Across Scotland in some of the coolest Porsches ever

Porsche, as you might already know, has just built its millionth 911. Here it is, together with five others. If you want to know more about the millionth 911 itself, click here. What follows here is about the older stuff and hoofing it around Scotland.

Because to celebrate this milestone, a record that stretches back to the production of the first 911 in 1964, Porsche decided to have a little road trip. They’ve done a fair bit of this recently – if you haven’t done so already, check out Rowan Horncastle’s story on driving last year’s Le Mans race distance from northern Norway to southern Spain.

This was more of an historic celebration, a chance to delve into the 911 back catalogue: some new, many iconic, several impossibly valuable, most wonderful to drive and all deeply rear-engined. Well, except the GT1.

We started at Edinburgh Castle. I count 21 911s in this picture, as the Millionth car sallies forth across the bridge accompanied by pipers.

We had a police escort out of the city. Here they are in their leather trousers and hi-vis jackets enjoying a bacon roll and looking more like a health and safety version of the Village People.

It wasn’t exactly the high speed getaway I’d envisaged as we crept out of the city at 8am on a Monday morning, but the cops did do a cracking job of closing junctions, and preventing people crashing the Porsche party.

The millionth 911 itself? Not a one-off special, but a Carrera S that’s received the attention of Porsche Exclusive.

Of all the stuff Porsche had there, this was the car I really wanted to drive – the 1985 Carrera Clubsport. OK, the car wasn’t launched until 1987, but this was one of the original pre-production cars. Even today, it’s an absolute weapon of a thing. Genuinely hardcore to drive – easily more so than the 996 GT3 that came along over a decade later.

The CS was a lightweight version of the standard Carrera – it lost air conditioning, electric seats, windows, back seats, sound insulation, central locking and even the passenger sun visor, dropping the kerbweight by around 100kg to 1,160kg. It’s powered by the 3.2-litre flat six that was unmodified apart from having the rev limit lifted from 6,520rpm to 6,840rpm.

That engine absolutely sings. And then there’s a good pause while you change gear. Rather than the G50 five speed gearbox that was fitted to the production cars, this car has the Type 915 transmission. I dare say it’s as good as it can be considering this car is maintained by the Porsche Museum, but you need to be on your game to change gear smoothly – the gate is wide, the lever long, the clutch needs judgement.

But to punt at good pace down a tricky road, the 231bhp CS is plain wonderful. It’s quick (0-62mph in 6.1seconds), the engine is crisp and loud, the whole car dances and writhes its way along past lochs and mountains as we wind our way towards Skye.

For part of the trip I’m chased by the new GT3, and I envy his viewpoint – I want to see what the CS looks like as it heads down the road. Because it feels absolutely tremendous, a sensory bombardment. I’m nervy of the swapping-ends reputation, the understeer that might presage that, but actually it just manifests itself as incredible throttle adjustment. It’s light and tight.

This was Porsche still in its relative infancy – the 911 may have been over 20 years old even then, but the firm hadn’t established a model for its hardcore cars. Today Porsche (and everyone else) charges more for less. Back then it was less for less and the £34,389 Clubsport was nearly £1,200 cheaper than the standard Carrera.

Next stop, 964 Turbo. I love the detailing of this car, the wheels, the proportions and the way the wing sits on the back. Just so cool. And so expressive of the kind of car it’s trying to be – the CS’s lower ride height gave that impression, here it’s the fattened haunches that tell of the 320bhp extracted from the twin turbo 3.3-litre engine. Later versions had a 3.6 with 360bhp, but 330bhp was still enough to jet the Turbo to 62mph in 5.0 seconds.

To drive it's smooth, civilised and not as laggy as you might expect. The boost builds relatively calmly, but initially, as the turbos dig deep you do find yourself unconsciously coming off the throttle in anticipation of the turbo impact that’s surely about to arrive.

It never does. Instead once you’ve got the revs bubbling nicely and worked out the delay you need to account for, you can enjoy the thrust on offer, the way the nose picks up and the four-spoke steering wheel lightens in your hands. It’s an iconic thing alright, but for me, the Clubsport outstripped it by a magnitude – it’s the purity of response, the chainsaw buzz of the engine.

I make no excuse for showing another picture of the Clubsport, although this time I’m only using it to illustrate the route we took. I’ve driven this road, the A87 that sweeps high above Loch Garry and Loch Loyne many times before. I still rate it as one of the finest in the whole world. Go and do it. Just be warned you have to catch it at the right time – it’s on the tourist route over towards Skye and mid-morning and mid-afternoon can contain coaches.

This is what the car park looked like at our Eilan Donan lunch stop. Mad stuff. Both the GT1 and the 959 that’s nosing in from stage right here were privately owned cars. The 959 was in its element on wet, lumpy roads. The GT1, not so much. Ground clearance was an issue, the plank of wood that forms part of the underbelly taking the brunt of the impacts.

I think I drove ten or so of the 911s over two days. The standard 993 Carrera 2 wasn’t quite the car I hoped it would be, but I reckon that’s because the museum car Porsche had along was an auto.

The most interesting face-off was between the GT3s. There were three generations, a 2010 997 RS filling the middle ground between the two red GT3s here. What’s interesting is how Porsche has refined the GT3 proposition over the years. As I mentioned in passing earlier, the original 996 is a relatively gentle car in comparison to the earlier Clubsport – and the latest 991, too. There’s more suspension movement, it moves down the road swiftly, but without displaying the outright hunger of the latest car. It’s not so physical or aggressive.

The newest one wasn’t my favourite though – even with a manual gearbox. That honour went to the 997 GT3 RS. It’s a more delicate car to drive than the newest one, has a soaring flat six and is more than fast enough. Somehow the focus is fractionally more on reward than outright speed compared to the new car. Then again, I reckon the 991 GT3 is perhaps the best new driving machine money can buy right now.

But let’s finish where we started – with the reason I was in Scotland in the first place. The millionth 911. It’s not as sharp to drive as a GT3, its turbocharged engine hasn’t got the charisma of the earlier nat asp flat sixes. But you can spot the DNA. It’s in the profile, the dials, the size, the packaging, the dynamic influence of the rear-mounted engine. Porsche might have built a million of them over the last 53 years, but it’s as relevant and capable today as its ever been.