's a lovely job to be honest so as a technician it's let's say it's cream

because you hardly even get your hands dirty so yes it's good and then after that well obviously

advise a running period of about a thousand miles there's nothing to stop him from

blasting out of the road at 9000 rpm as he leaves the dealership but we always recommend

a sort of thousand miles come back get an oil change there's no stipulation anywhere for that but

that is best practice yeah come back oil change do you think it's a fresh engine everything's

going to wear it'll come back oil change and then he's ready to go for a track it's simple as that

and it's he's then still got his warranty nothing's affected and if he wants to at the end of the

year he can renew his warranty up to 15 years old his car can be and it's 2014 car so you think

2014 car with a warranty to be able to use on track is pretty impressive yeah manufacture warranty

definitely there's there's something you know that once cars get to that 15 years where whether

it's Porsche centrally or what you know and this episode isn't for speculating on that you know

maybe something done to look off at because there was so many made but to counter it and it's easy

for us to say as non GT owners but you know the that's a high revving motorsport engine as you

alluded to you know and and the car equivalent that the car is based on those engines are

lifed yep yep sourly yeah so you know this engine isn't so it's amazing that that engine has been

blocked in the back of a road car anyway yeah it's yeah and like you said yeah 10 years down the

line the the manufacture still looking after you with those engines so yeah great great bit of kit

but look Vince I know you're such a busy guy today so well thank you very much for having me on it

say thank you so much you know for all your knowledge and partner now so yeah I think you've

got one of the coolest jobs going on right in the mix well I'm certainly very very lucky to say

least so my hobbies are motorsport track and then to come to work and get to do with motorsport

and track cars and daily and then go in the weekend go racing come to here like so it's only on

the weekend we're at Donington Park come straight from Donington Park to Thruxton and I get to call

this my job you know it's the it's insane so I love it great to see such enthusiasm so yeah Vince

with many accolades thanks for joining us so you've got to ride in probably our car of the day

quite possibly I did yeah Kevin brought along his 993 RS that he bought around about six months

ago bought it and what I think we would term as a a risky way by an online auction but I think he

bought it at a very reasonable cost he's been doing quite a bit of work on it since

replacing rubber pipes and things because basically it hadn't been used much for 13 years

so it'd been sat around um yeah 993 RS if I remember rightly I think oh did it um

South African car I think I could be wrong there Kevin but I think it was it was South African

and then come over to the UK um so right hand drive um bucket seat in the driver's side

and what I can only term as a useless seat in the passenger seat

passenger yeah yeah yeah so it's a hardback 993 sport seat which I'm convinced of useless

yeah yeah I've been throwing around thruxting in that um I must say the softback

sport seats the earlier ones are in the 993 similar to the 964s a so far superior to those hard

backs I don't know why everybody wants a hardback I guess it's because you can paint it and make

it look fancy which is bizarre when you think because we are we are so strange aren't we like

with our porches and our predelitions but like it is strange because we can't see the back of the seat

but it is a thing what's got it's got yeah painted hardback sports seats you know

whoa lovely yeah your shopping is going to look lovely looking at that as it looks across from the

shelf on the back so yeah went out passenger ride holding onto the literally having to hold onto

the seat rails you know getting the hands underneath the seat rolls so that I didn't end up either

pinned up against the passenger side door or in um Kevin's lap and I did end up in Kevin's lap a

couple of times when I wasn't prepared for a corner um but that a thing I mean we were out in the

fast group I think it was a fast group there was seven or eight GT3 RS's 992s yeah and latest stuff

there was one or two GT4 RS's out there as well and the 993 RS obviously it's slower

but it's not that much slower and Kevin absolutely peddled the nuts off of it yeah yeah he was

driving absolutely fantastic he was hitting the kerbs go man you know having a little slide here

in there and I think the tyres were probably going off it was one getting on in the day so I got a

picture of the front tyres and they were they were pretty damn cooked but yeah it was bloody fantastic

but yeah coming off at the end had a bit of a headache I had to go find some paracetable

a bit delicate afterwards I tell you what though you know we come back to it time and time again

Porsche engineering so that is a very nearly a 30 year old car probably is really not a

