718 Life.

"Belt up!" A rather British saying, meaning - nicely - "be quiet" but probably more accurately, "shut up!". But I use it in a more 'prepare-to-launch' fashion, as in "Put your seatbelt on, we're about to take off!" Because 'take off' is what the 718 does. It doesn't take much pedal input to launch the Boxster off the line, and rapidly you find yourself grabbing for second gear without really even thinking about it. Lovely. Being a bit fastidious about my red beauty, I saw something the other day. Or rather I heard something: a little scritch, scritch sound. Now car interiors are the worst place for annoying squeaks and rattles, niggling auditory 'splinters' that burrow their way into your consciousness, especially on a long drive. With my traditional summer drive to NB planned starting tomorrow, I had to get this travesty dealt with, otherwise I'd have a 1000+ kilometres of annoyance plaguing me. After some exp...

Thursday. After work. The sun is out, with a bit of cloud cover and a pleasant temperature. No thunderstorms in sight, and the forecast is clear and dry all evening. What better time than to wrap up work for the day and meet up with a certain Carmine Red Cayman? The brief? Go and check out "Norton Road" out Calabogie way. We'd spotted it before, but hadn't yet sampled that bit of Eastern Ontario / west-of-Ottawa pavement. Meeting up at a local mall parking lot, we make a rough plan to head out of Ottawa, avoiding the highway. It takes about 30-40 minutes to leave the dull straight roads behind and at least get into some gentle curves west of the city, so why not at least get off the truck-haven of the 417 and use the side roads to make our way? After a quick pre-drive clean up, I'm ready. After all, you can't go out in public not looking your best, right? It's a perfect late afternoon for the Boxster. The top is down and will stay that way for the next fou...

Is that a CRV in the lead? Look closely. What do you see? A sunny day? A straight road? Some Porsches? Look closer. That's right. A morning drive with some Ottawa P-car friends out to some curvy roads just west of Ottawa. And no, we aren't stuck behind some slow-as-molasses SUV. Not this time. Leading the way in his trusty Honda CRV is our very own @alavigne . You see, the morning roads were still damp from all the rains we've been having, and the factory Pirellis on his Cayman GTS are worn down to practically being race slicks, so he didn't want to risk it out there. Never one to be put off by a little hiccup though, he took it upon himself to be the best lead vehicle possible. I've not followed an SUV handling curves quicker, that's for sure, and I'm certain he was enjoying the challenge of not being too much of a hinderance to the three gorgeous 718s behind him. For fun, to spiritually bring the Cayman along with him, the safety car driver* had one of the...

What are weekends for? Too often we find ourselves 'catching up' on the things we didn't manage to get done during the week.  Lives are so busy these days (maybe they always were) that it seems to get increasingly hard to carve out time to follow our non-productive pursuits. There's always something that needs doing; a lawn that needs mowing, groceries to get, fixing that loose door hinge, re-grouting a tiled floor, you name it. It's about maximizing the enjoyment times that come in between all of the 'have to do' things, isn't it? Granted, trying to enjoy all the mandatories is something I strive to do, but sometimes drudgery is just drudgery. That's why I spend lots of time trying to get through the things that need to get done during the week, so that I can then enjoy some of the things I really enjoy doing and not be feeling guilty, or pressed for time come the end of the week. I'll throw a load of laundry in while washing the dishes in the e...

I did a thing today. A subtle homage to my S2000; those in the know will know. I didn't quite get the angle right in the Porsche photo today, but you get the idea. I still marvel at how low the hoodline is on the S2000; how the Honda engineers managed to tuck that double-wishbone setup in there and give the car it's wonderful 'rake'. Side-by-side the two cars are strikingly similar in some ways, and truly different in others. Overall though, the Boxster is the more 'muscular' design - more beefy in the fender flares and rear haunches.  The front clip is altogether more aggressive, and unlike the S2000, the openings serve real purpose, channeling air into the three (three!) radiators. It's cool to see the colors side by side. The S2000's 'New Formula Red' is much more 'Guardsy'. Would have been a highly satisfying choice for the the GTS Chronicles for sure. But the optioned-Porsche colour is so rich in person - a deeper, redder, red, with...

