The following is excerpted from the Porsche Panamera website, which features a small segment about the 944 Turbo:

The fiery four that Porsche built. The Porsche 944 represented exactly how far a four-cylinder engine could go. Its powerful yet fuel-efficient motor was the most accomplished four-cylinder Porsche ever made, carrying on the tradition started by such greats as the 914 and the 924.

And its near perfect weight ratio enabled the 944 to hold lines with an iron will and was subsequently dubbed the best handling production car in America. No wonder it was the car that Porsche engineers liked to drive.

The car has a particularly colorful history, and its origins can be traced back to the son of famed Porsche Australia founder Norman Hamilton. Competitive since the latter 1980s, the car is a wonderful piece of Porsche motorsports history, particularly its history in Australia. Suffice it to say I am honored to feature the history of this 944!

According to Morton, the car was built in 1988 and was one of the total approximately 190 cars built and sold as race cars around the world. They were the basis of the Porsche cup cars we see racing today; the cars differed in a number of areas from the standard model, particularly chassis suspension and light weight components were used throughout the car (see Turbo Cup).

This particular car (718) was ordered by Alan Hamilton (the son of Porsche Australia founder Norman Hamilton), in right hand drive. Thanks to his influence with Porsche it was built as such and ultimately delivered to Australia. The 944 was also fitted with a factory wing, composite doors and bonnet, non-standard features across other cup cars.

The car was registered with Cams and was immediately dominate at the club sport level, Porsche cup level, and in hill climbs. Subsequently sold, the car was entered in Targa in 1992 by Melbourne Brothers Barry and Bob Fitzgerald, finishing fourth outright (running as car 442). In 1994 the car was entered by new owner Andrew Miedecke, what followed was a classic battle with the six year old Porsche and the latest Toyota GT 4, newly released and out to score its first world wide win for Toyota. Miedecke ultimately prevailed and won the event in 1994 (running as car 802). In 1995 he returned with the car and mechanical failure saw it as a DNF (running as car 818).

The car sat in a shed in Ballarat, Victoria for the next three and a half years. It was brought by David Morton and business partner Malcolm McDonald, who had the car restored mechanically to original and entered for the millennium event 2000. Since that time the car has figured on the podium of its class on no less than six times. It remains an outstandingly competitive car still able to finish in the top 20 of 300 cars in Targa Tasmania in 2008.

Described by Morton as the ultimate road test, the Targa Tasmania features over 5000 corners over five to six hundred kilometers. Raced on closed roads that take drivers across the Australian country, the competition concept is drawn directly from the best features of the Targa Florio, Mille Miglia, the Coupe des Alpes, and the Tour de Corse; however, according to the organizers, Targa Tasmania is a genuine “red-blooded” motor sports competition.

According to Morton, the car has been maintained in race condition since new, and it has about sixty thousand kilometers on the speedometer. During a recent dynamometer test, the car made 240 wheel horsepower at 1bar of boost. “I have driven many cars in competition over the years and without any doubt this [Turbo Cup car] is the best balanced car ever made,” says Morton.

A special thanks to David Morton for sharing details about his 944 Turbo Cup car with me; and thanks to David and his partner Malcolm McDonald for allowing me to feature their historically significant 944 Turbo Cup car on the Porsche 944 Turbo Resource so that its wonderful story might be preserved and appreciated by fellow Porsche motorsports enthusiasts.

You can see the website’s details here. Don’t forget to vote for the website, too!

The Porsche 944 Turbo is like spring rain: everybody knows it’s coming. In fact, they knew it was coming last year and they knew it the year before that. Astute observers even noticed the engine racing-and finished seventh overall- at Le Mans in 1981, where it was cloaked in 924 Turbo nomenclature. So when it popped up in the Prototype class for the past two Nelson Ledges 24-hour Showroom Stock races, it kind of seemed like old news. Even winning the event last summer, with a 40-lap cushion, didn’t cause much ruckus. Everybody knows Porsches are supposed to be fast.

So the 944 Turbo now makes its showroom debut amid shrugs of anticlimax. Until you drive it. Then it’s [i]holy tire smoke! This little mutha hauls tass![/i]

Never mentioned in all the prelim-speak was that the 944 Turbo would have a 911 Carrera level of horsepower: 217 SAE net, to be exact. And the 911 goes like a scalded dog. We found out about the Turbo’s bounty at the Frankfurt show late in 1983 in a casual conversation with Paul Hensler, Porsche’s director of powertrain development. Can you imagine the scalpel-sharp handling of the 944 with all that horsepower? We could, and it was more than patience could bear. So about the time we thought pre-production samples would be plentiful in Weissach, we announced to Porsche that we were coming, cameras and hot corpuscles at the ready.

We arrived, and so did the biggest European snowstorm in at least a generation. At Weissach, the shop mechanics were fitting chains onto a 911. Honest. So much for the hot laps. But at least Paul Hensler and Helmuth Bott, chief of R&D, and Hause Mezger, most recently the father of the TAG FGormula 1 engine, were on hand to answer questions.

The 944 Turbo is an engineer’s car, and Porsche engineers are pleased that it’s the first model they know of, from their shop or anybody else’s, where the catalyst version and the noncatalyst versionhave the same power. Bott and Hensler speak with pride on this point. All Germany is now in an emissions-control mood, moving to catalysts and unleaded flue. But Porsche engineers don’t see that as a reason – or an excuse – for feeble engines. “New Porsches must be as fast as old Porsches,” they say. “that’s the business we’re in.”

Those who have watched the 911 evolve over the past twenty years know it’s the engineers, not the stylists, who call the cadence of change at Porsche. So the challenges tend to be functional. And subtle. It’s a great self-test to conjure up an image of a stone-stock 944, then wander around a 944 Turbo and try to figure out, [i]What’s changed in this picture?[/i]

Well, the nose is different. No doubt about that. No bumper on the Turbo. Ok, there’s a bumper, but it’s hidden behind a smooth, one-piece, flexi-plastic nose panel that makes it look as if somebody peeled off the bumper and filled in the attachment holes. Incidentally, the European and American versions are identical in this area; the engineers say the European customers like the extra protection of the U.S. standards. (In back, the U.S. bumper extends farther.) The only difference in front is the lack of flush–mounted side-marker lights on the Euro cars. In fact, the American model on the shop floor has the side lights blacked out in order to make it [i]legal[/i] for the German roads. Apparently, this world has as many ideas about what’s safe as it does about what’s God.

Of course, the Turbo’s wheels are different from the 944’s; sixteen-inchers with five bean-shaped holes, similar to a style introduced on the 928. The widths are seven inches front, eight in the rear. The tires are 205/55VR-16 Pirelli P7s in front, 225/50Vr-16 behind. If you’re really paying attention, you notice, just peeking through the bean holes, a sexy black calliper with raised letters machined off to say “Porsche” in contrasting bare aluminum; the engineers confirm that the brakes are new. [i]Auf Wiedersehen[/i], sliding callipers. [i]Guten Tag[/i], light-alloy, four piston grabbers. The leading pistons are even different in diameter from the trailing ones to maximize ramp wear on the pads. Neat!

Porsche is a longtime believer in aerodynamic, so you expect refinement on this frontier as well. But the Turbo doesn’t look much different from the regular 944. The nose is smoother, which should help, but compared to the whale-tail innovations of the past, the Turbo offers little to pin your hopes on. The only thing really conspicuous is the spoiler beneath the rear bumper. Certainly, this area has been a styling problem on the 944. Following along behind, it looks as if the manufacturing plant just ran out of bodywork when it got down to finishing the rear bumper. You see all kinds of undercoated stuff hanging down: suspension bits, a muffler, a fuel tank, and other unmentionables. On german roads, you see 944s fitted with various sorts of under-panels in an attempt to clothe the unsightly. The Turbo’s solution is a conspicuously added-on panel that shields the view with about the same elegance that a barrel dressed up a nudist. But the engineers are happy with the result. They say it speeds up the exit of air from under the car, which cuts drag; it enhances crosswind stability; and it improves the ventilation of the muffler-gas-tank-differential area, lowering the operating temperatures of those components. We would say that it also attracts the eye, much as spoilers on top of the car do, and could well turn into a fashion accessory of the late Eighties, never mind that it fits like a shoe on a turkey.

There are more aero advancements, but they don’t scream at you. A plastic tray fits under the nose, sealing tightly against the bumper skirt at its forward edge so that air is directed smoothly under the car. Just forward of the rear wheel, another small fairing at the bottom of the fender opening directs air around the tire. And the windshield is said to be “flush-mounted,” though there is still a moulding on the outside and a noticeable step between the glass and the sheetmetal. Taken altogether, these changes drop the drag coefficient from 0.35 to 0.33 – not a big deal when confronting you from a magazine page but still a step in the right direction. With the fat P7s replacing the 60-series rubber, the drag coefficient could very easily have gotten worse, had all this effort not been expended. Porsche engineers are right when they say it’s very difficult to make a short car like the 944 score well in the wind tunnel. They go on to claim that the net drag of the 944 is lower than that of any of the sedans that advertise better coefficients. Drag is the product of the coefficient and the frontal area, and the latter is a mere 20.3 square feet on the 944.

Not all of the airflow-management efforts have been directed at drag reduction, however. A duct behind each end of the lower part of the grille directs cooling air toward the front brakes. There is no actual connection of the ducts to the brakes, as there would be in a race car, but a baffle at the bottom of each MacPherson strut funnels the stream toward the rotor.

The big news in the cockpit is the redesigned dash – still very much in the Porsche tradition, we’re pleased to say, which means no green-glowing digits to remind you of a video arcade and no voice synthesizers to remind you of technology running amok. No yellow markings on the instruments as the current 944, either, and we’re glad of that. Just white on black now, in four dials neatly arrayed before you, and huge vents that promise to move more air at less velocity and therefore with less rushing sound. The dash molding itself is of a somewhat different shape but no different effect. The console has been cleaned noticeably, however, and it integrates better with its surroundings.

But you can’t see the one change that Porsche engineer seem proudest of: the steering column has been raised 18mm (0.7 inch). The 924/944 has always had a semi-wonderful wheel position. Wonderful because the column is more horizontal than the columns of most cars, which means that the wheel itself is more vertical, so you don’t have to stretch for the top of the rim when you’re already strung out on the edge of control. But the horizontal column has its negative side, too: the bottom of the wheel is low, which means that drivers thick of thigh have no leg clearance. Porsche tried to alleviate the bind by offsetting the center of the steering wheel 20mm upward of the center of the column, which was fine as long as nobody tried to park. Fixing the rub required a new dashboard. Then, once the wheel was up, the seat needed an up-and-down adjuster (preferably power in this price class) so that short people wouldn’t have to sit so low that they couldn’t see. All of this has been accomplished in the Turbo, and the improvement is immediately noticeable.

At the start we mentioned the snow – fair warning that most of the Turbo’s other details might not be noticeable under the circumstances. Gas-pressure shocks, for example: until we can see the ground again, we’ll just have to take the engineers’ word for their goodness. We can report, however, that the engine would bust the rear wheels lose in third gear/. Probably it wouldn’t have taken the Turbo’s 78-percent torque increase over the regular 944 to produce that result, but nobody buys a Porsche just to get by. This is one seriously fast car, perfectly capable of melting its own snow so that it can prove the point.

Production was scheduled to start in February, slowly at first in order to maintain quality with all new hardware. Very soon the factory will have the capacity to produce 150 944s a day. But rather than lock itself into a certain proportion of Turbos by advanced decree, Porsche has decided to wait to see what the market says.

It’s easy to say that this is a heck of a car and assume it will sell like mums on Mother’s Day. But there’s one hitch. Along with pumping the horse power to the 911 level, Porsche is similarly jacking the price. It will be lower in the U.S., maybe a grand lower, but still over 30 thou. We may be flying blind in ever deepening snow, but we can see that such a price tends to freeze out ordinary thrill seekers.

[*] This article is copyright Car and Driver, April 1985. It is used solely for educational purposes, and not for profit. It should not be considered representative of Car and Driver.

Hello,

Do you have the factory colors available for the 951 in 1986?

Thanks

Brad

Brad:

Thanks for your question (and presumably for viewing my Porsche 944 Turbo Resource, as well)! I have the color options for the 1986 944 model (as in the normally aspirated non-turbo model); however, I believe the color options were the same for both models. According to my 1986 944 Brochure, they are as follows:

*Black
Copenhagen Blue
Sapphire Metallic*
Stone Grey Metallic*
Kalahari Metallic*
Pastel Beige
Alpine White
Garnet Red Metallic*
Graphite Metallic*
Mahogany Metallic*
Guards Red
Zermatt Silver Metallic*
Crystal Green Metallic**

* metallic paint colors are a more desirable (more expensive) factory option.

The paint codes that are given in this brochure do not match up to the actual paint codes (I suspect they were chosen to simplify the ordering process for customers); but I am fairly positive that each of those paint options is accurate for the 86 Turbo model as well as the standard NA model.

A bit of searching also lead me to Clark’s Garage (another good technical resource). There are only two differences according to Clark’s: Clark’s lists India Red (which I am fairly positive is Guards Red), and also lists a Pearl White Metallic option as well. You can view the entire list here: http://www.clarks-garage.com/pdf-manual/body-02.pdf

I hope that answers your question! Please reply if you have any other questions regarding the 944 Turbo!

Sincerely,

[the author]

The 944 Turbo Resource has once again been featured on a WordPress gallery, this time on WP Float.

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Thanks again to WP Float for showcasing the 944 Turbo Resource!

To borrow Thomas Magnum’s line, “I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right.” You probably have an idea how this story will turn out, as I did going in. And, to a great extent, we’re all going to be correct. Yes, Porsche’s tail-heavy 911 Turbo is a great, lusty old beast whose character is exceeded only by its quirkiness and whose fans are more loyal than reasonable. Yes, the same company’s 944-series has set a standard for balance roadworthiness in modern sports cars, and now the new Turbo S version also fat outruns the hoary 911 Turbo. Yes, that means there’s no longer any good excuse to put up with the 911’s much stories incipient-spin handling, and, on every realistic score, it means the 944 Turbo S is a vastly better, more contemporary automobile.

All of that is the truth. But it’s not the whole truth. During four days of cruising and corner carving through the towns and coastal mountains of Southern California, some completely unexpected twists on this comparison slowly became evident. I, for one, wound up with curiously mixed feelings where I’d expected neat conclusions.

Let me start at the beginning: Willow Springs International Raceway, Rosamond, California, where a dry but windy winter’s day is drawing. Jean Lindamood, Michael Jordan, and I are here with what is happily turning into “our” team of pro sports car pilots: Derek Bell (five-time Le Mans winner and twice world endurance champion mainly in Porsche sports prototypes) and Bill Adam (he ran a works Porsche 962 at Le Mans last year and Group 44 Jaguar before that; he currently drives the Chevrolet-backed Protofab GTO Corvette).

We are track-testing a pair of turbo-charged sports cars. They were conceived, created, and delivered by the very same company, yet they’re as different as Bach and boogie. Porsche’s 911 Turbo is an institution: early Sixties technology thriving in the late Eighties on sheer bravado, the highest evolution of the 911 concept to date (not counting the hypertech four-wheel-drive 959). Like all 911s since 1965, it hangs an air-cooled flat-six engine way out in the back and is quick, maneuverable to a fault (literally), and difficult to drive well. Quite unlike the 1964 version, it can now muster 282 horsepower and over 155 mph, so the too lively balance and the dreaded chop-throttle oversteer take on grim implications.

In profound contrast, the 944 Turbo S – the brand-new up-power variant of the 944 Turbo, which first appeared in 1985 – is most remarkable for its amenable nature. Its front engine, rear transaxle layout puts a heavy mass at each end of the car. This provides even weight distribution and high polar moment of inertia, meaning the car resists yawing right or left unless you ask it to. Together with thorough development by able engineers, these qualities bless the 944 platform with amazing pitchabilit. It sticks, steers, and slopes so well that even untalented or unattentive drivers can work up impressive speed with minimal risk.

Porsche Turbo versus Porsche Turbo would have made an interesting matchup simply on the basis of the utterly different histories, technical approaches, and driving sensations of the 911 and the 944. When the 944 Turbo S arrived this year, with 30 more horsepower (now 247) and a quoted top speed all the way up to 162, the confrontation became inevitable. This sweet, compliant 944 suddenly had the grunt to match or bury the 911 Turbo, even in a straight line. The last justification for the wild and woolly rear-engined turbopanzer – that, in the right hands, it could still blow off the best of its four-cylinder sisters – had vanished in a cloud of dust and tire smoke.

That is our premise at Messrs, Adam and Bell begin lapping Willow Springs, settling into the cars and working up to meaningfully fast laps. The earliest returns confirm our expectations. Says Bill Adam: “When I first jumped out of the 944 and into the 911, I pulled in because I thought it had a low rear tire!” Such is his impression of an uncooperative rear end – and of a heritage rooted in another tehnical epoch. “It’s like driving a vintage race car.”

Derek Bell immediately cites “that 911 characteristic. You’ve got all that jot in the back that rides up and rolls, kicks up and rolls. It doesn’t slide flat. You have to be very delicate. The 944 you can drive a little sloppily and still be quick. In the 911, you have to be right on the money.”

The 911 has more peak power (282 to 247) and slightly less curb weight (2976 versus 2998). At first, Derek thinks it is pulling better coming onto Willow’s straight, but after another car swap, he realizes he has been misled. Around the long, climbing Turn Two (see sidebar), he has the 944 wide open – and going much faster – long before the straight. “In the 911, you arrive at the exist and can then floor it. You open it up and it feels stronger. But the 944 is already on the power and on the boost. You’re flat all the way through!”

This effect is later demonstrated with painful clarity at the other end of the track when both cars exit wicked Turn Nine onto the long front straight. The Adam/Lindamood team in the 944 slingshots past Derek and me in the 911. So much for power-to-weight rations.

The 911s have always been praised for their powerful braking; that heavy tail keeps the back tires contributing some stopping power despite forward weight transfer. But here, too, progress will not be denied. The electronic wizardry of anti-lock braking gives the modern 944 a clear advantage entering turns, even on a dry track, in the hands of expert drivers. The 911’s inside front wheel is prone to early lockup, which further complicates the rear-engined car’s already jittery corner entry. Derek says, “The ABS gives you much more confidence to just stand on the brake pedal, yet still pull the car over to where you want it to be.”

Bill notes that, through the very fast Turn Eight and the tighter Turn Nine, which almost link up in a single decreasing-radius curve, the 944 absolutely kills the 911. “Simultaneous deceleration and turn-in is okay in the 944. It’s too insecure in the 911,” he says.

In both action and reaction, steering differences between the two cars leave much to choose from. Derek praises the 944’s feel. “Steering weight is just right. You can take an easy, light hold on the wheel. In the 911, your veins are popping out.”

But there’s something about how the cars respond to steering input that sparks a lively discussion. The 911’s rack-and-pinion is a straight mechanical setup, whereas the 944 has hydraulic assist. The 911’s overall ratio (17.8:1, versus the 944’s 18.9:1) and its turns lock to lock (three, compared with three and a quarter) indicate somewhat faster, more direct steering. And the 911 does have a more immediate feel in the wheel. Its firmly sprung body also rolls much less than the softer 944, so everything indicates the 911 should snap into bends much more positively than its more civilized sibling.

But no matter who is driving, corner entry and steering connections happen more quickly and cleanly in the 944. What’s going on? We finally decide that even though the link between driver’s hands and front wheels may be more direct in the 911, communication between the front wheels and the rest of the car is not. Derek characterizes the process as sending a message that has to travel way back there to the 911’s center of mass, which then reacts with an attitude change, sending another message forward that you have to correct for. It’s almost like trying to manage two separate cars linked together by a hinge. “The 944, though, rolls all together, as one car,” says Derek. Even though it’s softer in roll, the 944 is much better coordinated.

Not surprisingly, it is also faster around the track. The 944 circulates Willow’s 2.5-mile length in the 1:41 range, averaging 89.1 mph. The 911 – its driver always working harder, flailing at the wheel and cursing colorfully – can only manage 1:43, for 87.4 mph. Section times through Willow’s tightest portion, from the entrance of Turn Three to the exit of Turn Seven, show the 944 building almost a second’s lead during the low-speed tossing. It clocks 33.6 seconds to the 911’s 34.5.

Our pro chauffeurs, like the rest of us, had expected the 944 to be easier to drive and probably faster overall thatn the 911. But Derek Bell and Bill Adam both seem fascinated by how different the two Porsche Turbos really feel when driven back to back. Of the 911, Bill observes: “You’re constantly in a state of reaction to the air, rather than having the car work with you. At steady state on a skidpad, the two cars would probably get around about equally fast, but any kind of change is hard to handle in the 911. The 944 will save you in a situation where the 911 will hurt you.”

