ISTHMUS in JULY

THE 911 TURBO CHALLENGES YOUR INTERNAL CLOCK SPEED, THROWING INPUTS AT YOUR PROCESSOR FASTER THAN IT CAN MANAGE THEM

IT’S ALL-WHEEL DRIVE. It’ll get out of there, no problem,” says Alastair Brook while casually adjusting the settings on his Canon. Half a million dollars of Porsche 992 Turbo is sitting on the beach at Waratah Bay, staring Canute-like at the incoming tide. Behind us is the steep boat ramp, ahead of us the Southern Ocean, which doesn’t seem in much of a mood to negotiate. To the east, across kilometres of deserted sand are the peaks of Wilsons Promontory, disappearing cryptically into cloudy tops. That’s where we hope to be heading after this anxiety-inducing spot of light off-roading.

Like most of Victoria’s more scenic spots, the Prom isn’t really a place to take a performance car. It’s usually choked in tourist traffic, with the biggest hazard being the very real danger of being rear-ended by an Estima driver goggling at an emu. Today is different. Melbourne is locked down in a snap Covid circuit-breaker, so we have the whole park to ourselves. The ribbon of tarmac that meanders down to the southernmost piece of tarmac on the Australian mainland is hosting a car with a big reputation and some equally hefty questions to answer.

You see, I’ve always had a bit of an issue with the Porsche 911 Turbo, and I’m not alone on that score. Given my druthers, I’d always plump for a base Carrera or a racy GT3 over a Turbo due to the fact that in trying to do everything, the Turbo – to me at least – appeared to lose that last couple of per cent of focus. And it’s exactly this couple of per cent that differentiates the 911 from, you know, cars. With this in mind, and having given the Turbo one heck of a scruffing up on the Eildon-Jamieson road on our video shoot, this is an opportunity to put the car’s touring chops