Photography by Tom Suddard
My phone rang with a simple question: “Hey, it’s Leon Drake–want to co-drive the Porscharu?” How could I turn down an offer like that?! So I signed up to join Leon at the SEDiv Dixie Challenge, a two-day event hosted by Central Florida SCCA RallyCross and attracting drivers from all over the US to compete on the famous fields of St Lucie Fairgrounds.
My goals were simple: Have fun, don’t break the car and don’t finish last.
I’d never seen the Porscharu in person, but I’d met some of Leon’s creations and had a decent idea of what I was getting into: Leon tends to build wickedly cool, wickedly fast rallycross cars that don’t waste any resources serving any ends except “cool” and “fast.” So I wasn’t surprised to see a few unpainted surfaces, a few sharp edges, and lots of weight reduction from the Porsche.
I strapped into the cockpit–there’s a roll bar, race seat and harness–and peered out over the square, handmade aluminum instrument cluster. In our field of view was the big square hole Leon cut into the firewall for the aftermarket hydraulic clutch master cylinder–a necessary modification due to the factory’s bottom-hinged cable clutch. The Porscharu only carries a few gallons of gas, enough for two to three runs at a time, so Leon topped off the tank and shouted his driving advice over the flat-four’s rumbly idle, “Give it hell and keep it floored!”
So I did, setting out for one of the most fun rallycross rides of our life. The Porscharu is infinitely catchable, with a wheelbase that feels a mile long and available steering angles that feel like a drift car. These two traits combined mean you can never really spin, rather you just keep drifting wider, and wider, and wider, until you’re plowing through gates completely sideways with an insane grin on your face.
Suspension is simple but effective–Leon runs more or less stock 914 parts, which pair well with the weight reduction for a setup that’s slightly taller and slightly stiffer than a stock car would be. It’s not fancy, but works, and I quickly learned that every single feature on the course could be taken flat out without a hint of mechanical sympathy. Power is adequate but not overwhelming, and at Leon’s instruction, I spent about 10 seconds per run pinned on the limiter as the rear tires fought to find traction.
As I slid through the finish (also completely sideways), I reached a conclusion on the Porscharu: This isn’t an amazingly precise race car that’s always teetering on the knife’s edge of maximum performance. Instead, it’s one of the easiest to drive, most forgiving things I’ve ever been in–and that might just be the reason for Leon’s success with it. In a form of motorsport with as many variables as SCCA RallyCross, a car that just doesn’t care seems to be the key to success.
–Tom Suddard
