This is the third year PCNA has treated its employees to a day at Road Atlanta. For many of them it's their only chance to drive their products. And drive they do! The first year four clutches were destroyed; last year only one. This year the clutches were saved (more Tiptronics were available for the six-speed-challenged folks), but a Boxster S had a nasty encounter with a pole (see below). The cars are not abused, they are just driven hard, as they should.

My day began at 6:45am, when I met Elisabeth for a cup of coffee before heading north to Road Atlanta, which is about a 45-minute drive from my house.  The morning session didn't begin until 8:00, but Elisabeth had to help setup. After driving through the main gate at Road Atlanta our path was marked by ten speed yellow and guards red 996s used in the Porsche Driving Experience. Each was diagonal to our path, guiding us with its headlamps. Very nice touch.

Elisabeth warned me not to eat much breakfast, as the hot laps would be much more enjoyable on an empty stomach. Boy am I glad I listened, as our group's first stop in the rotation was indeed the Hot Lap. We paired up with the drivers (or course there was a rush to David Murry), strapped on our helmets, and hopped in the stock 996s. The cars and tires were warm, so the drivers (Bo was my pilot; other include Bill Adam, Doc Bundy, Joe Foster, and Jeff Purner) wasted little time showing us just how fast these Carreras are. Our red rocket blasted up the hill after turn 1 (see map). We then flew through the Esses as I silently thanked Elisabeth for her 'no breakfast' advice. Down the back straight between turns 8 and 9 I glimpsed the speedometer pass 135 mph. Bo worked the brakes hard into turn 10a -- those big reds could stop Al Gore from stretching the truth -- and sped up for the religion-inducing turn onto the front straight. Bo then slowed down to let the others catch up, so we could do another similar lap two feet off the bumper of the #10 car.

Too quickly our three laps were complete, so the cars headed to pit row to pick up the next passengers. Fortunately that group was one short, so I hopped in another car for a second run. The time the driver was Joe Foster, who piloted for GT3-R for Kyser Racing in the previous week's Petit Le Mans. He said he would hit 165 mph on the back straight with that beast.

The next stop in the rotation was the autocross course. Three shiny Boxsters awaited us; one five-speed, one six-speed S, and one Tip. I quickly hopped in the S for a few laps. That is an impressive car, my friends. The plain Boxster doesn't impress me much -- indeed, our 968s are better performers -- but the Boxster S is quite a car. My friend Bob Chapman was hired by PCNA to photograph the event, and he snapped a few of me plowing into the final turn. Bob purchased a Boxster last year through the Tourist Delivery Program; some of his gorgeous photographs can be seen on his web site (www.chapman3.com). He also wrote an article about the Blue Ridge Boxster Summit for the August 2000 issue of Panorama.

Ah, the skid pad. The goal of this rotation was to show off PSM (Porsche Stability Management). Our first run was with PSM disabled. Sure enough, I couldn't keep the back end in at only 25mph, despite my best efforts to turn into the slide. PSM was turned back on for the second run, and I managed to negotiate the same turn with only a little drifting. The difference was tremendous! I highly recommend that option. What's $3k when you're spending $65k?

My stomach had finally settled after the Hot Laps, so I gulped down a diet Coke as we walked to the next stop in the rotation, the Technical Walk-Around. Our subject: a 2001 996 Turbo. This example was driven up from the Porsche Service Center on the south side of Atlanta by Bill, the Center's manager. We appreciated the sacrifice he made by driving all the way to the track in that car. Bill showed us the highlights of the car, made us sufficiently jealous, and laughed when we asked to 'just take it around parking lot.' He knew once we took off it would take a fleet of state troopers with helicopters to stop us! If you'd all buy a lot of stuff from 968.net, I may have enough for this $150,000 beauty. I couldn't even afford the valve stems now...

Our last event was the slalom. We had a Tiptronic Boxster, a Boxster S, a Tiptronic 996, and a six-speed 996 to play with. Again, the Boxster S rocked. The six-speed Carrera was quite nice, too. The afternoon session wasn't quite as nice to the Boxster S as we were. One of the PCNA folks hit the last turn a bit too hard, and didn't brake in time. The wall stopped his advance (and probably advancement within PCNA ;->). The S is undergoing repairs at Porsche's import facility in Charleston, SC. I spent so much time running from car to car I forgot to take pictures, but Elisabeth kindly sent me the two to the right.

Finally it was time for lunch. Mr. Schwab thanked his PCNA colleagues for their tremendous efforts throughout this record-breaking year, and then yielded the podium to Mr. Joe Oldham, the editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics, who presented a design and engineering award to Porsche for the 2001 996 Turbo. Look for it in the December 2000 issue. Another special guest, Bill Adam, the driver and NBC commentator for the American Le Mans Series, shared a few stories about Mr. Schwab and the Turbo. It seems that when Porsche had the Turbo on the Salt Lake Flats in Utah to test the top speed, the fastest time (194 mph, I believe) was turned in by Mr. Schwab, much to the chagrin of the other drivers, such as Hurley Haywood. Mr. Schwab wrapped up the session by presenting everyone with handsome stainless steel travel coffee cups, noting that they would be useful for those who drive cars with cup holders.