Before I had Porsches, I had Lancias. And had taken them to Goodwood and had an absolute blast with them. But I sold my Fanalone and bought the 356A...not really a track car. And then the 911. And that was a long and fairly painful (financially and emotionally) experience at times. And then we have had COVID. So all my plans for the 911, built to be a fast road/track car, didn't really materialise and I had spent a lot more time worrying, spending, fretting about keeping vs selling, and generally wondering why I was bothering (and why didn't I just buy a nice 993/991/992) instead. So last year I booked two half day trackdays at Goodwood and was determined to do it. £190 including lunch booked direct with Goodwood - seemed reasonable.
April 23rd. What a sunny day that was!!! Having keenly watched the forecast I was relieved to find it was probably one of the nicest days of the year. Perfect for a relatively average driver like me! Checks all done, car packed with the essentials - 80 miles via M1, M25 and A3 and I arrived at Goodwood to cloudless skies....and the fairly daunting noise of some very high powered machinery belting round.....gulp.....
Untitled by CARMANWAITINGINTHESKY, on FlickrStraight to the noise test - it was 105db (the limit for the day) on the button....eeek. Thought it would be someway below!
Parked up, wandered the paddock a bit.
Untitled by CARMANWAITINGINTHESKY, on Flickr
Untitled by CARMANWAITINGINTHESKY, on Flickr
Untitled by CARMANWAITINGINTHESKY, on FlickrTo be honest, you would have thought it was a Porsche Club day there were so many GT3s, GT3RS, Cayman GT4s and other 911s there. Mine was the oldest by multiple decades.....
Then driver's briefing (socially distanced in the pit area) and a lovely boxed lunch in the sunshine before leisurely getting ready to take the old girl for her maiden track outing.
Untitled by CARMANWAITINGINTHESKY, on FlickrAs you can see....it was mainly modern giants....
Cameraman not sh@tting himself at all at this point....
Untitled by CARMANWAITINGINTHESKY, on Flickr
Untitled by CARMANWAITINGINTHESKY, on FlickrAt least there were a few old guns around...including this absolute beast. What a noise.
Untitled by CARMANWAITINGINTHESKY, on FlickrThis lump makes quite the noise though....
Untitled by CARMANWAITINGINTHESKY, on FlickrI managed 3.5 sessions in all, the car was a total joy. I am not particularly good at describing driving dynamics, but it was so balanced, more than fast enough to put a smile on my face as I blasted down the start/finish straight changing up from third to fourth - all the pain-in-the-arse-ness of the last 7 years finally seemed worth it!! I pushed the car as hard as I felt comfortable with, no brown trouser moments because the car just felt very confidence inspiring - the Avon tyres were brilliant. Brakes not its strongest point, but I didn't use them an awful lot. A few times a lap I would get caught by the fast stuff (and so had to take some corners such as Lavant fairly tight to let them get away quickly) and some of the behaviour was at times a little poor (overtaking in areas where not supposed to and with no wave from me), but it didn't detract from the experience and when I had the track to myself - like barrelling down Lavant flat out, or the rise from St Mary's to Lavant with the car just feeling so poised, well, hard to put into words! And not a grumble, leak etc. from the car.
Untitled by CARMANWAITINGINTHESKY, on FlickrSadly no in car video or other track shots, maybe some will appear on Instagram etc.
By the end of it I was knackered. So many positive comments about the car and its appearance as it went round. Many modern owners seemingly not that in love with their GT3s etc "can't use it on the road", "too harsh", "may get rid soon". Just a different world.
As I was packing up I spotted the Duke wander across the paddock, gave the car a nod and wandered off. He arrived in style...
Untitled by CARMANWAITINGINTHESKY, on FlickrAnd then the journey home. All went well until I hit the M25....and was stuck in nose to tail traffic for an hour. Fortunately, the car remained cool, the temp gauge only edging up slightly. What a thing!!!! Home in one piece, engine pinging away in the garage.
Doing it all again in July
