You might think Porsches sell themselves, but in this era of intense competition across so many brands even the most iconic car makers are looking for any advantage.
And advantages don’t come much bigger than the Porsche Experience Centre in Los Angeles, a 53-acre, US$60 million part-test track, part-playground and part-showroom. What’s even more remarkable is this is one of nine Porsche Experience Centres around the world, with locations in Japan, China, France, Great Britain and, of course, Germany.
Torquecafe was recently in Los Angeles and jumped at the opportunity to sample Porsche’s amazing facility in arguably the ideal car for this type of situation – the 911 GT3. It’s arguably the brand’s most driver-focused car, so it would prove ideal for the various challenges ahead of me. It’s important to note at this point that the Porsche Experience Centre is not an exclusive, members-only facility. Anyone, whether you’re a prospective customer or just a Porsche tragic, can pay a fee and undertake the same guided driving tour I was given.
Like all visitors, I was assigned an instructor, Joe, who would spend the next two hours guiding me through the various thrills and challenges the facility offers.
This began with high-speed laps of the handling circuit, and I mean a lot of laps. Normally these sorts of driver training, sports car experiences tend to limit how much time you get, but Joe seemed happy to keep guiding me around the 2km twisting, rising and falling circuit over and over again. It was a simple ‘lead-and-follow’ set-up, with my red GT3 trying to mirror Joe’s lines in his silver GTS. The handling circuit isn’t meant to be a racetrack, but rather the ultimate winding back road, so it’s quite narrow and features a remarkable amount of elevation and camber changes for something that’s squeezed in between a freeway and an apartment block.
But Joe wanted to show off some other playgrounds Porsche has at the Centre, including the dramatically named Kick Plate. Now it may sound like a skateboarding trick, but it’s actually a clever piece of technology that is designed to teach driver’s car control like the pros.
In simple terms, the Kick Plate is a hydraulic-actuated plate set flush into the road that literally ‘kicks’ the car into a spin as you drive over it. Sometimes it spins you to the left, sometimes to the right, but you never know which way it will send you, and that’s the challenge you face trying to ‘catch the slide’ and not spin out.
Having warmed up for going sideways, next up was the Low Friction Circle. It’s a big polished concrete circle flooded with water that’s designed to, in Porsche’s words, ‘provoke, correct and hold oversteer’ – or, in other words, teach you how to drift. If you didn’t have a mis-spent youth with a rear-wheel drive Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon, you might struggle to slide your Porsche like a pro, but it will be the most fun you ever have failing.
Personally, I spent much of my youth in front-wheel drive cars, so drifting has never come naturally to me. Thankfully, Joe was more determined than I was and we kept at it until I managed a couple of near-perfect drifts around the circle.
But without doubt, the coolest part of the Porsche Experience Centre is the full-scale recreation of the iconic Nurburgring Karussell. Yes, you read that correctly, you can drive one of the most famous corners in the racing world in Los Angeles – or actually most of the Experience Centres as it has become a signature piece.
The Karussell is at the end of a straight, where Joe gets me to experience the full fury of Porsche’s launch control system. The acceleration is great, but the sound of the 4.0-litre flat-six bouncing off the rev limiter and then unleashing its fury was even better.
And then I’m suddenly transported to the Nurburgring, dropping into the Karussell for the ultimate thrill ride. Obviously you don’t pop out into the Germany forest, but instead you get a view of the 405 Freeway (and remarkably the Goodyear Blimp, which is parked in a golf course opposite, for some reason).
Once you’re done with your drive, you can grab a coffee or drink in the cafe, buy yourself some merchandise in the gift shop or wander around the lobby and look at the impressive collection of cars that are housed there. These include both road and racing Porsches, as the Experience Centre in Los Angeles is also the only Porsche Motorsport facility outside of the Germany factory certified to carry out engine maintenance on its track cars.
So, next time you’re in Los Angeles, or anywhere that has a Porsche Experience Centre, you should join the 50,000 odd visitors each year that enjoy this amazing automotive playground. But, be warned, you may want to buy a Porsche when you’re done…
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