interesting thread .. a friend of mine has a joke about the difference between Porcupines and Porsches .. something about the porcupine having the ****** on the outside. As a member of the Porsche club I do consider it a responsibility to represent myself and the Marque with a certain amount of maturity, and don't want to be lumped in with those drivers that make the roads a hazard and put innocent lives at risk , after all that could be my wife and child in that minni van that is inadvertantly run off the road. Doesn't help that the ***** 2 doors down from me tromps it in his vette everytime he leaves the house in our residential neighbourhood..
.... I'll get off my soap box now ..' night all

 

I heard the Porcupine analogy as related to the marque with the spinning propeller and have found that to be more true than applied to Porsche drivers. While I will admit that many of the local Pcar club event goers are of the
'gold chain' variety, they are very nice people, and not stuck up or stuck on themselves. Now as to local younger (I'm 51) bimmerphiles, well,I believe the saying goes 'their **** doesn't stink'. I have never understood the fascination with that 'see and be seen' marque.

 

Especially satisfying when someone's tailgating as you enter a decreasing radius offramp.... then you increase your speed and watch in the rear view mirror as they try to collect themselves . :-)

Sherwood

 

In southern CA EVERYONE drives with their foot to the floor, but the ones that try and race you are the kids in the hondas, which are a laugh at best, I usually never race anyone on the street, I'm confident in my own driving skills, but if they kill themselves trying to keep up with me, I wouldn't feel bad, thats darwinisim, I just wouldn't want to have to pay for a lawyer to get me out of felony fleeing the scene of an accident. But I'm weak, so I pick and choose, My favorite is a guy in an M3 or Vette with his wife or girlfriend in the car, just to make them look stupid by alowing themselves to get stomped by a VW. The kids in hondas, if they are REAL persistent, then I will waste some gas..........but just don't get caught up by one of those little 1800lb hatches with a 230 hp hopped up B16, then you are in trouble.

 

At the conclusion of a two day Porsche NA hosted driving course (PDE) at Road Atlanta a couple of years back, the lead instructor (Doc Bundy) stressed a point that I feel is very valid and that still governs my street driving approach to this day - "Use your powers for good - NOT evil...".

Good advice I say. Wanna race? PCA, SCCA and others offer plenty of opportunities to Club race and go wheel to wheel with others in a safe and challenging environment if that's really your desire.

On the street? Paul Frere in his excellent book 'Sports Car and Competition Driving' really gets to the point at the end of chapter 9 by stating the following truth:

"Given but moderate ability, they (your street race opponent) can always leave you behind by taking the sort of chances that must sooner or later end in disaster."

Barry

 

Funny.

The young women in any kind of car are really bad, they might even be the worse.

Maybe all the angry people should get together and release their tension the natural way. Then again if they had offspring, their ways would only be passed on to the next generation.

 

I was stuck behind a female driver the other day. She was being safe though.

Between putting on make-up, talking on the phone, and constantly "flicking"her hair, she did manage to slow down to 35 mph in a 55 mph zone. The opposing traffic finally cleared out after about 5 minutes and I passed, but I barely made it to my meeting on time.
Mike

 

Geez, weren't any of you guys young once?

I had a Tornado Red VW GTI 8V back in 1986, brand new, as my first car...I was 17. This car was my world. I remember taunting some guy in a 944 on a back road near my house. He took off and I glued myself to his bumper as he tried his best to lose me through the twisty back roads. I was young an invincible, and the feeling of harrassing this guy in a Porsche was better than almost anything (I said almost) I had experienced until then! That GTI was a real runner.

I would never do that at age 36, of course, responsibility creeping in and all. I still remember to this day the feeling of staying with that Porsche, though! Great moments in history! Remember that when a 17 year old smokes you in his WRX or whatever...you're probably making his day!

 

My first car was a 1974 Buick Lesabre. It did not race, it rammed and smashed it way around. I remember the back seat was as big as a sofa.

 

Yea, I had a Datsun 240Z with a set of Webers that I got at 16 and had into college. Fantastic car and I miss it to this day. Needless to say I drove it like a maniac.

