A couple of months ago, I came across a post on Rennteam.com mentioning a special event hosted by the Porsche Travel Club here in St. Wolfgang, Austria. I immediately signed up along with my dad.

It took us several lengthly layover stops to get to Salzburg a day early. We settled in a hotel in downtown and went exploring for the day. The fun wouldn't start until the following day. We were picked up by a nice fellow in a Cayenne S and whisked off to St. Wolfgang where we stayed for one night. It was pouring rain and windy overnight but things cleared up a bit by morning. We had awesome driving conditions throughout the day until close to the end when it started raining again. I took a ton of pictures and videos but only have a chance to upload a few pictures.

One nice surprise that I found outside was 8 Turbos in the parking lot. 3 red, 2 basalt black, 1 lapis blue and 3 GT silver. I was told that they brought 20 Turbos here for the event!

Lots of Turbos!


GT Silver


Me driving the Lapis blue w/ natural brown Tiptronic


These were beautiful brakes! They worked really well too!


I posted a few pictures on my website:

http://jasontang.virtuality.org/opus911

A few observations about the differences between Tip vs 6 speed. I definitely liked driving the car with the 6 speed manual much more than the tiptronic. For some reason, the 6 speed felt faster to me even though the specs say that the Tip is faster. I always felt like I could keep the car in the powerband easier with the manual than the Tip. There was always a "lag" between the time I pressed the gas and the time that the car would actually move. This happened especially when I was pulling out of a tight turn. Sometimes the car would hold a gear although not by much. Overall, I enjoyed the 6 speed manual a lot more than the Tip.

Also, after seeing GT silver in person, I decided to order mine in Cobalt Blue instead!

I'll definitely write more later on. I'm exhausted from the day's event and there's still one more day to go!

Jason

 

Great review atomic80!!
I think the 6 speed manual gearbox is better too...
You can feel the car in a much deeper sensation and you can have more fun on the bends...
It wouldn't be the same with a Tip.

 

Thanks for the writeup!

 

so cool. must be an awesome trip!

the red looks pretty good.

 

Awesome Jason...must be a fun trip

 

red definitely looks nice.

 

this is so cool, how do you compare 996TT with 997TT? power, handling??

 

Thanks for all the pics.

Looks like you probably had a great time .

 

I've seen GT silver before in the sunlight on an older 996TTS and a Carrera GT. For some reason, it never really struck my fancy. I originally wanted Seal Grey but then when they discontinued that color I changed to GT silver but then I kept seeing Cobalt blue everywhere, the dealership, online, in magazines, posters, etc. I was definitely convinced that I had to get Cobalt blue over natural grey and so I made the big switch yesterday!

I'm REALLY happy that I had the opportunity to test drive the 997TT yesterday (and today in a bit too) because I was finally convinced that I wanted to get the sport steering wheel with the thicker spokes. I wasn't entirely sold on the "circular" look vs the "V" type with the skinnier spokes. However, after having driven both especially in the twisties, there was no question that the thicker spoke plus the circular look of the sport steering wheel was the perfect choice for me.

A bit trivial but I also noticed that the standard sun visor looked and felt "cheap" when not covered by leather with either the standard Alcantara or leather headliner. The leather sun visors made a noticable difference too.

Comparing the 993TT, 996TT and now the 997TT, there is definitely a noticable difference between all three. If I had to sum things up in a couple of sentences, I'd probably start by saying that in person, the 997TT combines the best of both the 993TT and the 996TT into one single cohesive look (except for those wheels though but they actually look pretty good in person). The 997TT truly is a stunning piece of machinery to look at, drive in, and follow in. After having driven all three, I find myself wanting the 997TT badly. It's really amazing what those engineers at Porsche has managed to do with the 997TT. The power just delivers in an endless stream of nothing but power! The 993TT felt like a slingshot especially when the boost came rushing on. The 996TT felt a bit more like a combination of a slingshot and a cannon. The 997TT felt more like a cannon than a slingshot especially when kept in the "powerband" which I found to be easier to do because of the wider powerband range.

One thing I'm still not sure about is when exactly does the Sport Chrono give me 1.2 bars of turbo boost. I know that it comes in 10 second stretches but how often does that happen? Does it happen every 10 minutes after I've used it once, does it need to be reset, etc. I haven't figured that one out yet. All I can say is, better prepare yourself for a heckuva wallop when the power does come on! I found myself grinning from ear to ear every time I poured it on which happened pretty often. And oh, the handling! Simply sublime! I was amazed how connected I felt to the road no matter the road conditions, the weather, it simply didn't matter, I could just GO, really fast!

I plan to take a couple more pictures today. Hopefully I'll be able to post them when I get back to the states and of course the videos too! Gotta have those!

 

great write up, be safe and have fun!!

 

Great write up, I have really enjoyed reading it.

 

Excellent stuff Jason! So glad you are having fun!

best
adam

 

Great writeup and awesome pics!! Looks like your having a blast!! & I love these non photoshoot real world pics!

 

That is friggin fresh...thanks for the pics and review...

 

Jason. Great write-up. Thanks for sharing. Looks like a blast, and sounds like a fun trip to take with your dad. - Russ