Porsche Driving School: Flying lap of the Leipzig Circuit

The FIA certified circuit at the Porsche Werk facility in Leipzig is at the core of the Porsche Driving School. But while other ‘test’ tracks around manufacturer facilities tend to have runs of the mill straights, or ovals at best, the track is one which is truly worthy of the sportscars made at Porsche.

The Leipzig track layout, with its star corners

Designed by track atelier of great repute – Hermann Tilke (also responsible for creating most modern F1 circuits like Shanghai, Istanbul, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi), the circuit is a collection of ten of the best corners from circuits around the world. But corners alone do not make a circuit – it is the manner in which they are connected that gives the track its flow, rhythm and character.

As you exit the pitlane and power down the remainder of the straight, you must remember to maintain your braking point as you enter the glorious right-left chicane. Exiting it, it is time to lay down the power once again but temper it a bit, as you enter the double apex Sunset Bend from the Sebring raceway. The G-forces are pushing you to your left at this point, but all you care for is looking further, waiting for the corner to open out so you can put pedal to the metal. Exit speeds on the four-wheel drive Carreras at this corner were around 150 km/h!

The Mobil1 S from Nurburgring looks wide, but feels really narrow as you approach it at pace!

The great long straight lets you get comfortably in excess of 200 km/h, but before you know it, it is time to get the ABS working as you brake hard, hard, hard for the tight right-hander modeled on the Lowes corner from the streets of the Monaco. The late apex allows you to get on the power and straightline the kink, heading to the next tight left hander – the Victoria turn from Rio de Janeiro. Going right up to the kerb on the right at the exit, traction control helping you as you power out, it is a case of kerb hopping once again at the right-left chicane of the Mobil1 S from Nurburgring’s F1 racetrack. Back on the power and gently loading the left side of the car as you feed in the steering for the long, loopy Curva di Lesmo from the Italian circuit at Monza, there’s no time to get complacent since the legendary Bus Stop section from Spa-Francorchamps is coming up!

The beautiful, scary drop of Leipzig's Corkscrew

Negotiate it with skill on the 12-metre wide track, and you’re led into the drift-friendly Suntory corner from the Shizuoka circuit in Japan, that leads into the start finish straight. But wait, that’s not the end of the corners since connecting the two sides of the straights are two more corners which you can take – the gorgeous Corkscrew from Laguna Seca in a compressed format, and the constant steering Parabolica from Monza. We chose the corkscrew in our laps, and boy was it a blast pointing straight at the sky before we flicked the cars left and then dropped right, losing 30 feet in height meanwhile.

At the end of the day, the track is as enjoyable as it is because of the dynamics and the feedback one gets from the cars that are driven on it. And in a complimentary manner, the cars shine in this most fantastic variety of corners, to show drivers what they can actually do with the potential of these connected, emotive machines. Talk about being made for each other.

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