CGT picture thread
05-27-2015, 07:25 AM
#78
1st Gear
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a good friend of my was telling me his roommate works that the Porsche Greensboro dealership he said that there is There's carbon fiber throughout the car. The carbon-fiber chassis is made by ATR, the same company that produces the Enzo chassis. It's formed by placing about 1000 pieces of carbon-fiber cloth on molds that are first vacuum-bagged to prevent air bubbles and then cured under high temperature and pressure in an autoclave.
09-21-2015, 12:29 PM
#80
Burning Brakes
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Stunning photography! Thanks for sharing
09-23-2015, 09:33 AM
#81
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Here's a studio shot of my departed CGT.
09-23-2015, 10:48 AM
#82
Burning Brakes
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I bet you made many great memories with that car. I sincerely hope the 918 has filled the void.
09-23-2015, 01:54 PM
#83
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1) My legs are too long to efficiently heel-and-toe 3-pedal Porsches after the center console invaded the interiors. The console restricts my leg movements to the point where my right calf or knee can't go far enough to the right to make it all work out. The Carrera GT has the most generous foot box of any modern Porsche, but it wasn't quite enough to make double-clutch downshifting anything but frustrating. The 918, being a 2-pedal car, doesn't present any frustration at all for me when driving it. That's a big improvement in my view.
2) I'm a veteran 911 track driver and have plenty of ingrained tendencies in my driving technique that shows it. Paul Frere once quipped that the task of a 911 pilot was to keep the front wheels ahead of the rear wheels. That notion is imprinted in me. I don't like high slip-angle at the rear because it makes me think the car is about to swap ends -- just like the old days. The Carrera GT is a pretty loose-in-the-back sort of ride as delivered from the factory. In fact, Bobby Rahal told me that "those things oversteer like crazy" when we discussed his brief ownership of a CGT. I adjusted my CGT rear anti-roll bar setting to the softest position and installed 345 instead of 335 rear tires to try to tame it down a bit. I always felt like the Carrera GT was trying to trick me into a spin, even though I have thousands and thousands of fast, smooth track laps under my belt in all sorts of Porsches & BMWs.
The 918 has no such handling challenges. The RWS and rest of the chassis setup is made for track drivers who didn't come up through the ranks of shifter karts -- wherein the driver has to flick the rear of the kart out to get it to rotate at all. The 918 has very high grip (mainly tires and low CG) and it has no preference for snap oversteer as far as I can see. That makes it benign in the hands of someone like me with hard-wired 911 driving reflexes.
An Indy racer friend of mine once told me that "If the car feels like it's trying to kill you ........ IT IS!" So, I'm happier to drive a car that doesn't feel like it's about to get weird anywhere close to the real limits of either a Carrera GT or a 918.
Maybe I'm just a little older now and don't need to feel like I'm cheating the grim reaper in order to have a good time driving on the track -- but I still want to go fast. I'm very pleased to own the 918 and only a little sad to see the CGT go. I was too tall and too 911-reflexed to keep it.
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axelbaws (12-28-2022)
09-23-2015, 03:08 PM
#84
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Thanks for your kind words. Yes, it was great fun and I have lots of fond memories of driving it over the decade I owned it. The 918 is a fabulous car (you already knew that) and it is a natural evolution for me for a couple of reasons.
1) My legs are too long to efficiently heel-and-toe 3-pedal Porsches after the center console invaded the interiors. The console restricts my leg movements to the point where my right calf or knee can't go far enough to the right to make it all work out. The Carrera GT has the most generous foot box of any modern Porsche, but it wasn't quite enough to make double-clutch downshifting anything but frustrating. The 918, being a 2-pedal car, doesn't present any frustration at all for me when driving it. That's a big improvement in my view.
2) I'm a veteran 911 track driver and have plenty of ingrained tendencies in my driving technique that shows it. Paul Frere once quipped that the task of a 911 pilot was to keep the front wheels ahead of the rear wheels. That notion is imprinted in me. I don't like high slip-angle at the rear because it makes me think the car is about to swap ends -- just like the old days. The Carrera GT is a pretty loose-in-the-back sort of ride as delivered from the factory. In fact, Bobby Rahal told me that "those things oversteer like crazy" when we discussed his brief ownership of a CGT. I adjusted my CGT rear anti-roll bar setting to the softest position and installed 345 instead of 335 rear tires to try to tame it down a bit. I always felt like the Carrera GT was trying to trick me into a spin, even though I have thousands and thousands of fast, smooth track laps under my belt in all sorts of Porsches & BMWs.
The 918 has no such handling challenges. The RWS and rest of the chassis setup is made for track drivers who didn't come up through the ranks of shifter karts -- wherein the driver has to flick the rear of the kart out to get it to rotate at all. The 918 has very high grip (mainly tires and low CG) and it has no preference for snap oversteer as far as I can see. That makes it benign in the hands of someone like me with hard-wired 911 driving reflexes.
An Indy racer friend of mine once told me that "If the car feels like it's trying to kill you ........ IT IS!" So, I'm happier to drive a car that doesn't feel like it's about to get weird anywhere close to the real limits of either a Carrera GT or a 918.