Now I look back an think how lucky I was nothing bad ever happened. But, back in the 80s Dallas, TX (where I grew up) had a lot of open highway. Especially on the North end of the Toll way at 4am. Did you know a 240Z with a set of Webers will do over 140mph?

 

There was a guy down the street from me in the 70's who had a 240Z (the one with the small horizontal openings below the rear window - whichever year that was), with Webers and some special headers. That was the second most beautiful sounding car ever (911s being first). But, otherwise better than any Ferrari, Jaguar or other musical car I've ever heard. When I got a chance to drive one with the thought of getting one, the heavy steering compared to my car then, and my 911 later, turned me off, big time. Still, I'll remember that exhaust note forever.

 

Yeah, I think us old fogies have all 'been there and done that' and were just lucky enough to have made it through our early years. Tallahassee is blessed with a plethora of highly demanding and long (15 miles plus in some cases) 'canopy' roads that are, more or less, like driving in a constant tunnel. Great elevation changes and sweeping uphill/downhill turns. Much like Road Atlanta or other dedicated road circuits with the exception of having 0-run off (2~3 foot ditch on the edge of the pavement and 100+ year old live oaks lining both sides immediately after the ditches. Whew!

In the seventies these roads were really considered as 'out in the boonies' and at night you really had free run of the 'sticks'. I had an Opel Gt 1900 with 110hp that I really had fun with on these roads. I remember one night where a Trans Am was acting up behind me on the 'truck route' that circled the city. I turned off on a road I knew like the back of my hand (Old St. Augustine) and let the little inline 4 go.

I had the windows down and could hear the big 8 start sucking in air like a jet so things were on. At the end of the road (about six miles) I had nothing in the rear view for about 45 seconds and then the TA came around the corner kinda slow. I turned right (further into the boonies) and he turned left (back to the highway). Stupid - would never do that now - but I'll always remember it.

I had three Pontiact F-body cars after that and though they were one of the most nuetral handling cars I'd ever owned. Nice engines & very decent handling at the limit. Don't know how I left that guy so far behind but I'm guessing light weight and nimbleness had a lot to do with it. That and no decent straights where that big V8 would have had me for lunch! :-)

Times have changed though - more cars on the road, more idiots, less driver training and much, much, much less tolerance and MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more litigation. Oh for the good old days. They are indeed moving quickly away from us...

Yeah, us 'fogies' understand the urge - we've just been forced to tame it which is NOT a bad thing. Besides, PCA, SCCA and others still provide the outlet when you need it!

Barry
Who isn't really as old as he sounds (I hope!)

 

Interesting read and one I also happen to agree with.

Race on the track and never on the street.

I'll admit sometimes I go up into the mountains and drive quickly but always alone on deserted roads..far far away.


Thanks again for the good read.

 

I just don't pay attention to anything that comes next to me and tries to race. If I wanna go fast I just go out of the city on an Hwy that's two lanes with no traffic, I try it one way for a few miles to see if there are any radar traps and then turn back and do my testing. Away from other cars and people.
This Hwy is used for racing or testing on late night weekends. Cars and motorcycles go over 200mph quite frequently and use GPS for proof. When I was teenager and in my 20's I use to burn up clutches weekly, transmissions, rear ends and engines didn't last too long either. I raced every weekend and every light I could find. Parts for detroit muscle cars were cheap and available.
I bought my first Porsche when I was 25 and it changed my style of driving completely. Later in life and after going through several 930's I eventually bought a RUF Turbo with 550hp and found out what really fast was.
Well a couple of years ago a got into sportbikes and bought a brand new 2004 Suzuki GSX-R1000.
I took it to a friend who owns a company that puts turbos on bikes. He wanted to use my bike to promote a new turbo setup that he just finished building and I get to keep bike the and the modifications after testing is finished. I agreed and a week later got the bike back
For those who don't know, a stock GSX-R1000 weighs 370lbs and has about 150hp@12500rpm.
When I got my bike back it weighed 350lbs and had 235hp+ at the rear wheel depending on boost.
Top speed well over 200mph. I have no desire to do that again, way too many variables to deal with.
Whenever someone says they have something fast, it brings a smile to my face.
My current Porsche is a pretty quick 993 and I always drive less than 10 miles over the speed limit.
I know what scary fast really is and I don't have a need to prove it to anyone.