Outlook – June 29, 2019

46 OutlOOk 1 JULY 2019

aUtomotive

When you’re offered an opportunity to spend a weekend in germany driving one

of your favourite sportscars in the world, what do you say? oH Hell YeS!

words: ISHan RagHava // photography: ISHan RagHava & PoRSCHe

t

he Porsche 911, in all its forms over

the past 70 years, is perhaps one of

the most unique sports cars in the

world. The sloping roof and the flared

arches – the Coke bottle shape as some

designers refer to it – is something that has

constantly evolved in a typical German

fashion over the decades.

And to give credit where credit’s due, the

911 – owing to Porsche’s brilliant engineering

• has become, perhaps, the only rear-engine
  car that has been refined to a degree where it
  virtually defies the laws of physics. Of course,
  I could go on-and-on about what makes the
  911 so special, but let’s focus, for once, on the
  most important thing here – me getting an
  opportunity to spend a weekend driving the
  latest generation of the 911 (the 992) on the

amazing highways of Germany and also in

the beautiful Black Forest region.

The stuff of dreams

Now that I’ve truly made you envious of

me, it’s time for a confession. I’ve been

a 911 fan for as long as I can remember.

In the days when we didn’t have mobile

phones or even the Internet, I’d read about

the Porsche 911 in magazines. Those were

the days when things were analogue – both

magazines and cars – and if you wanted

stability control, you had it readily available.

It was called a long travel throttle, which

you squeezed just enough to make sure

your rear-engined 911 didn’t suddenly spin

and spit you off the road.

Decoding the 992

The original formula of the standard 911,

then, hasn’t changed much over the past

7 decades. It’s a (relatively) small sports car

with 2+2 seating – to be honest, though, the

rear seats are pretty much unusable and can

best be used for storing luggage – and the

engine is still hanging off the rear axle.

And even after seven decades, it still looks

unique. It’s an achievement, really. It’s so

unique that it’s impossible for anyone to

confuse a 911 for another car. One of the

aspects of the evolution of its design is that

the 911 has grown in all dimensions – length,

width and weight – to not only accommodate

the wishes of an ever-evolving customer

base, but also to meet more stringent safety

standards over the years.

I find the design of the 992 911 quite

Living the dream

See the Porsche 911 Carrera S

in action on our YouTube channel.