Porsche Owners Thread - If you own one or just like or hate them! :)

"andy" said:
this thread has just reminded me of something i meant to check out

was behind a chav in a a cayenne turbo at the air pump the other week , he put 62psi in his tyres before driving off

surely not correct ?
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The tyre probably says on the side wall "62psi Max" and the idiot thought that was what he should inflate it to.
 
Take from PH which was taken from...

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/News/Search-Results/I...

CAR interviews 'Mr GT3' Andreas Preuninger
By Ben Pulman

06 March 2013 07:00
The latest Porsche 911 GT3 boasts an all-new 469bhp 3.8-litre flat-six and is quicker than the legendary GT3 RS 4.0, but fans of this hardcore icon have voiced their concern over its new dual-clutch PDK gearbox and its steering (both the electric rack inherited from the 991-generation Carrera, and the new rear-axle steering).

Ahead of the 911 GT3's unveil at the 2013 Geneva show this week, CAR had exclusive access to the car, and to the man who headed the team that engineered it: Porsche's head of GT series production Andreas Preuninger.

The controversial new Porsche 911 GT3
Preuninger built the first 996 GT3, and has been doing his job for the past 12 years. We asked him all about the new GT3, including those controversial issues. Here are his answers...

Andreas Preuninger on the philosophy of the new GT3...
'The GT3 has become so important for Porsche – we have to offer a GT3 variant with every new 911. It's been a niche in the past, but not anymore, especially because so many competitors are pushing into the sector. The bandwidth in which the new car is useable is incredible: it's a brilliant daily drive, but it's also got an even more sporting edged biased towards track capability.'

On the death of the motorsport-derived ‘Mezger’ engine…
'The 4.0-litre RS with the 'Mezger' engine was not in our long-term planning, but a skunkworks project. The original plan was for the last Mezger engine to feature in the 3.8 RS and GT2 RS, but we decided to make the 4.0 RS, as one last goodbye, with all the things we learnt from the GT2 RS. It’s definitely the last time we will use that engine in a road car – I promised everyone and I will be true to my word.'

On the new engine…
'There’s a lot of doubt, in the almost devout community of GT3 buyers. It’s not something out of the 911 Carrera with a bigger camshaft: the only parts shared with the 991 Carrera S engine are the casting of the crankcase and the bolts for the cylinder head. Full stop. That’s it. There’s a new crank, titanium con-rods, forged aluminium pistons, and a completely new cylinder head with a revolutionary valvetrain that you won’t find in any other street-legal car – there are no tappets, instead we use rocker arms like in a motorcycle so the weight goes down dramatically. The new engine is around 25kg lighter than the Mezger. And that gives us room for the extra rpms…

'We were very, very aware that this engine needs to have the same character, the same amount of character, the same specialness as the Mezger had. We have absolutely made it: the new engine has the same impatient idle, this ‘Come on, go!’ attitude and it revs even higher – to 9000rpm. You wouldn’t believe the difference between 8500rpm and 9000rpm – it’s only a small difference numerically, but when you’re in the car the experience is a whole new world. The way the engine goes to the redline, the sounds the engine makes is so mechanically crisp and emotional that it brings a totally new personality to the GT3.

'We decided to make an emotional link to the GT3 RS 4.0, the king of the GT3s, so the new GT3 has the same specific output: 123bhp/litre. We’re on par, but I would say 469bhp is conservative. I like ‘low-balling’ with GT3s – we could say 500bhp and that would be perfectly homologatable, but I’d rather say 469bhp and have the GT3 beat all the 550bhp cars. This is more Porsche.'

On the new dual-clutch PDK gearbox…
'I’ve being doing this job for 12 years, I made the first GT3, and everybody knows I’m a very puristic driver. I want the car to be analogue, I want maximum driver involvement. That’s why we chose not to use a PDK ‘box until now – the involvement was not at the point where it should be for the GT3. The weight was another issue, too. So this time, for the first time, we decided to try out the PDK gearbox in parallel with the manual, and really feel what the difference was like. And feel is very important, for customers and myself – a very, very fast car where you don’t have any sensations isn’t worth the money. And coming from the other side we are under pressure from the competition, so I won’t sacrifice any performance just because someone wants to shift with a manual.

'The PDK gearbox is about 30kg heavier than the manual in the 997, and we have saved 25kg from the engine, so I said we should try it. The ‘box itself isn’t from the Carrera: there’s seven driving gears, not six plus overdrive, so you reach the top speed in seventh, And the programmes and hardware are totally different. The upshifts are beyond comparison on the market – less than 100ms – and it’s so much fun to use it: the sensation you get when you drive the car is like having a sequential race gearbox, not a flappy paddle system.

'We added a ‘Hooligan mode’ so you can do donuts in the car. Or, let’s say you have a 2nd gear curve, it’s wet, there’s nobody around and you wanted to drift. How do you do that in the manual? You dip the clutch and press the throttle to get the car around. That’s not possible in a normal automatic, but it is in the GT3: if you pull both paddles it engages neutral so you can 'clutch kick' the GT3. Same for race starts – you can dial up more wheelspin than the computer will give you. This was a major programme with the gearbox development to ensure you could play around with the PDK.'

On when the manual gearbox was ruled out…
'We ruled out the manual gearbox in back to-back comparisons last summer. On every shift with the PDK is more emotional, because for the first time when you shift at 9000rpm there’s a bham! in the exhaust, and this gives you goosebumps. It blips the throttle on the downshifts, and on a road you don’t know you can go very fast with both hands on the wheel. And on a race track the PDK gains three-quarters of a car length with every shift, so after a long straight you’re ahead of the other car and can turn-in in front of him. It just works. This is the big news.