3 RS 28 28 years old I think yeah yeah 995 995 years was the first 993 RS with the introduction

of area ram and 30 years later it's not just being driven it's being driven on a track

and hold it in its own fantastic yeah fantastic should we play much I think we recorded a little bit

of me while I was high on 93 RS scooms probably might be a bit of a repeat of what I've just said but

hey I was in the moment I think it's worth hearing just for the buzz that you very clearly had

when you walked back into the like restaurant area after all the the lobby at Thruxton you were

buzzing mate so it's worth worth people hearing the adrenaline coursing through your veins

absolutely yeah and yeah just to reiterate thank you again to Kevin for taking out for a ride

thanks for being proper driven not hidden ladies and gentlemen we just want to say so Andy's just

joined us back on the podcast other chat and to Vince yeah sorry and you've come back and it

looks like you've had lots of coffee I can see the whites of your eyes yeah yeah what have you

been up to a bit wired Kevin very very kindly offered me a passenger ride in the 993 RS

I sorry bit sorry Vince but yeah I had to go fantastic what a thing he's out in the I think it's

pretty much the fast group it was all GT3 RS is a maybe one GT4 RS it's possibly the only car in

that group that doesn't have rear axle steering or water in the end yeah absolutely yeah yeah

I think everything else is probably within two or three years old yeah and that was 27 or 28

years old absolutely fantastic Kevin you can wheel that thing really really really did well here

he comes now look at him easy stuff it's not broken a sweat it's so rare and we're so lucky that

Kevin from the collective has bought that car along today so it's a real pleasure to see it even

on the track yeah to go in it Andy is something quite quite something else yeah yeah yeah yeah it's

just amazing that it really is that that old thing couldn't shine a light to everything else that

was going around that track just blows my mind the Porsche engineering from all those years back it just

it was amazing then and it gets better and better did you manage to spy the speedo at any point

down the back straight no I didn't I didn't I got some video so I'll see if I can

actually lean some off of that yeah Kevin can definitely pedal that's the thing you know with

the newer stuff and this is probably is exacerbated more here where that that car is probably one of

the oldest on track today actually yeah but you know it's it's it's a totally different driving

style to the new stuff it's almost a different line sometimes because you know the aeros

comparative to the new stuff isn't doing a lot yeah I think Kevin said at one point he can

actually fill the air of one of the GT3 RS's wow sort of upset him a little bit or I don't know

he felt it in some way yeah yeah the way that it moves around on the tires you know you could

feel the tires bending and moving around and the black the treads squealing and sort of adjusting

as they went around yeah yeah yeah fantastic mega you're a lucky man Andy be you're a lucky man

yeah yeah yeah yeah absolutely not sure I'm not sure I'm not sure I'm the big

great saying cool man right yeah I'm gonna dash off and yeah crack on for a little session myself

get on there amazing right mate cheers dude amazing amazing should we hear from some DNHC as well

yeah yeah I um spoke to I think five or six DNHC is over the day got a little recordings of

what they'd been up to on the track um what instruction they'd had and how they're enjoying

themselves serves some great stories let's play those James good hello how are you you've just

been out in the uh GTS I have indeed a new hybrid one how was it it's it does isolate you

does it in the road yeah um you kind of look down at that speedo and you think okay yeah I am moving

yeah but you don't I would don't think you feel like you're really shifting that was the same as

the guy I was just speaking to he'd just been out in it and said is actually the same thing

phenomenally fast but doesn't feel it no um goes down the road incredibly well engine sound

fantastic there's no whistling compared to my old 9191.2 GTS lots of whistles lots of pops none of

that yeah even in sport mode so um yeah as people kind of talk about it's becoming more more

causiting and yeah going away from dare I say at the driver's car and I shouldn't say that should

