Living the Legend

Model 997.2 CARRERA S

Year 2009

Acquired FEBRUARY 2021

I’ve just acquired this car. Buying it remotely without an inspection, driving it the short 25-minute trip to our home in Fort Lauderdale, before hauling it 850 miles up the road to Tennessee the very next day. The oil light appearing somewhere in Georgia was not a promising start.

Two days after arriving in Tennessee, the engine warning alert lit up the dash. The oil light had not been a worry for me, I know these cars use a bit, so all I needed to do was keep an eye on it, but this new signal of impending doom was of some concern. I dropped by Harper Porsche in Knoxville and shared my fears. Reassuringly the service advisor did not start sucking air through his teeth; oil as per my prognosis, engine light “one of a thousand things, maybe a simple fix like the fuel cap. The light is just on, not flashing so that’s a good sign.” Later that day I picked it up. The error code was being thrown by the fuel cap! A perished seal. The 997 got a full check over, a service, the alignment adjusted to factory setting, and a vote of confidence from the mechanic. It was also nice to be told that if this car was for sale with them it would be sold in a day. I was happy I’d got a good one. Anyway, it was time to start laying down the right type of skid marks.

The excitement should have ended there, but ooh no, there’s more. Renée went shopping with it, the fuel gauge already showing empty before she left. She asked if I thought there was enough to get her there. Where she was headed was 35-40 minutes away with lots of places to fill up on the way, so no issue. Imagine my surprise when she returned, and I learned she had not refilled it! On the next trip out, the first stop had to be fuel – the flat six must have been running on vapours. Did we make it? No we didn’t. Obviously I was a little miffed by this. Instead of being out enjoying ourselves we were stuck on a slipway, with someone explaining to me how fortunate we were – getting to take time out by the dam and watch the sunset. A duck even turned up on the side of the road to witness our predicament as we waited for help. I was hungry. I could have barbecued it.

The car is going to be in Tennessee a while now. Alfred’s vet for his immunotherapy treatment is here, and I’m due back in London to deal with a few things, so Renée is going to stay here. Before I went, this car needed using a little, if for nothing more than it could have been the last time I saw it without kerbed wheels. When you are a few miles from the base of the Great Smoky Mountains there are some very special roads close by. The Tail of the Dragon (US 129) up in these hills is possibly the best road I’ve ever driven. 318 curves in 11 miles. It’s popular though, and that’s its downside – it can be overly busy. Pandemic precautions may be helping keep the traffic volume down, but you still need a bit of luck.

We didn’t treat it like a forest stage when we were there, keeping our fun just within the realms of acceptability. It was a decent day and certainly something to remember while I am back in the UK. One of my missions while living in America is to find a road better than this one. A tough challenge. But in the words