Porsche 718 Boxster S: Escape To The World of Dreams

10 May 2017 Redazione News, Stories, Tested

BEST DRIVING ROADS – EPISODE II

ESCAPE TO THE WORLD OF DREAMS

Words: Alessandro Marrone

Photography: Andy Williams

My grandfather loved to tell anecdotes and stories and the way he did that was unique. He could catch my attention from the beginning and once finished the story, I felt the irresistible urge to learn more, to examine the details and give more to my mind that brick by brick was trying in every way to give shape to those faces, those places and situations of the past. Many of these stories, for one reason or another, bean with the description of a place, a road, a valley and being a child, even though I was greedy for movies and cartoons, I could never do justice to certain views, perhaps too good to be imagined. They say that travel is to learn, that every place you visit leaves you something that enriches your inner luggage. Every person, every culture, everything helps to give a touch to our character, to our passions and our desire to come back there where our heart was happier. I decided to take the 718 Boxster S in an enchanted place, a paradise for driving pleasure and I’ve decided to do it because for me the Porsche Boxster has always been a special car. The first series, the 986, was my first proper car (except for the Twingo, the one with which I have tried to learn parking maneuvers) – it was a 2.5cc too but had 6 cylinders and only 205 horses. What mattered was the look, the two seats, the wind in my hair (yes, I had much more than now!), and that so precise manual transmission that seemed to really talk to that seemingly heavy clutch. They were different years, there was no Facebook, there was not even a chance to take hundreds of photos via a smartphone (right now I feel incredibly old) and I had neither the capacity nor the job that was pushing me to find a place that would do justice to a sports car with the engine in the middle and traction on the rear wheels. Too bad, but fortunately after several years I find myself with a Boxster S in my hands: it has the new 2.5 4-cylinder and 350 horses. So much similar as distant from my old 1998 Boxster, just like me, that despite not having become Captain Kirk of the four wheels at least I learned how to counter-steer.

That’s why I needed something special, there are a sentimental reasons behind, an emotional tie, a moral necessity that it would become physical in the precise moment I placed the tires on one of the most scenic roads on which you could ever drive: the Col de Vence and the Route de Gentelly. If you do not know what place we’re talking about, read on, hoping that words are able to convey the magic and poetry of a road that seems to have been carved by hand by God himself. The Col de Vence is located a few kilometers above Cagnes-sur-mer, less than an hour from Montecarlo and is known to be a place loved by bikers and driving enthusiasts. This is not a circuit, but the perfect road surface and the fantastic visibility offered also by a bare vegetation on the sides, make the Vence the perfect place to pay tribute to Porsche’s newest sports car that has so much to prove and as much desire to do so, leaving open-mouthed for the many aspects it can output. I put in Sport +, turn off traction control and while the chassis is set optimally for the bends we are gonna deal with, I pull down the soft top – never like this time I do not care getting sick: I have just opened the doors of my personal world of dreams. The 2.5 turbo is powerful and responds to my search for horsepower in the precise moment I press the throttle. The thrust always surprises me and given the small size of the 718, the sensation of speed communicated is directly proportional to that perceived. Far from it, the Boxster S is much faster, but the confidence with which begin to tackle the bends is disarming even for my most optimistic expectations. Brake later, imposed the turn and let the rear widen gently – just a soft grip on the steering wheel and straighten toward the next one, hungry for asphalt as a beast that was kept in a cage for too long. The PDK is very fast, responds to every command that my fingers ask to the paddle behind the wheel and I can feel the frame under my bottom, just as it should be – without filters, without unnecessary frills that ruin too often the search for nirvana on wheels.

Unlike other situations, during the entirety of this more than excited moment, I can keep a clear mind, uncluttered by thoughts that usually assail you when you drive on a razor’s edge overlooking an impressive jump in the dark, even for an ego as huge as the one you can have once at the wheel of a Porsche. And while I grind kilometers like there’s no tomorrow, my eyes are literally assaulted by the vision of a landscape that has definitely borrowed from my dreams: the Route de Gentelly. The track width gets narrowed, a bare rock wall seems to extend towards the sky, on the other side a low wall separates you from certain death. Crossing small tunnels, sometimes completely dark, sometimes illuminated by the most eternal light source there is, which make this route one of the finest places where you absolutely have to drive before moving on to the next world. We are forced to slow down, I look up and having opened the roof I see I’m driving plunged into the throat of a dream pampered in opium – I look down, grip my hands at the wheel and decide to give him a hard time. If anyone has designed this road deserves a Nobel, because the value of this philanthropic micro-world is unique and no matter if it is not a road closed to traffic, where it would be appropriate to let in only those who want to experience their ultimate driving experience – what matters is that we are here and we are celebrating a great sports car.

We stop for a series of photos, for a small video clip and for the first hot comments with my colleagues. That the 718 Boxster S is fast is a fact, the numbers say that too, it is said by the goose bumps you get when you’re going to take advantage of its “small” but not at all shy 4-cylinder. The best thing, that apparently so abstract nuance that it is, it’s the fact of being able to define the outlines of a bigger picture than that contained in a framework observed, is the ability to take it to the limit, that sort of friendly feeling that allows you to move over your limits, hour after hour, day after day, and especially the fact that, in my small way, I’ve felt (perhaps for the first time) having uses the full potential of the car itself. Ask it yourself, no … I mean, do it seriously. 350 horses are almost a normal number by today’s standards, but try to put them in the pot on a road like this and you’re gonna finish your day knowing that 351 would have been too much. I’m sure that some words worth more than a thousand statements, specs, laps at the ‘Ring or anything else. And just like my grandfather was able to entertain me with his beautiful stories, I think I have finally shaped my road of dreams and that, most likely, it is the same road of your dreams. Luckily I brought the right car with me.