'There’s no chance of a manual. We don’t want to offer too many options on our GT cars. And if you’ve got a manual and a PDK you’ve got to have different set-ups for the suspension, the aero, the tyres, everything. We are a small team and can only concentrate on one car.'

On the GT3’s new electric steering…
'The steering was a challenge, as we’re changing to the electromechanical system. I think we had a benchmark system in the last GT3, and it was my target to get it as least as good as that system. It was not easy as the GT3 driver needs to feel all the feedback the tyres give him, all the forces in the steering rods, in all conditions, but we made a huge effort to get it exactly the way it was in the last car. I promise no one will notice that it is not the steering we had in the GT3 RS 4.0. I’m 100% sure of that. The filters are gone!'

On active rear-wheel steering…
'I was shying away from it. I believed it was not puristic enough. But we tried it out and it helps so much. And you don’t notice it because it’s simply a steering rod system, not some electronic gizmo. We can change the angle of the rear wheels by 1.5 degrees, which doesn’t sound like much but the effect is tremendous. I couldn’t believe how much better the agility of the car and the turn-in capability are with the system. I did a back-to-back test, in one car with the system able to be turned off by a switch, and couldn’t believe the difference. And on track, the tyres last longer, so you are more consistent.

'The steering rods add 5-6kg, plus the system draws more current so yo need a bigger battery, but back-to-back with a car with a lightweight battery, no rear-steer and a manual gearbox (and in that configuration the car is lighter than a 997 GT3) this new GT3 is so much more confidence inspiring. And faster, no matter where you drive it. It simply didn’t make sense not to use all these systems to take on all the other competitors out there.'
 
Hi there

Did Oulton Park today, started pretty wet and by midday track was damp with no spray. I spent the morning finding my way round the track and getting pointers from others, I was very slow but remained in one piece though it's very easy to get out of shape and so many 2nd gear corners the backend slides easily and at times very quickly.

In the afternoon I had some tuition, learnt a lot, then went out and then had some more tuition, by 4pm in heavy rain in lower grip conditions I'd got much quicker, I'd also started to learn trail braking too. In short today I've learnt how to drive my 911 even better with the help of two great instructors.

Also went out in a 997.2 Turbo S and it was so quick it made me feel sick, it was 550BHP with ceramics and no other car could come close to it, even made the GT3's look like they were going backwards, was just on another level in such conditions but the driver knew how to peddle it. But as a passenger it did not feel like huge fun the car was doing a lot of the work, drive mine or a GT3 like how he drove it would have meant big spins, it just made fast easy.
 
A couple of pics:-
IMGP5963_zps03090629.jpg


023-3_zps6d4c36b0.jpg
 
rjkoneill said:
that second shot is superb.

really like that.

how did you find the steels mate?
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Not as smooth or as quiet as ceramics, but they seemed fine, a dry track day will be real test.

Static noise limit was 105dB at 5000rpm, my car was 104dB in loud mode, so only just made it.

Donny is a much smoother better flowing track for sure and far safer, a few went off yesterday and 1-2 were fatal for the cars involved. :(
 
Housey said:
Oulton does not take prisoners, proper track.
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Yep a car went off on the corner at the end of the pit straight and embedded itself into the wall, took a JCB to get it out. :(

Was a good day though, zero queuing and the ability of the Turbo S was mind blowing, like an athletic version of the GTR and a lot quicker, but did not feel involving like mine or a GT3 does.

Shall go again for sure! :)
 
Gibbo said:
Yep a car went off on the corner at the end of the pit straight and embedded itself into the wall, took a JCB to get it out. :(

Was a good day though, zero queuing and the ability of the Turbo S was mind blowing, like an athletic version of the GTR and a lot quicker, but did not feel involving like mine or a GT3 does.

Shall go again for sure! :)
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Stop the hate :( ;)

Really a lot quicker though? I would think a bit quicker (for an extra 50 odd grand it should be :p) but may be more down to the drivers? What year GTR was it?

Great pictures btw :D The track conditions look lethal!
 
^JP^ said:
Stop the hate :( ;)

Really a lot quicker though? I would think a bit quicker (for an extra 50 odd grand it should be :p) but may be more down to the drivers? What year GTR was it?

Great pictures btw :D The track conditions look lethal!
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It felt as quick if not quicker than your GTR certainly made me feel I'll from the thrust, it's ability to put it's power down seemed better, in those track conditions and Oulton is quite bumpy too the turbo S just seemed put put all it's power down with ease, even out of the 2nd gear corners. Remember a stock 997 turbo S hits 100mph in sub 6.5s, they're mental quick.
 
Gibbo said:
It felt as quick if not quicker than your GTR certainly made me feel I'll from the thrust, it's ability to put it's power down seemed better, in those track conditions and Oulton is quite bumpy too the turbo S just seemed put put all it's power down with ease, even out of the 2nd gear corners. Remember a stock 997 turbo S hits 100mph in sub 6.5s, they're mental quick.
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Good points, I concede!

I hope it is dry next time we meet and I will show you the R Start so you can compare :D

Need a good day to use my Racelogic box and see what it does.
 
Gibbo said:
Suspect in the dry yours is quicker for sure!
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I think in the wet with the right tyres and a good driver it could be pretty close.

My tyres scare me in the wet if I put the traction in R mode and in Normal mode it just keeps cutting the power all the time (for the best no doubt!).

Looking forward to the RR day and I hope another track day is on the cards after Donington was cancelled?
 
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