The Porsche name goes a long way back in my life. In fact it goes back to the mid-fifties with a car known as the Cooper-Porsche. Even then the Porsche engine was recognised for a singly important feature - high specific power outputs.

Specific power was - and still is - the single most important measure of an engine’s potential. In the petrol-head world, specific power is a magical catchword of which dreams and victory laurels are made of. Our Porsche Super engine was so successful that the factory officially congratulated our team in writing about its successes.

So it was only natural when I floored the accelerator of its progeny, the stunningly powerful and quick and 911 Turbo Tiptronic that my mind should fleetingly hark back to then. There was not much you could compare the Super engine with then with its 33bhp per litre specific output. And nothing’s really changed now either as I blasted across the standing quarter mile line finish line at 199km/h in a Porsche with a specific power output of 133bhp per litre. That figure in fact places it among the top three on the globe for mass-produced force-fed engines - a massive leap, even if its a half a century later.

Rocket-like, the surge of power and thrust of the 911 Turbo is mid-bending and proved as enthralling as my first figure-of-8 ride at the fun-fare. Such stellar thrust has to be experienced to be believed. The only other car to match the 911 Turbo Tiptronic on the Reef in our tests so far is the SL AMG 65 - but to achieve this a supercharged 6-litre V12 mill was a prerequisite…

Our test car was unfortunately not a manual version but Tiptronic. An automatic Porsche you may ask? Well, yes, and to boot you must be prepared to put up with a downside known as ‘lag’. And it’s not just the turbo lag that spoils the party but also when the turbo lag is combined with the inherently induced lag of an automatic box and the other hidden factor - altitude. Result? Gone is the quick-response pull-off action you get with clutch-slip when using a manual box.

And when flooring the accelerator your initial air-charge is not as oxygen-rich as when floor the pedal at altitude. So with this trio of negatives an automatic engine at altitude is at a disadvantage and amply proven by our 80 to 120km/h and 120 to 160km/h results. In fact, just under two seconds are lost respectively in the process, while just-under a second is lost during the 0 to 100km/h dash, too. Remember we’re talking automatic cars at altitude here.

Would this dissatisfy the owner who wants an automatic 911 Turbo? I for one think not. Anyway, owners seeking the more leisurely style of driving would care two-hoots about any such miniscule losses that seem only to affect performance tests. And once the lag disappears, you’re back in driving-wonderland anyway.

Most of the power increase in the new engine comes from the variable turbine geometry that offers better response under all conditions - with peak torque being maintained between 1950 and 5000rpm. In fact this 911 is an easily and manageable drive in the urban sprawl.

When compared to our best-ever test results on the Reef, the Porsche 911 Turbo Tiptronic proved the quickest ever over the standing quarter mile with a speed of 199km/h. This compares with the previous best of 193 of the Merc SL65 AMG. However when it came to elapsed time the SL65 AMG’s figures are achieved via a supercharger that does not suffer with lag on pull-off and scored 12.72 seconds, which is marginally better than the 911 Turbo Tiptronic’s time of 12.92.

We’d truly like to attempt the same pull-off tests in the manual version… One of the more novel features of the highly refined horizontally opposed 6-cylinder dual overhead cam engine is the variable valve timing that truly refined an already highly competitive engine performance. Most variable valve timing arrangements vary the valve opening times only. Porsche instead uses the same system but adds the valve-lift factor to offer better high-revving competition-like outputs while still maintaining low rev-range responsiveness.

The 911 Turbo is not for the faint hearted. One moment you’re lulled into a false sense of sublime pleasure with the automatic ‘box following your every whim as meekly as a mild mannered mid-exec sedan - then turns into a wild, whooshing beast when you hold the flattened accelerator pedal to the floorboard. After the first boring twenty or so minutes my life was then suddenly turned into one of brutal but controlled power. And when I had to apply the brakes to halt the car its stopping power was just as awesome, the 6-piston fixed-calliper ceramic discs at the front doing their bit most dramatically.

On one section of the test run I momentarily traversed from tar onto sand and back again all under power - the car not budging an iota from its intended route. That’s what the all-wheel-drive set-up does for you, but then proved even more effective when cornering hard while powering your way out of the bend – the car again staying where you put with not the slightest sense of imminent kick-out evident.

Not that I managed any wet driving, but the system most certainly will change Porsche’s at times negative reactions under such conditions when driven hard. Equipped with an active damper system from ‘Normal’ through to ‘Sport’, I chose the latter, enjoying the extremely positive feedback and response from the road.

The 911 Turbo is a super car like no other. Its shape alone is iconic and been around in various variations since the mid 70s. With worldwide competition successes enough to fill volumes, it’s also a shape that is as well known as veritable Coca Cola bottle. Now the sleekest its ever been, its also more sportive looking.

The large air-scoops integrated with LED indicators and fog-lamps that are now further to the outside and with those redesigned side air intakes behind the new lightweight aluminium doors also assist in reducing the overall weight to a minimum.

The 911’s interior is at its best by night, the white light-emitting diodes on the instruments offering a cosmic-like effect. And for the first time it was good to see the turbocharger pressure indicated as a bar diagram. Not that I used the radio and sound system with such an exciting sounding engine and so little time with the car, but the 13 loudspeakers and 7-channel digital amplifier certainly kept the feeling of power alive when turned on.

However, one question still lingers. How many more design tweaks can be added to the 911 shape, which has not changed much for over 40 years?