Phil Farrell
Cheshire, UK
Model 992 GT3
Year 2023
Acquired 2023
It’s been a quiet month on the motoring front. With the post-christmas lull in activities and inclement weather, there have been fewer opportunities to get out. I did have a great drive across to Goodwood with the same group that came to Morzine last year, to plan our trip for this year. The route is looking like it’s going to be different. Popping over from the UK into Holland and then on to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, before heading down and doing a handful of the big passes before arriving ready for a beer in Morzine, followed by more driving over the following days.
Over the past month though, I’ve knocked up a fair few miles without really trying. The car now has 2,000 on the clock and is really starting to loosen up. Last weekend I did a family run back up north, taking in some of the Cotswolds’ finest roads (and enjoying them so much I forgot to pull over for the obligatory shot for this column), but what I was able to do was start to open the taps up a little. I’ve still not been anywhere near the fabled 9,000rpm, but between 6,000 and 7,000rpm the car really comes alive again, just like the 991 does. The tone is somehow deeper than the 991 – less high pitched. Once I’ve got some better weather and the Cup2s on hopefully next month, I’ll give it full beans (for a definition watch an episode of @carguystv on Youtube) and see how the timbre of the engine compares to the 991.
As I’ve said before, I’m hoping that my first track day will be the end of March and I’m currently trying to sort insurance out. I did try to stay with the Pcgb-preferred supplier, Lockton, when I bought the car, but it really seems like they’ve checked out of the market because their premium was beyond ridiculous without being able to provide a decent explanation. Yes it’s a premium policy, but to be more than double from one year to the next is outrageous. Having read some Uk-based forums, many are having the same issue. This is a shame because it was a great policy. Nonetheless, there are other brokers and I’m in the process of finding a good quote to cover myself and the car for the rest of the year, because I don’t like the car being on a vanilla policy.
One final thing this month. Having had the car out in inclement conditions on a number of occasions, it become caked in Dorset’s finest road grime. Before I picked the car up I had Jake at @firstchoicedetailing do a full frontend and roof PPF, with a wax coat on the rest of the car. When I came to safely wash the grime off the car, the difference in the PPFED and non-ppf panels of the car was night and day.
I no longer have to wonder about the relative benefits of PPF over and above the protection it gives to stones chips, etc. I’ll be back later in the year (if I can ever stop driving it long enough) to get the rest of the car done – if only to keep more of the weekends free for driving rather than cleaning!