The 2011 Porsche Mille

Obviously we are fond of the Italian cars but we can occasionally venture out for some schnitzel and kraut. Porsches are awesome cars and it is cool to see how Ze Germans build a sports car. A friend of mine was organizing a large Porsche meet so I decided to come out and support them in a 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS that we recently got at the dealership.

The car is spectacular. Sure it lacks the soul that we love out of the raging bulls but this things feels like it is chiseled out of stone and engineered to perfection. The car drove brilliantly for the 50 or so miles each way down to Atlanta Motor Speedway and back. On the track, even with the NASCAR banking, the car felt right at home. It makes much more sense in a hard driving environment than a regular driving situation. I cannot really imagine anyone buying one of these cars without having track driving in mind as a primary purpose.

We all met in the parking lot of the track and had a nice little get together. Everyone was very impressed with the RS but there were a lot of great cars out there. After that there was a controlled drive around the complex, through the tunnel, and into the infield. After some staging we took a few [slow] paced laps around the track as all 300 or so cars got onto the track. We went around 3 or 4 times and then stopped and packed the cars in together for a group shot from a helicopter. After that they said that we could take 5 or so laps around the track. I happened to be in front of the group for the picture so when I heard someone say “Go!” – I went. I took off in the RS and went up to the top of the banking. We got up to about 135 coming out of the turn and then around 150 in the straight. After I looped around to the back of the waiting group of cars and realized no one else had followed suit, I realized that I might have misunderstood the spirit of the instruction.

A few minutes later the track security officials and the local police confirmed that. That’s right. I got pulled over on a race track. They invited me to leave the facility. I obliged. In fact it was a convenient time to head back up to the store. It doesn’t sound like I missed much from the rest of the driving but overall I felt that it was a great event. Here are some pictures: