Porsche 911? There’s an App for that

Putting Zuffenhausen's new TrackPrecision app through its paces


Receive an invitation to try the newest Porsche 911 at The Bend Motorsport Park, Australia's newest race track, and you don't have to ask me twice.

Well, we were specifically invited to try out Porsche's all-new application called 'TrackPrecision'. It's designed to help you get the most out of your car at one of over 200 major race tracks in the world - including 10 in Australia, such as Phillip Island, Mount Panorama and Albert Park - with the ability to record video and monitor everything from engine rpm through to tyre pressures.

We flew into Adelaide Airport and there was my chariot, a new 992 generation Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, finished in a ripper colour called Crayon.

My understanding was that we would drive our 911s to The Bend and when we arrived, we'd swap into some track-prepared cars for Porsche's Level 3 (Open Track) experience.

That wasn't quite the case. Just like the other attendees, we were going to take part in the track day using our own cars, which we would then drive back to the airport afterwards – that's around 60 laps of track driving split over The Bend's two circa-4km configurations. I was a bit sceptical these cars would be in any condition to make the return trip to Adelaide, but more on that later.

The TrackPrecision application connects to the car using the vehicle's inbuilt WiFi or through a USB cable. Once the application is authorised to use GPS, the microphone and save data, it's all set to go.

As you open the application it uses GPS to detect which race track you're at. Given The Bend has a number of track configurations, we simply selected the one that suited our setup and then hit go.

From there, the application waits until you cross the start/finish line before it starts logging data and saving video.

Quickly on the 911 – we had the chance to drive the 992 a few times over the past few months and it impressed me, but felt like it was lacking some emotion.

That all changes when you get a chance to unleash it on a race track, the 911 transforming from a high achieving, quiet student into an all-out party animal at the flick of a switch.

To refresh your memory, the Carrera 4S uses a turbocharged six-cylinder petrol engine producing 331kW and 530Nm and when mated to Porsche's seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, it'll move from 0-100km/h in just 3.4 seconds with the (optional) Sport Chrono pack.

To call this car quick would be an understatement. The way it minces reality when you flatten the throttle out of a corner is otherworldly. It's impossible to understand how it has so much mechanical grip – it's almost like it features an inbuilt gravity defying mode to help it stay hunkered down.

Steering feel is sublime and even after eight odd laps of the larger circuit, which included several hard stops, including constant stops from 250km/h on the main straight, there wasn't a moment where the steel brakes felt inadequate.

Simply put, the new 911 makes even ab average driver like me look like superheroes.

With the application running in the background, the screen lights up green or red depending on how I am performing in comparison to my last lap. The entire time, it's recording progress through the phone camera, along with logging all of the relevant data from the car.

At each corner, I can easily see how hard the throttle was pressed, which gear I was in and at what speed I was attacking the corner, along with a litany of other data.

What makes this application so useful, though, is the ability to learn from instructors throughout the day. There's a 20-minute break between sessions where you can have a look at your data, chat to an instructor and better understand areas where you can improve.

At the start of the day, a lead/follow arrangement also makes learning the track easy – especially for somebody like me who had never been to The Bend previously.

After completing my last lap for the day I switched the car from Sport back to Normal and rolled into the pits. Expecting to see high engine temperatures and thinking I'd need a decent cool-down period, I had to laugh when the stop/start system switched the car off because engine temperatures were within their normal operating range.

It feels like you would need Mark Webber to assault the car for unbroken 20 laps before it would be even remotely flustered.

After around 60 laps of both circuits at The Bend, we drove back to Adelaide Airport at a casual speed in total amazement at just how good the new 911 is.

It's a car that you can drive to the race track, attack a track session, and then casually drive home. The new Porsche TrackPrecision app simply cements this as the ultimate choice for those that want a daily driver that doubles as a track car.

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