Lee Sibley

Poole, UK

Model 996.1 CARRERA

Year 1998

Acquired JANUARY 2019

Model 996 40 JAHRE

Year 2003

Acquired APRIL 2023

I mentioned recently that I was craving some much-needed miles on the road in my 996.1 Carrera.

I’d covered a lot of mundane driving in it of late and, though a Porsche typically makes even dull journeys fun, I yearned for a short road trip to indulge in the sort of curves this car is made for. That duly happened this month with an excursion to the north of England, and it’s definitely reignited my passion for this brilliant little 911.

I had business in the north thanks to an invite from Porsche GB to test the new V8-powered Cayenne S off-road (you can read all about it at www.9werks.co.uk), so I decided to extend my stay for a couple of days and recce an exciting route for a future road trip, which will be offered to members of the 9WERKS Driven Not Hidden Collective. If you’d like to join, by the way, you can do so at www.patreon.com/9werks.

For obvious reasons I won’t be revealing the route here, but suffice to say I took in some outstanding roads right across the north of England, even venturing into the Scottish lowlands on one particular day of getting carried away! It’s exactly what car and driver needed. I was out on my own for the entire trip (thanks to Mrs Sibs for allowing me to bugger off for a few days!) and absolutely adored the time to switch off from life’s pressures and just focus on the joy of driving. I barely turned the radio on – the only music I needed was coming from the flat six behind me.

I’ve waxed lyrical before at how I believe the car’s 300hp and 1,300kg are perfect figures for fast road driving: you can really exploit what the car is all about, without going too fast and getting into trouble with the law. Wringing out the 996.1’s 3.4-litre flat six for three solid days proved a marvellous experience, dancing the car through the corners and playing with the 911’s unique dynamics. It was honestly exhilarating. As a 996.1 Carrera, this thing’s one of the cheapest 911s you can buy, yet with each mile that passed I kept asking myself, could you have any more fun in a car further up the food chain? The conclusion I came to was you could not.

I left Dorset with a pristine-looking 996 and returned three days later, the car totally covered in road grime and with some 600 new miles on the odometer. My phone, meanwhile, had a clutch of cool photos (some of which you can see here) while etched into my brain I’ve got awesome memories of yet another fabulous trip in this cheap little 911 that I love so much. So much so, I’m already itching for more fun miles to roll under the wheels of Little Irish! Let’s see where car and driver are headed to next…