news:

My dear wife has been a bit of a competition nut of late and I had been pulling her leg asking when she was going to win something good (oven chips and bars of chocolate don't count, and especially not Robbie Williams' new CD!). So I was excited to receive a text from her telling me she'd won "some Porsche GT3 thing".

What, like, an actual Porsche GT3?!

Not quite, but thanks to a competition in EVO Magazine she had won the opportunity to join the Porsche 911 GT3 RS Preview evening being held at the Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone at the end of November. And so I duly nominated myself as attendee and phoned them up to reserve my spot.

The e-mail I received back from Porsche certainly whetted my appetite for what was to come: a presentation by Chris Harris, a walk-around of the Porsche 911 GT3 RS by Andreas Preuninger, a tour of the Porsche Experience Centre and experience a passenger ride in the 911 Turbo Gen II, sitting alongside a Porsche Driving Consultant. Three course dinner and other refreshments included.

Having taken a half day off work, I got to the venue a bit early. Looking around the car park I spied a number of Porsches and a couple of F430s - the daytime event was for those with paid £10,000 deposits on this £100,000 new model. The dreamers were up next...

Upon sign-in we were each issued with a Porsche lanyard with personalised identity card and an outline of the evening. Whilst we were waiting for things to officially start, Chris Harris made a point of walking around saying hello and shaking hands with everyone who had turned up, which I thought was a nice gesture.

We were then all ushered into the conference room where we were officially welcomed to the event and the main faces of the evening were introduced. Due to the number of guests we were split up into 5 groups to allow the five different sessions to run concurrently with the minimum of delay - all very Germanic. I particularly liked the "change of session, move along please" signal which was a GT3 RS being revved up through the PA system!

The History of Lightweight 911s with Chris Harris

My first session was with Chris Harris in the conference room, where he gave us an interesting and informative talk and multimedia presentation on the history of the lightweight 911s. Chris' knowledge and enthusiasm is abundantly clear and it was a very interactive and enjoyable 30 minutes.

Chris had brought along some books for us to browse through as well as his own photographs and stories of his own experiences. Having admitted I once passed up the chance to buy a 964 RS for £22k (they're now worth 2-3 times that figure!) Chris suggested, quite rightly, that I should "leave the room and flagellate yourself immediately". I'm glad I didn't admit I bought a nearly-new Boxster S instead...

One of the facts I found most interesting from this discussion was that the very first lightweight 911 produced in 1967 wasn't that far behind the power/weight ratio of the very latest GT3 RS we had come to see. Certainly there has been a massive advance in technological innovation and safety, but not a huge leap in performance.

Human Performance Centre

Our next stop was a tour of the Human Performance Centre, a state-of-the-art sports science laboratory and for those of us not familiar with gyms, something of a torture chamber! This is where Porsche bring their drivers to endure a full range of physiological testing to provide the very best fitness and nutritional advice.

This too was to be an interactive session with everyone offered the chance to have a go on the BATAK machine. The BATAK is a specially designed wall-mounted piece of equipment used to improve reaction, hand-eye coordination and endurance by illuminating 12 different lights spread out in front of you and in your peripheral vision. You stand in front of it, look straight ahead and have to extinguish as many of the lights as they appear by hitting them in 60 seconds. It's a lot harder than it looks!

The highest score in our group was 71, I managed 70. By the end of the evening I had dropped to 9th place overall but I was still quite pleased with my result. As a comparison, some current F1 drivers have scored in the 130s...

Porsche Experience Centre Facility Tour

Next up was a guided tour around the Porsche Experience Centre with an explanation of the type of events which Porsche lay on for corporate clients, prospective purchasers and the various special days laid on for buyers of all new Porsche cars.

It was explained to us that Porsche feel they have a social responsibility to provide driver training days to everyone who buys a new Porsche, no matter which model, as the performance of their cars gets higher plus a newer generation of buyers who normally have had less opportunity to experience many rear wheel drive cars prior to their Porsches.

The view from the roof over Silverstone circuit was superb, and I can imagine how popular their F1 days are when the British GP is on.

911 GT3 RS Walk-Round and Q&A with Andreas Preuninger

The car we had all come to see was up next. And who better to walk us round this fabulous car than the man responsible for the High Performance Car division at Porsche and project manager for the RS?