This week was a lesson in striking while the iron is hot, or rather perhaps not striking. I struck when the airfares were good and the weather was bad, and I booked myself a trip out east via Air Canada, instead of via Air Porsche. By that I mean I flew to visit my folks instead of taking the red machine. When I booked the trip, April sunshine seemed an eternity away, and fresh dumpings of snow had threatened to make a springtime East Coast drive miserable, and probably not even viable. Of course, my luck being what it is, the weather in New Brunswick for the week I was just there was beautiful. Perfect convertible driving weather, with sunny and high cloud days, no precipitation, and lovely moderate temperatures. While the Boxster sulked at home in the garage, I endured four aborted takeoffs on two different flights (not that I'm complaining as I'd rather those pilots were overly-cautious). Of course that led to long delays with connecting flights. Misery. At some point, sitti...

Thursday, August 10, 2023 It's travel day, and final pack up in the morning which goes OK. We have to shuffle things around between bags to make sure that the checked bags will come in underweight. Worst case scenario we will obviously have to deal with it at the airport but for now we feel reasonably confident. We grabbed the shuttle to the airport, with a very nice and chatty driver who is interested in our trip in our observations. Very pleasant. Then it's lineups and waiting to get the big bags checked, which we have a little bit of difficulty with as the Air France lady says the weight is fine but the length is too long. We point out to her that in over 20 years of travelling with these exact type of duffle bags, we have always been fine. And besides, we flew to Europe on Air France no less, without any problems whatsoever! Anyway, after some re-jigging of the duffle and some tightening of straps we get them accepted without the €250 per bag overcharge for oversize!!!! Now...

Wednesday, August 9, 2023 It's a super early start at 3:30 AM to drive to drop the cars off, as we have a ways to go and we have to get there by a specific time. The first part of the drive in the dark is misty and rainy, tricky, but the  headlights are really impressive. Definitely the best of any car I've ever had. We breakfast en route, as we are keen to make good time, though  construction on the Autobahn makes the lanes narrow and dicey at times. I see a large truck come awfully close to Andrew ahead of me at one point, and he backs off rapidly stay clear. Yikes.  We reach Sindelfingen in time to be able to give the cars a proper wash, before the shipping broker. Important to do, I think, as they are grubby and particularly coated in brake dust. We definitely want to get that off before the cars sit in transit for several weeks. Who knows whether they wash them before shipping or not. We highly doubt it, and we don't want to take that risk. With the cars reasonably c...

Tuesday, August 8, 2023 Today is our last day at the Nordschleife but we will make the most of it! First things first in the morning, it's time to check out the Nurburgring museum. It's in the main complex right next to the Formula One GP track and it is very good - lots to take in. I'd venture to say it is better than the Porsche museum; not as big for sure, but the stories in it speak to me a little more. And maybe because it's not only about cars but also about people.  There is an extremely moving video tribute and installation for Sabine Schmitz, "The Queen of the 'Ring". Once again, I find myself getting choked up. Lots of emotions near to the surface on this trip! The whole complex is a huge facility geared around the Grand Prix, complete with car dealerships even - makes Montreal look decidedly second rate (tho to be fair, the Montreal racetrack is way better!). Ironic, as this massive facility is currently not used for Formula One. The last F1 rac...

Monday, August 7, 2023 I wake up and immediately make a conscious effort to push the rather downer track experience of yesterday out of my mind. Here we are at the Nordschleife at last and I am bound and determined to enjoy it. Helping with that is the fact that it's looking like a nice day for the later part of the afternoon when we are scheduled to go on track. Yesterday was just a little too nervy in the rain for me with those grip levels, and I'm glad we only did a feeler lap. It's an easy morning, and I rise late while Andrew works on his laptop creating more awesome GTS Chronicles Instagram content. He's really gotten into it in a big way, and it's a great way for us to share a little bit of what we have been experiencing. We visit the grocery store to get supplies for the day and the price relief is palpable as things are WAY more 'normally' priced here than in Switzerland jeez. Breakfast buns, yogurt, fruit and milk for coffee. Perfect. There's a...

