Porsche Track Experience

In a recent article, I wrote about attending the “Porsche Sports Car Together Day 2019” held at Fuji Speedway on June 15th (Sat) and 16th (Sun). On the morning of the 15th, I also took part in the “Porsche Track Experience.”

The Porsche Track Experience is a Safety & Sports Driving Program designed for Porsche owners. It’s held annually as a training opportunity to hone driving skills that allow you to skillfully control your Porsche and to deepen your understanding of the car.

There are several programs available at the Porsche Track Experience tailored to different skill levels, but I chose to participate in the most basic program focused on learning the fundamentals of sports driving, “Warm Up Light＋,” driving my Panamera Turbo.

My husband, who has taken the program multiple times over the years, had been urging me:

Mina, you absolutely should go! You really must!

But attending meant arranging childcare, arriving at Fuji Speedway the day before, and committing to a 3-day, 2-night trip. Although interested, I hadn’t been motivated enough to go—until this event coincided with the program, so I decided to give it a try.

The “Warm Up Light＋” I took is a special half-day condensed version of the regular “Warm Up” program. The curriculum includes Basic Sports Driving Lecture, Wet Constant Radius Circle, ABS Braking, and a Parade Lap.

This Porsche Track Experience is so popular it fills up quickly, often with a waiting list. I applied online right at the reservation opening on April 25th at noon and was fortunate to secure a spot.

The pre-event materials included notes such as:

・All vehicle parts must be genuine
・Tires must be Porsche-approved with N-code
・Tires must have sufficient tread, no damage or embedded foreign objects, and brake pads must have adequate thickness (maintenance check recommended at Porsche dealer, equivalent to a 6-month inspection)
・Driving gloves must be worn on the day

This clearly means the curriculum pushes the vehicles to their limits.

Our Panamera had a tire puncture about a month before the event, which was repaired at the dealer along with an oil top-up and tread check, so we confirmed all vehicle checks ourselves before attending.

The Day of Warm Up Light＋

On June 15th, the weather was unfortunately heavy rain… well, I had expected rain from the start anyway! Although the event was scheduled rain or shine, I wondered if it could really go ahead in such conditions as I headed to the venue early in the morning.

After arriving, I first went to reception. Handing over the waiver and maintenance check sheet, I received my race number and took my assigned seat. My husband and daughters, as accompanying guests (spectators), waited at tables set up behind us.

Once seated, a voice came from the person next to me:

“Are you Mina-san, by any chance?”

I replied, “Yes!” and we greeted each other. It turned out this person was a Twitter follower I regularly interact with!

What a coincidence to be sitting next to each other! We chatted with my husband as well, and I was grateful to hear that they purchased a Porsche thanks to this blog and were participating with their Macan S this time.

That made me really happy.

Before long, the program started with instructor introductions. The instructors included race drivers with experience and victories in world races and Le Mans, as well as former racers from the Porsche Carrera Cup Japan (PCCJ), making for a very impressive lineup.

Next, Chief Instructor Tetsuya Tanaka began the Basic Sports Driving Lecture. He said, “It’s pouring rain today, but this is a rare chance to experience full braking in a Porsche in heavy rain, so you’re all lucky!”

Indeed, when he put it that way, it made sense. Maybe being a rain woman wasn’t so bad after all!

Then came an explanation of the driving position. The correct driving position was much closer than I had thought: hold the steering wheel at the 9 and 3 o’clock positions, with elbows and knees bent at 90 degrees. Otherwise, during sharp turns, your arms might extend too far, making it harder to control the car.

Next was an explanation about ABS. When Tanaka asked, “Does anyone here know what ABS is?” one participant gave a perfect answer. Amazing…

ABS stands for Anti-lock Braking System. It prevents the tires from locking during emergency braking, allowing you to steer. Without ABS, if the tires lock, steering won’t respond and the car will continue straight, which can cause serious accidents.

With ABS, since the tires don’t lock, you can still steer and avoid danger even while braking hard. I’d heard of ABS many times but never really understood it—this was a good lesson.

