ED Memories: July 20, 2023

Thursday, July 20, 2023

Delivery day! It's finally here after almost exactly three long years since first toying with the idea.

Starting the morning nicely in Leipzig at the fancy hotel, I go for a walk by myself to the apothecary to get some sunscreen (a convertible necessity), a coffee and a croissant. I take a meandering route around the town square, which is so pleasant. I just love the feeling of these cobblestoned gathering places, and they are everywhere in Europe. I'm feeling the enormity of the day, and am in a properly good mood, full of fizzing excitement and anticipation. The fresh air and quiet walkways are just the ticket to stretch out the legs and allow myself to soak up the atmosphere. This clearly is more than 'just a car' for me and I'm bound and determined to 'feel' the whole experience.

I make my way back to the hotel and reconnect with the others. We pack up all the gear in the hotel, and schlep our stuff across the street to a café to wait for the taxi that will take us to Porsche to begin our delivery experience. Not quite the same as picking up my Civic SiR or the RSX Type-S (the only other sporty cars I've ever bought brand new). As we drag our gear across the cobblestones, it starts to rain but we manage to get under cover quickly enough that nothing gets drenched. Time for more coffee and chitchatting for an hour, while we wait for the taxis to arrive. In the end, there is only one big Mercedes station wagon taxi to fit us and our gear, but it's no problem. Of course, the heavens truly open as we are loading so we scramble to stay reasonably dry. The big luxo-sled accommodates us all and we settle in to be chauffeured.

From there, it is only a short drive to the Porsche Experience Centre where the big day will truly, finally, begin. Lots of butterflies in my tummy. I actually feel quite queasy, and not due to any wild driving by the taxi driver. She's quite a sedate old lady who guides us serenely through the busy streets towards our destination. As the building approaches, my butterflies start to go nuts - you can see it from a distance away - so the anticipation is building rapidly!  When we arrive, we are greeted by a nice Californian, who basically takes all of our bags off us to free us up to roam the area unencumbered by all that weight!

The itinerary for the day is simple and straightforward:

Lunch. Factory tour. Track session. Delivery of our new cars!

It is actually good to have a bunch of things scheduled, as well as all of the logistical stuff we are managing with our gear and hotel arrangements and all of that, because it keeps my mind occupied from thinking too much about the actual big moment. The butterflies seem to have gone away for now.

The lunch is delicious (with veggie and GF options), hosted in the 'diamond' tower (coz of the shape), overlooking the track, so we can get a good look at the layout. The meal is fancy and I am impressed by the presentation / aesthetics of it all - not to mention the taste. There is a simply delicious soup that I want to ask (but daren't) for another bowl of. "Please sir, can I have some more?"

One cool thing is that the track was built by F1 designer Herman Tilke, and includes replicas of some of racing's most famous corners at Spa, Laguna Seca, Suzuka, the Nordschleife and more. Trés cool. It started out raining as we taxied to the centre, but by the time we are finished factory tour, the track has dried out for us - nice.

Have to talk about the factory. I've never seen anything quite like it. It is, in a word, overwhelming. So many moving parts - literally and figuratively - the sheer complexity is mind-boggling. No photos from inside there because of all the intellectual property, but it is something else. And super clean, bright, and fresh-aired. The staff look properly enthused too - lots of laughing faces. They have a clever team rotation system that keeps people fresh, and - I didn't know this - they don't run 24/7 - employee unions are strong in Germany, and work / life balance is a big thing apparently. So good for them! If it makes them produce cars like these, I say bring it on! It does feel like a long walk though - the excitement of the day is fuelling me, but I can tell my feet are getting tired by the end of it. Need better shoes. This will become a theme for me in the coming weeks.

Now it's time for the track session, where we ride along with super-nice instructors, who then swap seats with us and let us drive. It's short and sweet, but turns out the instructors are the ones ‘revealing' our cars to us later, so that's kind of special. In chatting with my instructor, I learn that they do a lot more than just deliver cars to new customers; all sorts of travel to Porsche media events, transporting cars, lots of track days - nice work if you can get it, and they certainly have an air of fellas who like their work very much. A little bonus - I do get to try a 911 Carrera GTS and it is pretty special feeling, although I find it big compared to, say, the S2000 (which is similar in dimensions to the 718). It does have a wonderfully sonorous engine, and while quick for sure, it's definitely more car to hustle through the corners, especially the tight ones. Pretty sure I wouldn't choose one even if I could afford it. A GT3 now, that might feel quite different, but they laugh when we ask about trying one of those!

With the track session finished, it's getting late in the day, and I want to get on with the delivery … which finally happens down in the 'pits'. As we walk towards the designated area, we pass other lucky people picking up their new cars and there's lots of smiling and congratulating, but I feel the anticipation welling up inside me. Our cars are in the last two bays, side by side, and we walk the last few metres to stand before them. They're draped in black silky covers, ready to be revealed.

We manage to synchronize it; the black satin sheets being pulled back simultaneously, and I feel the enormity of it all well up as we goofily chuck each other's shoulder in appreciation of one another's support over the extensive waiting period. I think our back and forth, daily 'Porsche drips' of news and info, constant discussions of the option choices and strategies with Porsche London to snag allocations - it's all come to this moment and it's not lost on me. Thankfully there's now something right in front of me to fully explore and divert the attention. I dry a few tears and step forward to drink my new car in.

We poke and prod around the cars, with our delivery instructors pointing things out to us and generally appreciating the cars with us for a while. I think they genuinely do feel something when people pick up their new cars from them - I sense a lot of pride in them for the company they work for and the machines it creates.

We sign a few forms as the final formality, and then it's time to spark up the engines. They sound incredible. Remember, we'd not driven the GTS ever prior to this trip, so the visceral sensations are all brand new and very powerful (just like the cars!). Cleverly, we pull the cars out of the 'pits' in the same manner that Andrew sketched out in one of the Instagram posts, so that he can use it in our delivery day entry as a nice bookend to the process. We wheel them around to the front of the delivery centre for great photos and for packing.

It's getting late in the day for our Porsche friends though, but amazingly, they don't pressure us to get on with it, and in fact, when that 'closing time' arrives for them, they essentially leave us to it, with our cars parked outside and a message relayed to the security folks that we will leave whenever we like. Nice!

Time to pack the cars up with all our gear. The test work we'd done at Winston's gives us the confidence, and sure enough, everything fits nice and tidy. A few more photos and video shots and we are ready to drive off in our new machines. Pinch me I'm dreaming …

From there, it's a short trip to the hotel and dinner. A perfect parking spot allows us to see the cars from the room and I'll confess to many looks out the window and many excuses to go down and "just get something I forgot". The nervous fizzing has abated now that the key is firmly in my grasp, and I can begin to really relax and enjoy things as the next adventures with our cars now unfolds.

The day ends with a few more gazes of wonderment, and much chitchatting about the delivery experience, some reorganization and then bed.

On to Friday …

~ Luke