An old car on a trip to a one way toll road...
Discussion
Just in the off chance anyone is interested although it's not about the newest shiny product from GT and it's not particularly quick by modern standards around if one goes by nurburgring times. The last thread by lowndes did seem to have quite a few people somewhat interested in the car and it did seem to garner some interest I did notice when out and about.
Some background, I've been lucky enough to have the car for a few years but somehow or rather I've never gotten round to taking the car on track despite usually going on track pretty ponto with every car I have but increasingly (esp since last year) I have thought the gt is somewhat wasted on a UK country road so when the weather got better I decided I'd finally try this year and where better than the Eifel.. (OK I admit I wanted to go to Silverstone first but that day the weather was so ropey and misty I took another car....)
Some pics I'm pinching from social media things that various friends had sent to me and also from the flickr account of a fellow PHer who kindly took a load of pictures of the car as I'm not always very dedicated at taking pictures especially when on track.
Some time last week
Have to admit... the car is loud
https://www.instagram.com/p/BiExCTWl_lJ/
But unfortunately it sure doesn't sound quite like that inside the car! (I admit I am too lazy to faff around with the damned roof)
Taking the cross country route with a friend to the ardennes after....
And the next day (after the rain cleared as it was pouring in the morning)
And so I guess the question - how was the car? Truth be told I have 2 entirely different answers on the 2 days. At the 'ring I thought the car was fantastic, had a lot of confidence in the car and feedback was spot on. Only at Ex Muhle and Wehrseifen braking downhill it felt a bit nervous and on the fast corners like SX the car was rock stable, impressively so and far more than the 4.0 or 12c that I have done the majority of my ring laps in. Although it's a very different experience to driving the RS that I have been tracking a bit over the last 2 years, definitely can't trailbrake anything like as much and so much more braking has to be completed in a straight line (obvious in retrospect but it does take a bit of relearning).
However.... at Spa the car almost seemed like a completely different animal and quite honestly worried the hell out of me that I'd lose the rear of the car. I genuinely don't understand the difference between the 2 days and can only put it down to the weather conditions - at the ring the weather was perfect and lots of cars had been running on track so I'm guessing the track had plenty of rubber. At Spa in the morning it was sopping wet and to my mind it was a bit greasy for a long time even after getting dry. Or that's my excuse anyway and perhaps it's down to rubbish driving (very possible). I do feel a bit reassured though that a friend who was on the trip with us who is a terrific driver took my car out and also had the back step out at pouhon somewhat suddenly and in a very similar way to what happened to me a few laps before. In any case though, once again the car was rock solid on the very fast stuff (esp Blanchimont2, I was again much faster than the RS without really trying) but for me felt worryingly nervous on the medium speed stuff.
So a bit confusing all in all but overall quite an experience it has to be said and I'm very glad I did finally take the car back to it's old stomping ground. Has to be said, my reservations about the car haven't really changed - namely that it's too big and not really suited for UK roads. Oh and it's a massive pain reversing uphill that caused a lot of mirth to the PHer with me at the time undoubtedly remembers. Put the gt however on a race track (a fully dry and grippy one anyway!) or a german fast back road and it's absolutely brilliant and like no other car I have driven. Can't wait for Silverstone next....
Some background, I've been lucky enough to have the car for a few years but somehow or rather I've never gotten round to taking the car on track despite usually going on track pretty ponto with every car I have but increasingly (esp since last year) I have thought the gt is somewhat wasted on a UK country road so when the weather got better I decided I'd finally try this year and where better than the Eifel.. (OK I admit I wanted to go to Silverstone first but that day the weather was so ropey and misty I took another car....)
Some pics I'm pinching from social media things that various friends had sent to me and also from the flickr account of a fellow PHer who kindly took a load of pictures of the car as I'm not always very dedicated at taking pictures especially when on track.
