I get my exercise in on the weekends, though it’s not just my own body that receives a bit of work out. Like clockwork, my 911 gets taken out for a drive, rain or shine. Much like how the human body needs movement to stay agile and fit, a car’s mechanicals need to get up to operating temperature periodically to be at its best condition. High-strung sports cars especially aren’t meant to sit stationary for months on end; that’s usually the reason for random gremlins to pop-up. Those cars will be reliable so long as it gets driven.
Besides, I bought the Porsche to drive, and not just a pretty object to admire.
Of course, I don’t commute with the 911, so the only chance to take it for a spin is on the weekends. During the warm Summer months it’s a rather joy to do so, and often times I’d spend both days blasting on the local mountain roads. The darker Autumn and Winter months, however, presents a challenge. My particular 911 is not very fun when the temperatures are low and the skies are raining: the Michelin Cup 2 tires, while magical in fair conditions, are nearly dangerous to drive on in the cold and damp. Indeed, track-focused tires are as good as bald tires if you can’t get heat into them, especially so on sets with considerable mileage (like mine).
So during this time of the year, I only take the 911 out long enough for the mechanicals to get appropriately warm, and for the battery to get recharged. Maybe push the engine out to its redline once or twice to get the secondary cam-profiles involved. Other than that, there isn’t much more to do, especially when it’s raining. Try as I might to find openings in the weather radar, some weekends it’s simply impossible. The 911 still needs to be driven, so I take it as smoothly and gingerly as possible; a quick loop on the local highways does the trick, then it’s parked again for another week.
I won’t have to be so careful once the Cup 2 tires are worn down and I switch to a set of tires that’s friendlier in wet conditions, though the Cup 2s have still got at least 5,000 miles of life left, perhaps more, so I’ll have to suffer through this rainy season with continued trepidation. Unlike my brother who tossed away a perfectly good set of all-season tries for a set of summer tires, I don’t have quite that sort of financial resources. Needless to say, a set of tires for a 911 GT3 is multiples in terms of costs compared to my brother’s Audi A3.
Next year, though; next year we’ll have some fun in the rain.
I got lucky this past weekend with avoiding the rainy weather.