Taking it out for a spin
No brakes. Following lunch is the main event, several hours of track time. The drivers take a few warm-up runs behind Baldwin; then each rides with him for a lap. He seems a bit bored, racing through the curves with one hand on the wheel, the other waving a radio he uses to transmit messages back to the students. "At these speeds," he confides, "we don't really need the brakes." (He's hitting nearly 100 on the straightaways.) By normal standards, the driving is aggressive, with rapid acceleration, split-second turns, and a lot of exertion to keep the brakes hot. The drivers are learning to let the car unwind itself coming out of a turn. The track is so bendy that after a few laps it feels like traversing a giant Mobius strip. A Zen-like sense of satisfaction settles in. All the rising and falling, the speeding up and slowing down feel so fluid it's practically soothing. "I'm breathless," gasps Brian Tully, 37, a Web developer from Danbury, Conn. "I've never done anything like this."
At the end, enthusiasm is sky-high. The instructors make sure to mention some of the other programs Porsche offers, such as a similar two-day event driving the Cayenne SUV, or a $2,995 "master's" program that teaches more-sophisticated techniques and allows students to lap the course without an instructor. Back home in North Carolina a few days later, Alan Robson is still buzzing. "I'm still excited when I think about it," he says. "We were so focused on the driving we forgot to take any photographs!" Sounds like the perfect excuse to come back for another try.
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