I but yeah it's not for you not for me definitely and the hybrid um you really felt that punch when

that kind of came in yeah I almost feel slight inausius yeah yeah it's um yeah it just kind of

goes and goes uh low down the rev range it is pulling um now I was kind of quite heavy footage

yeah um you could just put that in normal mode and just cruise along yeah um but yeah I do feel

slight inausius there I said you're you're you're innards you do feel you're innards moving a bit

with that torque film yeah do you have a instructor with him with you didn't you um had a well from

somebody from OPC Bournemouth yeah um in so just out on the road yeah it's not on the track oh you're

just on the road just on the road yeah just on the road so how about you've been out this morning

with an instructor I haven't done was that fantastic instructor brilliant never driven here before yeah

awesomen that they've got four strips of tarmac laid so he can tell you've got lanes one to four

and tells you which lane to be in as you go around the circuit so he might say right you're into

get over to four back to one for this corner that was really helpful fast track chicane definitely

needs um thought process a little few moments there but brilliant absolutely brilliant loving it

how is this corner that goes out behind the building yeah like it yeah good yeah you can kind of

just kind of not you're not on it but you're there's not much braking on this circuit other than

the chicane yeah so for me third and fourth gear he basically said keep it up a gear higher

than you normally with no need to go down to second right so I just rolled it into the chicane

on the brake yeah um and then kept it in third and it's got enough my car for anyway for me he's

got enough taught to kind of go through go through that reasonably well but fantastic yeah

needs learning definitely needs learning for me but wonderful brilliant stuff and uh you're driving

the spider today that's going well yeah spider is fantastic roof is obviously down uh of course

we had the windows up which has kind of made it a bit more civilized to be fair

excellent uh couple more trips out this afternoon yep two more three more trips I think um and uh

just taking it nice and easy don't be silly build the speed um and don't take liberties basically

sounds good I might grab a passenger driving sounds more than welcome excellent

cheers andy thanks bye bye hello hello there he is jiven just come in from a little trip out on the

circuit bit firm instruction yeah how was the instruction good really good what difference did

that make because you went out uh I've seen you out is this the second time you've been out now

second time yeah yeah and what you're driving today 911 911 dot 1 c4 gts the best sound in gts

around apparently i dog you yes so how was the instruction did that really improve your driving

did it help definitely how much faster were you I think it's not only the fast piece I think

when I went down first time is trying to understand the corners where you turn I think you have

the little nuances having an instructor saying next to you telling you where to turn how much

power to put in and when to put power and break more break more break more it's valuable yeah also

you're the opposite as well also to keep putting more power in yes because you know when you think

certain corners are my going too far out is a car kind of drifting to the left is like that's normal

when the resistance comes in pulling a bit more that's natural so you don't have to break as much

that's why you carry on more and more speed yeah so yes it's valuable yeah so you're feeling

confident for the softening sessions how's the car going cars good cars good so far so good

can't argue I'm pretty sure I'll probably need more tires I've been power sliding a c4 gts quite a lot

excellent great stuff mate well good to catch up with you and glad you're having a great time

yeah cheers Andy cheers thank you John Wiggen how are you I'm very well thank you good what are

you driving today I am here in my 718 gts or later wonderful time on track is it yeah what in that

car in that car yeah I did a cab driver training day last year with it yeah which was brilliant

but it's the first time I've brought this one on track I mean I've done track days before and in my

mx5 and more recently in my gyaris yeah but they're not as fast as that oh really so you really

felt that well just the horsepower and before a little horsepower just shoot you down the road once

it once you get up into the rev range and it's it's off yeah for a purely stock vehicle it's so

capable you know I feel like I'm getting a lot out of it and I can only imagine what proper driver

could get a fantastic fantastic we've been out within instructors yeah yeah just then just oh

excellent how did that go well I chose to have the instructor in the second session so I need to get

out I've not been to instruction before and I've only kind of learned it from youtube yeah so I've

watched a bunch of laps there kind of general layout of the track and then wanted to drive around

the few times and got got my bearings then have some instructions so good cool you can tighten my

tighten my my game up so to speak yes and I choose to choose difference I mean the just the

knowing no where to turn what line to take just the little things make a big difference how much

speed you can carry yes yeah I'm the track and it's you're still you think you're doing amazing

and then a GT4 RS just bonds faster yeah there's some there's some there's some heavy metal around

isn't there today I don't feel like a small fish at times I think I think we

counted I think at 17 or 18 GT3 RS is 992s here today I think most of them did go out together I

think there's just one or two that are in a slower group where they're novices but yeah that's

expecting to be in the group two there's one up from beginner but yeah I don't know what I'm

trying to tell me you've got a reputation John just a reputation yeah yeah now you were thinking

about getting rid of the Cayman yes is that changed tool after being out in it today it's

