How to make an ass out of yourself in a 997 Turbo...
Here's my story:
I joined my wife and one of her female friends for a safety driving training course. This course is actually for beginners and it involves mostly "shocking" young people how a car reacts in extreme situations, it isn't a primary driving learning/training course. To be able to do that, 90% of the driving is done on highly slippery (winter condition) pavement, comparable to snowy/icey streets.
The funniest thing exercise is actually when you drive and some sort of hydraulic plate moves your rear to make you loose control of the car.
Well, when we started each exercise, the trainer told us a certain speed to use. The other cars were mostly 60-125 HP cars, nothing special. Only me, my wife in her Boxster S and her female friend in her 993 Carrera 4 had sportscars.
So I tried to do the same exercises at the mandatory speed (usually 30-45 kph) and it was impossible. The car lost control, it was impossible to gain control back.
Funny: when driving on the slippery surface, the trainer asked me through the walkie talkie why I'm not using the steering wheel while braking. He couldn't see me. Well: I was doing 90* turns with the steering wheel but my Turbo was still going straight. No wonder, the tires had no grip at all and I was slipping all along. Even the ABS system didn't work...simply because there was ZERO grip.
Each exercise was a complete desaster for me...unless I reduced speed by around 5 kph only! This was always the speed I was able to keep control of the car but the smaller cars were sometimes faster.
When we went for a lunch brake to the restaurant inside the area, since my wife asked me what is going on (she knows how I drive), I told her that my tires suck completely for such a slippery surface. One of the young people heard that and with a pretty ironic tone in his voice he asked me "what have tires to do with that?". I explained to him the meaning of different tire mixtures and sizes/profiles and you know what this guy says to me? "This is BS, grandpa". I was ready to knock him down, my wife already saw my red face.
After the lunch, we had a discussion with the trainer. She (of course ) asked me what I learned from this training. I told her that I learned not to be that fast and that I would never ever drive that fast in my car on snow/ice with summer tires. It happens again, some of the younger people look at me like I was telling them I just won the Nobel Prize. I continued to explain that the speeds used during the training are too high and that I would NEVER drive that fast on snow/ice with summer tires. This is why I always succeeded the exercises (a lot of people didn't, incl. my wife and her friend but my wife still wasn't bad at all) but at around 5 kph slowlier. The trainer told me to imagine that I would encounter such a situation in my car. Again I told her that this ain't possible because I wouldn't drive with a 997 Turbo and summer tires on a snowy/icey road. NEVER. She gave up.
Bottom line: this training was fun and it showed that even the best technology can't beat physics, especially if the tires don't have a bit of grip anymore. This is where the PTM/AWD/PSM can't save you.
However, I also learned that most people don't have a clue about the 911 Turbo and even worse, it's capabilities on dry or even "normal" wet pavement.
Yes, I think I made myself an "ass" during the training but simply because I took the wrong car with me and didn't keep my mouth shut.
One training I did best, by far: braking on dry pavement. The others did (incl. reaction time) 15-30 m, I did 10-12 m. Viva PCCB and bye bye safety driving trainings.
Next time, I take my wife to a sportscar driving ed event.
And maybe I have also some advise for you guys now: forget about Cup tires for street usage. Even the standard tires can't cope with (VERY) slippery pavement, think about the problems you would encounter with Cup tires. Not worth it.