Derek sums up the 911 experience with his usual sparkle: “You have to get in and attack it all the time. If there’s going to be an accident, you have to drive into it!”

Had we ended our story with the Willow Springs lapping, the plot line would have been simple: Charming young buck dethrones grizzled old warrior. Intelligence and sophistication send brute force packing. But we had a road ride to do yet, up spectacular Highway 33 out of Ojai and eventually around to Santa Barbara on the coast. And the old soldier turned out to have some unexpected powers of persuasion.

For starters, there’s no question the 911 Turbo still has visual horsepower on any 944. Motor by in the whale-tailed coupe, and everyone says, “Wow! There goes a Turbo!” If they say anything at all about the 944 Turbo S, it’s, “Hmm pretty nice Porsche.”

More important, the 911 Turbo is a ball to drive. All of the sensations from the driver’s seat – that raucous engine note, the boot in your back as the boost comes up, the steering that stiffens precisely with rising cornering loads, the ride that tells you all about pavement texture – levae you on choice but to become intimately involved in the task of driving. It’s more than a fear of spinning that makes you pay attention; it’s the car’s reactivity in everything it does.

People call the 911 a dangerous over-steerer, but that tragically shortchanges the car. Sure, most drivers who get into serious in the rear-engined Porsche do so because they fly into a fast bend and then try to get ride of speed. The engine’s inertia hurtles on and pivots around the drag of the tire contact patches like a rock on a string, and another 911 pilot backs through the Armco.

But that trailing-thorttle (or, worse, panic trail-braking) mode is only one dynamic situation., Roll through a tight corner and open the 911’s throttle, and weight transfer from the acceleration lightens the front end, reduces tire grip, and lets the car plow on exit like your favourite front-wheel-driver. A 911 understeering? That’s right. But all at your command. It will understeer right off the road, but put a little bite back up front by lifting slightly; the instinctive response is correct in this case.

Between these two extremes, there’s a good range of neutrality in the 911 Turbo’s cornering repertoire. Get into its rhythm on a snaking road like Highway 33, and you’ll find you are slowing a bit more before turning in and then rolling back on the gas to motor through bends on part throttle. That securely plants the car on its huge rear tires, gives you some latitude if you need to back off unexpectedly, and spools up the turbo in preparation for the exit.

If you don’t like that kind of driving, hey, you don’t like driving.

Where is the 944 Turbo S in all of this mountain-road scratching? Going about its business calmly and quietly, somewhere far ahead of the 911, attracting little attention and demanding little of its driver. Actually, the 944’s over-the-road handling profile is not so different from the 911’s except in degree. It can e made to oversteer or understeer, but much less dramatically. And it’s amazingly neutral over a much wider range of dynamics, so you can lift and scrub off a little excess speed at almost any time. That’s what makes it so cooperative and confidence-inspiring when it’s running quickly. It requires relatively little planning ahead. You bend it into a fast curve, feel the lateral forces and traction coming to terms, speed up if you have room, slow down if you don’t. Simple.

Tremendous velocities come easily in this remarkable car. Its 2.5-liter four has a little more rasp than its 217-bhp 944 Turbo predecessor had, but it’s still smooth enough to work continuously in the 4000-to-6000-rpm range. Flogging along at 60 to 90 mph (on a road the civilians take at 45, except for the tighter turns signed for 30), the 944 uses third and fourth of its five gearbox ratios, occasionally dropping to second. It has a lot of leg for a four-cylinder car; a 60-mph highway cruise puts only 2600 rpm on the tach.

Its power increase, the result of upping maximum turbo boost from 8.8 psi to 10.1, has been thoughtfully matched by chassis upgrades. Front braking (calipers and twelve-inch rotors) are 928 pieces. The suspension is firmed up, with stiffer springs and anti-roll bars, harder bushings, and clampers with ride height and rebound adjustability. The new-pattern forged wheels – the only visible distinguishing features of the S-model – are an inch wider in back (sixteen by nine inches, with sixteen-by-seven-inch wheels up front) and mount a special N0-series of Goodyear’s Eagle VR tires, 225/50 front and 245/45 rear. First- and second-gear pinions in the transaxle are shot-peened for a little extra durability, and although the differential ratio is the same 3.73:1 as the 944 Turbo’s, the limited-slip mechanism (standard on the S) is strengthened.

