htny

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/06/18/p...e-on-the-ring/

Ring time for 997S PDK: 7:50 (like 9s faster than manual according to Porsche, hype?)

According to FastestLaps.com, Walter Rohrl did a 7:49 in a 997 turbo two years ago.

I guess that PDK must be pretty light, cause it ain't just quicker shifts that accounted for all this difference

By the way my favorite part of the article is the unwritten punchline to the following: "Still, the Cadillac CTS-V did the thing in 7:59 " ... and promptly exploded in a pillar of flames

Chads996

I call BS and will wait for official times.

C.

SealGrey986

Times are never 100% comparable. There are so many things affecting. For example Sport Auto (German magazine) drivers the Nordschleife in their super tests. Their times are usually those we compare because you can`t trust all manufacturers. As far as I know Sport Autos professional Ring-specialist (Horst Von Saurna) drives just a few laps and makes the record. So even sport autos times are not 100% comparable but gives the best idea about the truth.

Some things affecting:
1. Tires -09 997S and -0? 997 Turbo are not on same tires even the type would be same. There are usually atleast some compound changes between different years for the same tire. Last year a professional driver how does a lot tire testing on the Ring and factory test drivers) And you need to test pretty many different pressure setups to find the best. I don`t think car magazines makes any significant pressure tuning.

2. How many laps were driven and who was the driver

3. The track. There has been some changes almost every year. Like tight braking just before Hatzenbach was very bumpy earlier years but is now very smooth. Lots of new tarmac on various places like Breidscheid (makes tight downhil braking and the corner faster) and so on... So the track is (just my guess) 1-4 secs faster this year than it was 1-3 years ago.

4. Weigth and setup. It`s pretty easy to ad like 50kg or more to these cars with heavy luxury equipments. Some cars have PCCB`s and some doesn`t and so on...

5. Weather (not that much difference if it`s normal "summer weather" and dry track).

So to get as comparable times as possbible two cars should be driven same day, by same driver, on same tires and do as many laps as possible.

I`m not claiming PDK would not be faster than manual but just the transmission doesn`t make it 9 seconds faster on the Nordschleife. 9 is a very very long time on the track! 9 seconds is about 400m on the Nordschleife!

htny

I agree, and of course there are tons of variables, but Porsche is going to be humping their number (and it was Rohrl in the 997TT).

The one encouraging thing is that it may, may indicate that the PDK may not weigh what a planetary automatic weighs, even with essentially two separate shafts and clutches and hydraulics

Am I the only one who isn't really into the rear lights on the facelift cars?

triode

Amen, brother. The visual aspects of the facelift are weak IMO. But the additonal HP, limited slip and other goodies are most welcome!

Van

An "***-lift"?

Ray S

Interesting times. A 996 C2 is supposed to be good for 8:14 so that would be a huge improvement. As others have said the numbers are fun to compare but it's hard to view them as absolutes because there are so many variables that can impact a time.

However if that number is true, it's smoking fast.

10 GT3

First, Walter Rohrl did a 7:59 in an 05' Carrera S with PSM. Without knowing the complete configuration of the car, it is very hard to tell how much faster it really is. They mention the PDK car was on "Sport Tires" which I would assume are MPSCs.

The 09' S has 30 more HP, but also 15 more lb-ft. It has an optional sport suspension and LSD that were not available in the 05'. So 9 seconds sounds far from unreasonable as a difference. In fact, I could easily believe that a 09' Sport Suspension/LSD S could better a 996 GT3 on the Ring.