FULL – The Bold and the Beautiful 7/10/2026 | B&B Spoilers Friday, July 10

40 Years Behind the Wheel: My 5 Most Memorable Porsche 911 Moments of a Lifetime For four decades, I’ve had the privileged opportunity to test and drive some of the world’s most iconic sports cars, particularly the legendary Porsche 911. It’s a marque that continues to push boundaries, challenge conventions, and deliver an unmatched driving experience that has only become more refined and exhilarating with each passing iteration. From the raw, untamed spirit of the early Turbos to the precision-engineered track monsters of today, the 911 has consistently set the standard for performance, engineering, and driver engagement. It feels impossible to believe that 40 years have passed since I first put a 911 through its paces. My first experience was with a white 3.0-liter Carrera—a car that, even at the time, felt like a raw, primal experience with no rear wing and no power steering. While it certainly delivered performance, it was also a demanding drive, a challenge that required respect and understanding. This was a time when the 911 was arguably one of the last true driver’s cars, a car that demanded more from its pilot than simply putting your foot down and turning the wheel. What struck me most about that first drive was the contrast to the 944 Turbo, a car that in Australia cost roughly the same as the 911 Carrera at the time. The 944 was faster, easier to drive, and felt more competent in every way. However, despite all that, there was something about the 911 that simply captivated me. It was imperfect, yes, but its imperfection was what made it so compelling. It demanded attention, respect, and a certain level of commitment that made the reward even greater. I wrote at the time, “After two days and 600 miles, I’m certain. I know the 944 Turbo is the better car. But I also know that if it came to the crunch, that if it were me agonizing over how to spend my money, I’d take the 911 Carrera home.” It wasn’t a decision I made lightly. The 944 was so competent that it could make a bad driver look good. Its soaring performance was backed by a chassis of astounding ability. But the 911 spoke to my soul. It was a sports car from a different age, reflecting different values. It wasn’t built to cater to the masses; it demanded understanding and respect. That’s why I’d take it home.” Since that first experience, I’ve driven dozens of 911s, and with every new iteration—apart from the 964, which, in the early 1990s, suggested the 911 idea was past its prime—I’ve marveled at how Porsche has polished its icon, keeping it relevant, exciting, and engaging. Four decades later, it remains one of the few new cars I would happily spend my own hard-earned money on. Of all the 911s I’ve driven over the past 40 years, here are five that stand out in my memory. The Unforgettable Driving Experiences of a Lifetime The Original 911 Turbo (930): Raw Power and Pure Emotion Back when I first drove that early 3.0-liter Carrera, veteran road-test journalists spoke of the original Porsche 911 Turbo in almost reverent tones. It was, they said, a car that demanded the utmost respect when driven with intent—a car whose binary boost states made walking the traditional 911 tightrope between corner-entry understeer and corner-exit oversteer a job that required quick hands and a heavy foot. The 911 Turbo did not forgive mistakes and did not tolerate sloppiness. They called it a widowmaker, and it took me 35 years to finally get behind the wheel of an original 911 Turbo to discover the truth for myself. The car I tested was one of the first 30 production Turbos ever built, and it is now part of Porsche’s jaw-dropping classic fleet. Out on the road, aware of its fearsome reputation, I started very slowly, easing into the throttle, feeling the boost come in and watching the tachometer, trying to build a mental map of the power and torque curves. The engine was remarkably tractable, happy to hum along at 2,000 rpm in top gear as the 911 Turbo crept along at 45 mph. Once the engine hit 3,500 rpm, however, there was a noticeable acceleration surge as the turbocharger shoved 0.8 bar of boost into the induction system. But the sledgehammer blow I had braced myself for was not there. I soon learned the trick to smooth and quick progress in the original 911 Turbo was to keep the 3.0-liter flat-six spinning at 4,000 rpm or more to keep the turbocharger energized. Yes, there’s turbo lag—very noticeable turbo lag by modern standards—but it’s manageable. Even after more than 50 years, this 911 remains an impressively fast car on the road. First gear reaches 50 mph, second gear reaches 90 mph, and third gear approaches 130 mph. This means you can destroy most winding back roads using just second and third gear. And while it has a mere 256 hp, it weighs just 2,513 pounds, meaning it handles corners with ease. Half a century ago, its performance would have seemed otherworldly. The 993-Generation 911: The End of an Era For Porsche purists, this is the last of the line—the last of the “real” 911s. It’s the Porsche you drive with your knuckles grazing the dashboard and the snarling metallic clatter of an air-cooled flat-six behind you. But back in 1994, when I first drove it, the 993 was the 911 of the future. It was the first in the lineage to argue with Isaac Newton about the laws of physics. Oh, sure, the 993 still had the pat-pat-pattery front end that demanded to be loaded on corner entry to ensure you hit the apex, and the rear end still rhumbaed through the rougher turns, but there was much more simpatico between them. The 993 still did 911 things, but within a much better margin of error. Key to all of this was a new rear suspension that replaced the semi-trailing arms of the past with a new multilink setup. This allowed for very slight initial toe-out on corner entry and then progressive toe-in as lateral loads increased, all while reducing the camber change that had been the Achilles’ heel of 911s since 1963. This was combined with steering that, at 2.5 turns lock-to-lock, was 16 percent quicker and made the front end feel much more decisive. Plus, there was a new six-speed manual transmission that made the most of the 3.6-liter flat-six. The engine zinged harder to its 268-hp power peak at 6,100 rpm, thanks to lighter internals, a Bosch Motronic 2.0 engine management system, and a new dual-exhaust system. Compared to the 964 model it replaced, the 993 was a revelation. It wasn’t just the engineering upgrades, executed under the leadership of Ulrich Bez, who would later lead Aston Martin. The exterior redesign, overseen by design chief Harm Lagaay, corrected visual issues with the 964, which he felt was too tall at the front and too pulled down at the rear. The interior was cleaner too, with fewer buttons in random locations. The 993 was a 911 that was faster and more forgiving than ever. And, most importantly, it was more desirable, too. The 996-Generation 911: Saving the Brand At the time, it was heresy. Porsche’s decision to install a water-cooled flat-six in the tail of the 996-series 911 was, to the aficionados, the automotive equivalent of Bob Dylan switching from his acoustic six-string to a Fender Stratocaster at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. But the 996, the first clean-sheet redesign of Porsche’s indefatigable sports car in 34 years, was a hero car in my eyes. It was the 911 that saved Porsche. Engineered and developed under the direction of Porsche R&D chief Horst Marchart, the 996 was a clever 911, not least because it shared 38 percent of its parts with an all-new, less expensive mid-engine roadster the world would soon come to know as the Boxster. Iconoclastic Porsche boss Wendelin Weideking knew the Boxster was needed to give dealers something else to sell when the aging 928 and 968 models went out of production. “We did two cars for the price of one-and-a-half,” design boss Lagaay said with a smile after the company unveiled the 996. But while media attention focused on its relationship with the Boxster and the water-cooled engine, the 996’s real story ran much deeper.