Quote:
ben, lj said:
It's not just the spoiler (Larry is on his 2nd in 4 months) that scrapes.
Ben,
I just read the 6speedonline link you provided. Thanks.
A couple of questions:
1) Since Porsche's suggested clutch procedure has failed for both Nick and you repeatedly, what method did you use to engage the clutch without stalling?
2) Did you inspect the underside of the car? When the car slightly bottoms out, what kind of damage occurs? Does the CRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) panel merely scrape or does it tear? Scraping is minor. Tearing is major not only in dollars but, more importantly, for high-speed aerodynamics.
3) You said,
"unfortunately one of my primary methods of enjoyment for this car would be moutain roads in a very aggressive manner. i didn't feel there would be much enjoyment at all with this car as it takes 100% of your concentration 100% of the time in that situation (and i wasn't pushing it remotely close to as hard as i push my 911 in the corners). i just did not at all have the confidence in the corners." Let me relate a story. A friend of mine and I have little experience with rear-wheel drive, non-stability control, non-traction control cars. This past spring, he and I drove, for the first time, a 2000 S2000 (240 bhp vs. 605 bhp) for over an hour on dry city and backroads. We knew of the car's penchant for sudden oversteer and we definitely had to have 100% concentration while engaging VTEC on the bumpy, twisty backroads. The rear would step out even between 4000-6000 rpm given the right kind of curve. The only saving factor was that when the rear came out, one could easily correct it perfectly IF one was driving with 100% concentration. Had I not read other people's driving impressions of this little car, I would have been frightened and surprised driving at 80-90% concentration and the rear unexpectedly came out. We, too, tried the car with the convertible top up and down, down being the favorite. Each of us drove with 100% concentration (and 10-20% fear) and corrected the car each time the rear came out that we were in a state of euphoria for a week after the drive. We babbled on like devout followers each time someone asked us how the car was. Then, the nasty withdrawal symptoms set in. Never before had a car demanded so much from us as amateur drivers and never before had we put in so much effort and been so justly rewarded. The amount of concentration, confidence and fear the car demanded from us when driving at 7-9 tenths was new to us, and the reward of a racing-experience-for-the-street that it gave back was highly appreciated. I can only imagine how amplified your test-drive was compared to ours especially since nobody, journalists or owners, has described in detail what it is like or how to drive it on American twisties.
As a result, my third question is did the CGT demand so much concentration from you and was so much on the knife-edge (due to the combination of clutch, engine responsiveness, chassis/body stiffness, suspension calibration, and rear sway bar probably set to full hard setting) that you were tired and, more importantly, overwhelmed after the test-drive? If so, you're not alone. When people first drove the 1st generation Dodge Viper in the 90's, they were overwhelmed by the sledgehammer experience, the bluntness that ends up tiring the average driver after a short drive. In contrast, modern Porsche's are known as scalpels, albeit user-friendly, refined scalpels. In stark contrast, the CGT is a user-unfriendly scalpel with a sharpness never before seen on a street Porsche. It commands respect. It demands utmost concentration as you have learned. It encourages practice day after day. And it overwhelms you with its sharpness as it sits at the opposite end of the driving experience scale from the Viper. The CGT promises if you put in the effort, it will deliver the confidence you seek.
If so, Porsche has done its job with taming the beast to some degree. Remember that when the members of the Porsche executive board wanted to drive the car during the latter stages of development, Walter Rohrl refused to grant them permission. He needed to tame the car even further and install a traction control. It's the same case for the Enzo. Michael Schumacher has warned Enzo drivers NEVER to turn off the ASR (Ferrari traction control) unless they have the reflexes and experience of an F1 driver. It is too easy to lose control.
If the CGT was as easy and compliant as you describe the 360 Stradale, people would be wondering how this is supposedly a Le Mans racer for the street. Potential supercar customers these days are more discerning. They want better numbers, better laptimes, and a purer driving experience without resorting to the impracticalities of a race car.
Perhaps Porsche has gone too far and should have set up the CGT to be as easy to drive as the Zonda. But if they did, they would be giving their customers a less than perfect compromise and a less than pure driving experience. Porsche customers are not easy to please. You know that. They demand the best without substitute. They want the perfect compromise between a track car and a street car. So Porsche has delivered such a compromise with the best technology to date at a reasonable price. All it asks is that you put in the effort as a driver.
You have said you want to drive primarily on mountain roads and have fun doing it in the best roadster heel'n'toeing all the while. Fine. Here's a supercar delivering everything you could possibly desire. Yet, you drove it probably on its track setting, completely the wrong setup for the road. This particular setting is so extreme that the Stig, an ex-F1 driver, spun the car multiple times before getting the hang of it. I'll bet he was just as surprised as you that a street Porsche demanded more concentration and a better technique from him of all people. Why not take advantage of this selfless friend of yours, adjust the rear sways to full soft and try it again on the same roads and see if you have a change of heart. If the car is still too edgy, still just as wrong for mountain roads, and you, as an individual, refuse to spend the required concentration to drive it and have fun, I encourage you to cancel the order and buy the Stradale immediately. But if you cancel the CGT before trying it out on its full-soft street setting, which nobody seems to have done so far, you just may regret it in the future. And don't forget the car is available with a 3/4 inch higher clearance which may or may not help with the bottoming out. Decisions like this should not be made until every possibility has been exhausted. Do it for yourself. Do it for the Rennteam.