v_rex

Just finished uploading the video so, I can continue the story ...

First up, some general impressions about the track and the event.
I originally thought there was going to be an open pit lane event but it turned out to be only 5x25min sessions. But that what enough... The cars were split into 2 groups: street and race. The race group contained fast cars, extremely fast cars (720S, AMG GT GT3, a number of racing 911 GT3 class cars) but also some extremely slow cars: Ford Puma, Chevrolet Cruze. In most parts, there were not problems, I would get out of the faster cars way and that was happening for me as well. Thankfully it wasn't a huge number of cars in my group so I could really learn the track.

The track itself is a decent track - safe and great to improve your driving skills. I think, I like it least of the all F1 track I've visited (Spa, Nurburgring GP, Hungaroring) but it is clearly above the Romanian tracks I visit (Transilvania Motor Ring and Romania Motorpark).



There are 3 straight that I'm not so keen about but if you have a 800+ hp car (there were a few), you can obliterate anyone on the straights. As a comparison, the 720S would gain 5 sec / straight (just by looking at the 100-200km difference of 5 sec).
- Turn 1, turn 3 are turns where traction is super important. But no real challenges - except for the fact that the exit is super important.
- Turn 4 is quite an easy one for me - no drama, just a bit of understeer.
- Turn 6 is one of my favorite ones... It is off camber and that makes it even more interesting . By having an early apex approach and by tail-braking up to the apex, I can get the car to behave exactly as I want it to. Just by being on the brakes I can induce understeer or oversteer. Others prefer a late apex approach but for me it makes no sense as the next corner is 100m/yards away.
- Turn 7 is a bit more challenging as it is hard-ish to be fast without understeer.
- Turn 9 is also one I like and I don't feel I have mastered it yet... More practice is required.
- Turn 10 is a strange one... I am in between gears (2 is too low, 3 is to high). I definitely brake for this corner as I consider a slow-in, fast-out approach is better suited since there is a straight coming. What I find extremely interesting is that, when I try to use the kerbs on the left, they seem to pull me to the outside of the corner. I have not experienced this effect the kerbs have on my car anywhere else. As such I have to be applying more steering angle and by doing this on the kerbs I am only destroying the Cup2's. So I decided to stay off them.

Here is my best lap of the day


Advice / comments are always welcomed.

hugo993

thank you very much for sharing and videos! it has already been said, but it is a magnificent car !!
I received my Manthey racing kit. soon the assembly. I'm just wondering if I'm applying their recommended setting for my spyder. according to them it does not pose a problem for the road ....
My main use is mountain roads and some track days and I don't want to set it too extreme.
Your comments are precious to me

v_rex

I think the best advice I can give you is trust the professionals (not a random guy on the Internet ).
Tell MR what the car will be used for and they will come up with a setup proposal for you... I did just that and that works great for me - no issues for the road.

v_rex

Received other photos from the organizers...
First up, some group photos:







And then some photos with the car "in action":

v_rex

And one last trackday experience for 2021...
Last Saturday, I managed to visit Hungaroring (another Formula 1 track), first time since the COVID madness started... I used to go there 2-3 times a year previously, but 2020 onwards, because of the restrictions to enter Hungary and because of some registration modifications, I didn't manage to attend any trackdays over there.

Anyway, I am pleased to say I really enjoyed this last trackday experience...
First up, some organizational points:
- they only allowed 15 cars / session. Even someone really well connected couldn't get the marshals to overlook this rule (thumbs up from me). This was awesome since I previously had massive issues with traffic.
- there is a 105 db noise limit. Many tracks have noise limits but I was actually surprised to see they measured all cars. The test is done at 4k RPM with opened valves and at 40 cm from the exhaust at a 90 degree angle - I was way below the limit (@93 db)
- I only managed 15 laps (including the warm-up and cool down laps) because of some incidents on track that either shortened or completely cancelled my sessions.

Then, about my laps...
- the weather was very cold - had the first session at 7 degrees Celsius (~44 degrees Fahrenheit) and finished the last session, at noon, at 13 degrees Celsius (~55 degrees Fahrenheit). This was the ambient temperature, don't know how warm the track was, but it felt like I was on ice. I had massive issues to put some heat in the Cup 2's hence the Traction Control (TC) was intervening at each corner.
- because of the lack of traction, the car was very alive but I enjoyed it a lot. Great fun if you don't crash the car .
- I am nowhere near what the car can do, but at least I have a reference for the future visits.
- my best time was 2:07.66 - which is about 8 seconds faster than the 981 (2.7) time. Please consider the GT4 time is with an 80kg passenger.

And last but not least, the car...
- on track it is awesome. I absolutely love it. I know there are a lot of areas where I can improve but that was the whole point of buying the GT4... to allow me to perfect my skills.
- mods wise, I need more front camber...
- I can't really say I enjoy the car to/from the track... It is too harsh and loud .
- when returning from the track I got a speeding ticket (the previous one was ~10 years ago). I was doing 74km/h (46 mph) in a 50km/h zone (31 mph). I naturally got a ticket and the policemen said: "I would like to congratulate you for having this car and only going this fast" .

Here is the best lap video:


Next up: photos from this event (after I manage to find the photographers)
Any advice / comment is, as usually, welcomed!
Thanks for watching!

Dan Nagy

Too funny!

I really enjoy these videos. Thanks for sharing.

v_rex

Thank you, @Dan Nagy !Like promised, some photos from the latest trackday:

































Cheers!

Larry Cable

you have to love Miami and platinum in the sunlight!

v_rex

Thank you @Larry Cable !
As I didn't configure the car and bought is from stock, I didn't really have a choice of wheel color (the other aspects were much more important). But, I have to be honest and admit I think the silver wheels look better with Miami Blue. I just changed to winter tires and I absolutely love the silver accent:

Dan Nagy

Sorry for being a little late with my thanks. My life has been a little upside down lately and just found these awesome pics! I picked a few of my favorites, but the one on top is my personal favorite. Keep them coming, and looking forward to more videos! Maybe there should be a separate thread with just owner videos.

v_rex

Thank you for your comment!
I will post more pictures if I have any . I think this might be it for this year... Maybe I'll try some pictures in the snow.
I hope you're well and back on track !

v_rex

The car is now one year old and (on the 24th of January) and Google made sure to remember me of that .
So, I reviewed and relieved some of the best moments with the GT4 so far... One of them was the lap @Larry Cable overtook me on Nurburgring and then I managed to stay close for a while...

Here it is:


And whats next this year? Well, I plan (already booked) a Manthey Racing trackday in May and a Porsche Master GT Program at Hungaroring in August.
Except that, not so sure... I truly love driving the GT4 on track but I don't really like driving it as a daily. Also considering the current car prices, I am considering selling the car at the end of September. But I will say the chances for this are low (~20%).
All the best to everyone!

Larry Cable

I think/know it was what was under my right foot that gave me the advantage! going back in April (GT4RS) and August (GT3)!

v_rex

Have fun! Curious how the GT4RS is . Please let us know after the event.

Larry Cable

will do - BTW what did you use to capture that video? trying to decide if I should rely on the Porsche app, a dashcam or something else to video the 4RS