Show the whole car kingdom “What’ll you do?”, Porsche (Part 5)

Ever since Carl Benz strapped a three-quarter-horsepower four-stroke to his Big Wheel, man has been fascinated by the top speed of an automobile: How fast does it go? And more important, can I make it go faster?

Nardo > Test facility in the heel of Italy; features a 7.8-mile banked ring that simulates driving in a straight line at 149 mph. Built by fiat in 1975, now owned by Porsche.

The company was wrong, but that doesn’t mean the task was easy.

There’s also competition from the man­ufacturers themselves. There are more factory performance cars these days, and every carmaker is now geared up to take them further, giving owners another rea­son to not shop elsewhere. Want to make your 911 Turbo faster? Tick the Turbo S trim level. Want to make it cosmetically re­volting? Try the Exclusive program. Hand over enough money to Ferrari, and it’ll re­design the entire car; witness Eric Clapton’s 458-based, but 512 BB-aping, SP12 EC.

Incredibly, mind-bendingly, tire-destroyingly, reason-defyingly fast. How fast, you ask? Well, the previous iteration of 2010 Porsche Turbo with PDK ranks as the third (fastest accelerating production cars we've ever tested, and Motor Trend has been testing cars since 1949).

Then there’s the government. All tuning parts sold in Germany are required to meet strict TUV (essentially a cross between our DOT and the Underwriters Laboratories) quality and safety standards. No problem for a major manufacturer like Porsche, but an expensive, time-consuming process for the aftermarket. Get stopped driving in Germany, and you face prosecution if you can’t prove that your fancy stainless exhaust is TUV-approved. Is it a stretch to imagine a time when such legislation spreads to other first-world countries? Is it inconceivable that third-party modifica­tions may soon be limited to the meekest of cosmetic upgrades? Let’s hope that’s not the case. The car game needs that bit of craziness. If the ingenuity of the tuners at Nardo is any measure, there’ll always be a group of renegades ready to supply it, whether the motive force comes from gas, electricity, or kryptonite.

 

 

All tuning parts sold in Germany are required to meet strict TUV (essentially a cross between our DOT and the Underwriters Laboratories) quality and safety standards.

Back on track, the air hangs heavy with the percussive sounds of contracting metal and the aroma of rubber as the last traces of sunlight fade behind the banking. The air is cooler now, more densely packed with power-making oxygen, and playing into the hands of the final car to run. 9fF is only here because Brabus had to withdraw late in the event’s planning stages, but having driven the entire distance from Germany, Fatthauer winds up his 997 and puts 10 mph between himself and the next car, the expired GAD CLS. When he tears around the banking in front of me, he’s going so quickly that I can’t pan my camera fast enough to keep up.

Brabus is a high-end tuner from Germany that specializes in Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-AMG vehicles turning them into supercars. They have been doing it since 1977 and have satisfied customers in over 106 countries with their special high-performance tuning.

Still, he’s disappointed that he didn’t crack 400 km/h (249 mph). What turned out to be nothing more than a rattling piece of heat-shield trim sounded terrify­ing enough at 229 mph to make him back out of his fastest run. But, trophy in hand, he packs up his gear, jumps back in the 911, and starts the 1000-mile trip home. Trail­er? What trailer?

Eighty miles per hour will never again feel so slow.