The singing of the gurgle

Photo: Keenan Cohen, Apex Nürburg, Claire Kesselaar, Felix Töllich

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Just before launching the new generations for two Porsche 911 Turbo S turbochargers and her little sister Cayman GTS with the four-cylinder engine we took them to the ultimate test - the Green Hellburger track

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Thirteen years ago I first came to him. To the famous racetrack in the world, Nordburgring Nordschleife, which by chance is also the most notorious; The Grand Prix route that is no longer in use because it is too dangerous, but allows anyone requiring to get in between his gates and try his luck for a modest fee. Nearly 21 km and over 70 turns of sheer challenge and clear and immediate danger. The asphalt strip dips into the woods whose haunted name is "Green Hell," where the line between fun-life and death is thinner than any other road in the world.

Porsche Cayman GT4: Distilled pleasure

We were three young journalists who wanted to give the audience a taste of foreign motor culture, and on the way to also test the new Porsche 911 then the absolute test for it. We thought we knew what we were going for - after hundreds of hours of PlayStation virtual training and dozens of YouTube videos - but the truth is, we were totally clueless. Even the entrance to Nordschleife itself was hardly found in the huge, jungle called Norburgring.

It was the first of the three of us in a real orbit, a real baptism of fire, and it almost ended in tragedy: we had already lost orientation between the pre-prepared navigation pages, and in the last attack I was a touch away from losing control. We bypassed and bypassed, saw a horrific accident before our eyes and almost made an accident ourselves - and yet we vowed to return. We got infected with a bacterium and it has no cure.

The "Green Hell" calls this route, which has become the benchmark for the courage and ability of real sports cars

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Manufacturer, Manufacturer Website)

The Return to Hell

Since they've been to Green Hell several more times, and none of them have ended well; Already on the second visit, we stroked the safety rail in Porsche Cayman, and on another visit I slid and hit the fence. At one time it was raining and blasting us the weekend, and at other times we were confined to a lonely and frustrating lap. I would like to say that this place is cursed, but the truth is that the problem is entirely with us: something in this route makes us exaggerate and we push each other to drive on the edge.

For the past decade since, we have been fighting addiction and avoiding repetition, but last summer we were no longer able to resist; My wife planned a long vacation in the Black Forest, and the proximity to Stuttgart and the Porsche factory was too winking. So I applied to them for a test car, and when they offered the 718 Cayman GTS and the 911 Turbo S I knew there was no choice anymore - it was closing a circuit that I couldn't resist.

Cayman GTS, just before the implantation of the six-cylinder engine, has anything to give?

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Manufacturer, Manufacturer Website)

The resemblance between the current visit and the first ones caught me: even then, we drove the two Porsche, 911 and Cayman families, but the differences in data highlight how times have changed - the manual Cara S we used a dozen years ago had 355 hp and it circled the Nordshalape at an impressive time. Of 7:59 min, while the only turbo-S automatic we got this time has 580 hp and is considered to be the leisurely touring version of the strong 911. So relaxed, in fact, that the Porsche did not even bother to measure her official coffee at Nurburgring, and only dryly stated that, by simulations, they speculated that she would attack the track at 7:18 min. In such a symbolic coincidence, it was the culmination of 2006 serial cars, but today it is such an insignificant result of the 911 hierarchy that Porsche didn't even bother to verify it ...

To our delight, the German Sport Auto magazine - which traditionally examines and measures sports models in Nurburgring - managed to break the official estimate and set 7:17 min, and in another symbolic coincidence we got the specific eczempler to test the record. True Norburgering nobility.

Porsche 911 Turbo S, we did 337 mph on the autobahn and it is another of the wildest

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Manufacturer, Manufacturer Website)

But before we get the 911, we have 48 hours with the Cayman, and the gaps between then and now are even more extreme; In 2007, we took the basic version - 245 kW of atmospheric, manual box and tires in a family cut - while this time we received the current super version vice, with 365 kWh and combat visibility: adaptive racks, sport exhaust, directional Torque Vectoring and Limited-slip differential. In addition, the test car is equipped with tight bucket seats, carbon-ceramic brakes and dynamic gearboxes - in short, the ideal package for offshore enthusiasts.

It accelerates to 100th in 4.1 seconds en route to 290mph, but the point of interest to us this time around is that it encompasses the Nordschleife at 7:40 min - which is not only short in 30 seconds from the Cayman S's time 2007, but also very close to the result of the fastest supercar in that era, the Porsche Carrera GT, which at 7:32 min was unmatched.

