Michael Cain

Folks,

Well I had a Brilliant day at GoodWood on the 14th May. Unfortunately my gear box broke on the way home and now its at IntaPorsh Hospital near Burgess Hill being fixed.

Anyway None other than Anthony Reid a LeMans Third Place in 1990 and British Touring Car Champ in 2003 (see links) drove my 993 at GoodWood.

http://www.anthonyreid.com/
http://www.anthonyreid.fsnet.co.uk/Career.htm

A Lotus Elise with slick tyres on, kept over taking me on the straight’s and I was starting to get the feeling that my 993 was out classed by the Elise.

Anyway I was not really sure who Anthony was as instructors were allocated at random on the day, after a number of laps, please note I have not driven on a track before, drove my Porsche 993 round the GoodWood circuit.

As a passenger I was amazed just how much speed Anthony carried through the corners and onto the straight’s, so much so that whole cars weight was balanced perfectly on the limit, he controlled the car with throttle and only used third and forth gears apart from the back straight getting into fifth. He seamed to go into a corner steering the car in one position and not moving it again until the exit, one perfect line.

We over took a Mercedes and Mr2 then caught up with the Lotus really was a pleasure to be shown what the 993 can really do. After carrying so much speed through the corners we just blasted him on the straight with ease, fantastic, I did speak to the lotus driver afterwards and he told me that he had slick tyres on costing 600 pounds each (1000 dollars a tyre), when he looked behind and saw the 993 on his tale, he could not believe it, he tried to shake us but could not do anything, after we over took him on the straight (big smile on my face) 2 more corners and we were gone out of site. He told me he tried to close the gap but after loosing site of the 993 he just gave up.

Just shows that in the hands of an expert, the 993's can blow Lotus away on track days. I have new faith in my 993, just hope she gets better soon.

Thanks Anthony

Scott 1996 993c2

Anthony -

Great story / news. Thanks for sharing. Cheers to the 993!

Scott

Monique

Nice story. Was it an early Elise? I doubt a NA 993 could pull away from the 190 HP version

What happened to your Gbox? This could be a golden opportunity to change to shorter gears, rebuild your LSD (if one is fitted) and replace worn synchros. See how a bad moment can do you some good??

graham_mitchell

Sorry to hear about the gearbox

Nice story otherwise, except I can't help wondering which car would be faster with Anthony behind the wheel of both!

Michael Cain

Monique,

1. what is a LSD?
2. How much do shorter gears cost and does this only improve accleration and reduce top speed, if top seep is reduced than what is the new max MPH?
3. Yes I will replace the worn synchros as I have a feeling they could be the cause of the problem.

Everytime I put the car into 6th gear, and accelerate, its fine, but as soon as I lift off the gas, the gear just comes straight out! All the other gears 12345 are fine. I have no idea why this is happening, do you? What is causing this too happen?

Regards

Michael Caine

Michael Cain

Too be honest I do not know what Version the Elise was, but I know in the hands of a Touring Car Champion, a 190 BHP Elise would stand no chance in the hands of a Joe Public track day driver against a Porsche 993.

911

Excellent story, Michael. You definitely got an "E" ticket ride w/ Anthony as your pilot!

vuugti

Sounds like you held your own. Nice job....minus the gbox issues, bummer.

I was in a Elise just last week. I'm 5'10", 170#and there is no way I would own this car to do anything but the track. I was hitting my size 9 feet all over upon entry.

Good luck.

Andy

Mankster

I sold my MY2001 Elise 2 weeks ago to buy my 993. I have been on a few track days with the Elise but am still no expert. Around the corners and twisty bit there are few normal cars (bar exoticas and track day specials such as Nobles, CatFields) that will keep up with it. My 120BHP Lotus would easily pull away from 911 Turbo's in the twisty bit. Coming out of the corners it was a different story. The car would not really pull at all quickly after about 80mph and max's out at 120 (the Toyota enginged cars are much quicker). I doubt if my 993 if going to be as much fun, but it will certainly lap most tracks alot quicker.

Martin S.

Some of my fellow 993 track junkies and I ran with some Elise mobiles at Buttonwillow. We were faster..I don't think the Elise drivers were pushing it to the max.

Talk about small, as cute as it is, it is tiny inside. If you are ever T-Boned in the car VS the 993; I'll take my chances in a 993.

Great little car...wild design..and with Toyota power I believe. I hope the Elise drivers don't read this and come out and kick my *** next time at Buttonwillow, in 2 weeks (Not if wifey has her way!).

The last run session at Buttonwillow, was 50 minutes + long. I was pushing the 993 to the max (within my limited ability ) and it

TheOtherEric

Interesting. There's a guy in Chicago with an older euro-Elise, modified to get about 180-200 hp, yet still retaining the 1500 lb weight. No 993 could ever come close to keeping up with that guy. I was at Blackhawk with him last year, and the car was far far beyond 993 ability.

MetalSolid

A well driven Elise will keep up with GT3s, nevermind 993s...

Toga

Excellent story Michael!
I'm not an expert either, and when going to Francorchamps F1 circuit I also really appreciate being the passenger of some professional pilots.
To answer one of your questions, LSD is the limited slip drive.
For short gearing, 993RS did a thread on the subject a while ago.here

hatchy

What kind of tires cost $1000 each?!

rcwelch

hatchy, you took the words right out of my mouth. Indeed...what kind of slick racing tire costs $1000.00 each. I think the guy was pulling your leg