Z356

Don't think so!

Eduardo
Bologna, Italy

Nick

Why do you say that?

orthojoe

1) Never question the official Porsche librarian, Eduardo
2) Never believe information fed to you by a Porsche salesman.

Z356

A) The 918 is the most expensive production Porsche ever built. MSRP is $845,000 before options. The sport bucket seats developed for the 918 are probably the most expensive seats Porsche has ever produced - in terms of materials, construction, etc. To be blunt, Porsche is not going to insult 918 owners by allowing the same seats to be used on the relative 'inexpensive' 991's and future 'bargain priced' 981 Spyder & Cayman R!

B) The 918 sport bucket seat does not fold. I doubt PCNA will try to certify and homologate any seat for the 991 (any model) in the USA which does not allow an owner access to the rear of the cabin!

I had dinner in Stuttgart on Wednesday, April 17th with the designer of the 918 sport bucket seats! He is a fellow member of 'R Gruppe' and he has visited my home in Carmel. I didn't ask him questions on the final 918 specs to avoid him having to decline to answer. But he did confirm that the 918 bucket seats do adjust up & down...and tilt. This allowed them to have a lower 918 since a shorter driver can adjust the seats up...a taller driver down. Otherwise, he explained to me, safety regulations re: field of vision for drivers could have prevented them from having the 918 designed that low.

I have posted before on this forum that I expect the next generation 'sport bucket seat' for the 991/981 model to do the same (which is something the current 'gt2' sport buckets do not provide). But I don't expect that revised sport bucket seat to be introduced UNTIL, at the earliest, when the 991 & 981 is revised for its .2 version (MY2016?). I expect the sport bucket seats on the MY2015 US gt3 RS to look pretty much the SAME as the sport buckets offered CURRENTLY in Europe on the 991 & 981!

I doubt that even the post-MY2016 'new' sport buckets for the 991 & 981 will be the same as the 918 for the reasons I have stated above. But many of its features will be copied (adjustments), although the seat will be constructed with less expensive materials & will be much cheaper to build! And it will be a folding seat - not a fixed bucket seat like the one coming on the 918's! My dos centavos, for what is worth.

Saludos,
Eduardo
Bologna, Italy

Nick

Thank you for your thorough response. I don't believe any of us would have believed that the identical seat from the 918 would be used in the GT3. Nevertheless, the 918 does serve as a model for future Porsche's including its seats. As your last paragraph indicates, the GT3 and other 911 models seats will copy many of the 918 features.

I have religiously followed your posts since you have arrived in Germany. Unfortunately, Porsche has been tight lipped about the GT3 allocations and production schedule with my interest about the US status. Essentially, you know what we know despite your interaction with the Porsche executives.

Z356

Well, 'what we know' can sometimes can be attributed to specific contributions to the body of knowledge made by individual members in this forum. I care in particular about a number of specific issues (gt3, Porsche Exclusive, etc) and seek answers to these questions from Porsche and their representatives when the opportunity present itself! I would categorize the interchange with Detlev von Platen a few days ago as very revealing! I would also designate as useful to this forum when I asked Dr. Wolfgang Porsche and Detlev von Platen at the Rennsport IV re: using the PDK on the 991 gt3 models! On the other hand, I will not exploit a friendship I have with a Porsche designer in Zuffenhausen for the sake of trying to get 'inside' information & revealing it on a public forum. In that case, any 'revelations' could jeopardized his job at the organization. I hope you understand.

I will let others decide what value, if any, my contributing posts are to this forum. There is no hidden agenda here. You, of course, are entitled to you opinion.

Saludos,
Eduardo
Bologna, Italia

sunnyr

Eduardo,

I am sort of new here, I don't post much, I don't even own a Porsche (but looking to), so for what it is worth, I religiously read every single post of yours. I wish this forum had a 'follow' function, if it did, I would be following your posts. So please keep do keep the very informational posts coming. Much appreciate it .

RR

They did use the same seat in the cgt as in the gt3 at least in row in 2004.

mooty

whatever Eduardo tells me, I listen. he has some high pwr reliable sources...

Franklin229

+1
and I do post on here.

Nick

I did not mean to upset you nor was my post intended to disparage you in any way. I apologize if you perceived that way. It was not my intent.

My concern as I post earlier that Porsche hasn't revealed very much to you. The sport buckets seats was something we all anticipated they would option for the US in the future. Your discussion with the CEO served to confirm that.

Eduardo, I was hoping they would feed you more information about the GT3 like allocations, productions schedules and anything else given your background and status of representing many of us in the US regarding Porsche. Based on your posts, they failed to do that.

Terry L

Eduardo's post are uniformly well written,timely and useful. Based on those posts and logic, I have decided to transfer my place-in-line deposit to an RS in the hope that proper seats will be available by then for that car. I will suffer with my 997.1 GT3 until then. Not a terrible fate.

frayed

LOL.

So true!

Z356

My status at Porsche is 'owner - one of many!' and that is it. I am able to get through a few doors because I am rather assertive...but there is a limit as to what they would do for an 'enthusiast' like me, as many of you might remember from Porsche Exclusive's lack of cooperation regarding my 'Custom Ordering' thread on Rennlist last year! Porsche marches to the beat of its own drum, Nick, and none of us represent anyone except ourselves (which is as it should be). But I sincerely thank you gentlemen (sunnyr, mooty, terryL) for the kind words!

Today was a special day for me. For the first time ever I had the opportunity to tour the Ferrari factory at Maranello! This is my second visit to this small town just outside Modena. The first visit was in 2007. At that time we did managed to have limited inside the gates of Ferrari and get near the Fiorano track. We were attending a RM Auction of Ferrari autos & memorabilia held near the Racing Department! We were then able to see several Ferrari's at speed on the track...but that was about it!

This year a friend who is well connected at Ferrari (he is a former F dealer in San Francisco) was able to obtain an official factory tour for 8 of us on this 'Guys Only Car Tour' (which consist of 24 'guys'). Two thirds of our group of 8 own Ferraris. But a few of us did not. And that is what makes my inclusion on this Ferrari factory tour so 'unique'. Access to the Ferrari factory is probably the most difficult, and coveted, ticket to get in the automotive world! Tours are very limited and mostly reserved for owners that can demonstrate Ferrari ownership - including a registered Vin # & copy of their current registration! It is rather Off Topic, but if the moderators permit me, I will briefly write more about my visits to Ferrari Maranello, Audi (R8) Neckarsulm, Audi Museum Ingolstadt, BMW Regensberg, Hangar 7 Salzburg, Porsche Automuseum Gmund, Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari, the Panini Maserati Museum at/near Modena and the Autodromo Nazionale Monza (near) Milan at a future posting on the 'Visit to Zuffenhausen' thread (see link below) that I started a week or so ago.

https://rennlist.com/forums/991-gt3/...a-991-gt3.html

By that time, I hope the technical issues with attaching photos will be resolved at Rennlist and I will be able to include some of the ones I took (the few that were permitted) at Ferrari.

Saludos,
Eduardo
Cuomo, Italy

stevecolletti

I look forward to every post, Eduardo

Did Ferrari allow cameras at any point? When we were there in 1997 (Ferrari's 50th anniversary), the rule was no cameras in the factory, but everywhere else (including Fiorino) was legit.

Sounds like you're having a blast - I'm living vicariously, right now.