Call 911 - It's Time For My Annual Porsche Fix!

Most years the Porsche Carrera Cup race series comes to Yorkshire’s Croft Circuit. To coincide with the event and perhaps to ensure I arrive in style, Porsche kindly lend me a car to complete the cross-county journey.

Last year I was lucky enough to pilot a 911 GTS and although this year I fancied a change, when offered a 911 Carrera T, in vibrant yellow no less, I gratefully accepted.

My week with the car also included an event which saw me elevated to high office. Yes, dear reader, I am now Chairman of The Northern Group of Motoring Writers for the next two years.

The Carrera T provided suitably fab transport to the group’s AGM and the capacious front boot provided just enough room to transport home a stuffed ferret, the long-standing group mascot.

A little ferret trivia seems appropriate at this point. Our ferret’s main claim to fame was to bite Countdown’s Richard Whiteley on live television. I never met Richard, sadly, but we do share a birthday!

Back to the 911…. The drive to the AGM in Cheshire was accomplished in appalling driving conditions. Heavy rain and strong winds were the order of the day. A powerful rear-wheel drive sportscar with fat, low-profile tyres did not seem to be the ideal form of transport.

I need not have worried, as fine German engineering ensured I arrived without incident and with an impressive 35mpg showing on the trip computer.

The return drive saw better weather conditions, so I took a more circuitous route. At last a chance to sample once more the 911’s legendary handling.

Precise steering and compact dimensions make any 911 an ideal B-road companion and my journey home was over all too quickly.

Yes, the ride is firm, with the option to stiffen the dampers still further, but with the lack of body roll, it is a price worth paying. The car sits 20mm lower and comes with the PASM sport suspension as standard.

The test car was fitted with optional rear axle steering (£1,592) and this adds a little extra to the car’s considerable manoeuvrability.

The Carrera T is a lightweight (and expensive) special edition. A strict diet sees the car losing its rear seats and door handles are replaced with simple fabric pulls.

This endows the car with a smidgen of extra performance, hardly enough to notice, but that clearly is not the point of the car.

The 911 aficionado will spot the altered front bumper with a more prominent splitter, grey metallic exterior mirror housings, 20-inch alloy wheels and centrally mounted tailpipes for the rather lovely sounding exhaust.

The seven-speed manual gearbox boasts shorter ratios than the standard Carrera, so expect to make a lot of gearchanges. This is no chore thanks to a precise shift action and light clutch.

The 911 interior is a snug, yet welcoming place. Sports seat do their job well and ensure excellent support when adopting an exuberant driving style, yet they remain comfortable even after extended periods behind the wheel.

There’s lots of lovely Alcantara covering many of the surfaces and the build quality is exemplary, as one would expect.

The level of standard equipment is suitably high, though there is still the option to indulge. Around £14,000 worth of extras adorned the yellow peril, taking the overall price up to £99,983.

So, what of my day at Croft? Well, a brief early morning message from a friend on race day warned of muddy car parks and traffic delays.

The weather forecast was mixed so I chose to stay at home and watch the action live on ITV4. I’m glad I did as some racegoers did not get into the circuit until two hours after racing commenced.

Afterwards, many struggled to extricate themselves from the parking areas. I know how the 911 would have fared in those conditions…

Instead I opted for a leisurely late afternoon drive through Wharfedale, windows down, exhaust in loud mode, the ensuing sound echoing off the dry-stone walls – lovely!

So, another year, more 911 memories to savour. Maybe next year I’ll try a bit harder to get a Macan or Cayenne. But as there is an all-new 911 arriving in the showrooms, it would be rude not to indulge.

Until then….

Fast Facts

Porsche 911 Carrera T
Price - £85,576 (£99,983 with options)
370hp 6-cylinder 2,981cc engine
Torque – 450Nm
7-speed manual gearbox
0-62mph in 4.5 seconds
0-99mph in 9.7 seconds
50-75mph in 2.7 seconds
3 year unlimited mileage warranty