I consider myself very fortunate to have had many opportunities and successes across my lifetime. With all the great experiences, and a small collection of Porsche paraphernalia I have accumulated, I’ll have to admit I am very lucky.
But I also know my place in the economic ladder of life. I am not and will never be a Jerry Seinfeld or Magnus Walker. I am neither talented nor ambitious enough to extend beyond my comfortable lifestyle. My Porsche passion has no bounds, but my wallet does.
While my 986 Boxster and first-gen Cayenne S serve my wants and needs well, I often wonder what it would be like to drive a vintage Porsche. Or a new GT variant. Or maybe even race on the world’s best circuits. It is hard to find an audience to share such first world problems with. I suspect this club would include possible sympathizers.
Even though I may never “own” some of these dreams, the opportunities to experience them isn’t really that far out of reach.
Last summer, my family gathered in Monterey, CA to celebrate a few birthdays. Looking for activities to occupy our time, we found a classic car rental business. The idea was to compete in a driving scavenger hunt along the iconic 17-Mile Drive. Five cool classics were rented.
My car for the morning: a 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder replica. Those not familiar with the 550, this is the legendary car of James Dean fame and only 90 of the original line were made. These vintage mid-engine race cars routinely fetch millions of dollars at auctions, with the highest going for over $6 million. So, my chances of owning or even driving one of these rare vintage racers is likely impossible. Renting a replica, provided a wonderful experience that was attainable.
My wife and I drove the 550 along the coast, soaking in the ocean sights and smells in the tiny open top Spyder. Driving was a blast. The nimble handling, push button start, rough manual shifting, and fully analog dashboard of a vintage replica were sensations I’ll never forget.
The car looks just like a real 550 and when we stopped to play the scavenger hunt game, an instant crowd would gather around. At first, I tried to explain to curious onlookers that this was a replica. But since most didn’t know what that meant, I soon found myself just saying, “it’s a 550 Spyder, you know, the James Dean car” and the crowd smiled with a vague recollection. Of our classic car caravan, the 550 was the most popular, with many photos taken. I felt like a movie star for those brief hours.
Driving a vintage Porsche replica is fun, however the performance and handling wasn’t up to the level of the more modern cars in my garage. Fun as it was, what would it be like to drive a more advanced Porsche supercar?
This April my brothers and I met in Las Vegas for another significant birthday. Our activity this trip: supercars on a racetrack.
My car of choice: the Porsche 911 GT2 RS. This 700-horsepower, twin-turbo, race-inspired supercar is nicknamed The Widow-Maker. Driving seven laps flat out around the 1.3-mile, 11-turn racetrack in the Las Vegas desert was a dream come true. The raw power in this car is unbelievable and the giant ceramic brakes stopped it on a dime. Though the car’s upper limits are way beyond my driving skills, it was actually quite easy to drive quickly. Anyone with a Porsche would find it familiar, approachable, and enjoyable.
There were others on the track, and while I did pass and was passed, I didn’t actually race with other cars. This was an opportunity to experience Porsche’s best at its limits in the proper environment.
To race door-to-door with a Porsche GT at the world’s best race circuits might seem like an impossible dream, but virtually I found it quite easy.
I jumped into the PCA Sim Racing league to do just that. Racing virtually in a Porsche GT3 on laser-scanned tracks against dozens of other PCA members is also a thrill of a lifetime. The adrenaline I feel racing online is very similar to driving that GT2 RS around the track. My hands are shaking just the same. And watching the recorded live broadcast races afterwards makes me feel like a pro racer. The best part is I am now familiar with all the major U.S. race tracks and most others around the world. Though Speed Vegas’s track can’t be found in iRacing, some of the experience I gained behind the virtual wheel transferred over to driving the real GT2 RS. (Speed Vegas is the company that owns the track and rents these supercars.)
What’s the point of sharing all this? Well, I may never be a Jay Leno-level car collector, but I do feel very fortunate to have been able to experience some of what folks like him have had the opportunity to enjoy. If you find yourself in a similar position, consider some of the options I shared, as it might solve your first world Porsche problem quite nicely.
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