A New Turbo Four Ushers in a Change of Season for the Mid-engined Porsche.
A SINGLE MOMENT. A FLEETING flash when road, driver, and car come together. The instant you recognize the moment is happening, it is gone. You can turn around and run that corner again, but the effect will never be quite the same. You can’t hear your favorite song for the first time twice. Yet the experience is forever grooved into your memory.
Few cars have been so purposefully designed to produce such moments as the Porsche Boxster. A mid-engine convertible barely sized for two, built for pleasure and escape. Forget the specifications, which have improved only modestly over the past two decades: The results always delivered. Internet killjoys love to pit the Boxster against the 911, but devotees know better. The roadster’s greatness lives in the memories of its drivers.
It is a car that changed my own perceptions. I attended a Skip Barber driving course at Connecticut’s Lime Rock Park almost 20 years ago. The instructor commanded me to hold my speed steady as we hurtled toward a sharp right-hander. In my naïveté, I was sure we were going to drive off the end of the track. But on his cue, I stomped on the brakes. The Boxster easily shed its speed and slip streamed up the turn. Just one moment, but I was smitten. The car would perform miracles if you were willing to learn its mysteries, master its charms.
Fast forward to the brand-new 2017 Porsche 718 Boxster. I’ve got days to kill and a plan to put a thousand miles on the odometer. There seems an infinite number of potential moments ahead of me, especially as today’s forecast is 78 degrees and I’ll use the car as its creators intended, with the fabric roof tucked away and a breeze licking the interior. What better possibility to forge a new and beautiful memory?
Esta historia es de la edición February 2017 de Road & Track.
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Esta historia es de la edición February 2017 de Road & Track.
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THE BALLAD OF CRAZY ROCKETMAN
WHAT A BUILDER OF PULSE-JET-ENGINE VEHICLES CAN TELL US ABOUT MOTORING PASSION.
SOCIETÀ UTOPICA
THE PAGANI UTOPIA IS MORE THAN JUST A CAR. IT'S A HANDCRAFTED INVITATION TO ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST EXCLUSIVE MOTORING CLUBS.
ST.ELMO'S FIRE
AN INDIANAPOLIS RESTAURANT WITH FACEMELTING SHRIMP HAS BEEN A DE FACTO RACING CLUBHOUSE FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY.
THE FOUNDATION OF CIVILIZATION
Why Adam Smith would have loved a Boxster Spyder RS.
A MIGHTY WIND
THE 930 TURBO LAUNCHED PORSCHE'S DOMINATION OF THE RACETRACK AND THE SHOWROOM.
MR. CALIFORNIA
MEET THE MAN WHO PUT THE STATE ON THE MAP AS THE LEADER IN THE FIGHT AGAINST VEHICLE EMISSIONS.
RESIDENT ALIEN
THE CZINGER 21C LOOKS LIKE IT ARRIVED FROM A DISTANT PLANET. INSTEAD, IT COMES FROM CALIFORNIA, WHICH IS KIND OF THE SAME THING.
FUNNY FACE
THE CURIOUS CASE OF CALIFORNIA-DIAL WATCHES.
THE PROBLEM WITH ROBERT WILLIAMS
TOWARD THE END of our third interview, Robert Williams gives me some advice about overcoming creative blocks. “Phrase it as a problem,” he says. “
Quiet Riot
In the Ioniq 5 N, Hyundai makes the case that an EV can tamp down racetrack noise without sacrificing capability.