PORSCHE 996 TURBO
Words by Alessandro Marrone
My grandmother always said that words are something very important – that a simple word could change the meaning of a thought, of a moment, a day, a memory. A unique and seemingly simple and obvious words as the one with no caps tattooed on one of the best B-sides you will ever pursue, as long as the traffic conditions grant you this opportunity: “turbo”. Simple and at the same time special, like an evening spent with a long-time friend, meeting us in Arona’s main square, for a pizza together, just to give a go to his newly purchased 996 Turbo, taking advantage of the atmosphere that the lake is able to create for sports cars lovers like us.
It is here that what apparently seems normal, two friends and a pizza, an evening immersed through memories and stories of the days spent together playing Judas Priest, far from where we were born and grew up, which turns into a wonderful snapshot that I keep jealously guarded in my personal scrapbook. And the main ingredient is that bunch of metal that now fills my days, a car that despite is not like any other car, does everything to try to go unnoticed. In the best Porsche tradition, the 996 retains the sole line introduced in Stuttgart several decades ago, with a rear spoiler and air intakes that make you plan that this evening dinner will be lighter than usual. Parking my car next to it I’m already flowing with my eyes the voluptuous lines of the Turbo, easily defined as the first of the new generation of the 911 Turbos we all know, with the abandonment of the air cooling in favor of water cooling. As mentioned, all the effort to keep a low profile, as if to suggest that it can be used in everyday life as a more docile Carrera 4 S, are betrayed by the muscles you see here and there. Those vents on the bumpers, that front splitter and that massive rear spoiler are the prelude to something that will not make you regret having refused dessert at dinner. Speeches have flown fast that evening, we had so much to tell that hours were literally flew away and you recognize the value of a good friendship, perhaps the simplest and purest feeling that a human being can feel, when you breath the complicity and satisfaction in sharing a moment of pure fun and happiness. He hands me the key and says, “Let’s take her for a ride”. I stretch my left arm and hold that triangular pass for driving nirvana, that without even hesitating for a moment, when inserted to the left of the steering wheel, gives birth to the twin-turbo6-cylinder of the fiercest 996 I have ever driven.
Although it was spring and the temperature allowed to keep the windows open, I give time to the flat-six to warm well its fluids and the very moment they reached the right position time was good to leave the parking lot. The late afternoon light has now given way to the darkness of the night, promptly lit by streetlights and the local windows that slip away, no longer drawing our attention, since we can’t wait to leave the city porphyry and unleash the Turbo without bothering the people around, ready to begin their evening of fun. Personally, our evening promises to be way better, entering the main road in a way that allows me to shoot one after the other the first three gears. The speed is achieved was outrageous, the thrust of the 3.6 and its 420hp was bestial, also because of the all-wheel drive system that does not force you to be light on the throttle even with a surface not in perfect conditions. The real pleasure is given by the 6-speed manual transmission, close, short and precise, firing one by one all of its gears. The chassis, stiffer, sometimes a bit nervous but never uncomfortable, is the best friend of this super doped 996 and after a few kilometers, you convey a sense of security, that lead me to constantly wink at the passenger (and owner of the car itself), wait for his smile and finally sink again my right foot on the gas. The street is ours, the lake is ours, the night is ours. The roar that comes out from the exhaust is a continuous hymn to crime (also because of the work that removed any kind of filter between headers and tail pipes), and we are now sure that our evening will end with a reprimand. But it was not the case, we crossed Arona, Meina, Lesa, up to our halfway point in Belgirate. Oh if I wanted to keep going … The ease with which you gain speed at the wheel of the 996 Turbo is the primary feedback that you receive from a Turbo that for the first time does not seem wanting to kill you, but rather to be the third partner of an evening with friends, car lovers. We were bandits, at least for one night.
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LOTUS EXIGE S
Words by Antonio Iafelice
Defining a sports car is not so easy as it seems: there are so many and of all kinds and tastes to choose your favorite from the myriad of sports cars on the market that it has almost become a problem. Personally I find that in every high performance car there is something special and attractive regardless of the badge, the price and the technical features. That something is able to trigger the magical spark. If there’s the spark we’ve found the sports car of our dreams. In my case the spark has been struck around Hethel thanks to a sexier than ever Lotus Exige S! For me it’s the sports car par excellence, the one that makes me feel like a racing driver even with my tie on. Its mere look evokes pure racing sensations: for a moment, as if by magic, I can change the background of the reality that surrounds me and I imagine myself on a runway ready to take off. The Exige S, for me, is wonderful in its own unique and inimitable design: it oozes an eloquent sportiness from every angle as if it were owned by an innate racing spirit who plagiarized the shapes of its body with the sole purpose of performance and denying any stylistic inclination. The car body is “raped” by a multitude of air intakes and vents and aerodynamic parts on display that do nothing but increase the feeling that the Exige S is a racing car for the road. Climbing (sorry … going down) into the cabin does not help to look at it with different eyes: the wraparound Probax seats, the pedals pointing slightly toward the center and the subsequent driving posture forced inside a minimalist interior are perceiving an incredible feeling of intimacy. I take a look at all that surrounds me and sit in the cockpit with my arms folded for a moment in the typical position of a driver in his race car before the start of a grand prix. I’m not racing though, but the feeling is exactly the same. It’s amazing how the Exige S, also with the engine turned off, is able to make me imagine the performance of which it is capable of.
For me one of the characteristics that a sports car must have is precisely to somehow manage to convey a kind of awe and my Exige S does it in the right way. It is no coincidence that the presentation folder says “Its limit is only in your ability”. In other words: it is ready, now it’s my turn. The Exige S can hardly be called legal, forget soundproof and comfort, you won’t find any: the driving position is down in the “cage” of the body, the engine is loud and immediately behind you and stiff suspension are also able to perceive the smallest pebbles on the asphalt. Defects? No, strengths! Tell me what you want but for me these are feelings that any sports cars purist has to feel: that feeling of claustrophobia that makes us perceive the essence of a race car, the excessive noise that recalls constantly that behind you there are a lot of horses ready to rock and the inconvenience that allows you to go fast! And the Exige S goes really fast. And it is when you go really fast that the famous words printed on the presentation folder comes back to me. It’s true!
To indicate how the Exige S goes fast I do not need to make a list of benefits like the 0-100 kph in 4 seconds and the 274 kph of top speed, these things shall be tested. Shooting the 1,176 kg of weight on a straight thanks to the boost of that powerful 350 hp behind your back is amazing, but it’s not the best feeling you can take from the Exige S, nor its best peculiarity. Its reign lies between corners: it is here that the Hethel supercar gives the best of itself. The excellent aerodynamics with which the Exige S is equipped makes it extremely fast and with a nothing short of fantastic speed cornering, way above my imagination. And this is precisely the point of strength and the best feeling that the Exige S is able to express: I could never think of driving a bend at a certain speed unless I have actually done that. Personally, it is like no other: any other car makes me feel like I was on a race car, no other is so irreverent with its bold design, no other would look great with vibrant colors and white dots and numbers printed on the hood and the doors, no other causes so much awe, no other gives that deadly cocktail of chills, thrills and top performance, and above all no one is such a racing car for the road!