November 2020 • By David Steele
Photos David Steele & Tony Thacker and courtesy Porsche 

Presented by CapAutoRecon.com

We’ve long wanted to do a piece on Porsche’s Experience Center (PEC) in Los Angeles and it just so happened that our good friend David Steele, Executive Director, American Hot Rod Foundation was given a ticket to ride by his lovely wife. Here’s what he thought of the Experience. Keep in mind that David’s daily drives are a flathead Ford V-8-powered Model A Roadster pickup and a ’71 Chevelle.

“The Los Angeles’ PEC is a true diamond in a very rough part of town. The drive into Carson, California makes you doubt that this facility is anywhere near where your GPS is assuring you it is…  but it is. A classic example of just how expensive Los Angeles real estate is. That said, once you turn the corner into the parking lot you are met with immaculate grounds and a very kind and helpful greeter. Once checked in and your basic COVID checks checked out, you begin to enter into a Porsche dreamscape that lives up to the sixty million dollar investment’s reputation. Vintage Porsches from every era line the entryway and lobby while enormous floor-to-ceiling glass panels fully expose the entire service center and shop. Porsches of every conceivable age and configuration, including a Gulf-liveried 917, sit on racks, wheels off with fluids draining or brakes coming off or on. The Teutonic nature of its cleanliness, order and seriousness all beginning to sink in. 

“Just as the tone of these surroundings begins to seep in to your psyche, you are suddenly overlooking an enormous maze of ribbon-like race track fanning out into the distance. It is an awesome sight. Brand new Porsches covering the entire range of available car and color crisscross and rise and fall and buzz and pop and snap and roar as you try and take in this fantasy playground for the well heeled. GT2RSs dice with one another while 911Ss carve their way around the various testing stations; some covered in water to initiate hydroplaning, others constructed of smooth, polished concrete coated with a liberal amount of flour. All designed to teach the driver how to correct when a car becomes ‘loose.’

“From there you get to experience the incredible acceleration that the 911S offers—zero to sixty in under four seconds.”

“Although a not-so-thinly-veiled sales pitch for whichever model of Porsche you pay to experience track time in, the on-the-fly instruction that one receives via his follow-along instructor is serious business. Each car that is provided for an Experience has a one-way radio on board that broadcasts non-stop instructions into the cabin while you follow your instructor. This can include anything and everything from braking points, apex strategies, or general critiques like ‘you don’t need to throw these cars into a corner. Smoother is always faster.’ Again, all of this is peppered with ‘and you’ll feel Porsche’s active suspension management take the guessing out of a corner that tight. That’s the kind of advancement Porsche and its engineer’s are able to provide for its customers,’ etc. etc., but it is never overbearing or distracting from the pure exhilaration of getting to know and understand these cars. 

“For our purposes, a new 911 Carrera S was chosen for a 1-1/2-hour session and our instructor was a full-time pilot/part-time racer named Kyle who spends his off days instructing enthusiasts on the ins and outs of driving one of these on a track. After a short lesson on how to work all of the gadgets and settings in the car you follow your instructor out onto the first course—concrete covered in flower—and begin to slowly get used to the car and how it reacts on a surface that feels incredibly similar to driving on a snow-covered roadway.

David didn’t get to eat in the 917 restaurant but we’ve managed to dine there a couple of times and the view of the tracks is superb as is the food from the Porsche-shaped pats of butter to the 917-stamped burgers. It’s a great experience even if you don’t take the ride.

“From there you get to experience the incredible acceleration that the 911S offers—zero to sixty in under four seconds with the quarter mile covered in the low 11 second range—using its factory launch-control settings. It is a blazingly fast car for something that feels surprisingly large and heavy once you’re tucked down into its cockpit. But with 430 horsepower on hand, combined with a truly brilliant eight-speed transmission, the car simply gives you access to its full power at any time. It is nimble and predictable to the point of inspiring over-confidence, something that you feel is an impossibility when first sitting in the car and speaks to the brilliance of the program. How the Porsche Experience is able to provide that journey in less than 90 minutes is a serious achievement and a great high for the person who is behind the wheel. 

“All in all, it’s a notable bargain at $550 for 90 minutes of instructed track time in one of the premier supercars (in sheep’s clothing) of our time and, without question, the finest way to spend a Saturday afternoon in Carson, California.”

For information about the American Hot Rod Foundation visit: https://ahrf.com/

For more information and US locations visit: www.porschedriving.com/track-experience

For international venues visit: https://experience.porsche.com/en/track/international