[RWebb]

Denis Jenkinson liked it too...


The Jaguar XKE
But, Jenks used a 4.2L E-type as his regular car, and the 911 fell short in many ways. He “felt the 911 lacked absolute power for its size” although it “would pull 6,200 rpm very easily” in 5th gear. If “you rowed it along with the shift lever, it could be made to go, but the effortless performance of 4.2 litres of Jaguar E-type had spoilt” him for other cars. At least until he got his hands on a Carrera RS in 1973.

Jenks had been “happily corrupted by the absolute power of the E-type – not only by its horsepower, but by the enormous torque it developed.” Starting from a “leisurely gait for an E-type” – a cruise speed of 100 mph – and then getting on the throttle, the “long nose rose as the tail squatted down under acceleration, and the surge forward to 110, 120, 125 mph was one of the most satisfying things in motoring.” “On the 911 this was missing, for all it did was to make more noise with no noticeable surge forwards.” That “instant surge forwards” from 100 mph was essential to his personal well-being. He used it to avoid trouble up ahead on the road. Instead of braking, which Jenks avoided “unless absolutely necessary,” one could accelerate and overtake something that was going to impede your path.

Such smooth acceleration was impossible in the 911 – “to get that surge of acceleration would have meant snicking down into 4th gear, and by that time it could be too late. Even if it wasn’t, the change down and then back up again would upset the rhythm of the journey.” This was true even though the Porsche gearbox was just about the best ever made.” p. 152-153

The 911 was “the ultimate car” for mountain travel however. If one were living in Switzerland and crossing Calabria to get to the south of Italy he would have preferred it to anything else. Jenks rated the two year old 911 “very highly.”

But he apparently did not fall under the siren song of the motor. “On tick-over the flat-6 rattled and clanked like a bucket full of nails being shaken about, even though “it went smooth and quiet at a touch of the accelerator.” This meant it “was a bit anti-social when maneuvering about in a confined space at night.” Here, “the E-type was elegance personified. You could leave it at 600 rpm on tick-over with not a sound coming from the engine or the exhaust, and shuffle to and fro without touching the accelerator pedal, easing the great car about like a large boat in a harbour. The 911 had to be revved above tick-over before the clutch bit, and the clanking and whirring seemed loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood.”

“But then the 911 was not really intended for that sort of thing: it was built for motoring and motoring hard, and when used as intended it really came into its own. The harder you drove it the happier it seemed, and it always seemed to stay with you no matter how much you provoked it.” p. 153

Jenkinson, Denis. A PASSION FOR PORSCHES, 2001 (reissue of the 1983 PORSCHE PAST & PRESENT). Haynes Publ., Sparkford, UK.