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Delhi in October is pleasant. Actually, nice weather to terrorise Delhi-ites in a Porsche 911. Yup, I was seated in the first-ever, New 911 Carrera S to arrive in India and the flat-six ‘boxer’ motor was thrumming behind me. I gamely blipped the throttle and a few onlookers, who were already stunned to see the spanking new silver car, were startled and moved away. But they didn’t go away and I could see, in their eyes, a sense of anticipation reserved for something big that was about to happen. They were expecting me to launch the car. And launch I did, and in big style. Sliding the gear lever to ‘Drive’ and uttering a prayer in my native tongue, I floored the throttle. I’m sure I didn’t disappoint the crowd – precisely five seconds later, they would have seen the speck of a 911 rear end, now accelerating to 100 kph and beyond.
Inside the car, I was pushed back to the body hugging seats and my eyes were trying to gauge the pace at which the 5000 year old city was moving past me. The car felt eager yet very composed. I am tempted to say ‘she was sucking in the tarmac the way a thirsty vampire would draw blood from a virgin’, but then that would be bad language. Peeling out of a by-lane and onto a straight, the tacho needle held firm and the speedo started staring into the better side of 150 kph. Bliss. Yet, the 911 felt as if it could do better. Much better, actually, with a top speed of 285 kph available on demand. But I ran out of guts before I ran out of road.
It took ten years coming, but I’m not complaining. When I started my career as a motoring journalist, I knew that one day I would test drive a brand-new Porsche on Indian roads. Take that, all those who thought I was insane trying to make a living out of driving Premier 137Ds.
Form
The original 911 is four decades old and though it has evolved a great deal over the years, there is no mistaking the new car for anything else. Let me quote from the new 911 manual, ‘nothing about the new car is superfluous, nothing is short term and nothing is open to compromise.’ Well said. The original platform can be traced back to the humble Beetle, but the shape of a 911 today is what other sports cars aspire to be. Want proof? Take a second look at the new Nissan 350Z and you’ll understand. Porsche had built other sports cars too, some of them front engined, but it is the 911 that is the face of Porsche today. Sure, the designers and engineers at Porsche has the talent and resources to develop a new 911 which didn’t resemble the previous car – but then there’s one very powerful question to ask. ‘Why?’ Why meddle with a truly sexy automobile, with lines that have become a benchmark to sports cars and curves that could only have been created by God? Once that realisation dawned, the task in their hands became even more compelling and more significant – how do you make a legend even more perfect? The result, I must say, is stunning and anyone who has seen the 911 that the new car replaces, at least in a picture, would be surprised to know that only the roof panel remains untouched. The whole character of the ultimate sports car is symbolised with immediacy and precision and, sorry for the cliché, it looks fast standing still. Very fast.
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