Porsche-Suchtig

I think the 918 would be a blast on the track. But, to your point, it would be incredibly expensive if something were to go wrong.

I've driven one car worth north of $500,000 on the track. In each of the last two outings (out of a total of five) in that car, I narrowly avoided disaster. In the first case, an a-arm broke, rendering me to nothing more than a passenger (albeit with brakes). I was lucky it happened in a spot where there was nothing to hit, so the damage was fairly minor (still > $10K). In the other case, a couple of yahoos (driver's with red mist) got together on the first lap (second corner no less) of a race and nearly took out the entire field. After those two experiences, I decided that my personal pain threshold for dedicated track cars is about $150K.

Another thing to consider is safety. The 918 and GT3 RS are engineered to meet street car safety requirements -- not on track requirements. One of the reasons I like the Cup as my track car is that it has a very strong cage, built and tested (over many years) by the manufacturer. I don't think this can be stressed enough. IMO, the average driver ability on track has diminished over the last 20 years that I've been racing; at the same time, horsepower and cornering ability have increased. That's a bad combination. Even if you are a competent track driver yourself, you need to realize that you are on track with some number of yahoos (and unskilled yahoos at that) every time you go out.

FWIW, a Cup can be campaigned reasonably cost effectively. Other than the cost of transporting the car to the track, there's no reason it has to cost the enthusiast any more to run a Cup on track than a street-based RS. Even with full support and transport from TruSpeed, my average cost for a weekend of racing is around $5K (ex tires). If I transport and support the car myself, and just have them prep the car, it's around $2K per weekend (ex tires). Tires are another $2K for slicks, if I don't win my races. Also you don't have to run slicks with the cup, and you don't have to replace tires every weekend if you run a DOT tire.

P.S. I plan to order an RS but not to flip and not to drive on the track (it maybe cheaper to track than a Cup, but there are too many yahoos to go that fast without a cage IMO).

Porsche-Suchtig

There is one other thing to consider re the 918 VIP program and the possible impact on GT3 RS availability. Based on my "VIP experience" to date, it appears to me that Porsche is planning to offer quite a few limited edition cars to meet different tastes. The bottom line is that that there will be other limited edition Porsche cars competing for 918 VIP dollars.

mooty

right on for the 918. i am sure fun on track, but my wallet can't carry that load!


yes and no. true you can use scrub slicks or not use slicks at all. but then the cup car isn't a cup car. and u and i both know once you tried stickers, there is no going back until you go broke. much like cocaine users. i can guarantee you that they know it's BAD, DEADLY, no possible good can happen from using it. but you dont see them stop!!!!! slick is the same. tat's 2-2500 a weekend if you are conservative and run just 1 set. the fuel at $10gal adds up fast too. last time my bud did a 4 day gig and only ran 75% of the allotted time $600 in fuel alone. and with 7 cups, no matter how good you are, every so often, you will screw up and flat spot the tires.... that wont be cheap. then amortize the engine and trans rebuild. it cannot be just 5000/weekend. no way. if it's that cheap, i would still have my cup car around. i wish you are right at $5000/weekend. but that's not my experience, sadly

Jon70

http://www.worldcarfans.com/11409168...urgring-in-720

Some updates. This article claims a Paris reveal.

Tre

Wow, a 7:20 is a big drop in time considering a gain of probably 15ish hp over the 3. The added downforce and huge contact patches must be extremely significant. If the CF is indeed that much, and the weight loss is that big, then the expected price tag is looking to be more and more true.

I have to ask, "remove rear seats"? There are no rear seats already. Are they trying to say that the carpet cover has been removed?

1198r

^ yeah - a full on stripped out car would be great - they could then charge us to add it back in!

RossL

15hp and 66lbs is hardly worth the rumored prices at 235k (100k markup over the 3). It better have a lot more than that otherwise the GT3 is the best option per dollar by far.

rosenbergendo

Big cup wing and exhaust/ECU tune get you to the same place.

mooty

as much as I love he next rs, at that price, I think 991gt: will immediately increase in mkt value.

carcommander

If the only make 500 of the RS WW they can charge nearly anything the want to. Wasn't the 4.0RS about 200K? Even if the VIP guys don't take them all they are still going to be hard to come by.

I have seen some wild stuff happen on the track more power to guys that are willing to track a 200K car. Not me.

997rs4.0

This guy obviously knows nothing about Porsches if he lists a rear seat delete as a change from gt3 to rs! But I can't wait to see what they have done!

911dev

no disrespect intended, but i would not expect an ECU tune with exhaust to yield 15 hp. even if so, i would never tamper with the ECU. resale would go in the toilet.

RS will be more than a big wing and a few ponies. i would expect at least 25 hp this round, up 10 delta from last gen, more downforce, more contact ~ by tire patch and track, less weight, shorter gearing, faster pdk and possibly a tad more torque if they go 4.0l.

7:20 is very very fast, but RS has to beat 991gt3 by some margin.

just an opinion.

oc997

http://www.gtspirit.com/2014/09/16/did-the-new-porsche-911-gt3-rs-lap-the-nurburgring-in-720/

This seems like a better article.

Fingers crossed I will get a call for one.

oc997

Just curious what was time for 991 GT3?

R.Deacon

I recall reports of 7:27