An electrifying power trip at the Porsche Experience Center
On the E-Warm-up course at the Hockenheimring, drivers hit the track to explore the outer limits of the extraordinary Porsche electric sports car
Prepare for take-offAndreas puts his foot on the accelerator and the car’s thrust presses him – and his son Yannick sitting alongside him – back into their seats. How much G-force can a human being withstand? With a starting performance of 1.2g, the most powerful Taycan – the Taycan Turbo S – can accelerate faster than the Earth’s gravitational pull in its first few metres. Not even a skydiver in free fall can manage that. As Andreas’ heartbeat begins to calm down a little, he releases his tension by laughing loudly. “It’s like just before a rocket launch,” says the Porsche enthusiast, who has a 911 in his garage at home, but has come here to learn how to drive fast in a Taycan. Unsurprisingly, Andreas says that he has never experienced anything quite like the feeling you get when you engage Launch Control on a Taycan Turbo S – taking just 2.8sec from 0-100km/h (0-62mph) (Taycan Turbo S: Electrical consumption combined: 28,5 kWh/100 km (NEDC); 25,6 – 24,3 kWh/100 km (WLTP); CO2 emissions combined: 0 g/km (NEDC); 0 g/km (WLTP); Electric range: 390 – 416 km; Electric range City: 434 – 477 km; State 03/2022). Sat on the tarmac prior to ‘take off’ at the Porsche Experience Center at the Hockenheimring, the pair sit in silence, ready to enjoy and learn. Then the instructions come over the radio: “And now… full throttle!” Father and son can’t keep the grin off their faces as the Taycan wooshes off into the distance.There are many ways to get to a car’s soul – but only one E-Warm-up
It’s like firing up a drill. Direct. Immediate. Typical Porsche
Getting to know youJan-Philipp, an orthodontist from Schleswig-Holstein, is also drawn, like Andreas, to the Porsche Taycan. How much electric car is there in Porsche’s new technological spearhead? And how much sports car? You will find out on the one-day E-Warm-up programme at the Porsche Experience Center Hockenheimring. It feels like speed dating. Your emotions ride a rollercoaster as you get to know the Taycan’s strengths up close. For Jan-Philipp, everything feels familiar here, with true Porsche attention to detail. The Taycan’s centre of gravity is almost impossibly low – even lower than in GT cars. It’s placed under the wheel hub, to be precise, where the performance battery is integrated. Jan-Philipp sits in the car, glancing at the dials surrounding him. His co-driver has his own touch display, which he can set individually for himself. The instrument panel is cutting edge in both appearance and function, its operation extremely intuitive and possible using touch or voice control. Engaging with the latter is easy – simply say “Hey Porsche” and it wakens, ready for your next command. Such convenience is a great help when you are discovering how to drive fast in a Taycan.For many E-Warm-up participants, it’s their first time in a Taycan. They are quickly hookedEnjoy the silence The 2.8km (1.7 miles) handling track at the Porsche Experience Center Hockenheimring is set in the infield of the famous Grand Prix circuit. With a dynamic surface that offers different friction values along its course, it provides the best conditions for training load changes and eye tracking. As he drives, Jan-Phillipp’s hands are set in the textbook 9 o’clock/3 o’clock position. He’s always ready for a chicane – a double right-hand corner that you pull through with a turn of the steering wheel – or a challenging lane change. “It drives like a Porsche, feels like a Porsche,” says the 39-year-old, who holds a racing licence but to date has little experience of driving an electric vehicle. In his quest to learn how to drive fast in a Taycan, he has to negotiate the 19 corners of the Porsche Experience Center track. Jan-Philipp is ebullient about the technology and sportiness of this four-door car, with its rear-axle steering and roll stabilisation. “It’s a perfect combination of a sports car’s precise handling and the long-distance comfort of a saloon,” he comments. This is high praise indeed – there are regulars at Porsche Experience and then there’s Jan-Philipp. He has already completed everything up to the Porsche Master GT programme, but this car stretches even him to his limits. “You can do it! Back yourself,” his instructors implore as he drifts on the watered asphalt. He enjoys the flow and – for a moment – the silence as well.Drifting is an unnatural state for many drivers. It’s almost guaranteed to induce palpitationsHow to drive fast in a Porsche: control the throttleDieter, an anaesthetist, already knows all about the endorphin rush and eye-watering levels of torque in a Taycan Turbo S – he’s been driving one for several months now. From driving the Taycan every day, he is well aware that it reacts very sensitively to the slightest accelerator movement. He says he’s attending the E-Warm-up at the Porsche Experience Center in order to get to know the limits of his vehicle. Dieter also enthuses about the convenience of the rapid charging points at the Experience Center. “You can’t get more ‘E’ than that”, he reckons. Porsche’s professional instructors explain the rules of driving physics and vehicle handlingNearby, Jan-Philipp is exiting his Taycan after several laps of the track. He’s impressed at how its synchronous engines convert energy into propulsion and raves about its perfect balance, high lateral dynamics and seemingly never-ending levels of grip. “This is a huge amount of fun,” says Jan-Phillipp, who has rapidly become a Taycan evangelist. But, as we have come to learn, this is what happens when you take part in the E-Warm-up course at Porsche Experience Center Hockenheimring.
Porsche e-mobility on the racetrack
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