Porsche Camp4 - High Horsepower Winter Wonderland
It only makes sense that Porsche - builder of all-weather sports cars like the Porsche 911 Carrera 4S and the Porsche 911 Turbo - would offer a winter driving school for rabid fans of the brand. It would seem to be equally logical to locate that course at Mecaglisse, which is a short drive north of Montreal, Quebec and the preferred site for would-be rally students and car companies looking to demonstrate the mettle of their metal.
This explains why I found myself at Mecaglisse this past week attending Porsche Camp4, which is the ultimate in winter fun for Porsche owners around the world. With campuses in Europe, Canada, and even Mongolia, Camp4 offers multiple levels of driving instruction for those who want to get the most out of their German sports cars even when road conditions turn treacherous.
Porsche Camp4 Tackles All Available Porsche Models
Depending on which skills are being taught, and what level of competence (both in the classroom and practical) has already been achieved by attendees, Porsche's Camp4 offers the ability to sample vehicles such as the Boxster, the Cayman, and the 911 Carrera as well as larger models like the Cayenne SUV and the Panamera sedan. For the journalist-only edition of Camp4 that I attended, we were presented with the 2013 Porsche 911 Carrera, the Carrera 4S all-wheel drive edition, and the 2013 Porsche Boxster S.
All three of these vehicles are brand new for 2013. The Porsche 911 Carrera is motivated by a 350 horsepower, 3.4-liter six-cylinder engine that also generates 287 lb-ft of torque, while the 911 Carrera 4S feeds all four wheels with 400 horses and 325 lb-ft of torque from its 3.8-liter six-cylinder. The Boxster S delivers 315 horsepower and 266 lb-ft of torque from a 3.4-liter, six-cylinder mill. Each the cars that I drove were outfitted with the Sport Chrono package (which offers sharper handling and throttle response) as well as a seven-speed PDK automated manual transmission. A traditional seven-speed manual can be had with either version of the 911, while the Boxster retains last year's six-speed manual gearbox option.
Furthering the adhesion of our potent winter steeds on the slippery surfaces found at Mecaglisse were Nokian tires outfitted with 3-mm studs at all four corners - an absolute necessity given the conditions we were driving in.
Three Different Flavors Of Car Control
After our Camp4 class had been split into three groups, I found myself heading to the iced-over skid pad to explore the drift capabilities of the two-wheel drive 911 Carrera. Two drivers (and one passenger each) were unleashed on the wide ring at a time and told to keep the car as sideways as possible throughout three to four laps. Although I was accustomed to drifting rear-wheel drive cars, this was my first chance to explore the dynamics of having the engine mounted behind the back axle, a detail that dramatically altered the weight balance of the car and made it possible to trigger lengthy slides based on momentum alone. Modulating the throttle helped to maintain the drift almost endlessly, with the glorious flat-six soundtrack filling my ears - and the cabin - as the revs climbed high in second gear.
Leaving the skid pad behind it was time to sample the Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, which is a recent import to the North American market a short time before. We were introduced to a very tight and technically challenging track that would reveal not just the differences between the rear-wheel versus all-wheel drive versions of the Porsche coupe, but also the altered character of piloting an all-wheel drive car with electronic stability control 'on' versus 'off.'
With Porsche Stability Management keeping a stern watch over my efforts to slip and slide the Carrera 4S through the Mecaglisse track, it was clear that even with Sport Plus mode engaged the vehicle's computer-controlled supervisor wasn't about to indulge my WRC tendencies in the corners. Power oversteer? Forget it. Scandinavian flick? Not on your life. Anything other than the smoothest, most fluid motions of the wheel and right foot trigged a symphony of automatically-triggered brake grinding and throttle lifting, keeping me and my passenger safe but ultimately unsatisfied. PSM off, however, introduced me to the supreme torque management skills of Porsche's all-wheel drive system. Although the Carrera 4S didn't offer the same lithe steering as its two-wheel drive sibling, it did feature the stunning ability to pull itself out of a four-wheel drift by sending as much as 46 percent of its engine output to the front wheels.
Finally, the Boxster S put in an appearance at a short, but challenging drift exercise that asked us to take every corner of an undulating track with the car pointed sideways. The differences between the Boxster's mid-engine placement versus the 911 Carrera's rear-engine design were underlined by the different strategy required to successful stay in opposite-lock while driving the car: very precise steering inputs and smooth application of the throttle were needed to pivot the car on its own axis, rather than relying on momentum to change the direction of the roadster for us.
Back-To-Back-To-Back
At the end of our Porsche Camp4 session we were given the unique opportunity to test out each of the three models back-to-back-to-back on a lengthy track that combined two of the previous courses we had been driving earlier in the day. I was in absolute drift heaven - despite tagging several snowbanks - as I oversteered each of these excellent sports cars to my heart's content. The wrap-up also gave me the chance to put together the advice and counsel that I had been given by various instructors throughout the day and work on improving my drift skills and car control capability in a safe, judgment-free environment.
Porsche Camp4 is a great chance for Porsche owners to not only learn how to deal with snow-covered, ice-slicked roads, but also discover the limits of their own vehicles and how to respond to changing driving conditions with confidence and skill. Spending a few days learning about the physics behind traction, momentum, and grip, and then applying them in a real-world scenario can not only significantly improve one's capabilities as a driver, but also inform the lightning-quick reactions to worst-case scenarios encountered during the long Canadian winter. If the type of driver training offered by Porsche Camp4 became required curriculum at each and every driving school in the country, the number of lives needlessly lost each year in traffic accidents would no doubt drop precipitously.
