Three Days Of - Classic Porsche 911 Rentals and Tours

46
3.2 Carrera Euro drive
47
Three Days Of
Ever wanted to explore a faraway great road
in a beloved 911? The solution may be simpler
than you imagined, as Total 911 investigates…
Written & photographed by Chris Dearden
48
3.2 Carrera Euro drive
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“Walter Röhrl thinks
it’s the most
perfect Porsche
ever built”
Model
3.2 Carrera
Targa
Year
Engine
1987
Capacity
3,164cc air-cooled flat six
Modifications
Sachs racing clutch;
remapped ECU; freeflow exhaust
Compression ratio 10.3:1
Maximum power
231bhp @ 5,900rpm
Maximum torque
284Nm @ 4,800rpm
Transmission
Taking a classic 911
on a great driving
road makes for an
invigorating experience
S
o you’ve finally bought the 911 you’ve
been promising yourself for years.
Maybe it’s a 996, a 997 or, if you’ve had
a really good bonus, a new 991. You’ll no
doubt be suitably delighted with your
new Zuffenhausen sports car, and will be itching
to test its capabilities on some of Earth’s more
rewarding roads.
Now, this may all be well and good, but what if
that route you desire is an unfeasibly long distance
away? As much as the Porsche 911 is revered as
a driver’s car, putting extortionate miles on it in
such a short time may not be deemed sensible,
and taking your own 911 on a prolonged tour
could prove tricky should something go wrong.
However, there is a way to resolve both anomalies,
enabling you to enjoy a Porsche on exhilarating
Five-speed manual,
rear-wheel drive
Suspension
roads through some of the most stunning
mountainscapes on the planet, and then in the
evening sit under the stars and reflect on the day’s
adventures while sipping beer brewed by monks
from local spring water. Sound appealing? This
could be the short break to end all short breaks.
The story starts in Munich, near the city’s
Eastern railway station. It’s the premises of Passo
Tourismo, where we meet its managing director
Lars Eise, a native of Stuttgart who grew up in
the United States. He has been driving a variety
of air-cooled 911s through the Alps for the past
20 years, so he knows this corner of Europe like
the back of his hand. Like all the best businesses,
Passo Tourismo is run by real enthusiasts. Lars
started with his own 911, a tangerine 1973 Targa,
arranging self-drive tours of Germany for friends.
Word spread, and in 2009 he decided to turn his
hobby into a business, gradually building a fleet of
carefully chosen 3.2-litre Carreras.
On why he chose this particular model, he
said, “They are solid and reliable, and Walter
Rohrl thinks it is the most perfect Porsche ever
built – that’s good enough for us!” The cars are
meticulously maintained by a local Porsche
specialist, with an inspection prior to every tour.
“Reliability is crucial – the last thing we need is for
a car to let anyone down,” says Lars. He realises
that what people are looking for varies, as does
the depth of their pockets, so he offers a range
of itineraries from one to four days in duration.
Because he and his team know the country so
well and understand what a Porsche enthusiast
will want, you can be sure that each route will
Front
MacPherson
strut; torsion bars;
antiroll bar
Rear
Semi-trailing arms with
telescopic dampers;
torsion bars; antiroll bar
Wheels & tyres
Front
6x16-inch Fuchs alloys;
205/55/16 tyres
Rear
8x16-inch Fuchs alloys;
225/50/16 tyres
Dimensions
Length
4,291mm
Width
1,650mm
Weight
1,210kg
Performance
0-62mph
5.6 secs
Top speed
148mph
50
3.2 Carrera Euro drive
51
Hiring a 911 in Europe:
Do’s and Don’ts
Do
•Try to get an independent review
from someone else that has used the
company before booking.
air-cooled
traditionalists
“The
sound that the
•Check out the car carefully on pick-up,
and agree any existing damage with
the company (photograph it if you have
any doubts).
•Read the terms and conditions carefully
– especially the insurance – so you
know exactly what you are covered for.
•Take out Insurance Excess Cover
before you leave Britain, as you will
almost certainly be responsible for the
first £1,000-£5,000 of any accident
damage. My insurance cost me £7 for
three days excess cover up to £5,000.
eulogise about sounds fabulous”
•Make sure your credit card can stand
having the excess reserved on it at pickup time. If the worst happens it will then
be taken off your card, and you can get
it reimbursed by your excess insurance
when you get home.
As you’ll quickly
find, you’re spoilt
for choice when it
comes to picturesque
locations – all you
need is the perfect
vehicle with which to
enjoy it all in
•Check out road law for every country
you will be visiting – in some countries
you can be hit with a large on-the-spot
fine for not driving with headlights on in
the daytime, for example.
Don’t
•Try not to rent from a one-car company.
If anything happened to that car the day
before you arrived you could have spent
a lot of money on flights and hotels, but
with no 911 to enjoy.
•Don’t just rush off into traffic driving on
the wrong side of the road as soon as
you have signed the paperwork – take
time to familiarise yourself fully with the
car first.
incorporate the best roads and sights, as well as
welcoming stop-overs. Passo Tourismo’s website
lists eight options, but if none of them are quite
what you are looking for then they’ll help you
design your own customised itinerary.
I feel like a kid in a sweet shop trying to decide
on our tour; spoilt for choice. We finally settle
on the Passo Sella Ronda route, and Lars’ smile
confirms his approval. “It’s my personal favourite,”
he reveals. This route goes up into the Dolomites,
through Austria and Italy, over ten different
mountain passes, including the celebrated Sella
Ronda: four consecutive passes linked together
like a string of pearls up at the very top of the Sella
crags. We’d be staying in mountain chalet hotels in
places with iconic names like Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The next head-scratcher is which car to take.
Lars’ fleet comprises eight Carrera 3.2s, and a
gorgeous mix of Coupes, Targas and Cabriolets.