Some time last week
Have to admit... the car is loud
https://www.instagram.com/p/BiExCTWl_lJ/
But unfortunately it sure doesn't sound quite like that inside the car! (I admit I am too lazy to faff around with the damned roof)
Taking the cross country route with a friend to the ardennes after....
And the next day (after the rain cleared as it was pouring in the morning)
And so I guess the question - how was the car? Truth be told I have 2 entirely different answers on the 2 days. At the 'ring I thought the car was fantastic, had a lot of confidence in the car and feedback was spot on. Only at Ex Muhle and Wehrseifen braking downhill it felt a bit nervous and on the fast corners like SX the car was rock stable, impressively so and far more than the 4.0 or 12c that I have done the majority of my ring laps in. Although it's a very different experience to driving the RS that I have been tracking a bit over the last 2 years, definitely can't trailbrake anything like as much and so much more braking has to be completed in a straight line (obvious in retrospect but it does take a bit of relearning).
However.... at Spa the car almost seemed like a completely different animal and quite honestly worried the hell out of me that I'd lose the rear of the car. I genuinely don't understand the difference between the 2 days and can only put it down to the weather conditions - at the ring the weather was perfect and lots of cars had been running on track so I'm guessing the track had plenty of rubber. At Spa in the morning it was sopping wet and to my mind it was a bit greasy for a long time even after getting dry. Or that's my excuse anyway and perhaps it's down to rubbish driving (very possible). I do feel a bit reassured though that a friend who was on the trip with us who is a terrific driver took my car out and also had the back step out at pouhon somewhat suddenly and in a very similar way to what happened to me a few laps before. In any case though, once again the car was rock solid on the very fast stuff (esp Blanchimont2, I was again much faster than the RS without really trying) but for me felt worryingly nervous on the medium speed stuff.
So a bit confusing all in all but overall quite an experience it has to be said and I'm very glad I did finally take the car back to it's old stomping ground. Has to be said, my reservations about the car haven't really changed - namely that it's too big and not really suited for UK roads. Oh and it's a massive pain reversing uphill that caused a lot of mirth to the PHer with me at the time undoubtedly remembers. Put the gt however on a race track (a fully dry and grippy one anyway!) or a german fast back road and it's absolutely brilliant and like no other car I have driven. Can't wait for Silverstone next....
Such a pretty car IMO. I was quite surprised how big they are when I looked round one a few years back - must of seemed HUGE 15 years ago! It's such a unique car with a great story behind it how it of how it nearly didn't happen*. Hats off to you for using it 
- You can thank me for buying a Cayenne later
Edited by Phooey on Sunday 29th April 12:17
Nice one,great pics,993rsr is your man for advice now on these cars.
They are very sensitive to set up and track temps,some of the sensitivity comes from actually feeling early on whats going on beneath you,the car does talk to you.
We had a couple of gt out at spa etc years ago,rsr put his on slicks,at the time all it done was make the car feel the same nervousness at a even higher speed!,mine at the time was still on the crappy mitch tyres with wheel spin as you hooked 4th!
They are very sensitive to set up and track temps,some of the sensitivity comes from actually feeling early on whats going on beneath you,the car does talk to you.
We had a couple of gt out at spa etc years ago,rsr put his on slicks,at the time all it done was make the car feel the same nervousness at a even higher speed!,mine at the time was still on the crappy mitch tyres with wheel spin as you hooked 4th!
SkinnyPete said:
Hello,
I saw you going round the track on Tuesday, as I said to my accomplice it is nice to see a CGT being used properly (although you were babying it round
).
Hope you enjoyed yourself.
Yeah I was a bit slow wasn't I? 8:30s per my vbox was about my comfort level on the day truth be told which is a fair bit slower than what I probably could do if I was willing to throw the car into corners a bit more but it's one car I hope I'm forgiven for being more than a tad tentative in especially at the ring and for a first track day I saw you going round the track on Tuesday, as I said to my accomplice it is nice to see a CGT being used properly (although you were babying it round
).Hope you enjoyed yourself.
