New S - first break-in miles
I took the day off to start the Carrera S break-in. I drove about 300 miles on some of California's best twisty roads. 
I left the Bay Area around 11AM on Friday, towards the Monterey Bay via Hwy 17 over the Santa Cruz mountains. The segment of interest is about 20 miles and connects Los Gatos to Santa Cruz and rises up to 1800 feet. It is a superb strip of asphalt that some consider the West's 'Ring'. From there I took Hwy 1 to the south around the Monterey Bay, passing by Monterey and Carmel. Traffic, both on 17 and 1 was light. It allowed for good driving, 65/70+MPH, with plenty of room for carrying RPMS, shifting liberally through the gears. After Carmel I continued south towards the Big Sur coast. Beautiful day with light traffic. The few cars I encountered on that part of the road courteously moved aside to allow me to pass - I guess the image on the rearview mirror of a 997.2 with bright LED DRLs earns some respect. 
I stopped for lunch at Ventana Inn high over the Big Sur coast, past the town of Big Sur. The view from the restaurant overlooking the Pacific is simply spectacular:
Here is a photo of the car parked at the Inn:
After lunch I drove the full extent of the Big Sur coast all the way past Gorda, passing Nepenthe, Julia Pfeiffer State Park and Lucia. Simply magnificent. The road is spectacular with numerous fast tight curves, many fast esses, hairpins, constant elevation changes and medium straights. It is a fabulous road to break-in a car limited to the 1st half of the tachometer (4kRPM). Revs are constantly changing with great opportunities to change rapidly from 2k to 4k and exercise the engine under load and total safety. Driven fast, it is a 60MPH average road, but the tight turns offer plenty of opportunities to experience high g-loads at reasonable speeds i.e., 40-60MPH in this car when the average car does 25-40MPH. Fairly spirited driving is possible all inside of 4kRPM.
The car performed superbly. The 9A1 3.8L DFI engine is smooth, elastic and with loads of low-end torque in the first half of the tach. The PDK is a fantastic tool and a pleasure to use and when used properly plenty involving. I would not go back to a manual - not with this level of performance. The return home followed back the same route to experience it again. The miles melted away. What a blast! 
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A. Dias --- 997.2S (ordered). Previous cars: Corvette C6, 996 C4.
