Porsche 993 v Porsche 991: Turbo S face-off
How’s this for sheer automotive paradise? It’s just before 6am on a bright summer morning in rural Cornwall, the rich sun already bleaching out the countryside on the horizon as miles of smooth, twisty asphalt lay bare before it.
Hours before any weekday commuters are obliged to grace the public highway (the nearest city is Exeter, which doesn’t quite require the same dawn-to-dusk commitment as your coffee-dependent London elite), the roads are deserted.
So the sleepy West Country remains aurally undisturbed, save for the whoosh of two exhaust turbines and subsequent flat-six growl emitting from my Sapphire blue 991 Turbo S.
Inside the cockpit is a rather different story. Bolted upright and alert, my two hands – each with five white knuckles – grip at opposite ends of the Sport Design wheel as my darting eyes continually seek out the farthest point possible on the road ahead.
Carrying near-blistering pace, I touch the brakes and give a quick pull of the downshift paddle before seeing off a series of left-right-left twists in third gear, keeping the revs above 3,000rpm.
Then, the sight of a good straight is met with a potent yet progressive squeeze of the accelerator as the tacho needle climbs and my hands bring the steering wheel attentively back to centre.
Cue the sound of those two spooling exhaust turbos from behind – reminiscent of a charging Boeing 747 on takeoff – engulfing my ears once more as the inertia plants my chest and head back against the cushion of Porsche leather. The 991 duly continues its propulsion forwards with audacious ferocity.
Despite the early start, I’m two hours into this electrifying drive from across Dorset’s Jurassic coast, and my brain shows no signs of tiring as I steer the relentless Turbo S towards St Mawes, a small fishing village at the nether end of Cornwall’s Roseland peninsula.
To read more of Lee’s awesome Cornish road trip, including his thoughts on the 993 Turbo S’s challenger credentials, pick up your copy of Total 911 issue 115 in store. Alternatively, purchase online at the Imagine Shop, or download a digital copy via Great Digital Mags.
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