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Apex Nürburg, Claire Kesselaar, Felix Töllich, Keenan Cohen)

There were times in West Germany

It's hard not to feel deja vu when we arrive at the Porsche factory in Zofenhausen; Just like then, this time too we find it difficult to find the press office and feel like thieves as we try to explain to a guard who does not understand English that our vehicle is not, but that is fine, we will return it in two days and take another. The familiar feeling intensifies as I plead with my regular travel companions, Count Eli Abukhtsira (a gracious driver and a retired washing machine), who will not leave the factory gate in a power-sharing plant and cut to Autobahn before climbing to three-digit speed (and this time there was no one to talk to - But the moment we get to the freeway, everything becomes strange and a little strange.

It starts on the road itself, which seems to be busy and slow I remember and less tempting to drive than I hoped; Although the German Autobahn has never been the paradise for drivers everyone imagines, during the summer months it seems that every 10 miles of unlimited speed there are five miles of road work - which is still good compared to the rural roads, which have varying speed limits and are infested with very nasty radars.

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Manufacturer, Manufacturer Website)

The strange thing, though, is the noise that comes to 718 from the exhaust. When examining her mother on the same roads, she made up for the lack of power in the lurid rpm and sound-martit - a six-cylinder symphony that filled the psyche and passenger compartment - while her muscular daughter emits very non-enticing sounds; like many other manufacturers, Porsche also had to cut pistons And planting hedgers to please the tree-huggers, and instead of the mythical flat six, we got a four-cylinder boxer, as expected, much stronger, more torque and economical than its predecessors - and not surprisingly, it sounds like a Subaru engine ...

Tire marks on the heart

The Japanese manufacturer made its name with boxer engines, and even made them play badly in Impreza-Turbo for generations. But the 718 engine doesn't sound like the Subaru STi's deep roar, but like the BRZ's anguished grating - and a shame. Porsche listened to these reviews about the sound of the engine, and surprisingly and joyfully re-installed in the remake of the GTS 6-cylinder engine.

The new version will already return to a healthy atmospheric engine

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Manufacturer, Manufacturer Website)

By all other standards, this is a very impressive unit of power: it pulls at over 2000 rpm, with a sharp pedal response and a short turbo lag, and a boost that increases to 7400 high revs. The long gears do slightly diminish performance, but contrary to the Enough power is enough to challenge the chassis.

However, even in this area, for the first time, Cayman presents an uneven picture; On the one hand, it enjoys the cutting edge of the engine's central structure, excellent ceramic carbon brakes and exemplary suspension racks. But on the other hand, the electric steering wheel is light and detached and the chassis transmissions are pretty dull, making it a sharp tool that gives numb sensations. Not really incorporating security at the gateway to hell.

Vision returned

For the past six years I have driven and guided thousands of laps in different routes around the world - and have not measured times even once. There are many drivers for whom coffee time is the sole purpose, but personally, it doesn't interest me; I come to enjoy, not compete. There is only one place in the world where the fever attacks me - in Nurburgring, of course. It may be because of the mythological aura and the advertising that the lap time has earned, or just my inflated ego, but I just can't enjoy the coffee that the stopwatch is not part of.

When we arrived here with the humble Cayman a decade or so ago, we hoped to drop from nine minutes into the lap - and we failed the mission. In those days it was still considered a respectable result, but the immense popularity of the place and the imaginative performance of modern cars changed the perception, and in the world of YouTube and Instagram, eight seems to have become the new nine. It will be an impossible task for us, and it puts Abuhatsuira into a kind of anxiety: he knows exactly where such an excessive slack will lead me and begs me to relax - but I am already in a state of war and there is no turning back. Or at least I thought so until we reached the first set of references.

The watch is the only benchmark in Nurburgring

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Manufacturer, Manufacturer Website)

The mighty G forces and tight bends caught me by surprise, and in one moment threw all my self-confidence to the floor. The previous times I came here ready and trained, but this time I got rusty and complacent: I missed Apex, forgot about it, reacted in panic - and the Nordschleife did not hesitate to slap me. It was just a terrible coffee and I suffered every second.

Unfortunately, Cayman has not helped me either, and although accurate and gripping the slow-medium curves (with subtle sub-steering with quick acceleration), it lends a uneasy feel to quick change of direction - jerking her suspension nervously and threatening to crack excessively steering speeds . I stopped the stop at 8:59 min, a result that a decade ago would have made me burst into happy screams, and now motivated me to consider more career directions; I think I'm going to grow potatoes.

