A young entrepreneur offers to enhance your track experience by renting you a machine like no other.
You’ve got a great car – a Mustang, a Miata, maybe a Civic Type R. And you’re ready to have a blast lapping around Pacific Raceways, or taking the One-Day High Performance Driving Experience. Could anything be better?
Yes, says Collin Hungate: you could be doing it in a Porsche. And he’s the one to put you in the driver’s seat.
Collin operates Sport Driving Motors right near Pacific Raceways. Here, drivers can rent enough Porsche to satisfy any track driving need. Up until now his company has been offering a 2018 Porsche GT3, a 2018 Carrera T, and a 2020 992 Carrera. His most recent acquisition is a 2021 Porsche 718 GT4.
All these Porsches rental cars are bonafide enthusiast machines; Car and Driver called the Carerra T “Purist Perfection.”
Fast Car, Fast Booking
Along with a new car, Sport Driving Motors has just unveiled a convenient new booking platform. Drivers who want to book a Porsche rental can go online and view images of the cars and their specs, along with the rental rates. Another useful feature is planned: soon the site will link directly to the ProFormance Racing School event calendar. Eventually it will be a one-stop-shop for track booking.
Why Porsche? Why not?
Some might say: I have a perfectly fine track car. Why rent a Porsche? Collin, a long-time fan of this particular marque, has ready answers.
“The Porsche – and the 911 in particular – offers a unique driving experience. It’s like no other car out here. It has so much grip, it makes drivers who don’t have as much experience feel safe, because of how well it sticks to the road. And very experienced drivers can have a lot of fun as well. They can extract all the performance out of the car. As you continue to spend more and more time with it and realize, ‘oh my gosh, I’ve got so much grip, I can take more speed into this corner, It’s magical.’”
In short, by Collin Hungate’s lights, Porsche has perfected the track driving experience. Moreover, he’s making it available to drivers at ProFormance and Pacific Raceways.
Inheriting the driving bug
Collin came to cars, as a lot of kids do, though his dad, who was also a Porsche owner and enthusiast. “I got to watch him over the years enjoying a 996 GT3, and then a GT3 RS. Back in 2012 his father gave Collin a gift card for the HPDE, but Collin didn’t make to the track until after his father’s passing in 2018. He finally did the course in, predictably, an inherited Porsche. Since then he’s spent a lot of time at ProFormance.
From lively hobby to livelihood
Changes at Pacific Raceways led to a change in Collin’s career. “I had my normal 9 to 5 desk job, but when I saw the commercial buildings out here, and businesses moving in, I wondered how I could take my passion and turn it into my business.”
That passion was lapping, and the obvious step was to combine that with his love of his favorite German car.
Simplifying the complex
One of the upsides of renting a track Porsche is that the setup and maintenance — never negligible concerns in performance driving – are handled by the shop. Like many of the Porsches seen on the track, Collin’s cars are set up by Spec German in Gig Harbor. “They’re master techs who have spent a lot of time in dealerships. They wanted to open their own practice and focus on GT3s and track-only cars. And they’re the best at it.”
There’s also the convenience aspect. Reserve a car from your phone or computer for whatever amount of time you need — an hour for Power Lunch, more hours for lapping days, and a half day or full day for the HPDE. Your Porsche rental will be waiting, gassed up, with proper tires, tuned for optimum performance. Having a Porsche at the ready eliminates concerns like using up valuable tire rubber and brakes shoes on the drive to the track.
On grid and ready
Sport Driving Motors is in the blue building, Suite 125, adjacent to ProFormance. The shop occupies two spaces to allow for planned expansion. A 992 Carerra is on the way, along with two Carrera T’s, one auto and one manual. “So many people here talk about having three pedals…” If he gets around to buying them, the shop will have room for as many as 15 cars (and some lifts to help store them).
In a way, Collin has set out to do what Porsche aims for: perfect the track experience, but in a different way. The Germans provide the perfect weight distribution, the light front end, the downforce, the power and smoothness. Sport Driving Motors sets it up so that you can have all of that on track day with a few clicks and a credit card. Porsche rental couldn’t be easier.
Which Porsche rental should I take to the track?
Which car you should book at Sport Driving Motors depends on how much you need of what every Porsche offers: power, speed, and traction.
Carrera: Both Carreras have enough performance for any enthusiast. Collin: “You could spend a whole year trying to get everything that the 380 horsepower engine has to offer.”
The GT4 offers a boost in power compared to the Carreras. Built not on the 911 but on the Cayman platform, the GT4 feels smaller and more focused than the others. “For most drivers it’s more than enough.”
GT3: Stepping up to the GT3, you’re talking about 500 horsepower, more downforce, a stiffer ride, and a more aggressive, focused, and intense driving experience. Says Collin: “You’ll go faster off the line, and you’ll go faster in the corners. The GT3 has more grip than any road car will ever need.“