Sunday, August 6, 2023 All right! Today is a big day! I've been awake for about an hour already. I'm lying in bed in anticipation of going back to that incredible racetrack and revisiting it this time behind the wheel of my own brand-new car. I have to say I'm super glad that we planned it this way, to get to 'The Green Hell' after putting many, many twisty-road kilometres on the cars. The butterflies are back in my stomach a little bit, at the thought of hitting that track at speed in my shiny new car, but having done the distances we have, the way we have, I'm feeling reasonably comfortable at being able to push a little bit when we hit the track.  After lying here just thinking about it for a while, I finally rouse myself at our normal time, and we are on the road by 8:45 and heading to Nürburg. We pass Lake Constance on the way out of town, it's massive and makes me wistful for some sailing, but in all reality that's going to have to wait until next ...

Porsche spring has sprung at last. Checking back in my records, I see that the first day out of the cave last spring was March 28, 2024. Three weeks late this year thanks to that snowfall a couple of weeks back! The last few days have had the street sweepers out in force, and with an Easter weekend of rain in the forecast, the roads will be nice and clean for some driving days next week. Might have to take a day off work! After work today, the sun was shining brightly on a cool afternoon, and I decided it was time to fire up the Boxster and break cover for the first time this year. Just a quick warm up run to check all systems, blow the cobwebs off, and put a grin on my face heading into the 4-day break from the grind. 'Red' went away super clean in November, so there was barely a mark on her when I opened the garage door - just a very fine, light coat of dust from the long sleep. I shall invest in a cover for next year for sure. I disconnected the battery tender (reading full ...

Saturday, August 5, 2023 I'm up early today because we are about to get on the road for the Malojapass on the way to the Nurburgring, only 4 days left with the cars and we intend to make the most of them. It's Mum's birthday so I must remember to text her - she should be out here on these roads having a blast with us! Interesting note, the Beyond the Grid podcasts episodes I downloaded in France have French ads in them while the ones I downloaded in Italy have Italian ads in them, inserted in the ad spaces. Interesting. As we get underway, I'm listening to a Charles Leclerc podcast with him playing the piano - he's a beginner - and it's very funny. Chris is trying the Cayman first thing, so it's nice and calm to start, and I find myself easing into it just the way I like. I think it's why I wasn't usually very good qualifier in karting, especially compared to Andrew. It just takes me a while to get confident. But hey, with such an expensive sports ca...

Friday, August 4, 2023 We rise, shower up, and Andrew describes what we will get up to today. First off though is grabbing some snacks for the road and perhaps a spray wash. It rained in the night so the cars are looking grimy big time.  #detailluke is anxious! Andrew and Chris are buzzing around engaged with each other talking discussing etc., and as predicted his presence has totally lightened the mood after the grim earlier disaster day. Now we can get on with enjoying the last few days as we head towards the Nordschleife.  We hit a car wash and it turns out to be very humorous. We should be filming it with the Benny Hill theme song playing as we race around the cars trying to get them cleaned up on minimal Swiss francs. The wash cycle is 45 seconds for one franc. We have four francs. But you have to put them all in at once, no breaks! So you do the math! We park one car in the wash bay, one car directly behind. One person sprays, one wipes. Rinse. Jump in both cars. Drive ...

Thursday, August 3, 2023 It's a quiet and very uneasy start to the morning. I eat some breakfast, but nobody else does. We discuss, and decide to go back fast to our hotel from the night before where I have a photo of us actually having the camera bag in hand - it shows Andrew putting it into his car. Handy because now we know we don't need to go back any further. Andrew finds the shortest, straightest route so we can make good time. We aren't optimistic, as we feel it must be on the side of the road somewhere where we stopped. But there's enough of a tiny spark of hope that maybe it's still there, or maybe someone picked it up and turned it in. There are still nice people in the world. Interestingly, Brian thinks he would leave it in place, whereas I would take it to the nearest manned sign of civilization. A rest stop, inn, gas station, whatever. Two different approaches, neither wrong.  Our moods are glum and tense - Andrew keeps reiterating his incomprehension a...