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Manufacturer, Manufacturer Website)

The awful lap left me so crumpled that I was happy to vacate the driver's seat to Eli - who, like many children his mental age, did not even identify with the distress or understand what the problem was. I navigated it for another three laps, and slowly I began to digest what had happened, getting used to the machine and remembering the lines and stopping points again. In his best lap, the Count stopped the clock for an impressive 8:26 minutes, and time in the passenger seat provided a kind of salvation for me.
We set out to refuel and relax, find some abandoned squares and discover that, unlike the non-biting Cayman near the limits, balanced and controlled even in proactive skates. With this knowledge, and the courage gained through it, I return to the last round - and everything looks different from the beginning: the changes in altitude and G forces no longer undermine me, and the improved familiarity allows me to push the GTS to my own limits and its own - even though I'm not quite yet Connecting to it. At the finish line the stopwatch is reported at 8:21 min - a 38-second (!) Improvement - and the lap as a whole provides a tremendous improvement in my self-confidence and pleasure.

I think there's a chance I'm ready for the real challenge with the big sister.

The engine is behind and that means it has to be completely different ...

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Manufacturer, Manufacturer Website)

All or Nothing

On paper, the 911 Turbo S is equipped as standard in all possible trajectories: the Sport Chrono package (dynamic engine brackets and sport exhaust), adaptive shock absorbers (PASM), active stabilizers (PDCC), and carbon-ceramic brakes (PCCB) - And in the test car, tight buckets were also added to the list. Everything we could ask for to try and meet the pretentious goal we set for ourselves. However, after the small, tight Cayman, the first impressions provided by the 911 are not encouraging; It gives the feel of a large car, heavy and overly inhabited by comparison - and far less pervasive in character.

Full of handfuls of driving trophies

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Manufacturer, Manufacturer Website)

This unlimited autobahn is definitely welcome, making cruising at speeds a breeze. Very quickly we start to act like the infantiles we are and try to break the personal speed record we set in the 2008 version of the 911 Turbo (322 mph) - and the differences between the experiences are just huge; that 911 Turbo was a stiff and capricious car with a heavy and bellicose steering wheel, It was more fun, but also more exhausting - which is a cliché, but the new Turbo S gives a feeling of limo: absorbent, isolated and incredibly stable as the pace becomes ballistic. Climb the old car at maximum speed. There was a demanding and bouncy task that required all your concentration, while in the offspring the only sign of failure And Houth is a loud wind.

With every gain in motion, we are up to the task, and in a short time the Count is recording 300 mph and continuing to climb. Over 310 digits start to rise slowly - 313, 319, 324, 331 - until it touches 337 mph and has to slow down due to a car on the horizon. That way, without unnecessary dramas, the bastard broke my record, and now it's time to pay him back - where we both want to touch fame.

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Apex Nürburg, Claire Kesselaar, Felix Töllich, Keenan Cohen)

We reach the doorway sooner than desired, and we have two hours to burn until it opens to the public. And just as we wonder what to do, the sky gates open and ruins the plans. I must point out that my first reaction was a relief: after yesterday's stress and our tragic history with the place, it might be better to retreat before disaster strikes. Except, Eli, as expected, does not identify with my neurotic concerns, and with a burst of rapturous enthusiasm comes out onto the winding roads that surround Norborg Castle; The S devours the curving asphalt into the Adenao Valley, and the combination of a powerful turbocharged engine and two-speed gearbox produces a psychic pace without being wild or extreme. There is still a bit of lag, but relatively, the power comes continuously and without surges.

Unlike her little sister, the 911 remains true to the six-piston engine and still sounds wonderful in full throttle. However, like the freeway, it also delivers a detached and heavy feel - the weight transfers are cumbersome, there is little dead space in the steering wheel and it is difficult to move the centered mass to obscure its built-in steering. When we return to the abandoned squares, we also find that the dual propulsion system has been calibrated more safely and dullly than the previous generation, eliminating rogue drifts quickly for stability and grip.
The hope of going down from eight minutes into a round is almost gone.