Introduced in 1984, the 3.2 looks similar to the SC
it replaced, but mechanically it was a significant
upgrade – capacity up to 3,164cc, with a higher
compression ratio and the introduction of an ECU
to control the ignition and fuel systems. Also
new were hydraulic cam chain tensioners, which
removed the previous weak spot of the mechanical
tensioners. Power was up to a very respectable
231bhp, yet fuel consumption went down. I am
beginning to see why Lars decided on this model.
As a Cabrio owner, I am keen to try a Targa, and
Iris, taking some photographs, requests a red one
for “Maximum impact against the background.” I
have no problem with that. Can you get much more
iconic than a Guards red air-cooled 911?
We nose out of Passo Tourismo’s yard into early
morning Munich traffic. The first few minutes in
an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar city with traffic
on the ‘wrong’ side of the road always gets the
pulse going, but it all becomes natural surprisingly
quickly. The unassisted steering is light and
responsive, and the clutch smooth, if a bit heavier
than on a modern Porsche.
As we reach the outskirts of the city, we join the
back road route to the mountains, which allows
me to find out what is available under my right
foot. 231bhp may not sound like a lot, but in a car
weighing just 1,200 kilograms it makes for rapid
progress, and you have to remind yourself that
when it was built, Porsche engineers had not yet
learned to rewrite the laws of physics. I‘m referring,
of course, to that heavy lump of metal hanging
out behind the rear axle, which can get you facing
the way you came quicker than your brain can
register what is going on. And there is no stability
management system – not even ABS – to prevent
you from embarrassing yourself. Remember this
and treat it with respect, and you’ll be fine.
And what about that air-cooled sound the
traditionalists eulogise about? With the Targa top
removed, I have to admit that it sounds fabulous.
Better than a water-cooled 911? It’s certainly
different, and I run it up and down through the ’box
just to get the full effect. At about 5,000rpm, it does
strange things to the hairs on the back of my neck.
Tunnels are a special treat, and need their own
routine – windows open, change down, and give it
some throttle. Sheer bliss. We’re going to miss a lot
when we’re all driving electric cars.
The first day of the tour is about getting up into
the mountains, crossing the border into Austria
and then heading to Italy for the first night’s
hotel in Bruneck. It is enough time for me to try
to analyse just why this driving experience is so
special. There’s no denying that all the electronics
and computing power that fine-tune the drive in
a modern Porsche can insulate the driver a little
from the road, but not in this car. You can
feel every pebble and change of road camber
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3.2 Carrera Euro drive
“The 911
never
misses a beat”
through your fingertips, the soles of your feet and
the seat of your jeans. The responses are direct
and immediate, demanding total concentration but
delivering total involvement. At the end of the day’s
journey I am tired but exhilarated.
The next morning we’re up early, keen to get
on the road. Day two is about what Lars calls
“the twisties”: a circuitous route from Bruneck to
Cortina over seven mountain passes, with four
linking to form the famed Sella Ronda. At this
height the April weather is unpredictable, and I’ve
been dreading road closures due to snow, ice, fog or
a combination of all three. I needn’t have worried;
the sky is blue and the road dry. You can approach it
in a leisurely way, savouring the sights, sounds and
smells of the mountains, or remember that you are
in a 911, and pretend you are in Monte Carlo. We do
a bit of both, and a lot somewhere in between.
The grip from the front tyres is exceptional,
with just a hint of understeer. After seeing the
drops, I make sure I never provoke the infamous 911
oversteer. The Gardena pass has to be the stand-out
favourite – 200-metre zigs followed by 200-metre
zags all the way to the snow-lined top, repeated just
the same all the way down the other side. The 911
never misses a beat, with the temperature needle
staying reassuringly central. Pretty much our only
companions are a variety of unfamiliar BMWs in
anti-paparazzi camouflage. BMW use these roads
for testing new models and filming promo adverts.
It’s tempting to call in sick and just stay here for
the week, but Lars is expecting his car back, so
after hitting the nightlife of Cortina we wake up to
day three and the run back to Munich. But it’s in
no way an anti-climax. The twisties were exciting,
but the fast-flowing passes back through Austria
and into Germany are equally satisfying. This tour
has been really well thought out – plenty of driving
time, but enough breathing space to stop for a meal
or just savour a view. On the outskirts of Munich
we stop at a garage to wash off the flies from the
windscreen and the mix of mud and cow pat from
the bottoms of the doors. When did I last wash a
hire car? Probably never, but it didn’t seem right to
hand this one back dirty.
Three days in the Dolomites in a 911, and no
need to trawl down to Dover or endure sea-sickness
for it. Nor will you put a single mile on your own
911. Passo Tourismo’s slogan is ‘The road trip of a
lifetime’, but I think this is a mistake; it suggests it is
something you only do once. Perhaps it should be
‘The road trip of that part of your lifetime until you
can afford to do it all again’. They have another
seven tours, and I’ve already started saving.
The route
Bruneck
SP244
Italy
Passo Tre
Croci
Gardena
Pass
SS242
Sella
Pass
SS48
Pordot
Pass
SP244
Campolongo
Pass
Passo
Falzarego
SR48
SS563
Passo
Giau
The trip involved driving from Munich to Bruneck on
day one, Bruneck to Cortina on day two and Cortina to
Munich on day three. Total distance: 770km.
Many passes are closed until May, and August sees
them clogged with tourists, so May to July and early
September are probably the best times to go for.
Some of Passo Tourismo’s lower-altitude tours have
a longer season.
Why not give yourself a day in Munich at the
beginning or end to investigate the city and the famous
beer gardens?
Passo Tourismo can be contacted via their website
www.passo-tourismo.com. Click on the stars-andstripes symbol to get the site in English.