Sitting on a flat, wide expanse of asphalt behind the ornate pit garages at Monteblanco Circuit (to the west of the city of Seville in southern Spain) is the new Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid. This is the 972-generation Panamera, or G3 in Porsche speak. The car is resplendent in Madeira Gold Metallic (a new OEM shade) and is quietly idling in spring sunshine, the air gently warming, despite the somewhat weak and watery quality of the hazy light.
In front of the Turbo E-Hybrid, about thirty car lengths ahead, is a strange track-like appurtenance of ramps mounted on the circuit’s parking-area apron. It’s a low, yellow-sided, twin-track construction on which are positioned a series of pronounced humps for the Porsche’s wheels to encounter. For the first section of this obstacle, six of these humps are directly parallel. There’s then a brief flat section in the middle of the ramp, not much longer than this Panamera’s 5,054mm-long body, before the final six humps are spaced alternately on each wheel track.
Although they aren’t as vertiginous nor as badly maintained as the average Britishabout to tackle them at 50km/h (that’s 31mph in old money). It’s truly insane speed to tackle lunar-like terrain. It’s certainly fast enough to crack an alloy. Perhaps even a lower control arm, if you’re especially unlucky.
