Quote:
nberry said:
I honestly believe there is a safe practical physical limit to what a car can do with close to a 500 hp engine hanging behind it rear axle. The 997 TT is going to have that and find that troubling.
Nick, sorry but I don't see any logic to that, just how do you arrive at that conclusion?
Is it the rear weight bias of the rear engine? Mid-engined cars have the same rear-weight bias, it helps put all that power down on the road. Is it the higher polar moment of inertia than mid-engined cars? Front engined cars have the same higher polar moment of inertia and have excess of 500HP these days. As a matter of fact, due to this lower polar moment of inertia, the mid-engined cars are easier to spin and more nervous at the limit due to their greater turn in ease, though not everybody knows this. Its a slight advantage for racing but not easier to control at the limit on the streets.
Then you have to sdd to this that the 911 Turbo offers AWD (rumored to be active differentials even) that other mid-engined sportcars don't have, making the power delivery much safer and balanced than a RWD car. And lastly you have the PSM electronic stability system which is among the best in the industry, it reduces accidents between 33% and 50% alone according to different studies, yet some of its comeptitors just offer a primitive traction control. Add all this up and you will get one of the most effective and safe sportcars in its class to drive on the streets.
Thats why modified 996TT's have no problem managing 600HP and lapping the ring in the 7:30's, or very powerful 911 rear engined platforms were so succesful in racing history, from the smooth tracks to the Paris Dakar desert. Or why a 996TT is so fast in the wet compared to its rivals. Or why a 996GT2 can lap the ring within 2 seconds of the Pagani Zonda.
Trust me, it will be very fast at the track, and best of all safe and effective at the street, thats the beauty of the 911
unless you have some engineering arguments to contradict what I said that I'm not aware of. But if you don't believe me, wait till you see the magazine comparison tests of the DDK/PDK AWD/997TT
BTW, the CGT is mid-engined because the V10 was designed initially for prototype racing which are mid-engined race cars, when the project was cancelled, they saved the engine and built a street supercar around the engine and it logically needed to be mid-engined too. Try and fit the CGT's V10 in the back of a 911. The previuos Porsche supercar, the 959, was rear engined