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The roar of the 2.5-litre boxer engine screaming all the way 7500 r/min dominates my eardrums as I lay in the bed of my German hotel room.
Just a few hours earlier I had been thrashing Porsche’s entry-level sports cars, 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman S, around the automaker’s dynamic track in Leipzig circuit used to test all their models in one form or the other.
It is home to the dynamic circuit, an FIA-certified track created by Hermann Tilke, famous for designing numerous Formula 1 circuits such as Sepang in Malaysia and the Bahrain GP circuit.
This would be my playground for an entire day.
The track
We were allowed access onto the small circuit which features 1:1 scaled versions of the famous ‘carousel’ from the Nürburgring and the infamous ‘cork screw’ from the Laguna Seca race track and Eau Rouge’s ‘bus stop’.
The final chicane is a quick right and then left before you gear down to tuck into all that fat torque low down in the rev range for a blast down the main straight.
One can easily reach 160km/h before climbing hard onto the brakes, brake lights sparkling like the Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree.
The small circuit is a smorgasbord of the world's best corners from the greatest race tracks all rolled into one.
Image: Porsche
The cars
Porsche’s entry-level sports cars, 718 Boxster and Cayman, were our toys for the day. The latter was in S guise.
I switched between the two models all day, experiencing a different feel from the soft top Boxster which was powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine with 220kW and 380Nm.
Both use the famed 7-speed PDK gearbox that executes rapid changes and feels at home on the track.
We also got to play around with the different driving modes: sport + offers the most intense throttle response and sharpens up the steering for a more involved driving.
And while it may sit at the bottom of Zuffenhausen’s sports-car pile, both models showed their agility and supreme driving appeal on the track.
Every lap felt better than the next as I pushed the car harder, braked later and turned in tighter to find the perfect line through world-famous corners.
With strict instructions to not disable the stability control. The Porsche possesses phenomenal traction despite me trying my utmost to unsettle the car.
There's just no getting away from how settled the car feels because of its mid-engined set up, it has loads of grip and is probably the most rewarding car I've ever driven.
Image: Porsche
The experience
A full-day of driving Porsches is a great day for every petrolhead. But what set this experience apart was what I gained from it: learning how to drive a car closer to its limit.
It's all about the development of the driver: from learning the perfect driving position to the various training levels.
The breadth of exercises on offer (including a slalom run and time on the skidpan) teaches one great car control and just how nimble these Porsches are.
The cherry on top was having countless laps on the small circuit and really pushing the car harder each lap. I found myself carrying more speed into corners, trail braking when necessary and turning in sharper mainly because of how much confidence the car gave me .
Dipping into the carousel in the Cayman S was truly a ear-opening experience as you're never quite ready for the change of angle.
The famous corkscrew from Laguna Seca is the equivalent of going down three stories. Make sure you have a strong stomach.