This impressive mechanical package makes the Turbo S far and away Porsche’s fastest four-cylinder and puts it right up with the 911 Turbo and the 928 flagship for on-paper performance. Off the spec sheets and out in the world of fast pavement – where turns must be quickly eyeballed, speed swiftly judged, and the unforeseen deftly accommodated – the fleet and friendly 944 Turbo S has speed on the entire Porsche range. In fact, on 90 percent of this country’s twisty roads – and for 99 percent of its drivers – this is the fastest car from point A to point B on the market today.

But fastest does not always mean best. The 911 Turbo is also fast and effective. Even if driving it is a little like shooting an arrow up the road feathers first, it takes you there in a hurry and entertains you all the while.

And, anyway, how fast is fast? There’s no stopwatch ticking on the street; there’s no glory to be won when you’re out there alone, just you and your car hustling over a beautiful road. An automobile that talks to you, involves you, and demands respect from you is something you can enjoy no matter what som great cosmic Average Speed Meter might be reading. In fact, you can enjoy a communicative sports car even when you’re not going fast.

Think about sports cars that have a lot to say to you, and you’re thinking about the Porsche 911 Turbo. True, the 944 Turbo S is superior in every objective way: It has a more spacious and better-laid-out interior, greater fuel economy, more accessible speed, and a much lower price tag ($47,432, compared with $68, 670). But take both cars on a fast run over an unfamiliar road, and see if you ever once ask the 94 4if it could take a downshift this late into a bend without being upset; if the opposite member of that next apex will pull harder at its tail than at its nose; if you can roll the throttle on this fast or THIS fast before the weight-transfer understeer changes to power oversteer. See if you ever ask the 944 anything.

This may sound like waffling. But, as I said up front, the obvious conclusion I’d expected became oddly mired as the subtleties of these cars unfolded. The 944 Turbo S is faster, okay? It’s a better automobile. If what you want is a modern no-nonsense tool that can blast you over the road faster than almost any other modern no-nonsense tool out there, here’s your car. Go get it. You’ll love it.

But I’m not going to apologize for how the 911 Turbo manages to make me want it. It’s great fun to drive and a thrill to be around, and we make a good team. There’s some give and take; think of a motorcycle, which can’t even stand up by itself if you get off and walk away, and you grasp something of the insidious and irresistible appeal of the 911.

Two utterly spontaneous events from our Porsche Turbo drive may say all there is to say about these wonderful but profoundly different automobiles. I needed to make a tight-jawed, flat-out sprint back up Highway 33 to find a lost photographer. Without a moment’s thought, I leaped into the 944. But, later that Saturday night, our high-spirited group was leaving the restaurant to cut our way across a teeming, profiling Santa Barbara, which looked like one massive street party. I fished two sets of keys from my pocket. Lindamood took one look at the 944 keys I tossed her way, fixed me with the evil eye, and asked, “Just what do you think you’re pawning off on me?”

[*] This article is copyright Automobile Magazine, June 1988. It is used solely for educational purposes, and not for profit. It should not be considered representative of Automobile Magazine.

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We Love WP is a WordPress showcase website (also called a WordPress Gallery), which features blogs and websites powered by the WordPress platform. No doubt the 944 Turbo Resource stands in good company, and there are some excellent websites featured on We Love WP that I encourage you to check out!

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Although I often attach images to posts, I have decided to use a dedicated Flickr gallery to host general pictures of my 944 Turbo S.

Using Flickr should lighten the server load, and it will also allow for better interaction between visitors and myself, in terms of commenting on pictures. I also think that the link to the Flickr stream makes the page look a lot more visually appealing.

The My 944 Turbo S page will now feature a link to the associated Flickr stream, where I will be uploading more pictures of my car – hopefully on a regular basis.

View Flickr Photostream

In case you didn’t notice, a twitter follow link has been added to the summary area of each page.

You can now follow me (and the 944 Turbo Resource) on Twitter, where you can follow quick updates about my 944 Turbo S, about Porsche news in general, and where each new appendix page will be published in tweets.

If you prefer Twitter to RSS subscriptions, then this is a great way to follow the 944 Turbo Resource.

Follow the 944 Turbo Resource on Twitter today!