Andreas gave us a fascinating and passionate discussion on the various technical aspects of the RS, and the philosophy behind the car. He explained to us the aerodynamic changes over the regular GT3 and how much real downforce the specially shaped rear wing provided (170 kg at top speed) and how it is carefully balanced by the front splitter.

We were given the opportunity to hold the new Lithium-Ion battery option which saves 11kg over the regular battery. Also explained to us was the new Dynamic Engine Mount system, which is standard equipment on the RS and optional on other models. It uses a magnetisable fluid and an electronically generated magnetic field to alter the viscosity of the fluid as required to keep the engine and drive-train aligned. The result is a ten-fold decrease in the amount of movement, without compromising ride.

Some questions were asked of Andreas as to whether he considered using this in the suspension, much like Audi have with their Magnetic Ride, but we were told that over the length required for a suspension unit the fluid was less controllable and stable than using regular oil filled dampers.

After Andreas had explained about the composition of the body panels, I asked him if Porsche had considered using a carbon fibre roof, much like BMW have with the M3 models. He explained that the weight saving (approx 1.5kg) did not warrant the large cost of doing so, and that carbon fibre roofs were very difficult to produce reliably at the manufacturing stage.

Finally I managed to get one jokey question in, and pointed out that they were using a "heavy" enamel Porsche badge on the bonnet instead of a sticker like on the original 996 GT3 RS. The response was a laugh and an admission that this was "a terrible idea" and that it would be a sticker next time!

Gen II 911 Turbo Passenger Laps

The final session before dinner for us was a demonstration drive from one of the Porsche Driving Consultants round the various experience centre tracks in a Gen II 911 Turbo. If you can imagine being locked in a tumble dryer, this is a very similar experience to what happened next!

The car I was driven round in was equipped with the Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) dual clutch gearbox and I have to say I was very impressed with how smooth it felt while being driven normally - certainly an equal to if not better than the traditional automatic gearbox in my BMW 535d.

First up was a few goes on the water covered Kick Plate. This is a moveable metal plate set flush with the road surface which throws the car in a random direction as the rear wheels pass over it. The result is varying degrees of oversteer as my driver explained and demonstrated the various stability management options available on the Turbo. Great fun!

Then we moved on to the Ice Hill; an incline which simulates sheet ice conditions with computer controlled water jets on a low friction surface. My driver explained how the 4WD system and stability control worked together to either cut, or even add, power to keep the car under control as much as possible. We had a few goes on this with PSM on and off and with varying degrees of throttle. You can certainly feel the electronics taking over and keeping you safe where necessary.

Next up was the Low Friction circuit. This has various sections of highly polished surface which allow big angles of oversteer to be provoked and held - even with the 4WD system the car does not deny you having a lot of fun in conditions like this when you want to!

Finally we did half a dozen or so hot laps, and I really mean hot, around the handling circuit. Now bear in mind it's 8pm by now and pitch black - my driver, who obviously knows this track like the back of his hand, was taking huge liberties with the car, braking very late and firing us round long sweeping bends at a 45 degree angle before rocketing us up to the next one. It actually made me feel quite sick!

I also got to experience the PDK party trick - launch control! Simply disable PSM, apply the brake, slot it into D and floor the throttle. The electrickery holds 3,500 rpm and you just let off the brake when the traffic lights go green. In just 3.2 seconds you're doing 60 mph and 5 seconds later you're doing 100 mph, even if it's wet! That is simply amazing performance from an incredible car.

With the passenger ride over and my insides well and truly relocated, I really was feeling under the weather - it had been a long day and I'd not yet eaten - so I was pleased to be told that dinner was served. I had the pleasure of sharing our table with Chris Harris and three other guests, which was very enjoyable. Chris shared with us more of his thoughts and stories from the mags he's worked on, as well as talking to us about the forthcoming new features on EVO magazine.

With dinner finished, it was now gone 9:30pm and so with a 2 hour drive ahead of me I made my excuses and left.

It really was a fantastic event, and I can't thank EVO Magazine, Chris Harris, Andreas Preuninger and everyone at the Porsche Experience Centre, Silverstone enough for the wonderful evening.