Skip advert
Advertisement

Learning car control in a 911 GT3 at the Porsche Experience Centre

evo spends a day at the Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone

I’m leering over a Porsche RS Spyder but it might as well be a smelly old RS Fiesta. What’s more, the duck-tailed 2.7 RS I passed by on the way in from the car park is merely a distant memory, and as for the newly minted turbocharged Carrera in the adjacent room, well, frankly I couldn’t give a toss.

Advertisement - Article continues below

No, the car to which my imagination is so firmly shackled is a Sapphire Blue GT3 sitting outside in the icy drizzle. How so? Because it’s the only one of these wonderful cars I’ll actually be driving today, and also because it is a Porsche 991 GT3, arguably the finest sports car of an era peppered with memorable machinery. I’ve never driven one before, so you’ll appreciate that my brain chemistry is in a state of agitation.

Affording us this opportunity is Porsche’s Silverstone Experience Centre – part boot camp for anyone who takes driving seriously and part duty of care to new owners who may need a gentle introduction to the world of big power outputs. We’re going to try out almost everything it has to offer – the low-friction skidpan, the kick plate, the handling circuit, the straights, and finally laps of Silverstone itself – as part of the Sport Driving School’s day-long ‘Precision’ course. The course costs a not insignificant £760, but there’s a lot of wheel twirling involved.

Built in the same pillbox style in which Porsche erects its dealerships, the centre’s nucleus overlooks the GP circuit’s Hangar Straight and some of the purpose-built tracks. Inside it’s spotlessly clean – no surprises there – and there’s a restaurant overlooking the facility that serves deliberately small but fantastically tasty portions of the healthy food you’d imagine Nick Tandy and his colleagues wolf down after a sweaty three-hour testing stint. Incidentally, the room below the restaurant is where 918 Spyder owners collect their new plug-in hybrid.

It’s a busy place, too. Whether they’re demonstrating to Macan owners how the car’s electronic brake distribution keeps everything pointing the right direction during an emergency stop, or diplomatically putting it to a wealthy novice that trail braking is a bit fiddly in a GT2 RS, uniformed driving coaches abound. They’re unfailingly friendly and come from a variety of backgrounds.

Very impressive backgrounds, in some cases. In fact I’ve already stumbled across Barry Horne, the former Carrera Cup GB champ, and, remarkably, Richard Attwood. Deploying a Le Mans winner to teach hill-hold in a diesel Cayenne really is taking a gun to a knife fight, or indeed a reliable 917 to an endurance race, isn’t it?

> Click here to go to page 2

Skip advert
Advertisement

Recommended

The 992.2 Porsche 911 GT3 is the fastest manual ever around the Nürburgring
Porsche 911 GT3 Nürburgring
News

The 992.2 Porsche 911 GT3 is the fastest manual ever around the Nürburgring

Porsche has set a new record for the 992.2 GT3 around the Nürburgring. It’s the fastest manual ever, and it’s not even close.
17 Apr 2025
Porsche 911 GT3 (992.2) 2025 review – the best GT3 yet?
2025 Porsche 911 GT3 front
Reviews

Porsche 911 GT3 (992.2) 2025 review – the best GT3 yet?

The 2025 992.2 Porsche 911 GT3 uses know-how from the 992.1 GT3 RS and the 911 S/T. Has the GT3 formula been perfected?
1 Apr 2025
Used Porsche 911 GT3 (991, 2013 - 2019) review, specs and buying guide
Porsche 911 GT3 (991) front
Reviews

Used Porsche 911 GT3 (991, 2013 - 2019) review, specs and buying guide

The 991-generation GT3 brought massive changes for the GT3 bloodline as a whole, for better and worse
6 Mar 2025
Used Porsche 911 GT3 (992.1, 2021-2024): review, history, specs and buying guide
Porsche 911 992.1 GT3
In-depth reviews

Used Porsche 911 GT3 (992.1, 2021-2024): review, history, specs and buying guide

So bereft of current rivals is the new 911 GT3 that you’re best to look to the used market and its predecessor, the 992.1 911 GT3
10 Feb 2025
Skip advert
Advertisement

Most Popular

TVR: Why we think it’s all over
TVR Griffith
Opinion

TVR: Why we think it’s all over

There’s barely a flicker of life when it comes to TVR and the ‘new’ Griffith. We can only fear the worst
17 Jul 2025
Save £30k on a new Range Rover and buy a Renault 5 with the savings!
Range Rover
News

Save £30k on a new Range Rover and buy a Renault 5 with the savings!

Discounts on new Range Rovers are so big you could buy a new Renault 5 with the money you save…
15 Jul 2025
​Best hot hatchbacks 2025 – affordable new performance cars
Best hot hatchbacks 2025
Best cars

​Best hot hatchbacks 2025 – affordable new performance cars

Contracted though the hot hatch market may be, there are still some great models out there, from the electric Alpine A290 to the five-cylinder Audi RS…
14 Jul 2025