Kyle might even say

"Buy a 911 and it will punish you"

Check out his knuckles, pretty red and bloody

 

I really enjoy the rear weight biased handling of a 911 (any 911) they really are rather special. They do handle differently, sure, but... Weight transfer is weight transfer. You turn into the skid maintaining some throttle during oversteer, you brake hardest in a straight line, transfer weight to the front to combat understeer so forth. Cars are cars, and physics doesn't change...

As an instructor for the PCA amongst many other clubs, I whole heartedly agree with the above recommendations, do a driving school (preferably one that includes a skidpad session). Your location is not listed, but I will be doing several schools this year with the PCA, Chin, Alfa Club etc. I'd be happy to take you out if you're on the east coast.

 

its physics.... try throwing a hammer, the heavy side will always want to be in the front, your job as a driver have to try to keep the heavy side behind you (especially going around turns).

 

Coming from one of the most stable platforms around, the 944, I was terrified when I moved to my 996. I had heard the stories about the back end coming up to the front when the throttle was lifted in mid-corner.

After a DE though I found that the car is VERY stable and I think to get the ends to swap places you'd either have to be carrying quite a bit of speed into a corner or doing something you really shouldn't be doing. I tried on some corners to get the rear to slip a bit and couldn't really accomplish it.

Granted, I'm just a novice but my point is that you have to really be in over your head before this generation of cars will punish you. With that being said, it does handle a bit differently so you must be mindful of that.

 

Where are you located?

I recommend you check your local PCA chapter for AX, DE or Performance Driving School (that's what we call DE-light in Houston) and learn how to drive these wonderful cars the way they're meant to!

JP

 

Bellmore996911,

What I meant was that for most of us mere mortals these babies can deliver more performance than we can use on the street with no drama. The older 911s were a handful. A handful of automotive pleasure to be sure but you could end up going backwards if you don't have fast hands!

 

Bellmore, where are you located ... where are you from?

What year car do you have, earlier...or later with PSM?
Do you have LSD?

When I drive my LSD car, throttle cable, and no PSM in the rain, let me tell you it's a hoot!
The standard traction control will allow the car to slip quite a bit before activating.

Later cars with PSM and no LSD are shall we say, less involving.

Braking too late into turns is a bit different story, but even then ABS will help.

If you like to read more, I recommend Vic Elford's 911 driving handbook.

 

No question. I learned how to drive on the track in an '87 911 and I looped it several times as I was learning. Once you got the hang of it, it was an incredibly fun car to drive. The first time I drove a 996 on track, I couldn't believe how easy it was in comparison.

 

The way I see it, rear engined Porsches have always done the same thing. All the development in the last 40 years has been toward trying to raise the limit at which the inevitable happens, so not so many people kill themselves, sue the company, etc.

This has resulted in an unusual situation, where my car has--amazingly--295 section rear tires. Why would a 3300 lb car need tires nearly one foot wide? If you put those tires on a Camry, you could corner at 7g, yet I can get the back end loose easily on half a dozen turns just driving to work. With ESP on. Definitely something strange going on.