A Lot More than a Boxster Coupe Yes, it's time again for a revised list of New Year's resolutions: 1) Go to the gym three times per week. 2) Eat healthier, with more
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New Year's resolutions anyone? (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
fruits and vegetables and less sugar. 3) Be kinder and more loving to my family. 4) Be kinder and more loving to myself, and show this love by buying a new Porsche. Hmmm... that last one might just be possible to keep - OK the last two. I think I'll make mine a
Cayman S . OK, I'm still undecided, as the 911 Carrera S stole my heart away when I drove it on the racetrack earlier this year, but the new two-seat coupe is amazingly agile and the track I tested it out on recently is about as fine as any I've ever sampled. I went way down south for the Cayman S launch, way down to Alabama. When I first got the call to go I couldn't figure out why I'd be going to Birmingham,
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As part of the Barber Motorsport Park complex, owner George Barber has put together the world's largest motorcycle museum that features a six-story glass elevator at its centre, complemented by four "PEZ" dispenser-like racks of motorcycles stacked to the ceiling at each corner. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
having never gone there on a ride and drive before, but upon arriving, the warmer weather would have been reason enough. Of course, there was another even more important reason. This was a Porsche event, after all, and few that I've been on haven't included time on a racecourse. This one would take us out to Barber Motorsport Park, home of the world's largest motorcycle collection, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, which also includes some pretty impressive cars, I might add, such as one of the best Lotus collections I've ever seen off to the right of the entrance, John Surtees' (the only man to ever win a World Drivers' Championship on two and four wheels) Moto GP (FIM Grand Prix) winning MV Agusta and F1 championship Ferrari off to the left, a host of classic Porsches (one of which was the new Cayman S), an assortment of Le Mans cars and other oddities in the clearly visible basement, plus a pretty little Ferrari 246 "Dino" upstairs (or more like up the circular ramp surrounding the car-sized six-story glass elevator complemented by four "PEZ" dispenser-like racks of motorcycles stacked to the ceiling at each corner - yes, it's like the Guggenheim, NYC dedicated to bikes). Fittingly, at least to this event, George Barber raced, modified, and maintained Porsches in the '60s, accumulating 63 first-place wins.