Porsche Boxster S 987 test drive since 2008 Cabriolet

Racing romantic

At the end of the last century, Porsche's affairs went with an awesome creak. The budget anti -terrace family 924/944, created in collaboration with VW, did not justify hopes. Cars were sold out of hand, and even in some way they threw a shadow to the company's reputation. It was impossible to leave on only 911. A little more, a little more, and perhaps now I would write a test about another machine of another brand.
 
Car history knows many examples of ruin of companies, but there are also stories with a good end. We can say that Porsche was lucky. Lucky how lucky is the strongest. In those days, making Cayenne was pointless. The concepts of the crossover did not exist, and the notorious jeeps were used only in their utilitarian appointment in cities on cars. Accordingly, Porsche required a product that, firstly, would not be so frankly budgetary and unconventional for the company as cheap anteroplative coupe. Secondly, still remained affordable.
Dr. Videking and his comrades then came up with a boxer. The medium -range layout satisfied the requirements of the most demanding athletes from the steering wheel, and the small size and motors made it possible to make the price tag very democratic. If you look at the fleet of that time, it is easy to notice that the potentially mass boxer simply did not have worthy competitors. He had to shoot. And Porsche's leadership put everything on con. At the total cost of the company for 1993, 300 million German brands in the development and promotion of the Bocsteria invested five times more. The concept car of the same name went to a motor show in New York in order to become the main show-stopper there.
Everyone knows the end of this story with an economic bias. Boxstarter fired like a münghausen from a gun, sales plans for 15,000 cars per year were specifically blocked. The company's affairs were sharply improved. Today's Porsche positions allow us to say that this is one of the most serious players in the automotive market. If not the most. Boxster has a second story. And if it weren’t, perhaps I would write these lines about any other Porsche machine now. But I am writing about the Bockester, and if so, then in the mind two magic ones immediately pop up for each lover of car races the word Targa Florio!
Sicily Island, June 1956. Dr. ING. H.C. F. Porsche AG brought here its prototype Porsche 550 A Spyder. The car is unscrewed, the company is young. In general, Spyder then came to tests, and no one put the super -task before the team. Yes, 11 days before Targa Florio, the prototype won 1000 kilometers of Nürburgring in its class. So what? Nürburgring is good, but in those days Targa Florio was considered a complicated and interesting race in the world! And the best of the best came here, among them the entire Italian autobomond, which annually metered in gold.
So imagine this picture. A small frog with a equipped mass of 600 with a small kilogram and a two -liter engine with a capacity of slightly more than 100 forces with two mechanics as a help and the only pilot on the day of his debut on Targa Florio becomes the best in the absolute standings! At the wheel of a prototype, the Italian Umberto Maloly. This fearless and in a good way frostbitten racer on a small shaking stool without a roof and other amenities drove a distance in exactly 7 hours 54 minutes and 52 seconds. And this is 10 circles of 72 kilometers each. The car was reliable and stopped into boxes only for refueling. When the judge’s stopwatch counted 7 hours 54 minutes and 53 seconds, everyone realized that the sensation was born. True, few could then imagine what the consequences would be.
I must say that Targa Florio and Porsche always went hand in hand. And the success of the mid -engineer 550 A Spyder was only part of the brilliant performances of cars prepared by the hands of the masters of the Stuttgart company. It began even earlier, when in 1922, Austro Daimler Sascha, developed by Ferdinand Porsche, excited here among serial cars. In total, the company has 11 titles in the absolute standings. The latter was won in 1973 on Porsche 911 Carrera RSR. It was the last international Targa Florio. The next year, a dangerous race was closed for international competitions. And four more later, they abolished the car of one of the participants into a crowd of fans during the arrival in one of the Italian racing series. Two died on the spot.
There are no races, but the memories of her are alive alive. The smell of legends is in the air! The legends of a small medium -measurement piston, which came to practice on Targa Florio and tore all there. Today, legends are one of the main engines trade. This is how two stories were formed together, which ensured an unprecedented success to the new Bocster. In 1996, he pulled the company back into the high automobile light. This test is special for me. I am in Sicily, I keep in my hand the key to the new Boxster S. Do you want it, but thoughts about my unity with two legends by the company and the greatest race obsessively begin to swarm in consciousness. Before my eyes, the black and white shots of that time are already going on before the eyes. Here Malioli sits in a small boat, accompanied by the views of two mechanics and a small support group. Here goes to the race
Definitely, Umberto was an obsessed person with steel nerves. If we conduct elementary mathematical operations with the number of kilometers on that Targe of the 1956 model and the time showed by the racer, it will become clear that he was driving at an average speed of 90.9 km/h. Will you say a little? If so, then you never drove along the Targa Florio route. You didn’t even see the race and have no idea what it is. Sicily island of volcanic origin. The Etna volcano is still working. The paths here are terribly winding, the changes in heights are constant. Closer to the mountains, the asphalt strip begins to write out such snakes that I am sorry for his colleague who sits nearby, clinging to the door hand with a dead grip.
Honestly, if I were on another car, in another situation, I would probably have noticed that a colleague was not good, and slowed down. But I, like a crazy man, imagining myself, Manioli on that old spider, fought fiercely with the tricky studs and ligaments. And the roads in Sicily, I will report to you, far from the best quality. We can say that some areas are completely consisted of patches, arising pits are found on others. And the waves are like on the surface of the Mediterranean Sea in the neighborhood. And all the more catchy for the new Bocster that he, like many of his legendary ancestors, looks exclusively in his elements. Constantly asks the driver to push in each turn, slow or fast, says to him: friend, it seems that you are still not fast for me.
And now I am already turning on the super -sports mode of Sport Plus. The suspension is tanning, the box begins to violently wield steps and clutches, but at the same time allows you to hang on the selected gear at least on a limiter. The steering wheel and the accelerator drive are aggravated. The hairpin goes behind the hairpin, chikan after chic. I am entering the rhythm, gaining my own turns. What kind of buzz is carried on the average porsche in narrow Sicilian squiggles, occasionally wagging its tail, enjoying the juicy of the exhaust baritone and unbridled accelerations. But my partner has already turned pale and asks to stop. I understand, and it is possible that in his place I would behave the same way.
In the twelfth year of life, after a deep update, Boxster swept. For example, after meeting him, my tongue will no longer turn to call this Baby-Porsche car. Believe me, this is an adult sports car! He has everything necessary in the arsenal in order to be so honorable: a modern engine with direct fuel injection, the latest machine gun with two clutches, an active suspension with variable rigidity, a self -locking differential in the rear axle, carbo -car brake discs. The steering here is also from the senior Carrera model, but after restyling it was recalled specifically for Boxster architecture.
But personally, I was most impressed by the set, but how the listed things complement each other, drawing a spectacular and finished picture of the new Boxster S. It is very fast, but at the same time quite comfortable. The suspension does not allow rolls, but at the same time it also plays the corrugated profile of the Sicilian roads. The brakes do not know fatigue, and the checkpoint thinks right like a person. PDK adjustment algorithms for the driver's requests are wide. Now stop and look into his eyes! Look like this. Remove the roof. Can't you know? Personally, I immediately saw in the updated contours to the old days 911. And only the view from the back, with a long flat trunk and exhaust in the center, unambiguously makes it clear that this is precisely Boxster.
Many years have passed since Porsche won the last, eleventh, victory in the absolute standings of Targa Florio. To be more precise, all thirty -five! Sicilian roads have already been resettled several times, and they are unlikely to remember the events of past days. But I'm absolutely sure that Targa Florio will never be forgotten. And I even know which company is responsible for this. In addition, I can show you a car that is the spirit of these glorious, long -gone days of pure racing romance.
 
