It was the US Grand Prix this weekend from Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The time difference meant practice/quali sessions and the race started late in the day for UKers, giving a few hours to escape the computer and get my hands dirty.

I spent the daylight on Saturday rebuilding a door lock and window regulator on the stopgap Skoda TDI, bought to use while setting the wife’s recent insurance write-off (Skoda is actually an excellent drive), but today was all about Porsche Cayenne winter tyres.

I’ve had the winters on standby for a while. In keeping with my budget rock ‘n’ roll Porsche lifestyle, they were a proper screaming bargain. Part-worn 255 55 18 Pirelli M&S Scorpions, over 18″ Cayenne Turbo wheels. I bought the wheels on eBay for £100 during the summer, tyres were a ludicrous £30 (eBay) plus maybe £30 travel to get them. So a full set of winters in perfect condition for £160, plus a few quid to fit: call it £200.

The mild October and early November has allowed me to eke the last few miles out of the 19″ P-Zeros the Big Pig wore at purchase. The tyres weren’t new when I had it, but I’ve had about 5k miles of spirited driving on what was left: it’s about what I was expecting and I’m happy at that. The 265 50 19 Pirellis are not quite down to the wear bars, but they’ve likely done enough, as they’ve become increasingly squirrely towards the end of their life. We’ll seek out new ones for next year.

For now, I’ll run these ice driving bargains towards the stops and report back on grip. I’ve just bought another set of 18″ Cayenne rims and am planning to fit some new but cheapish SUV winters from a name not commonly seen on Porsche. I’m all about maxing the value for money on this Big Pig, and Youtube videos of the tyres in question on crazy Polish snowchargers look good.

Two things of note can be seen in these pics. One is the best tool in the standard tool kit: the locating pin for tyre changes. Everyone should get one of these, no matter what the car! Makes changing ten-ton Cayenne wheels a lot easier. The other just visible on top of the house is the dormer of the loft conversion: the reason I’ve been slaving and not blogging all year! Almost done now and it’s really wicked. You can also see the rusty roof of the lean-to garage that’s coming down next year: I plan to tie it to the Cayenne and shove the car in drive.

Cayenne continues to be wicked (of course) and a welcoming seat at the end of a long day’s work. I know a few blog fans are thinking of trying one, and to all I say “do it!” It makes sense to retain access to something small and diesel for long-haul solo boring jobs, but the Cayenne makes bigger work easy, and I’m slowly working through the allegedly costly maintenance items. Plugs and coils done: battery, starter and brake discs next.

Roll on next Spring’s Essen TechnoClassica road trip – the Cayenne will be four up, at least.