An unforgetable dance with a Porsche

Primastuti Handayani The Jakarta Post/Sentul, West Java

It's just like dancing. Let the Porsche lead you.

Such was the advice of Porsche Asia Pacific managing director Christer Ekber to journalists on a cloudy Wednesday at the Sentul race circuit, south of Jakarta.

Twenty cars of different models were lined up for the testers, mostly motoring hacks, at the circuit. After a briefing on the right steering position -- hands at the three and nine-clock positions, seat upright and buckle up -- we were ready to try out the cars.

Although the name Porsche has long been a benchmark for sports car fans, the German carmaker continues to hold the Porsche World Roadshow to introduce new buyers to the cars.

"We are not making volume-sale cars. This roadshow is to make more people know what Porsche is and net prospective consumers," Ekber said.

With this in mind, the roadshow at Sentul was also open to Singaporeans and Malaysians.

With around 70 Porsches, mostly Cayennes, sold here this year, the carmaker hopes the figure will reach 100 in 2005.

The advice dispensed, participants were divided into five groups for the sessions -- slalom, off-road, braking, road tour and demo-laps -- held at different parts of the circuit.

The most exciting was trying the Cayenne Turbo on an off-road track just outside the circuit. Four Cayennes were lined up before the start and our instructor Andreas Gassner told us to adjust the car's condition to that of the track.

All this was done by only pressing two buttons that controlled the Porsche Traction Management (PTM) system, which combines permanent four-wheel drive with a range of intelligent functions, including an electronically variable center differential, and the Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM).

My white Cayenne Turbo -- which has a 4.5-liter V8 twin turbo engine under its bonnet -- can result in a maximum output of 450 horsepower at 6,000 revolutions per minute (rpm) and 620 Newton meter (Nm) at 2,250 rpm.

The rough and slippery terrain was definitely no contest to the Cayenne. Making a U-turn in a narrow muddy curve was a piece of cake and the car could also easily walk along a 30-degree incline.

"Would you drive a Rp 2.3 billion (US$255,555) car over such topography?" I asked a fellow journalist.

"You are such a typical Indonesian," the foreigner replied. "This car was made by engineers to tame rough terrain. Why not use it there if you have to."

Well, that may be true, but I do wonder why no off-road drivers use the Cayenne in competitions.

The Cayennes weren't sluggish on the racing circuit either and without changing their Michelin tires, also used for the off-road work, they could easily tail the Carreras on the road tour.

And whipping the Carreras and Boxsters around the circuit track was the perfect time to pump up the adrenalin. These racers can easily hit 220 kilometers per hour, with a top speed of 300 kph.

Instructor chief Peter Schissel, who drove me on the Carrera 4S, showed off his skills on the "little S" track. The Carrera produced a roaring sound, especially when Schissel sped up on the circuit's straight or changed down into a lower gear.

"Tell me if you're not comfortable at this speed," said the George Clooney-lookalike. I gulped and said nothing, even though he made the turn at 120 kph.

The session that I found the most difficult was -- it turned out -- braking. My group instructor Andreas Gassner told us to imagine that a block of cones was a huge truck that we must avoid in a sudden stop from 85 kph.

However, this practice, worryingly, was more difficult than we had imagined. Most of my group members hit the cones, one of us was even dubbed "the cone terminator".

The road tour was also popular as the journalists present could try all the Porsches: the 911 GT3 (996), Carrera, Boxster, Boxster S, Turbo S, Carrera S, Carrera 4S, Targa, Cayenne V6, Cayenne S and Cayenne Turbo.

At the end of the event, the instructors handed over Porsche miniatures to the winners of the different categories.

Schissel jokingly asked the winners to put three drops of oil in the cars every morning.

"This way, the car will turn into a real one in the future and you will have the chance to taste its power," he said, with a big grin.