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Manufacturer, Manufacturer Website)

8 minutes in paradise

The Count turns to me the driver's seat in disappointment, just as we arrive at the opening of the celebration. The asphalt has dried, the runway is cluttered and the tension at its peak; It's hard to believe how this place has evolved since our pioneering visit - the number of cars in the "tourist" laps has more than doubled, there is a huge supply of rental companies and a multitude of travel experiences. In those days BMW was almost the only one to offer a 'ceremonial ring', and today among the taxi cabs you can find models of McLaren, Lamborghini and even racing cars.

We are hurriedly pushed into the first convoy to get in as little traffic as possible, and from the moment the Turbo S smells the Norburgring asphalt it is undergoing transformation. It's a car that has been refined and refined for years on this track, and it feels more at home here than any car in the world: the box operates with dazzling immediacy, flawless and perfectly responsive, the steering wheel provides more feel and quick and accurate throughout the lock, and the finest racks allow wheels to mount on The red-white stripes without disrupting the balance. But the main story in 911, as always, is that you have to work with the rear engine mass wisely - and then it gives so much back.

You'll demand a lot, but amazing how much it gives back

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Manufacturer, Manufacturer Website)

If you treat it like a Cayman or a front engine, it will widen the lines awkwardly. But give her what she needs - transfer weight to the front wheels assertively at the turn and let the heavy tail rotate a bit on its axis before returning to gas - and get a sticky neutrality that will allow you to accelerate as fast and early as you want. The dual-paddle will yield commercial quantities of tug, and together with the high-speed planted stability you can take advantage of every ounce of the tremendous performance casing.

Abuchasira feels less comfortable with this unique dynamic, but for me it provides more confidence than her little sister - and I start to drive at the pace that makes the experienced ear squeeze in the seat in fear. And yet, just before the tight section of the 'Adenauer-Forst', I pick up a red BMW M3 mirror that sits bumper to me, letting it get around. It turns out to be one of the Rice Ceremonial Taxi Customs, which modestly teaches me a lesson - but also helps me break the bar of unfamiliarity.

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Manufacturer, Manufacturer Website)

I continue to chase him throughout the lap, taking advantage of his experience to pass the lesser-known references to me and the Turbo S's firepower to bypass him in the rear gates. We change the lead again before turning over the turnstile, and continue to enjoy the makeshift race until the exit from the last turn, Galgenkopf, where the powerful Porsche comes out again as the upper hand.

Ironically, in the vicinity of this appeal, Roseni Norborg used to execute executions - and although Count Abuchatira certainly wants to hang me, he smiles at the iPhone watch and looks at him disbelievingly. The BMW and its experienced driver pulled me to drive faster than I would have dared without them, and thanks to them, we circled the Nordshleppe at 7:58 min. For the first time in our history, we broke the bar without breaking the car.

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Apex Nürburg, Claire Kesselaar, Felix Töllich, Keenan Cohen)

sealed with a kiss

On the dubious herring visit, when we discovered that despite our best efforts, we were about 40 seconds away from the official orbit, I found it hard to believe that this was possible at all. But today, I understand that even when you think you know the Nordic life well, it can surprise and subdue you; It takes a great deal of time and experience to get the best out of it, and also a fair amount of commitment and courage. Unfortunately, despite the relative victory, I learned once again about the meat that earned the place its unimaginative reputation.

The 718 Cayman GTS also gained a reputation for being heard from a distance, and almost every journalist who examined it immediately connected to it. Unfortunately, however, she was unable to conquer my heart; Allegedly, she has all the tools for success - excellent performance, wonderful racks, excellent brakes, sharp behavior and even surprising drifting ability - but lacks the latest level of dynamic polishing, and the elusive connection to the driver through the sound, steering wheel and chassis. The same connection that so characterized her predecessor.

Porsche 911 and Cayman in Nurburgring (Photo: Manufacturer, Manufacturer Website)

But she might be missing what her elder sister always had in abundance - magic. Something that even the turbo S version, which is not the sharpest knife in the 911 drawer, has proved more profound here. A version that, despite its laid-back and thoughtful nature, turned out to be a versatile companion to any task - whether it's a leisurely cruise at an ultrasonic pace or an encounter with a terrific route. An outstanding performer who makes her biggest drawback - the rear engine - a captivating feature. Closing this circuit was the perfect swan song for the replacement 911 Turbo, and I can no longer resist meeting her replacement on the track where she was born.

Photo by: Apex Nürburg, Claire Kesselaar, Felix Töllich

If you participated in some driving in Nurburgring, you can search for your driving photos by the date of your visit to ft-photography.de