NIGHT RIDER

The heightened sensations afforded by the Porsche 718 Spyder’s open top aren’t restricted to daylight hours, as a nocturnal drive through an International Dark Sky Park reveals

TING. IF SOLITUDE IS A LUXURY ON this often crowded planet then right now I must be one of the wealthiest people alive. Over sixty-six million people live in the UK and I’m not near any of them. It’s this remoteness from humans and the light pollution that goes with their habitations that makes this area in Northumberland an International Dark Sky Park. Gazing up at the heavens, more and more pinpricks of light appear every second as my eyes adjust to the darkness.

Ting. There is an almost overwhelming, vertigolike sensation of the universe’s enormity and my own insignificance out here. Orion, one of the few constellations I can spot, is rising escorted (Ford joke there) by his dogs, big and small. I read recently that some stars in the big O’s belt are nearly as far away from each other as they are from earth. The mind (certainly mine anyway) boggles trying to comprehend things like that. I find it fills me with a curious combination of both terror and reassurance.

Ting. After a few minutes spent just staring at the stars my neck starts to get stiff, so I lower my gaze back to more immediate, sub-astral surroundings. The air is crisp and icy cold. Although I’m snug inside my down coat, each icy breath drawn through the nostrils sharpens the senses as it chills from the inside. With the darkness rendering my eyes semiredundant, my hearing feels heightened, but a stark silence pervades the still, chilly forest. The noiseless night is broken only occasionally by a tiny… Ting …from the Spyder’s stillcontracting metal.

A shiver shudders through me. Time to get moving again. With its white paint, the 718 appears somewhat ghostly in the middle of Kielder Forest, but in a friendly, Casper sort of way. Dropping down into the bucket seat, the sense of security is reassuring. Turn the key a couple of stops and the dials throw some light into the darkness, mostly white but with a smattering of red between eight and nine, and from the Sport Chrono clock to my left. The main screen is off as I know where I’m going and don’t want any more artificial light in here than necessary.

Turn the key one stop more and the engine comes to life, sounding all of its 4 litres as it intrudes on the peaceful night. But loud though it is, the idling boxer engine has a mellifluous and slightly breathy tone that doesn’t shatter the stillness so much as gently dissipates it. The sound’s tactile match can be found in the soft warmth of the Alcantara that greets your palms as you hold the steering wheel and push the gearlever forward for first.

Then it’s off towards the border with Scotland. As the miles pass I really can’t think of a new car that I would rather be in. As you’ll be aware, the 718 Cayman GT4 was crowned evo’s Car of the Year in 2019. But, worthy a winner though it was, I think its open-top sibling, the 718 Spyder, is even better. Whereas the previous 981 GT4 had a more sophisticated chassis than its Spyder counterpart, this time round there are no suspension compromises with the soft-top version. As a result, you get all the wonderful GT department dynamics combined with the ability to remove the roof, soak up the sound and immerse yourself in even more sensations than with the GT4.