An unforgetable dance with a Porsche

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.