Joined the fold, 997.2 GT3 acquired (and one question)

[hufggfg]

Hello all,

So, I thought I’d come say hello as I joined the Porsche fold about a month ago, when I picked up a 997.2 GT3 J

To give you the back story, despite owning a few different awesome (in my opinion at least) cars, I’ve really never been a Porsche fan for some reason. I guess they’ve always just seemed to me to be almost too accessible, and owned by people who like to “own nice cars” rather than “drive nice cars” if you see what I mean... I guess that’s living in central London for you! I just didn’t get the fuss about 911s.

Anyway, I always knew I would have to own one to really see what they are about, and well, if I’m going to do it, I have to let the 911 put it’s best foot forwards (at least for my preferred type of car), with the GT3.

So, I’d always considered a GT3 WELL out of my price league (why I wouldn’t want a 996 GT3 has a long and boring explanation), but when prices started to firm up coming into this summer, I started to worry that if they only went one way, I might never be able to own one. So I worked out how many other vehicles I had to sell (3-4 as it turns out), how much money I had to borrow and just thought, “ah f**k it, why not”

Don’t ask my how I talked myself up to the Gen2… it just happened…

Anyway, back to the car. It’s a relatively lightly spec’ed comfort car (I have a Caterham R400 for track duties, so this will be a road car) in dark blue and so far I’m absolutely loving it! Whilst I don’t think the engine is quite as entertaining at the low end as the C63 it replaces, the blare you get at 4k rpm is truly intoxicating In terms of feedback through the wheel it is everything I had hoped for. Less frenetic and more subdued that the Caterham, but with no less detail.

I do have a question for you experienced GT3 owners though: I’m actually finding there is a lot of momentum to the engine, when changing gear at high revs I often find the revs actually jump as I push the clutch, rather than die immediately as I’m used to, I seem to need a perceptible quarter second delay between coming off the accelerator and getting on the clutch to stop it happening. Is this just the nature of a heavier engine without a super lightweight flywheel? Am I just crap at changing gear and need to learn to do it properly?

[hufggfg]

Haha, you may well be right. I have to say, I actually really like the gear box, just the right amount of weight and "snickety" for me, that's not the issue, it's more that if I come off the throttle and on to the clutch at exactly the same moment, it feels like the sudden shedding of drivetrain weigh causes the car to rev higher, even though the throttle is no longer depressed.

[arcamalpha]

I've experienced the same. I think it's just the electronic throttle that (either by design or not) introduces a delay to the butterfly actually closing. As such, when you disengage the clutch before coming off the throttle (which might feel like the same time) the throttle isn't closed and the engine spins up a little.

I find the whole shifting process pretty much perfect at 5-8krpm, but takes a little 'technique' at lower revs. Other cars are more flattering at lower revs but not so sweet when higher in the rev band.

Edited by arcamalpha on Monday 4th August 20:24

[LaSource]

Slippydiff said:

Welcome, glad to hear you're enjoying your first Porsche. Quite a choice for a first piece of Stuttgart metal if I may say so !
But in answer to your question : I regret to say that I suspect you're just crap at changing gear and need to learn how to do it properly
I've documented previously on here before that I'm no fan of the 997 GT3 gearchange, I find them too "snickety", baulky and heavy, unless you're completely on it. The 996 GT3 and GT2 in all it's iterations, has a nicer gearchange out of the box, yes it's longer throw, but its weight perfectly matches that of the other controls, something I found wasn't the case with both the Gen 1 997 GT3's I had.
A case of practice, practice and then practice some more I think.

I agree and come to a similar conclusion.
My 997.2 has lighter internals and the gearbox/change process is a bit trickier. Maybe it is better suited to aggressive track use.
The 996 GT3 on the other hand is sublime at either road or track speeds...HnT etc much easier.
Maybe I just need to relearn the technique!

[hufggfg]

arcamalpha said:

I've experienced the same. I think it's just the electronic throttle that (either by design or not) introduces a delay to the butterfly actually closing. As such, when you disengage the clutch before coming off the throttle (which might feel like the same time) the throttle isn't closed and the engine spins up a little.

I find the whole shifting process pretty much perfect at 5-8krpm, but takes a little 'technique' at lower revs. Other cars are more flattering at lower revs but not so sweet when higher in the rev band.

Edited by arcamalpha on Monday 4th August 20:24

Ah, that would make some sense, and that is exactly what it feels like. Clearly I'll just have to drive it lots more to get the technique right, oh the hardship