“Performance like never before.”
This is the second encounter for rally legend Walter Röhrl and the
His first ride in the new
The black-camouflaged
A few kilometres later we caught up with him at a car park in the woods, where he had stopped to wait for us. The look on his face spoke volumes.
Walter Röhrl: “The
What was your first impression?
It’s crazy. In all my years of rallying, I’ve never experienced such performance. The
How does the
I’m surprised because you barely notice the weight any more. The engineers have done a great job on the tuning and have made excellent use [made the best possible use] of the low centre of gravity. The steering and even the brakes handle superbly.
In what ways could you detect the
If I had to drive it blindfolded, I would still know immediately that I was sitting in a
The rally legend praises the new
We were then joined in the car park by Robert Meier, complete vehicle project manager, and Ingo Albers, chassis director for the
The fact that Walter Röhrl addressed the issue of electromobility critically was notable, and he had plenty of questions on the topic ready for the team. He was certainly impressed by the answers he was given, long before market launch, and it was really striking to see how excited he was already about the product, even though it is still in the development phase.
The
What impresses you the most about the
How little I actually miss the engine noise. I would never have expected that the lack of any sound from the drive system could mean no loss of performance. In fact, I really like the quietness of the
In comparison with a conventional driving experience, how is the
Actually in the performance. Even in my fastest rally cars, I have never experienced performance like it – and the immediate response, this instant reaction that makes me smile every time.
Where does Walter Röhrl see room for development between now and series production?
Not a great deal on the car itself, as I think they are already on the way to delivering a fantastic product. However, my opinion is that they need to get infrastructure in place quickly, because I think I would go mad if someone was in front of me at the pump and I had to wait.
Röhrl is happy to hear that the 800-volt architecture of the new
This article first appeared on http://newsroom.porsche.com, 14.01.2019.