Quote:
nberry said:
When was the last time you had your car on a track? You and I know very few people track their cars yet Porsche has made over a Billion Euro's selling the concept it is a great track car ( for now I will ignore that Porsche will void the warranty should something happen while tracking the P-car ). It is like selling an electrical appliance to a person who does not have electicity. If Porsche is anything, it is great marketing and salesmanship.
1. I was a few weeks ago on the track...with the 997 Carrera S. The only reason I didn't post it was because I achieved a certain time (Hockenheim Kleiner Kurs) and the microdrive in my camera didn't work anymore (this happens when kids drop it on the floor...
) and I didn't want people to start asking about pictures because it would have hurt my credibility. Time was 1 min 23 sec for the Kleiner Kurs, this is around 8 seconds slowlier than the time SPORT AUTO achieved but it is still faster than some times achieved in official Clubsport events by 996 Turbos and Ferrari Challenge Stradale.
I did only three laps, the first two were actually warming up laps, the last one could have worked out a little better for me if I would have turned off the PSM completely. I'm afraid I was a coward because I didn't want to do it due to my limited time (only 4000 km) in the 997 Carrera S and especially the first track time.
There also were a few cars on the track and I had to be careful, my ego isn't big enough to risk damaging my car for nothing.
2. there was a track event on the Nordschleife last weekend where a black 997 Carrera S (same car as mine, 20 mm chassis, PCCB) participated and he made some GT3 and other nice cars...
look pretty bad. My dealer monitors this forum, he can confirm it.
Of course it has to do with driving skills too but remember, the 997 Carrera S is not Porsche's top 911 model, just somehow one of the "entry" models.
3. we don't need the track performance capability of a Porsche on the track only. Ask our co-editor CR who owns a Ferrari F355 and a 996 Turbo what car he prefers when it comes to have REAL fun regarding performance.
4. the fantastic thing about a Porsche is the fact that you can use it as a daily driver and at the same time on the track too. Somehow a swiss army knife among sportscars.
And of course there is no bling bling factor which makes people hate you for the car you own (not that this really matters...
).
Maybe I should start again comparing cars to women (sorry ladies, I'm not really a chauvinist...
):
some prefer Pamela Anderson where you feel good to see her, touch her and be seen with her and some prefer a woman which looks beautiful, without too much b..bs, a little bit less "behind" but still sexy and of course she's knows how to cook well, to take care of the children and at night, she gives you the hell of a ride. And now I shut up before I have to delete my own post.
Appearance isn't everything, Nick.
To give you a last example: there was this young guy in my hotel in Fort Lauderdale who looked pretty similar to myself, wearing jeans and a long shirt (Cuban style...
).
He was also a little bit dark coloured, apparently of latin or arab origin and he only had a watch on him, nothing else, no chain, rings, etc. I was watching him because I was waiting at the reception desk to ask something.
And there was this business man who had this huge gold watch, a nice neck chain and two huge rings, almost as big as the Cayenne key.
He was dressed very nicely, apparently Armani, his hair was done with hair gel and he looked pretty "important". He was speaking pretty loud and he tried to "hit" on the nice woman at the reception.
She actually seemed to like it and they didn't stop talking.
The guy behind him, the one in the jeans, asked her kindly to hurry up because he needed to call somebody by phone.
The woman at the reception looked pretty angry to him and told him "would you please stay back, sir, this is confidential..." I almost started laughing. The guy in the nice suite put out his credit card, something gold, don't know which one and they finished pretty fast the whole thing. The young guy in jeans approached the woman, she was still not smiling at all and they started talking. At the same time, my wife called at the reception and the woman passed me the phone after she realized that I am the guy the woman on the phone wants to speak to. I was standing only half a meter away from the young guy in jeans. Meanwhile, the receptionist asked this young man for his credit card. He took out his card...an American Express Centurion card. You should have seen the face of that woman, it changed instantly, like she had pressed a button. Incredible. And she could even smile for him.
Long story, short meaning: appearances don't mean anything and although I have to confess that I love beautiful things too in life, I set priorities, especially regarding cars.
And as I'm not a man of bling bling, I'm a technical type of guy. I have a laptop in almost every room of the house, even in the car. I use various gizmos, not to speak about various digital cameras for various occasions. I need that, I love it and I couldn't care less about appearances.
Some people buy Stereos, TVs and even Computers by design and looks. I never bought Bang & Olufsen because I pay half the price for looks only.
I would surely own a Ferrari if I had the money to own several sportscars, no doubt about it. But first comes Porsche, because it serves my needs and character and then, I would buy the Lamborghini Murcielago because I'm still in love with this beast. It offers italian style combined with german perfection and aggressive looks.
Again: unlikely of what you always do regarding Porsche and the 911, I really don't have much to criticize about Ferrari because in my opinion, they build a different kind of sports car. Same applies to Aston Martin, their cars can't be compared to Porsche or Ferrari. They build them for a different type of customer.
And now I go to sleep, I have to work to be able to drive a 911 "only".