Kyle Fortune
Warwickshire, UK @kylefortune205 @Kyle_fortune
Model 993 Carrera 2 Year 1994
Acquired December 2014 Last month you might remember me having Porsche Classic Navigation fitted and, daft as it sounds, it’s had quite an effect on how I use the 993. Quite simply I’m more likely to use it, it adding some real convenience to the car – allowing me to charge my phone, stream music and navigate. I know I could achieve most of that by other means, but the neatness of the install makes this far preferable. Yes, the screen’s small, but I use the voice prompts – something I don’t do on other systems – and it all works very well indeed.
One grumble is it’s not DAB, which seems like an oversight, meaning my favoured radio channel of Radio X is only available in certain areas of the country where it’s on FM. It’s a shame. I can stream it via my iphone, though I usually just revert to Radio 4.
Other additions to the 993 include the fitting of a Thule roof rack to take my bicycle down to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which allowed me to get up early and ride around sunny Sussex before the petrol hedonism that took up the rest of the day.
I’ve always thought sports cars look cool with sports gear attached, which I think may hark back to the coppercoloured Lotus Esprit with skis on it at the start of With the 911 always tagged as the most practical of sports cars it seemed like a sensible thing to do.
I wasn’t alone. Ollie Marriage from
Top Gear brought his bike down on a
991 Carrera T, preferring a Seasucker set-up, which uses, as the name suggests, sucker mounts. It all looked simple enough, but I rather like the more conventional route that the Thule set-up offered me, using a combination of Rain Gutter Foot 951, Square Bar 761 and an Outride 561 with additional Wheel Carrier 545-2. It’s dead easy to fit, and costs just under £270 direct from Thule – though shop around and you’ll most likely find it cheaper.
Not only does it look good, and work well, but I was surprised at how quiet it was on the move, too. It’s rated to over UK speed limits – about 80mph (130km/h) – and didn’t seem to overly effect fuel consumption, not that I really pay much attention to that. Indeed, after the first few miles I forgot it was even there, only the shadows it created in the low sun reminding me that I had my trusty old Specialized road bike above my head.
I’ll use it again; the simplicity of it means the 993 will now be my go-to car when I’m heading somewhere further afield for a ride. All of this underlines the usual assertion that the 911 is the most practical of sports cars, meaning I’ve even less reason not to use it… It’ll be out and about a fair bit again next month, as I’ve been asked to bring it along to moonlight in another magazine, with other people driving it. More about that next month.