Porsche’s New Atlanta Track Lets You Try Legendary Circuits From Around the World. We Tested It.

If you’re Porsche Cars North America, and you want to showcase the newly completed handling track at your augmented Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta, you do something special—as in 1,088 hp "special". Which is why I’m strapped into the passenger seat of the insanity-on-wheels that's Porsche's experimental 718 Cayman GT4 e-Performance, an all-electric beast. My pilot? German endurance racer Marco Seefried, who seems fully amped to be behind the wheel as we prepare for takeoff.

Porsche has added this second, so-called West Track, to cope with the seemingly insatiable demand from enthusiasts looking to hone their driving skills with the latest lineup of Porsche models, including the likes of the 502 hp 911 GT3 and 640 hp 911 Turbo S. In fact, over 400,000 individuals have come through since the original Experience Center in Atlanta (and its South Track) opened in 2015. Two years later, the Porsche Experience Center Los Angeles made its premiere.

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Designed by Formula 1 racetrack guru Hermann Tilke—whose work includes everything from the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Tex., to Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi—the beauty of the new 1.6-mile West Track is that it features grin-inducing elements inspired by some of the world's most iconic circuits.

In other words, you get to plunge down a tribute to the Corkscrew at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, sweep around the infamous Carousel from Germany's Nürburgring-Nordschleife, duck into the famous Daytona "Bus Stop" chicane, and even snake through a section of the Smoky Mountains’ 318-curve Tail of the Dragon mountain road.

And the fun doesn't stop there. This 33-acre expansion to the sprawling Porsche North America campus, a stone's throw from Atlanta's Hartfield-Jackson Airport, also includes driver-skill-enhancing activities like an autocross course, a water-soaked hill to replicate wintery driving, and a low-friction skidpad to demonstrate understeer and oversteer.

To celebrate the recent official opening of the new facility, Porsche invited Robb Report to experience all the new track has to offer. That included gut-compressing acceleration runs using the launch-control mode in a 760 hp Taycan Turbo S, which does zero to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds; attempts to master drifting around the water-drenched Low Friction Circle (196 feet in diameter) in a Cayman GT4; and determined efforts to slither up the eight-percent incline of the polished-and-wetted Ice Hill in an all-wheel-drive Macan.

But to really showcase the sheer variety and intensity that the new handling circuit offers, Porsche brought in Seefried and the bonkers 718 Cayman GT4 e-Performance. The vehicle, a testbed for Porsche's electric-power-train development, comes with a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive setup that's juiced by a 900-volt, 82 kwh battery pack good for 603 hp in racing mode and that staggering 1,088 hp for on-demand bursts.

Comfortable, it's not. You thread yourself in through the spiderweb of tubing that's the roll-over cage, flop into the body-gripping racing seat, then get unceremoniously locked in place with a four-point racing harness that's tight enough to bring tears to your eyes. Out of the pit area, Seefried, who's competed in everything from Le Mans to the 24 Hours of Daytona (where he won his class), is in full attack mode. Off the line, the Cayman GT4 e-Performance's acceleration is ferocious, violent, unceasing, and accompanied by a soundtrack that's akin to a dentist's drill played through rock-concert speakers.

Before you can breathe, you’re ascending into that Laguna Seca–like Corkscrew prior to plummeting down its 25-foot drop, then accelerating hard before braking (equally hard) for the Bus Stop wiggle. Next, it's into a pinch-tight hairpin and on to the straight—the high-winged Cayman hitting around 150 mph before scything through the serpentine Tail of the Dragon section. Following that, the high-banked 180-degree Carousel will send your stomach to your knees before the short—yet intense—blast back to the pits. Two laps are enough to addle your brain and unbalance your equilibrium.

While the Cayman GT4 e-Performance isn't part of the official Porsche Experience, I’d argue that lapping the handling track behind the wheel of a new 911 GT3 or Turbo S, which we did, will deliver as much of an adrenaline rush. Porsche offers a multitude of 90-minute, customizable experiences at this new West Track. These range in price from $600 for wheel-time in a 718 Cayman GTS or new electric Taycan, to $1,275 for a heart-pounding session that includes both a 911 Turbo S and GT3. As for the ride with Herr Seefried in the cutting-edge Cayman? Well, I found that priceless.

Click here for more photos of the Porsche Experience Center Atlanta's new track expansion.

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