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The Lohdown: Röllin’ with Röhrl, Part 1
At the 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 press launch near Hohenstein in Southern Germany, a fan of Walter’s has just pulled up. His name is Arne and he has taken the day off to drive his 911 Carrera over 400 miles from Hamburg just to meet Walter for a few minutes and perhaps get his autograph. Walter does more than that. He spends time with his devoted follower, giving him rides not only in the new GT3 but in Gast’s own Carrera. Walter poses for pictures, signs everything Arne throws his way, including the Carrera itself.
Tall and lanky, and dressed in a navy Martini Racing cardigan and brown slip on Adidas driving shoes, Walter Röhrl doesn’t look like one of the world’s greatest rally drivers. See him on the street and you’d think power forward for Germany’s 1976 Olympic basketball team and not “Rallye Driver of the Millennium” as the French elected him in November 2000. He’s raced for Fiat, Ford, Opel, Lancia, BMW, and Porsche but is most famous for his WRC days with Opel and Lancia when he battled the new crop turbocharged, all wheel drive monsters in outmoded rear drivers. Later he joined them, moving to Audi’s quattro rally team.
The 70s and 80s era he defined is widely regarded as WRC’s most exciting. After retiring from rally in 1987, he went on to race sports cars all over the world, even doing time in America with Can-Am. In his later years Röhrl switched over to Porsche and now spends his time instructing and providing feedback as their #1 test driver. Even if you’ve never heard of one of Germany’s national treasures, you do know his work; he’s signed off on such Porsche hardware as the 911 GT3, 911 GT2, and Carrera GT.
Later I go for ride with Röhrl, as I too am something of a fan. Three years ago, I bought a limited edition Walter Röhrl jacket from Adidas. Yes, the man is famous enough to inspire a whole line of menswear. My jacket is grey with bright orange trim and shoulder stripes. W. Röhrl is printed sans serif across the back. Truthfully, it was a bit of an impulse buy and too gaudy to wear out, so it has sat in my closet with the tag still on it.
We set off in a white GT3 and I mention to Röhrl that I own his jacket (but skip the part about how it just sits in my closet). He nods and thanks me for the support in fluent, but accented English. The German farm roads he’s chosen for this sortie are like nothing we have in the states – narrow enough for only a large truck, yet meant for two way traffic. They’re perfectly smooth, but have no margin for error. Curbs don’t line the road, just grass or the occasional strip of gravel, before the terrain drops off into green pastures or dark forests. The rolling countryside makes for splendid driving; fast sweeping turns connect the tiny little villages – which we putter through, conscious of the Polizei. Occasionally we’re gifted sets of downhill corners with visibility two to three turns in. For these, Röhrl leans into the throttle and sends the GT3 howling.
At speed he’s relaxed and smooth. Röhrl motions a lot with his right hand as we talk, his left lightly cradling the wheel. He doesn’t shift much, and when he does it’s nothing showy. His smooth heel/toe technique is almost imperceptible on the way into a corner as are his fluid transitions to throttle on way out. If I wasn’t so impressed, I’d be deeply jealous.
We’re talking about his favorite US race tracks when he suddenly goes quiet. Just ahead is another set of turns with great visibility. Röhrl abruptly flicks the steering wheel right, tossing the GT3 to the edge of the road and then over. Röhrl flicks the wheel back and there’s a brief staccato vrrrrrrrrrrrr as the right tires skim gravel. A bit of throttle now and we’re flowing sideways through a sweeping left hand turn. Dark tree trunks rush past the windshield as Röhrl gently countersteers us back. For a split second tire and car are pointing in the same direction as we smoothly pendulum back to the right. A moment later, I’m looking past Röhrl, through the driver’s side window, at the road ahead. Time stops for a moment as I consider where I am and what we’re doing. We swing back again for another left hand slide and just like that - it’s over. “I only took this route for those corners,” Röhrl gleefully chortles as he smoothly gathers up the last slide. Despite all of the years of racing, all the hours of testing, the man clearly still enjoys what he does best. Now where did I put that jacket…?
More from my time with Röhrl next week (and perhaps some crappy video clips from my digital camera). In the mean time, check out this awesome Porsche produced teaser of Röhrl driving the new GT3…
The Lohdown is published on motortrend.com every Wednesday, except when Ed is in the middle of the desert with no wifi or in Germany on deadline. Please send all suggestions and comments to thelohdownMT@gmail.com.