Maybe I'm just a little older now and don't need to feel like I'm cheating the grim reaper in order to have a good time driving on the track -- but I still want to go fast. I'm very pleased to own the 918 and only a little sad to see the CGT go. I was too tall and too 911-reflexed to keep it.
1) My legs are too long to efficiently heel-and-toe 3-pedal Porsches after the center console invaded the interiors. The console restricts my leg movements to the point where my right calf or knee can't go far enough to the right to make it all work out. The Carrera GT has the most generous foot box of any modern Porsche, but it wasn't quite enough to make double-clutch downshifting anything but frustrating. The 918, being a 2-pedal car, doesn't present any frustration at all for me when driving it. That's a big improvement in my view.
2) I'm a veteran 911 track driver and have plenty of ingrained tendencies in my driving technique that shows it. Paul Frere once quipped that the task of a 911 pilot was to keep the front wheels ahead of the rear wheels. That notion is imprinted in me. I don't like high slip-angle at the rear because it makes me think the car is about to swap ends -- just like the old days. The Carrera GT is a pretty loose-in-the-back sort of ride as delivered from the factory. In fact, Bobby Rahal told me that "those things oversteer like crazy" when we discussed his brief ownership of a CGT. I adjusted my CGT rear anti-roll bar setting to the softest position and installed 345 instead of 335 rear tires to try to tame it down a bit. I always felt like the Carrera GT was trying to trick me into a spin, even though I have thousands and thousands of fast, smooth track laps under my belt in all sorts of Porsches & BMWs.
The 918 has no such handling challenges. The RWS and rest of the chassis setup is made for track drivers who didn't come up through the ranks of shifter karts -- wherein the driver has to flick the rear of the kart out to get it to rotate at all. The 918 has very high grip (mainly tires and low CG) and it has no preference for snap oversteer as far as I can see. That makes it benign in the hands of someone like me with hard-wired 911 driving reflexes.
An Indy racer friend of mine once told me that "If the car feels like it's trying to kill you ........ IT IS!" So, I'm happier to drive a car that doesn't feel like it's about to get weird anywhere close to the real limits of either a Carrera GT or a 918.
Maybe I'm just a little older now and don't need to feel like I'm cheating the grim reaper in order to have a good time driving on the track -- but I still want to go fast. I'm very pleased to own the 918 and only a little sad to see the CGT go. I was too tall and too 911-reflexed to keep it.
09-23-2015, 03:15 PM
#85
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This is exactly what Randy Pobst found out about the CGT. The factory used test drivers who came from carts so when the chassis/suspension fine tuning was completed it was to a standard where those test drivers said it was PERFECT! Did adjusting the rear sway to the softest setting and going with wider rubber help? I'm sure fitting the latest Michelins alone would make a world of difference as tire technology in the 10 years since the CGT launched has come a long long way.
That's with me at the controls
09-24-2015, 11:53 AM
#87
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5 seconds is a ton of time! Enjoy the 918 and continue to update us with your impressions of the new car as time and miles go by.
09-24-2015, 12:31 PM
#88
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1) The 918 has cruise control
I would start to get leg cramps trying to drive the CGT at a constant 8-over. I could have sped up and slowed down, but that doesn't make too many friends on rural freeways out here in fly-over country. I'd like to avoid aircraft enforcement yet get to my destination in minimum time. QED, cruise control keeps the average speed equal to the top speed.2) The 918 is quieter when cruising ~ 80 mph than the 980. That makes listening to the Burmester more or less plausible. The CGT entertainment on 2+ hour boring drives amounts to desperately avoiding 20-foot box trucks trying take phone pix while underway. Plus, the CGT radio was a cross between an AM/FM from a 55 Buick and an early VHS tape deck with a one-line display. Just awful. The 918 system is modern and way cool.
I used to dread the transit leg to go to the track in the CGT, yet feel great once I got there. My previous 997 GT3 RS 4.0 was much more inviting to cruise freeways and (believe it, or not) was faster by a second or two at the track. It became my favorite DE car of those two. I've yet to track the 918, but it's going to happen as soon as a few hundred more miles appear on the odometer. Hopefully before the snow gets here.
09-24-2015, 05:40 PM
#89
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Mike, It's really good to know that there are other owners out there who truly enjoy and use their cars as they were designed. It sounds like you did everything you possibly could do with your CGT over your 10 years of ownership, from road trips to tracking and everything in between. I feel really lucky having logged over 10,000 miles on mine and I'm sure you have that beat. 10 years is a long time and now you get to experience that all over again with your 918. It's not about which one is better, either way is winning. Variety is what makes things interesting. Wishing you all the best.
09-25-2015, 01:58 PM
#90
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Mike, It's really good to know that there are other owners out there who truly enjoy and use their cars as they were designed. It sounds like you did everything you possibly could do with your CGT over your 10 years of ownership, from road trips to tracking and everything in between. I feel really lucky having logged over 10,000 miles on mine and I'm sure you have that beat. 10 years is a long time and now you get to experience that all over again with your 918. It's not about which one is better, either way is winning. Variety is what makes things interesting. Wishing you all the best.