difficult because it's such an amazing car yeah there's not a single fault you could pick with it

yeah it just delivers but I've got I've got that I've got the LGR Yaris which is amazing fun

bombing around I use that one probably most especially in the winter yeah of course it's great

bombing around I drive to work in a kind of country route it's amazing fun for that yeah and then

at the other end of the spectrum I've got a big barrel chested Mustang which you know really

horse power lunatic as mental as well and a whole different way yeah and then the Cayman's

like a scalpel it's just it does everything that you could ask for it so well but yeah it feels like

you need to wind it up a bit more you need to give it the room to do that and I don't think I get

the chance to do that as much as as I would like to got you got you got you drive around and it's

lovely car and it's lovely to drive yeah yeah it you feel like you're just stifling it you're not

getting almost too much capability there yeah yeah yeah it's capable so window isn't where I'm

using it most of the time yeah understood running three cars just logistically it can be a

built up yeah a five at times so that it isn't cheap either so yeah yeah that's and I

it's like picking from your children so which one and I I think for me that's that would be the one

if I was going to move one it'd be that one so I've also got an awful hub of modifying cars I love

yeah yeah yeah and I can't bring myself to do anything to it it's too nice too good is it good

yeah even just aesthetic stuff it's it looks great why would I mess with it yeah but as other cars

yeah it's fair game yeah and I just I like that aspect of it as well so if anybody's listening

it's a Cayman yep it's a Cayman 718 GTS 4 liter Arctic Gray or gold wheels PDK let's got the 918

buckets which seem quite rare on the GTS they do yeah the GT4 no problem yeah I think I've yet

to see one an auto trader with the buckets and the GTS so either I'm just strange

appeal to me but I personally I think they really suit the car amazing spec but if anyone wants one

and has suitably sized pockets yeah give John a shout excellent stuff well John enjoy the rest of

the day all right so you're seeing cheers now play Andy Crosserton how are you good sweaty you just

got out the car are you how was it you're driving your what color is it this is Riviera blue

Riviera blue 968 club sport club sport absolutely the only one here today it always is the only one

I think it's a perfect track car it's not like nearly as fast as some of the stuff here yeah but I

would say it's just as much fun would it have 50 50 weight distribution 50 50 absolutely lightweight

and loads of fun fun wonderful been out with the instructor today no two o'clock two o'clock looking

forward to that absolutely excellent we'll find out where we're going wrong or morning and

going much faster hopefully great stuff how long have you had this car now two and a half years

and something that you've always wanted well I've got the the mingray 911 yeah and I always thought

the Riviera club sport would look stunning next to it and they look like a great pair really

what what a garage pairing it's awesome it's awesome and I still think these things are under

valued yeah the trouble is it's not 911 so a limited car there's not 911 is never going to be

yeah stratospheric but it's a great car it's the right spec that I wanted I've had to do

got a lot of changes to it so it came with a lux interior that's all been stripped out it's now

got the right car roads and it all color matched the RS steering wheel it's great fun it's excellent

don't drive it enough whenever I do it reminds me why I bought it in the way bought it fantastic

um what's it like for maintenance side of things so it sort of parts cost is it much less than the 911

do you find or is it um I think for both of my cars I've been pretty lucky really um you know

if it wasn't for me wanting to do things to the car it wouldn't have cost much at all

right sort of standard servicing it's only me wanting to like paint the brake calipers and refurb all

that like that's cost all the money really you're just a tart yeah it's been really good though

apart from that wonderful low-cost I'd say yeah insurance um I don't know what more people don't

want them really yeah no fluffing there yeah they have fluff fluff fluff away mate absolutely

well fantastic hope you and have a great time with instructor this afternoon thanks and

thanks nine works I think it's a great day loads of cars here oh thanks loads of great cars you

even bought the sunshine say that a lot isn't it blue skies all round we've just got a couple of

little clouds coming in now but so I think we're we're going to keep blue all day just like you've

got good car here thanks a lot all right cheers Andy thanks very much and with Rob Mitchell at the

moment and he's just trying to get the valve cover out of the wheel but I think it's still a bit hot

it's Sun Ethan's here oh good good cool he's rolling the car forward he's thinking he's using his

brain Ethan you've driven today as well isn't he yeah lots of fun just been out yeah we had a

