Porsche World Road Show 2019 in India - The Thrill of Driving [Video]

The Porsche World Roadshow has thrilled the Porsche lovers globally and recently came to India after years. A perfect place for Porsche enthusiasts and potential buyers to experience the full range of the high-performance Porsche cars, this year’s event was organised at the India’s only F1 track – the Buddh International circuit, probably the best place to put a Porsche car through its paces and to understand why is this brand is so iconic.

Unlike most of the events organized by other manufacturers, the Porsche world Road Show travels to various countries with the same set of left hand driven 24 cars including all the models ranging from 718 to Panamera and in India’s case, the newly launched all-new 911. The instructors also travel from one country to another and are part of Porsche road show, having years of experience on training and racing.

The participants were divided in four groups and Porsche team had prepared four exercises that included a slalom test, handling course, an Off-road zone and the Braking test. Each zone were assigned different cars as per their capabilities and ahead of us trying out the cars, we were given a demonstration on how to rightly sit inside the car and what all different buttons do.

Slalom test

For our first test, we were given the Porsche 718 Boxter S. There were two practice runs and a time trial run to record individual times. We had a blast handling the 718 and completed the trial in 23 seconds, best in the group. Excited by the performance, we moved to the next course.

Braking test

Next we were given the previous generation 911 Turbo S for the braking test. The immensely powerful 580 bhp machine has a launch control that pushes the car from 0-100 in approx 3 seconds. After an initial demo by the instructor, we performed the braking test and boy, was it tormenting. After launching the car, we pushed the brake pedal with 45 kg of pressure on the pedal, forcing the car to stop from 100-0 kmph in just 30 metres. Such stopping distance means we had to experience a g-force of 1.5. With our heart pounding of the sudden rush, we went to have a full round of the BIC track to test the handling capabilities of the SUVs and sedans of the Porsche.

Handling Test

We were given 4 door cars of Porsche including the Cayenne Hybrid, Macan S, Panamera 4S and Panamera Turbo. The idea was to drive each car on the track and follow the instructor’s 911 to check the high speed cornering abilities of all the vehicles, since there size and weight is more than the Porsche’s sportscars. Needless to say, all the vehicles, no matter SUV or sedan, all were impeccable in handling around the test track, which was once called the best design track on the world. Happy with our high speed, yet relaxed driving skills, we then moved to the last course to test the off-roading capabilities of Porsche.

Off-roading

While it may sound absurd, Porsche does manufacture Cayenne which is a capable off-roader as we saw during our test. The carefully charted course had all the elements to test factors like angle of approach, angle of departure, traction control, hill climb and descent. We hardly had to display any skill whatsoever to conquer the course as almost all the work was done by Porsche Cayenne’s electronics. All we had to do is hold the steering hard and push it through the course slowly.

Back to the pit lane and ecstatic with the day, we had another surprise waiting for us. We were given an opportunity to experience a hot lap in some of the most exotic and fastest Porsche cars driven by the trainers of the world road show.

The highlight of the day, however, was an opportunity to drive the newly launched Porsche 911 Carrera S. Porsche India took opportunity to launch the all-new eighth generation 911 on the media day ahead of the start of the drive experience. The new 911 was launched at Rs 1.82 Crore and as per Porsche, it’s the best 911 they have ever produced. The iconic car is a posterboy for sportscars around the globe and is powered by a turbocharged flat-six engine producing 450 hp, a bump of 30 hp as compared with the previous generation. The new 911 can do 0 -100 kmph in just 3.7 seconds, 0.4 seconds faster than the predecessor. The engine is mated to an eight-speed PDK dual-clutch transmission and the top speed is measured at 308 km/h.

We drove the 911 for a couple of laps and were impressed with the way it handled on the tricky track and accelerated on a slight push of the accelerator. The design, although has the typical 911 touch, looks radically different than previous, especially the rear end. The cabin is also step ahead and gets all the bells and whistles including a central rev counter.

While we got only a handful of moments to experience the new 911, our initial impression is very good and we can’t wait to get our hands on the 911 for a longer time. Overall, the Porsche world road show turned out to be a brilliantly organized event with ample opportunities to test the abilities of all the Porsche cars.