Porsche symmetry: a 911 road trip to the A911

The 911 condenses the journey north impressively well. It doesn’t feel basic, even though it lacks toys compared with its pricier and plusher siblings. There isn’t a rotary driving mode selector on the steering wheel, or power-operated seats. But it has navigation, Apple CarPlay and climate control, even two-stage adaptive shocks and the ability to prompt me to select ‘Wet’ mode when the rain gets heavier.

We pause briefly in Dundee to see what SABRE says is the only remaining part of the one-time B911, now a car park overlooking the mist-covered Firth of Tay. The city’s inner ring road is the A991, if anyone with a slightly earlier 911 wants to visit. But the journey north from there is at a cautious pace under the eyes of endless average speed cameras. The days when the A90 was treated as a race track by cashed-up oil workers are long gone.

Past Aberdeen, we’re into what immediately feels like more natural Porsche country, which is reflected in the road numbers. The A944 carries us west and we pass the junction for the B993 before reaching the equally minor turn for the B992, signed towards the mighty conurbations Keig and Insch. The road looks narrow. Is it going to be another damp squib?

Fortunately, no. Within the first mile, it’s clear that this is not only an extremely fine bit of Tarmac, but also one that suits the Porsche almost perfectly. The initial stretch of the B992 is open, well sighted and empty enough to let the Carrera stretch its legs, even in the sodden conditions.

Even more appropriately, it’s a road that suits the base 911 better than it would one of its faster siblings. The 3.0-litre flat six’s 380bhp can be put to full use and the limitations of rear-wheel drive and a slippery surface become a challenge rather than a limitation. The Porsche feels light and wieldy, its dampers in perfect control of its mass over bumps and crests. It is keen to change direction, and with chatty feedback getting past the light assistance of its power steering, but it never feels wayward. Traction remains good in the rain. Yet it is also throttle steerable in a way that few other cars are, the fineness of the balance between grip levels at each end being adjustable with just small inputs as mass tips forwards and backwards.

There’s much of the same all the way to Insch and an old-fashioned railway level crossing that is still guarded by a magnificent Victorian signal box. Having taken in Insch, the road gives a few more miles, with a staggered crossing over the A96, but then it gets narrower and the corners, negotiating angular fields, become more acute. The B992’s best driving is at its southern end, yet the junction with the A920 that marks its conclusion definitely feels like a worthy end point for such a madcap trip. The rain is even slackening as we turn around to experience the road in reverse.

Although it’s a fine way to spend half an hour, the B992 is barely more likely to find itself on a list of Scotland’s finest roads than the A911 is. It’s more in the ‘hidden gem’ category, the sort of road you’d plot a diversion to experience if you were passing through the area. Yet the journey here has been proof of the power of the accidental adventure, and much more memorable than an out-and-back trip to a better-known bit of the map would be.

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