little vibration on the braking which is a bit worrying me oh really are we overusing

probably about brake disc on the front brake dust sorry yeah you're getting scales from your

dad I can imagine that you can hold on I'm not sure I think I passed the blue six eight twice

probably so how what amount of track driving the experience if you got oh so we've got a little

catering thing yeah um so I've driven that how many track days we've done this year

so we've done six track days this heavyy wow fantastic decent amount of experience and what's

um what was driving the 996 light compared to the catering well literally like you couldn't get

more different yeah yeah I mean the catering is really raw so you feel everything it's doing

um but the power delivery on that is a lot more linear okay what engine that if you got in that

we've got a two-litre Z-Tech yeah it's about 180 horsepower yeah um to 540 kilos

um little rocket ship to be honest what a great thing does not six you about 4.4 seconds

so yeah brilliant brilliant oh glad you had a great time yeah how about Rob let's uh pass the

microphone over to Rob how's your how's your morning been it's been great I've just been out

with Ethan driving so how was that well I need to go and change one of the panics now

really um clearly he's cricket oh sorry it's really clearly quicker than me

he looks very proud so yeah I've taken a few tips but what a circuit what day and it's a far

circuit isn't it he's so flowy though I mean you can just um drift from one side to the

you know let the car take all the circuit up and yeah it's fantastic and it's great to see that

nine six eight on the circuit oh yes it's seen some nice little pictures you've taken yeah while in

the passenger seat my way yeah while in the passenger seat racing myself but yeah no absolutely

fantastic great stuff so who's going out this afternoon you show it again yeah so I think we've got

the trainer coach yeah nice one so we've got a session each excellent oh great

next and then and then him great good how's the fingers burn yeah obviously no no brain whatsoever

and funny enough I did the same thing last night and so I knew where it was yeah um forgetting that

it's about 600 degrees so what we driving today just so they know what we're in my pride and

enjoy a 98 996.1 vanilla in terms of what I've done to the engine and things are straight out

the factory career it's got to have some work on the exhaust and suspension and that's it and

yeah it's just I know it's daft but I just think it's a perfect car you love it yeah it's just

gives such it's it gives so much back to you as a driver yeah it's just got it's got enough grip

you know where the edges are it doesn't scare you um very predictable I just I think the world of it

um yeah that's it great stuff and what how fantastic to share it we give time yeah yeah

yeah it's there to share right yeah these things and I've had a bit of a this year um one of those

things where we've spent a lot of time together driving cars yeah yeah it's great to hear thanks

guys appreciate it cheers see you soon I'm joined by Martin and Kevin um sort of flying the old

school flag today wait what you're driving do you Kevin Kevin I'm in a 993 RS check you how's it going

great good and Martin right I've been passing during every can I get your microphone a little

bit closer to him yeah it's wonderful exhilarating uh not frightening exhilarating and yeah really

enjoyable epic so you've just been out just come back about 10 minutes ago you've been in the 993

but good shaking excellent and you all drive in I'm in the 1988 career yeah that's running a 3.6

twin spark um Kevin kindly sat with me and give me a bit of help and instruction as I'm a complete

novice because I I heard well you were saying that you're a bit of a gentleman driver earlier

uh yeah I think I described it as driving this day you see yeah how was it on the second

trip with Beth Kevin I'll let my uh yeah it's um it's hard when you don't know the track yeah um

you know Martin was certainly starting to get some of the sections right and picking up speed and

yeah it was good fun lovely car getting into it yeah yeah loving it great stuff um how long have

you had that car just over two years yeah and it's got 993 twin spark engine isn't it so

what's the 3.2 yeah how do you find that uh it's noticeable improvement yeah um it's got the light

and flywheel and clutch as well so pick up and response is noticeably better yeah yeah it's uh yeah

great fun awesome car looks fantastic it's uh white well it looks looks like a white 3.2

a little ductile some wide fix on it beautiful looking thing um and Kevin you were driving 993 RS

yeah how long have you had that um only about nine months have you yeah excellent where did that

come from it um it was uh I picked it up on collecting cars I think I I posted some of the photos

yes in the in the chat group when I went up also I remember now yes but yeah it's been a it hadn't

been driven it had done about 150 kilometers in 13 years oh my god we've been replacing a lot of

the the tubes and pipes yeah rubber bits we only just got the very around fixed this last week

oh really and it's kind of running perfectly yeah this was a bit of a right let's get it on track

and see what else needs replacing or upgrading yeah so um what you're feeling I it's well it's

just been incredible today has nothing uh nothing I want to change about it yet apart from the tires

excellent I've heard that you've been hustling that pretty well there was a a few guys that I was

speaking to earlier in some much newer stuff and uh you you were doing some some good stuff out there