Afterward, we took a commemorative photo indoors due to the rain, then moved to the cars. The moment had arrived!

Constant Radius Circle

My husband and daughters got into the car, placed the radios in the door pockets, attached the race numbers inside, lined up, and waited for instructions.

Then the instructor’s voice came over the radio:

“Now we’ll check the radios. I’ll call each car one by one. Can you hear me? Can you hear me?”

Hearing this repeated, I thought, “Wait, do I have to respond?” and shouted loudly,
“Yes! I can hear you! (￣ー￣)!”
My husband burst out laughing:

“No, no, remember the explanation said they can’t hear us from here?”

Oh right… I hadn’t been paying attention at all.

We split into two groups and moved to our respective points. Our group started with the Wet Constant Radius Circle. Normally water is sprayed for this, but with the heavy rain, that wasn’t necessary!

In the full-day curriculum, you experience how the car behaves with PSM (Porsche Stability Management) ON versus OFF while doing the circle. But in this Warm Up Light＋, we went straight into the circle with PSM OFF.

We were instructed to hold the PSM switch down to turn it off, set the car to Sport Plus mode, shift to manual, and stay in 1st gear while turning (other blogs showed many using 2nd gear, but we did 1st).

Starting the turn, the grip was good at first, but as I pressed the accelerator to increase speed, the car began to understeer, and when I eased off the accelerator, the car spun.

I couldn’t imagine this just from the explanation, but luckily I was last in line, so I learned a lot by watching others and listening to the instructor’s advice.

Finally, it was my turn. Just before, Chief Tanaka advised, “For the Panamera, you might need 2nd gear instead of 1st, but let’s start with 1st. Also, since the Panamera Turbo is AWD, it might be harder to spin.” So I gave 1st gear a try.

“You can turn either right or left, whichever you prefer. Now start turning and adjust your steering angle. Once you find the right angle, gradually press the accelerator to increase speed.”

I followed the instructions.

“Now, speed up more, more!”

I pressed the accelerator pedal harder.

“Still gripping well, keep going, speed up more!”

I was doing as told, but the accelerator was already floored.

“More, more accelerator!”

Inside the car I said, “Instructor! I’m already floored, I can’t press any harder! (ﾟдﾟ)!” but of course no one heard me. The first run ended like that.

I opened the window and said, “Sorry, I was in 1st gear but already floored it, so I couldn’t go any faster…” The reply was, “Okay, no problem, let’s try 2nd gear next!” So we shifted to 2nd, set the steering angle, and slowly pressed the accelerator to speed up.

“Still gripping well, speed up more.”

The centrifugal force was intense and speeding up more was scary, but trusting the Panamera, I bravely increased speed.

“Good, grip is fading, understeer appearing, good, good.”

At that point, I had no idea what was happening or how I was driving—it felt like being on a high-speed merry-go-round thrill ride. Then the instructor said,

“Now ease off the accelerator somewhere!”

I did, and the Panamera spun around with a loud roar and stopped.

…That was scary…

“Wow, you spun the Panamera! Nice job! Now please return to the original line and wait.”

I was left stunned and shaken for a while before moving the car (laughs). Apparently, if you turn the steering wheel while easing off, the spin won’t happen properly.

By the way, here’s a GIF illustrating it (made by my husband).

On the next turn, everyone seemed to have overcome their fear and gotten the hang of it—their improvement was remarkable. Then it was my turn again. Having grasped the basics from the first run, I accelerated in 2nd gear and eased off to spin again, but…

“That spin was due to too much power, which isn’t the point of this curriculum. Let’s try again, gradually pressing the accelerator. Sudden acceleration causes spins.”

I understood and followed the instructions, managing to do it well. The constant radius circle curriculum ended successfully.

I had been clenching my teeth so hard my jaw was very tired. But I also realized how incredible the Panamera Turbo’s performance is—it doesn’t spin easily unless pushed this far. It’s rare to be driving floored in 2nd gear in heavy rain like that… What an amazing experience.

Next page → Experience full acceleration and full braking in the Panamera Turbo! Circuit driving too!