Rohrl's words came back to me: “To make a fast car handle and lay all its power perfectly to the ground, it has to have three crucial ingredients: a low centre of gravity, a very stiff chassis and low weight." Amazingly that is what the new 911 encapsulates. Even with a raft of features for enhanced crash protection, the Carrera S tips the scales at 1420kg (1395kg for the base Carrera) and thanks to an optimised engine mounting position at the rear, the weight is held as low down as possible while also being spread further apart thanks to the wider track employed. The Porsche chassis engineers have done an admirable job in really given a superstiff structure, increasing torsional rigidity by eight per cent and bending stiffness by a massive 40 per cent! All these add up to form the foundation for the rest of the car to be built upon.

The 997 Porsche 911 features slightly tweaked versions of its predecessor’s MacPherson strut front suspension and the multi-link rear layout. However what it gets new is the Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) which packs in a lower ride height coupled to tauter springs and this duo then being topped up by four electrically controlled dampers. The driver can choose from one of two different settings beginning with the first which is more oriented for comfort-style driving with a slightly softer ride quality until such time that the driver beings hustling it around, the system automatically adopts a tauter stance. The second is the Sport setting in which the dampers cancel out pitch and yaw considerably making for a well behaved car with great body control. Porsche further offers a special performance suspension kit which sees ride height drop by 20mm and the adoption of a mechanical diff lock.

To cope with the enhanced performance on tap, Porsche has fitted the Carrera S with the 330mm dia cross-drilled and inner vented disc brakes from the current 911 Turbos. These feature four-piston aluminium monobloc calipers and are a useful accessory to keeping the peace. Porsche also offers its 350mm dia ceramic disc brakes but these being more of a detail suited for track day thrashing because the regular steel discs are more than up to the task of hauling the car down from speed.

And then one gets to the actual business end of the deal: the four contact patches which take the drive from the engine and lay it down on tarmac. Porsche worked closely with Michelin to come up with a brilliant set of Pilot Sport N1 tyres which are OE fitment. The 911 Carrera S is the first road-going 911 to sport 19-inch diameter, running 235/35 ZR19 tyres at the front and 295/30 ZR19 at the rear. The base Carrera uses 18-inch wheels shod with 235/40 ZR18 units at the front and 235/35 ZR19s at the rear. The fitment of the 19-inch tyres has made for a larger contact patch which so very greatly aids traction and power delivery.

The drive for me from the Schlosshotel Munchhausen was like an initiation process into a faith I had always heard about but never fully got to grips with. I had Vijay Mallya's spin ever clear in my mind and also the exploits of the great race and rally drivers who had mastered the 911. My own early skirmishes with a 1990 example in Europe had left scars on my psyche but then one does listen to a genius like Walter Rohrl and get inspired by his advice.

The cabin was the first bit which relaxed me and got the woollies out of the tummy. The 997 has seen Porsche’s ergonomics experts incorporate the best details in creature comforts and fitments while not compromising on a great driving position. The steering wheel is adjustable both for reach as well as for height and the controls fall superbly to hand in a most natural manner. The new adaptive sports seats allow the driver to adjust the side support in a four-dimensional plane along with the seat bottom and backrest so as to mould it exactly to the contours of the driver’s body. I spent a few minutes playing with the controls of this adaptive seat but sure enough I was wondering with no one else had ever tried such a thing before.

The cabin featured all leather and packed in both a heater cum air con system. What further blew my mind was the Bose Surround Sound System which had been designed in at the sketching stage itself. Featuring 13 loudspeakers, a 7-channel digital amplifier, a top notch CD player, the system also incorporates a detail which senses the outside noise sources (wind and road) and cancels them out in a manner that wouldn’t have the driver of passenger twirling the volume buttons now and then.

But I was talking about my on-road impression of the Carrera S and the first is about the way the car stuck to the road like glue. I was expecting it to be firm and bouncy but it turned out to be well damped and planted, those massive Michelins enhancing confidence levels with every passing kilometer. The quality of the suspension set-up and the overall weight distribution so close as to pin the car fiercely to the ground was amazing. More so when giving the car its head, the 911 could be made to corner flat at speeds I would have never dreamed of. It is the massive amounts of mechanical grip and a finely balanced chassis which helps give the driver the confidence to take the car as far as the road conditions would allow him to. Credit the ample usage of electronics to control much of the suspension and steering but then there have been other cars as well with such stuff and they can’t hold a candle to the 911. The stability of the car, in both straight ahead fashion and also through the twisties is something to be experienced and surely a highlight for any automotive enthusiast. Add to that the capability to lay all the power down on the road allied only to the driver’s will power is another detail which I explored more than on any other car. Which means to suggest that the 997 is not a typical 911 but a better, on the best ever manifestation of the classic 911 which got underway in 1963.

The only reasons I can state to sober me down is that the shape or rather the silhouette is the same rendition tweaked and tweaked to make it conform to legislation and safety. And yes, it is just a two-seater which is great for me and the missus but bad news for our kids. No wonder then that Ashish Chordia of Shrryans thinks he can and will shift more Cayennes than 911s.

The Porsche Centre Mumbai will be able to offer the new 911 Carrera and Carrera S models from some time very late this year. Prices haven’t been firmed up but do not expect a Porsche to be cheap. Think Ferrari prices and performance and you will also get German reliability, technology and build quality. Plus the onus of driving what is arguably not just a legend but also one of the finest everyday automobiles that can also be taken to its very high performance limits with ease. Of course having just a 64-litre petrol tank and an exceedingly low slung stance could be irritants. But can a car like the 911 ever be anything other than a grand indulgence, at least in the Indian perspective? Compared to the likes of the Maybach and the Bentley, the 911 puts its case far more strongly and efficiently. Need one elaborate more?
Adil Jal Darukhanawala

Specifications 911 CARRERA/S