I think I've been getting away I've been getting in the way I'm sure you haven't

because uh it's it's a hard circuit to get out of people's way especially in a car like that

because I'm just on the edge of grip yeah constantly um Martin can attest to that we were

sideways in government yeah fantastic but yeah it's been great fun excellent well great great well done

for keeping me a cool term seen alive at Thruxton today really appreciate you giving us a little chat

thank you guys pleasure thank you perfect nice nice well done Andy B what a top job of content

gathering you did on the day media man your your your feet probably covered more miles than most of the

tires on the from the cars on that day yeah busy boy absolutely tops yeah it's great good good to get

all of those happy faces and you know they've really enjoyed themselves there was there was there was

no no sad faces that's for sure yeah it's been huge hasn't gained up for it 100% 100% I think like

we've done two track days now as a as a collective obviously we've not organized any of them so we're

not taking any credit for that but joining up linking up with with different people so we had

Abbeville earlier this year in France which again great great circuit for classics really and modern

classics and and then the guys with Porsche since former for Thruxton so it's been really nice

to see members of the collective enjoying their cars in that environment alongside the road trips

as well that's been really lovely really lovely yeah it's good to see you yeah and I just say as

well a big shout out to James good because on the day he was doing so many passenger rides

he was was there yeah like what a guy you know sometimes some and you know completely understandable

some people maybe get a bit nervous we've having somebody else in the car or you know whatever

but James was just so good so accommodating taking people out in his seven one eight spider

on cup two tires as well proper job so yeah top man like the ultimate experience I think at

Thruxton with a roof down yeah yeah you look like he was enjoying it as did his passengers yeah

yeah really good really good so thanks again to the team at Porsche since former Thru

inviting us along hopefully we can do it again next year bit of a public shout out and cap in hand

to the team there yeah we'd love to get back and do that in 2026 but congrats to the center on

feeding into our mantra here which is driven or hidden and getting those cars out and being used

as intended absolutely first class agreed I think that'll go down as my spread the love this week

to be honest yeah that sounds good so yeah my gem of the week this week is a cars driving yesterday

handy I'm in love really I honestly I'm in love I love the thing so I think people would have seen

it it's 926.2 GT3 midnight blue for sale at Harbour cars unfortunately it's sat in the showroom

all summer and nobody myself and the Harbour cars team included can work out why fabulous car

it has 29,000 miles on the clock it obviously comes with the Harbour cars 12 month warranty

backed by themselves bumper to bumper what could possibly put in people off is the modifications

that are on the car yeah it's got a few isn't it yeah so it's got aftermarket discs and pads

I can't remember what they are now but it's fit retractive suspension and that is why I went to drive

that car yesterday because browsing the non words marketplace looking for inspiration for my next

nine words TV video looked at that car and thought given the success of that system on my own car

which by the way was phenomenal on the track at Thruxton but nominal I thought well look you know

it's almost the other way around with little Irish trucks the track is helping to improve performance

while giving practicality with the GT3 it already has that performance yeah what it what it needs

is practicality because the non on 6.2 I think is possibly the most hardcore GT3 of all generations

very very you know it's really similar it's identical on paper to the RS so I wanted to drive

it on the road and see how it was and I basically I just put it in full soft mode went for a drive

round the back roads of Goodwood oh my god Andy what a car and the way that car went down the road

was with such sophistication and whereas the 996.2 GT3 in factory guys on the road the word is

compromise now it's compliance okay it's pretty hand bit of a handful isn't it yeah yeah yeah

yeah and you know some some people have gone down the route of trying to do you know like

geo it out which you can to a degree but it doesn't take away it's it's how the car is damped

it's hardcore and it's yeah I think you know in stock form would I want to drive a 996.2 GT3

