Type 7 | Autobahn and Beyond

Autobahn and Beyond

When Thomas Popea sets himself on an adventure, he takes it seriously.

In the midst of the summer and accompanied by three of his friends, When Thomas Popea left the comfort and habits of his Parisian life for 16 days on the road and with one single idea in mind: to reach his father’s homeland of Romania.

Travelling in his Meridian Metallic 996 Turbo, the chosen route was naturally going to begin in Germany. 26 years since its launch, this car remains one of the best autobahn cruisers ever made and it made short work of the first leg towards Stuttgart and the Porsche Museum for the first homecoming of the trip. After a descent through Munich and the rest of Bavaria, a circuitous route through Austria and Hungary still remained before reaching the bear country of Romania’s western forests.

The trip was an occasion to test the 996 Turbo beyond what so many of them are used to these days. 7,000 kilometres from one end of Europe to the other and back again without breaking a sweat (including a 1000 kilometre detour to circumvent the then-closed borders of Serbia), proving once and for all that there really is life left in these millennium-era supercars if you give them the chance to show it.