NOTE
MOTOR
The motors of the updated Boxster were significantly modernized. The standard became 0.2 liters more (2.9 l), added 10 hp. (255 hp) and 17 nm (290 nm). The engine engine engine has become more powerful by 15 hp. (310 hp) and more traction at 20 nm (360 nm). As in the older family 911, the cylinder block now consists of two parts, and not of four, this increased the rigidity of the structure. The mass of power units decreased by almost 6 kg. Due to the use of antifriction with diamond spraying DLC \u200b\u200b(Diamond Like Carbon) and the best quality processing of all parts for friction in the Boxster S motor, about five percent decreased. And this motor tried on the direct injection of fuel, which in the best way affected its elasticity and efficiency
 
Checkpoint
Bokster received a six -speed mechanics in the base instead of the previous five -a -way. But the main innovation, of course, should be considered the appearance in the list of available equipment PDK (Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe) is a seven -speed pre -sequent unit with two clutches. The version for the boxer is based on a box of 911 Carrera. Different clutches (with a diameter of 153 and 202 mm) and the hydraulic control unit are the same. Recall that PDK is 60% faster than the machine, despite the fact that 11 kg is easier. PDK has the Launch Control function for the most effective start from the place. The gearbox for this must be converted to Sport Plus mode, clamp the brake pedal, press the accelerator and, when the inscription Launch Control Activated, release the brakes. On the tachometer at this moment there will be 6500 rpm.
 
BODY
The new bocster is based on the same body design as the original model of the 1996 model. All changes affect the materials appeared areas of aluminum and high -strength steel. Tighting for twisting 12,500 nm/city. The roof is only cloth, since it is much lighter and more compact rigid. Weighs 27.9 kg and folds in 12 seconds
 
The history of the model
Porsche showed the concept of the first bocster back in 1993 at the Detroit car dealership. Then the Germans experienced a real crisis and were located in the remote corner of the exhibition. The concept was the basis of the exposition and made a splash! Praise of the press and potential buyers rained down
The serial Boxster with index 986 went off the assembly line only three years later. The appearance and salon were a little simplified, as is the case in such cases, but it did not go to the detriment of sales. The boxer became a bestseller. I even had to place additional production on the side, at the factory of the Finnish company Valmet. The initial plan of 15,000 cars was almost doubled. The basic boxer was offered with a 2.5 -liter engine developed 204 hp. Three years later, a S-version appeared (3.2 liters, 253 hp)
The second generation (987) saw the light in 2004 at the Paris Motor Show. The usual version could boast of 240 hp, and S 280. In 2006, after a small audit, these numbers changed to 245 and 295
Leonty Tyutelev

 
 

Source: Motor magazine [March 2009]