across Europe no I think that would be extremely hard going yeah and Harba's Harba cars car

in midnight blue has the equipment cage and elephant ear buckets as well

so at face value it is quite hard core but honestly that tractive is just game changing and I

really hope so I'll do a video on it it's gonna come out next week I really hope that video is the

watershed moment for that car and we'll make somebody just look at it and go oh wow

there I think we're all missing a point here yeah yeah because it's it's it's phenomenal to be

honest to be honest with you halfway through that drive I rang up my finance guy honestly and I

ran the numbers on it yeah because it's like why is this car still sitting here yeah and how does

that stack up because it is it is that good and in a way I hope nobody does buy it so that I can

work out what we can do about that because it was it was that good it was that good and what's

interesting as well in the GT3 market none on sevens Gen 1 engine to have really kicked on we kind

of mentioned it last week they're now above the none on ones none on six is a still remain a tough cell

in the in the eyes of the general public they it's just a slower market there currently

but yeah it's so yeah as I said it's 74 995 at Harbour cars it's wonderful please buy it and give

it to me okay I'm afraid I can't help you now but I'm sure we'll get somebody will

in the coming days fantastic right should I give you some geography lessons oh yes please and I have

to say that went down so well last week Andy some of the messages on the collective highlights in

your exquisite geography skills have just been proper it's made me laugh a lot but I worked out

what what was happening I thought I'd sorted myself out three people that were in the leads area

and then I was doing my preparation but I obviously didn't do what I thought had done

and I didn't put them in the order that I had so there are there's at least one leads person

popping up in my little wall is this week that shouldn't been on last week's actually in my

difference but I'm going to start in Wales today Kevin Ellis who is in Bridgend is part of the

the posse that you would call the Spirit Mox Club so he's been attending their events for a while but

has been told about nine works from those guys and signed up oh that's so nice that's so nice

Kevin runs a 987.2 box that's in polar white that looks great in polar white or beautiful pure

see welcome along Kevin and I've got somebody in New Zealand that I can't get hold of John

please get in contact I'd love to hear from you and induct you into the nine works way

and been trying a few times but yeah if you could give us a shout that'd be great next up is Luke

Morris who is in Sutton in Surrey driving a 997.1 C2S which is his first Porsche very excited about

it and picked it up from Phil Rayby are very very nice indeed he says he's been keeping an eye on

their stock as seen them on our YouTube channel does that mean there's a buying boots t-shirt in the

offing and he's on the list to contact beautiful beautiful very much earned I believe yeah very good

and there's a big welcome to everybody in the collective like we're really really grateful to have

you on board especially now we've transferred away from patreon the sign up is now on the website at

nineworks.co.uk forward slash join and yeah if you're buying a car that the buying boots it's

gone down well there's we're gonna be printing a lot of buying boots t-shirts it's gonna be a big

order going in yeah absolutely I'm now heading to wheelchair Simon Gwynne who has a 992.2

Carrera T in guards red he's just keeping that warm for me for my retirement he collected that

on the 26th of March and at the time of writing which was a few weeks ago when he wrote this

he had already exceeded 7000 miles stroke smiles yes driven not hidden love that Simon yeah

piling on the miles yeah I know Simon actually I think he bought that with some retirement funds

so yeah he's retirement car but he's keeping it warm for me yeah he'd love it Andy me excellent right

and one last one who is we're heading to Yorkshire it should have been last weeks one of last

weeks he's in Clifford near Leeds Stroke York that's Andrew Stewart and he drives a 987.2 box

to S been watching YouTube for a couple of years and joined because he wants to be more involved

with the community that's super super welcome Andrew welcome excellent I'll be back next week

with more it'll be back he'll be back top sandy beer well that's our yeah track track podcast done

that's gonna go take some more parachute and more to get over my little headache I've had after that 993 RS ride ride

excellent excellent that was that was thrilling so yeah thanks to everybody that attendee thanks

to Portia Senate Borma for putting the day on and thank you as always for listening to 9x radio see you next week

this episode is brought to you by the driven not hidden collective if you'd like to join the DNHC

and unlock unique new experiences with your Portia visit 9works.co.uk forward slash join you can

also support us by leaving a five star review on your favorite podcast app and Google reviews

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