James Mcgrath
Minneapolis, USA
@auto.amateur
Auto Amateur
autoamateur. buzzsprout.com
This month I’ve tried my best to take advantage of the summer season and get my 911 out on the road as much as possible. I often fall into the trap of ordering parts for my car and having it sit there for weeks at a time, in various stages of dismantlement. This summer has been no different so far. My steering wheel was sent away for nearly a month, getting refurbished. My front bumper upgrade left my 911 hanging up on the lift for another couple of weeks… painting my brake calipers. On and on the mods and jobs come and go, as do the fair weather driving months.
If I’m ever at a point where my car is ‘done’ (it will never be ‘done’), now is probably the closest it will be to that milestone and I’m on a mission to enjoy it. Just a few weeks ago I took an afternoon to drive out to a small community airport in western Wisconsin, where I’m hoping to hold a Porsche event in the not too distant future. My friend Duke and I took our 991s the longer way there and back, enjoying the local county roads that offer more twists and turns than the highway. I still get the same buzz when I turn on the ignition today as I did when I first started up a 911. It never gets old. The same is true for the turns, the acceleration, the sound of the engine. The Porsche driving experience is so visceral, so pure, even with the more recent generations of water-cooled engines with all of their fancy electronic components and controls. You still drive from A to B with your tongue hanging out the side of a wide gaping smile, eyes wide open with excitement. I don’t care what model or generation you have – we all know that feeling.
This month I have a road trip to Kansas City planned, to do some driving (and a tour of local road-side BBQ joints) with a friend who’s coming out from Los Angeles to meet me. A few weeks after that I’m heading out in my 911 to the Luft 7 event in Indianapolis before continuing east a few weeks after to do a tour of the Smoky Mountains as the leaves start to turn. Naturally there will be at least a couple of runs back and forth along the famous Tail of the Dragon, route 129. Some great driving and hopefully some great content in the making, taking a dose of my own medicine – getting out there to drive!