I'll try and get something a bit more respectable next time anyway....SRT Hellcat - car is on supersports that I fitted the moment they were released in late 2013 ( the old ps2 tyre was ahem interesting let's say to drive on until fully warm). Tyres are getting to the age I'd usually change them so looking to fit Cup2s end of this year. I don't usually drive the car in seriously wet conditions and Cup2s have coped with a lot in other cars anyway.
isaldiri said:
Yeah I was a bit slow wasn't I? 8:30s per my vbox was about my comfort level on the day truth be told which is a fair bit slower than what I probably could do if I was willing to throw the car into corners a bit more but it's one car I hope I'm forgiven for being more than a tad tentative in especially at the ring and for a first track day I'll try and get something a bit more respectable next time anyway....
8:30 is still a quick lap especially in a car of this nature (e.g. expensive, difficult to drive and no ESP (I think)) so I would be happy with that. I'll try and get something a bit more respectable next time anyway....I was doing 8 minutes in my Cayman S but I have ESP, electric steering and god knows whatever else so I cant' take any credit for that time. Although some better brake pads would have been nice.
LaSource said:
....and yes we took quite a few pics too
Very kind of you to take all the pictures of my boring silver car! Hope my faffing about reversing to maneuver the car properly provided you with enough amusement to get over the delay and my complaints if uphill.... 
Steve Rance said:
Grest post, lovely car. As an aside, was the car more nervous on the downhill sections at spa and more settled on the flatter sections?
Not really I think. At eau rouge it was stable enough, albeit I'm very careful there in any car having crashed some years ago in another car up at the top of the hill. The right/left at the end of kemmel, pouhon and the right/left again after that was where I was particularly nervous that day for some reason and especially so as usually I like to have my car moving about in the right/left transitions but simply did not feel I could trust the rear of the car enough. Very odd really compared to the day before.Just found this and couldn’t work out why I hadn’t seen it when first posted, then I remembered at the end of April we were on our tour of Northern Scotland where wifi can be sketchy, this was followed by a trip to Switzerland and then the PCGB day at Anglesey.
Anyway, many thanks for posting and much respect to you for taking the CGT on those two circuits. I too have decided to dip a toe in the water albeit somewhat closer to home and have arranged for a morning’s tuition for the PCGB day in June at Silverstone. The caveat being that if the weather is foul I will probably wimp out and bring something with ESC.
Like you I’m on Supersports which I like, but for me the unknown is the effect of the factory fitted ride height kit. The Porsche Cars GB letter dated January 2006 reassured the previous owner “Since the pack has been designed and engineered specifically for the Carrera GT, there will be no reduction of the handling or performance characteristic of the Carrera GT”. I have read elsewhere that others do not necessarily agree.
Actually, it is probably pretty academic as I plan to operate with a comfortable margin within the safe part of the performance envelope.
Anyway, many thanks for posting and much respect to you for taking the CGT on those two circuits. I too have decided to dip a toe in the water albeit somewhat closer to home and have arranged for a morning’s tuition for the PCGB day in June at Silverstone. The caveat being that if the weather is foul I will probably wimp out and bring something with ESC.
Like you I’m on Supersports which I like, but for me the unknown is the effect of the factory fitted ride height kit. The Porsche Cars GB letter dated January 2006 reassured the previous owner “Since the pack has been designed and engineered specifically for the Carrera GT, there will be no reduction of the handling or performance characteristic of the Carrera GT”. I have read elsewhere that others do not necessarily agree.
Actually, it is probably pretty academic as I plan to operate with a comfortable margin within the safe part of the performance envelope.
isaldiri said:
Very kind of you to take all the pictures of my boring silver car! Hope my faffing about reversing to maneuver the car properly provided you with enough amusement to get over the delay and my complaints if uphill....
The laborious moving off routine almost made me glad I didn't have a CGT! Forums | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff