36 991 Speedster road tripRIGHT The Speedstergets a six-speed manualtransmission from the991.2 GT3FAR RIGHT Speedster’sside window profile is lowerand more rounded thana CabrioletLEFT The hood istechnically electricallyoperated, but you do haveto partly unfurl it yourselfThere’s no heated seat. Forgivable ina Speedster, particularly given thelikelihood being that most, if not all,will be used on warm, sun-kisseddays and fitted with full bucket seats.Not this car though, as someone’s ticked the box forAdaptive Sports Seats and saved the £333 extra thatwould have added the possibility to warm them. Thewinter sun, such as it is in Northumberland, left usan hour or two back, and the digital temperature inthe dial in front of me is reading three degrees. It’sdark and cold but, in the absence of the possibilityof a toasted butt and back, I’ve come prepared withthermals, a good coat, hat and gloves. Sensible inmid-winter, but given the Speedster’s cabin is, unlikeits Cabriolet relation, lacking in buffeting preventingequipment, even more necessary. The Speedstershould feel open too, the hood an occasional item,which GT boss Andreas Preuninger admits theyconsidered not bothering with. I’ll be leaving it down,then, just as it should be.We’re in Northumberland because Porsche GB iscelebrating its most visceral open-topped cars, thenew Speedster joined by its 718 Spyder relation and aBoxster T. The two mid-engined machines are backin the carpark and the other guests preparing for bed.I have other ideas. Photographer Richard Pardon andI have come up with an idea, stealing the Speedsterto make a break for the border. It’s a loose plan, myhometown of Edinburgh our destination, simplybecause it’s there, the roads between it and us arefamiliar to me and, well, why not? There’s a tenuousSpeedster link too – the Cannonball restaurant, thelast building before our intended Edinburgh Castledestination, is number 356 Castleview, the first ofPorsche’s Speedsters, of course, being a 356. That’lldo. Pardon’s convinced and chucks in his cameras,and we point the red, open car north.It’s cold but clear when leaving, so an earlydiversion is in order. Kielder Forest is a few milesaway, and it’d be mad not to run through it. It’s aplace that’s captivated me since the early days ofrushing home from school to watch VHS recordingsof Top Gear Rally Report, ‘Killer Kielder’ being thefamous stages that more often than not determinedthe result of the Lombard RAC Rally. We’re obviouslynot on the gravel forest and fire roads, instead takingthe main route through Kielder Forest Park, turningleft off the B6320 Pennine Way, through Hesleysidetowards Greystead, before tracking around KielderWater and towards the Scottish border.Kielder Water might be the largest artificial lakein the UK, and I know it’s over to the left of me, butI can’t see it. Actually, I can’t see much, the reachof the standard bi-Xenon headlights limited in thefreakish darkness surrounding us, their reach deniednot just by the inky blackness, but the undulatingroads that characterise the tarmac around here.Like the lack of that heated seat, I’m wonderingwho didn’t tick the optional Porsche Dynamic LightSystem; it’d be helpful here, and even if you’re notintent on driving it late at night, the dark chromemetallic internal parts and surround look really cool.It’s little wonder there’s an observatory locatedin Kielder, there being next to no light pollution inthe woodland park. It’s quiet too, except tonight, asthe howl of the 4.0-litre naturally aspirated flat sixis breaking the silence. The 4.0 is doing a better jobof piercing the eerie quiet than those headlights aredoing in revealing what’s ahead, the visceral effectof that incredible engine heightened to anotherlevel when it’s experienced without any other
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